NASHVILLE, Tenn. (January 15, 2008) – Just about everyone has a story about bad customer service they have experienced, as this important aspect of business protocol seems to be a dying art.  To solve that, a new book, The Celebrity Experience:  Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Service by Donna Cutting, includes tips to achieving superb customer service, and one of the main features of the book is Gaylord Opryland^® Resort & Convention Center.

This book, which was released January 11, 2008, shows how companies are realizing the advantages of treating “everyday customers” like celebrities.  Cutting, a stage actress turned business writer/speaker/consultant, interviewed nearly 100 people who own, manage or work for companies that cater to the Hollywood elite and to VIP executives.  The Celebrity Experience reveals how businesses can follow this lead and provide celebrity-caliber service to their own customers, thereby improving their top and bottom lines.

Cutting included Gaylord Opryland^® Resort & Convention Center in this book because of the national acclaim and recognition its customer service has received in the last several years.  She visited the property while writing this book and was impressed with the caliber of attention she—and members of her staff—received.  She said it was obvious that a “yes” service culture is taught and carried out here.

“A colleague told me about the amazing experience he had with the Celebrity Service department at Gaylord Opryland. Since I was in the middle of writing The Celebrity Experience, I had to check it out. I visited for two days, and was not only floored by the Celebrity Services department but by every single person I met at Gaylord Opryland,” Cutting said.  “I found employees were not only engaged but PASSIONATE about providing the absolute best service for their guests. There was no question in my mind that Gaylord Opryland belonged in my book as an example of extraordinary red-carpet customer service!”

On almost 40 pages, The Celebrity Experience  details examples of how Gaylord Opryland Resort tries to treat all guests like celebrities. Interviews with some of Gaylord Opryland’s most customer-service-oriented STARS (employees) are included. Danny Jones, director of operational excellence and innovation, is the go-to-guy for improving what’s not working, and customer service is his forté.  He streamlines and enhances systems to see what adds to the customer experience. Suzanne Perry, director of reservation sales and call center operations, and her team were acknowledged in this book for finding new and creative ways to make any and all requests happen.  And the attention and novelty that Pam Huff, director of Celebrity Services, gave to a husband and wife on their “second honeymoon” makes up an entire section in this book.  This couple had a less than satisfactory experience on their wedding night, so to make up for it, Huff researched elements of their wedding—including looking at photos of their cake and bridesmaid dresses—to recreate a special getaway for them, complete with wine, dinner, a limo and, yes, a replica of their cake.  But the celebrity treatment didn’t stop there.

As Cutting writes in her book, “Even after they left, the surprises continued.  Pam and her team piled in a limo about a week later.  The ‘STAR Patrol’ delivered balloons, homemade cookies, a framed photo of the two and an album with photos from their second honeymoon to the newlyweds at their home.  The letter that the Gaylord team received from the husband said, ‘I now have to eat my own shoe because Pam made

the impossible, possible, the unfixable, fixed.  Pam and her staff gave my wife and me the only thing that really mattered—a memory.’”

“It was so much fun spending time with Donna Cutting…and then the book arrived.  I was glad to see how much of our customer service operations were included in The Celebrity Experience.  How exciting for all of our STARS – especially for those who are specifically named in the book  -- and what an honor for our Resort to be held up as an example in this national spotlight,” said Arthur Keith, general manager and senior vice president of Gaylord Opryland^® Resort & Convention Center.  “We continually strive to improve our service and make each guest’s stay the best it can possibly be.  It is our hope to impart some of what we have learned to others, making first-rate customer service something everyone can achieve.”

The Celebrity Experience also includes information about how Gaylord Opryland Resort’ and Gaylord Entertainment’s leaders’ commitment to treating employees like stars strongly contributes to the superior service for which the company is known.

Cutting’s book is available through Wiley Publishing in bookstores nationwide and on line at Amazon.com or at Barnes and Noble.com. 
Her photo can be found on http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylordopryland/events/images/DonnaCutting_lowres.jpg.  For more information on it and the author, visit www.thecelebrityexperience.com.   A photo of Gaylord Opryland’s Pam Huff can be found on http://authoring.gaylordhotels.com/gaylordopryland/images/DSC_2355_lowres.jpg.

For more information on Gaylord Opryland, please visit www.gaylordopryland.com or call 1-888-999-OPRY. 

ABOUT GAYLORD OPRYLAND NASHVILLE
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center – the largest non-gaming in-hotel facility in the continental United States – is known for providing superior products and services to the meetings and convention industry.  Winner of numerous prestigious awards including the coveted Gold Key Elite Award in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and Gold Platter Elite in 2004, 2005 and 2006, Gaylord Opryland Nashville is the flagship property of the Gaylord Hotels brand owned by Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET), a leading hospitality and entertainment company based in Nashville, Tenn.  For more information, visit www.gaylordentertainment.com or www.gaylordopryland.com.