�We are booking meetings and conventions at an exciting and very encouraging pace. We booked more than 175,000 room nights in the first quarter of this year alone,� said David Jones, president and chief executive officer of the Opryland Hospitality Group. The Opryland Hospitality Group is part of Nashville-headquartered Gaylord Entertainment Company.

�More than 50 percent of the completed contracts for 2002 are for major corporate groups from across the nation, and several of the contracts are multi-year, multi-property arrangements for more than 30,000 room nights each,� Jones said, citing the collective appeal of the Opryland Hotel Florida, the 2,884-room Opryland Hotel Nashville and the 1,500-room Opryland Hotel Texas, which will open in 2003.
The Opryland Hotel Florida is in Kissimmee/St. Cloud and just five minutes from the main gate of Walt Disney World. In addition to its 1,400 guest rooms, it will feature 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. Its signature architectural element will be a four-acre, glass-roofed atrium garden.

�It was only in February 1999 that we hired the first sales executive devoted to the Opryland Hotel Florida. We now have six people in that role, and their efforts are supplemented by those of our national sales office. For that small group to have accumulated more than 1 million contracted and tentative room nights in only 15 months is a tribute to their efforts and to the inherent appeal of the Opryland Hotel brand,� Jones said.
 

Opryland Hotel Florida 17 miles from the Orlando International Airport

Opening Date February 2002 Guest Rooms 1,400 (including 118 suites) Total Pre-function,Meeting & Exhibition Space 380,000 Square Feet Acres of Indoor Gardens under Glass Four Employees Approximately 1,700 - 1,800 Architect Hnedak Bobo Group, Memphis, Tennessee

The Opryland Hotel Florida is the first project for the Opryland Hospitality Group outside of Nashville, home of its original property. Construction began on the Opryland Hotel Florida in June 1999. Groundbreaking for the company�s third hotel, the Opryland Hotel Texas in Grapevine next to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, was June 7.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, the anticipated opening dates of the new hotels and bookings for rooms at those hotels. 

Gaylord Entertainment is a diversified entertainment company operating in three business groups: hospitality and attractions, creative content and interactive media.