NASHVILLE, TN— There’s been a flurry of activity surrounding Gaylord Entertainment recently, as the company announced plans to re-brand its hotels “Gaylord properties,” as opposed to “Opryland” hotels, and cut numerous employees and divisions in an attempt to streamline operations. The company will begin using its new brand name immediately, and plans to convert its existing 2,883-room Opryland Hotel in Nashville to the Gaylord Opryland within the next six to nine months. The company’s soon-to-open hotels in Florida and Texas will each debut with the new brand name— the Gaylord Palms Florida and the Gaylord Opryland Texas— in 2002 and 2004 respectively. So why the new name? Well, the company determined that the Opryland logo held too much of a ‘country’ stigma and did not accurately reflect the brand’s standards as a high-end, convention-oriented hotel. “For someone that’s never been [to the Opryland Nashville]they automatically think country music and theme parks. These are images that flash through their minds,” said Gaylord CEO Colin Reed. “If a consumer has never been to our Nashville property and now they’re booking in Orlando, they think it’s a theme hotel or that it’s attached to a theme park, because they know of the Grand Ole Opry. But it’s a purely Floridian hotel.” With the February 2002 grand opening of the company’s Orlando property quickly approaching, Reed thought it was the perfect time to change the brand’s image. “We probably should have done it a year ago, but I wasn’t here a year ago,” said Reed, who’s been with Gaylord for about six months. He said he spent his first two months learning about the company’s businesses, then helped re-finance the corporation, then decided to change the logo. “We had a name barrier in Florida. We needed to eliminate that barrier,” he said. His goal is to take the three hotels, each with thousands of hotel rooms and huge conference facilities, and make the brand the first chain “holistically focused towards convention business.” “Convention demand has really grown over the years. It’s a very resilient business. People like to get together. Companies like to announce things,” said Reed. “We want to take advantage of this.” While many hotels in Florida are panicking over low occupancies and a reduced number of tourists, Reed said the new Gaylord Palms in Orlando will do well when it opens in 2002 since 60% of its occupancy is contractually bound for the year through (pre-opening) convention bookings. Shortly after announcing plans to re-brand its hotels, Gaylord reported it will be reorganizing its operations as well. In an effort to streamline its chain of command, Gaylord cut various layers of management to create a more cross-functional leadership team. Reed noted the previous corporate structure had numerous “silos” of employees “where the left hand didn’t talk to the right hand. There was not cross fertilization from one business to another,” he said. The re-organization is designed to empower the management team, and give them more control and responsibility. “Some of our business managers have the ability to run the business themselves… so we’re getting out of the managers’ way and letting them run it,” said Reed. The new structure eliminates the company division referred to as Opryland Hospitality Group and Music, Media and Entertainment, along with the accounting, financial, technology, marketing, and communications functions of these divisions. Much of the staff in these divisions has been transitioned into existing or new departments, and about 39 employees have been let go. However, the company has also hired new upper management, including a new CFO, development head, and technology chief. Reed also appointed Jay Sevigny to the newly created position of svp/marketing and attractions to head up the marketing efforts left behind by the company’s previously unsuccessful marketing department. “A lot of our peo
Gaylord Palms