FAQ

What exactly does Gaylord Entertainment do?
We derive most of our revenue from owning and operating Gaylord Hotels, our distinct meeting and convention resorts. These are large, world-class hotel complexes that include guest rooms, meeting and exhibition space, and a variety of shopping, dining and entertainment options all under-one-roof for the convenience of convention and regular hotel guests. We also own and operate a number of attractions in Nashville, Tennessee - such as a golf course and night club - to increase the attractiveness of our hotel as a destination. In addition, Gaylord owns and operates the Grand Ole Opry and its broadcast home WSM-AM radio, plus a handful of other mostly country music-related entertainment and media holdings. These companies generate revenue in their own right, but are also the basis for special programs, events and tours that draw people to our convention resorts. Through an aggressive cross-promotion program, the company expects to grown its three primary brands in the coming years.

What's your schedule for expanding your convention resort network?
We currently have three convention resorts open, one in Nashville, one near Orlando, Florida and a third near Dallas, Texas. In the two decades ahead, we expect to identify and announce other locations to build a nationwide network of major convention resorts. We are working now to identify regions attractive as convention destinations as well as specific communities where our properties would be a good economic and civic fit.

How are you different from large hotel chains who go after convention business?
While large hotel chains love to book conventions and meetings - especially in this economic climate with leisure travel down - their hotels are simply not built to accommodate the needs of large groups easily. They often lack enough meeting space and dining facilities as well as the variety of shopping and entertainment options our resorts offer. Thus the potential for space, scheduling and operational problems are much greater when a regular hotel, no matter how many rooms it may have, tries to host a large convention.
We design our hotels from the ground up with the input of our meeting planner clients - meaning we prepare well in advance for virtually any eventuality that may occur at a convention. As a result, we offer a smoother meeting and convention experience. While our hotels are beautifully designed on the surface, their real value takes place behind the scenes where we have built state-of-the-art functionality in such areas as loading access; flexibility in meeting room construction; telecommunications; multimedia support; electrical, heating and cooling capacity; and other essential systems that support the needs of large groups. In addition, because we have specialized in this field for so long, our expertise is greater than even the largest chains when it comes to hosting conventions. As a result, we offer better planning advice and a much wider array of marketing and business support services. When you combine these basic strengths with our emphasis on customer service and on providing an unbeatable total entertainment-rich convention experience, we offer a clearly different choice than our competitors.