Volunteers-themed Graduate Knoxville and the Saloon 16 restaurant is all Tennessee Vols.
Any fan looking for Tennessee Vols nostalgia now has a place to stay in Knoxville. Over the weekend, Graduate Knoxville, a hotel completely themed around Rocky Top, celebrated its opening on The Strip, according to an article by WVLT.
Part of the hotel is a restaurant that opened in a partnership with UT legend Peyton Manning. It’s a western-themed restaurant entitled Saloon 16, and it will actually have its official Grand Opening this Friday.
The hotel keeps its lobbies mainly orange and white and tries to keep the feeling of the Tennessee Vols and East Tennessee throughout. Photos and pictures of things related to the Smokey Mountains and Pat Summitt hang on the walls in the rooms and other public areas.
Located at 1706 Cumberland Ave., the university is easily accessible from the hotel. This is clearly a place that markets to alumni, parents of students and people who are simply prideful to be from this area of Tennessee.
Manning putting his name on the attached restaurant clearly makes this a big deal as well, as it adds to the deep connection to the university. He is one of the biggest legends, if not the biggest legend among players, to ever be a part of Rocky Top.
Obviously, the same is true of Summitt from a coaching perspective. Nobody is a greater legend in the Tennessee Vols coaching ranks, and she deserves everything that she gets in terms of commemoration from the new hotel.
Graduate Hotels have hotels across the country on different college campuses. They market to the students and people affiliated with the students at schools in their particular area along with people affiliated with the region in general.
They currently have 28 locations with a 29th set to open this summer, a 30th set to open this fall and four more set to open next year. Athens, Ga., Columbia, S.C., Fayetteville, Ark., Nashville, Tenn. and Oxford, Miss. are the five other SEC locations.