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Gaylord Hotels to be new Marriott brand

A major hotel deal happened today when Gaylord Hotels announced its sale for $210 million to Marriott International. Gaylord Hotels is a convention hotel brand with four properties in the U.S. in Nashville, Orlando, National Harbor Maryland (near D.C.) and Dallas Texas. Apparently the brand name will remain Gaylord Hotels within the Marriott International hotel brands portfolio.

I have attended the Carlson Rezidor Hotels Group Global Conference at the Orlando (2010) and National Harbor (2011) properties. These hotels are designed to handle groups of several thousand attendees. Personally I love the large glass enclosed atriums of the two Gaylord Hotels where I have stayed. These hotels are truly self-sufficient crystal cities of restaurants, entertainment and activity. Gaylord Hotels are convention hotels that I would not mind visiting for leisure travel.

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Gaylord Palms Orlando, Florida

These hotel major deals take time to work through and it might be 2013 before these hotels are integrated into the Marriott Rewards system based on how long it took to integrate AC Hotels into the system. The fact that there are only four U.S. properties might hasten the integration process.

Interestingly, Gaylord Hotels had a difficult time selling its hotel offers during the U.S. Travel Association/American Express Daily Getaways last month.

I wrote about a Gaylord Hotels 2nd night free wedding anniversary offer for 2012 back in February.

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Gaylord National, National Harbor, Maryland

The article from Hotel Interactive states three other hotel companies were in play for making this deal. I have to wonder if Carlson Rezidor was one of those three companies since they have used the Gaylord Hotels for their annual global business conference.

This will be a good conference hotel acquisition for the 38 million Marriott Rewards members.

 

Ric Garrido, owner and writer of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

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6 Comments

  • Roddy May 31, 2012

    Outstanding! The Opryland Hotel in Nashville is fantastic. Should prove to be a good move by Marriot.

  • J.J. June 1, 2012

    Home of the Scripps National Spelling Bee which just wrapped up in DC.

  • Oliver June 4, 2012

    Is it worth creating/keeping a separate brand for just four properties? Or are (significantly) more planned?

  • Ric Garrido June 4, 2012

    @Oliver – Gaylord is a unique brand specifically designed for large conventions. The hotel does not really fit into any other Marriott brand concept.

    There was a Gaylord property planned for Denver which might be scuttled now.

  • Scott June 4, 2012

    One has to wonder how much Gaylord’s already existing partnership with Marriott played into this. Gaylord operates Orlando, Nashville, and Denver’s Convention centers through hospitality agreements. Gaylord in Nashville; their headquarters; owns the large Dance and concert venue downtown (Wildhorse Saloon), the only riverboat cruise (General Jackson), and of course the iconic Grand Old Opry. Their conventions alone in Nashville partnered with the Renaissance downtown since it is connected to the main; and soon to be open expanded; convention center Gaylord 30% owns and solely operates. It has to play well for Marriott to gain this much needed space to be their own space.

    It will be interesting to see how this all plays out…

  • Ric Garrido June 5, 2012

    @Scott – Business analysts were saying yesterday in the news this looks to be a good deal for Marriott.

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