Pictured above: Gaylord STARS at Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center
 

Getting to Know Gaylord Entertainment:
Through its People

Greetings!  We are Gaylord Entertainment, a leading hospitality and entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee.  We are currently working with the City of Chula Vista and the San Diego Unified Port District on bringing a world-class hotel and convention center to the Chula Vista bayfront as part of the community’s bayfront development master plan.  Since we hope to become a part of your community, we want to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves and give you an idea of what kind of neighbor we are.

In telling you about Gaylord Entertainment, we have to begin with our STARS.  We call our employees STARS because they bring sparkling smiles, genuine excitement, and a “consider it done” spirit to work every day.  “STARS” defines what it takes to succeed at Gaylord Entertainment: Smiles, Teamwork, Attitude, Reliability, and Service with a Passion.  These are the qualities you’ll find in our employees.  We’d like you to meet a few of our shining STARS...

In This Issue:

Getting to Know Gaylord
    Entertainment: Through
    its People

STAR Profiles

Awards

Gaylord Company History

Industry Recognition

Gaylord's Commitment
    to Local Hires

ELHAM MELEKA—SUCCESS

Elham came aboard as a housekeeper with tremendous initiative and a sincere desire to please. She learned computers, completed our Leader-in-Training program, and is now a housekeeping manager.

Elham found at Gaylord Hotels that her ships have come in. Leadership. Scholarship. Ownership.

JORGE GUTIERREZ—OPPORTUNITY

Jorge works a flexible schedule so he can take English classes. As he masters the language, we’re helping him master his career possibilities.

At Gaylord Hotels, Jorge found opportunity.

SUSAN DAVIS—RESPECT

When Susan first interviewed at Gaylord Hotels, the beauty of the properties dazzled her. Five years later, she's still thrilled by the warmth and friendliness of her Gaylord Hotels family, including a CEO who knows her name and a senior VP who shares her taste in music.

Susan found more than a job at Gaylord Hotels. She found
R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

TIM ELMORE—FLEXIBILITY

Between Gaylord Hotels’ family-leave benefits and a supportive team of co-workers, Tim had all the time off he needed to cook for his favorite new “foodie.” The free uniform laundry service helps, too.

Tim found flexibility at Gaylord Hotels.

Awards...
Gaylord Entertainment - Nashville Business Journal's Best Places to Work

Gaylord Palms - Orlando Business Journal's Best Places to Work
                         Top 25 Companies for Working Families

Gaylord Texan - Texas Workforce Commission's Best Employer
                        Dallas Business Journal's Best Places to Work

Gaylord Opryland - Best General manager in America

Now that we’ve told you about who Gaylord Entertainment is, we’d like to tell you about the company’s history.  It all started back on October 5, 1925, when WSM radio went on the air as a service of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company in Nashville, Tennessee.  The WSM call letters represented the company’s motto, “We Shield Millions.”  A month later the WSM Barn Dance Saturday night radio program was launched, which became the Grand Ole Opry in 1928.

In 1972, Opryland USA, Tennessee’s first theme park, opened drawing 54 million visitors over its 25-year span of operation in Nashville.  In 1977, the Opryland Hotel opened its doors with 600 rooms and nearly 400 employees.  Today the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center has nearly 3,000 rooms, 650,000 square feet of convention space and more than 4,000 employees.

In February 2002, the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center opened its doors in Kissimmee, Florida outside Orlando with 1,400 rooms and 400,000 square feet of convention space.

In April 2004, the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center on Lake Grapevine opened and within six months, the hotel hit 76 percent occupancy, making it the leading hotel in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.

Slated to open in April 2008, the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on the Potomac has 2,000 guest rooms and 470,000 square feet of convention space.  Overlooking the Potomac River in Prince George’s County, Maryland, the site is within 10 miles of Washington D.C.'s national monuments and historic landmarks.

And now in an effort to bring Gaylord to the West Coast, we are looking to Chula Vista.  In June 2006, the San Diego Board of Port Commissioners and the City of Chula Vista approved a Letter of Intent for a Gaylord Entertainment Resort and Convention Hotel. The letter of intent outlined the initial plans for a 1,500 to 2,000-room resort and convention center hotel on the Chula Vista Bayfront.

Gaylord Entertainment Has an Established Record of Hiring Local Workers
- From the San Diego Union-Tribune, September 23, 2007

'To my knowledge, they've done a pretty doggone good job of using local contractors," said Jerry Lozupone, secretary-treasurer of the Building and Construction Trades Council in Washington, D.C.  "And when they don't use local contractors, they've used local labor...'

"...On the basic question of whether project jobs went to local workers, the overwhelming opinion of those involved in Gaylord's most recent projects is yes."

'Absolutely.  Local people had opportunities,' said Tommy Hardy, assistant city manager in charge of economic development in Grapevine, Texas.  'If you were a good electrician or a good mason, you had a job...'