May 19--ORLANDO, Fla.--Picture this: A female business executive is sitting on a comfortable couch using the Internet on her laptop via a wireless connection. Her couch is on an indoor plaza in a glass-enclosed atrium across from a chocolate shop. Behind her is a beautifully landscaped waterfall. Above her is a huge video screen that provides breaking news or pre-recorded presentations. 

The executive is attending a national technology convention at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center, one of the newest in Orlando and mainly focused on attracting convention business. 

On Feb. 2, Gaylord Entertainment opened the 2.1-million-square-foot resort and convention center on 65 acres, five minutes from the gates of Walt Disney World. It is designed in the tradition of the grand 19th century Florida seaside resorts. 

More than 1 million rooms for conventions were booked before the resort ever opened. 

"People who booked with us early did it on the basis of relationships and renderings," said John Caparella, the resort's general manager. "They participated in focus groups and knew we were listening to what they had to say." 

The results? 

"We've had a number of conventions tell us this was the best convention they have ever had," he said. And in comparison to other hotels and convention centers in the area, he said the hotel is equal to or slightly above the others after being open only 12 weeks. 

"That is amazing. The vote is in," Caparella said. 

So how do you create a successful resort and convention center in the city that is second in the world in total hotel rooms and has an enormous convention center? 

When you walk into the lobby of the Gaylord Palms, you will immediately notice differences. 

There is a "living room" feel with comfortable seating and many cozy areas for people to congregate. The walls behind the registration desk are gone. You can look to your left past the desk and see the part of the atrium that resembles the lush tropical views you would find in St. Augustine, Fla. If you look right, you'll see the Old Hickory Traditional Steakhouse surrounded with the moss-laden cypresses you would see on a trip to the Everglades. 

A third area of the atrium resembles Key West with bright, cabana-striped gift "tents," a lagoon and a 60-foot sailboat that serves as one of several bars. 

Guest rooms overlooking the atrium or a pool area are decorated according to each locale: old-world appeal with walnut furnishings in St. Augustine, lots of primary colors in Key West and the deep greens, black and crimson with wicker furnishings in the Everglades. 

The Gaylord Palms also offers a hotel within a hotel called The Emerald Tower. It includes 362 guest rooms, including 26 luxurious suites featuring a Caribbean theme, 3,180-square-foot ballroom, 12 breakout rooms, two executive boardrooms and other amenities. A group could book the whole area and have its meetings and meals near the guest rooms. 

Convention planners wanted extra planning offices in addition to the breakout rooms for meetings. They got them. They wanted flexibility in the breakout rooms for audio-visual equipment. They got it. 

"All breakout rooms have air walls that allow for changing the size, and we can drop video into those rooms on different walls. 

There are individual patch panels in every section of every room," Caparella explained. "We can offer customization that is not found at most convention facilities." 

He also said, "We have done a survey and found that hotels don't usually have the technology that the convention centers have.... 

Ours is equal to that of all serious convention facilities of the country." 

Gaylord Palms is the first hotel to offer Cisco wireless office service. There is also a fiber-optic network for intranet among meeting rooms, exhibition hall, guest rooms and ballrooms. 

There are 1,406 guest rooms, including 106 suites and nine presidential suites. 

Caparella said 90 percent of all conventions can meet in the space available at Gaylord Palms. The convention area, with 400,000 square feet of meeting, exhibition and other space, can and has accommodated a convention with 5,000 attendees. 

"We serve as the anchor hotel, and the guests can overflow to other hotels in the area," he said. "But we can handle all their needs for food and meetings." And they do that in a huge staging area that was carefully planned behind the ballrooms and meeting rooms. 

In addition, the resort has teamed up with Canyon Ranch for a world-class spa and La Petite Academy Kids Station to provide an on-site, supervised, accredited kids' program. 

There is one other element that is perhaps the most important in the success of Gaylord Palms, Caparella said. That "element" is obvious when you visit and interact with employees. 

"We have made a promise that our stars (employees) will be treated with dignity and respect, that their opinion counts and that we value them," Caparella said. "When you value your employees, they serve your guests well." 

He said he meets with an employee advisory committee biweekly. 

The committee not only addresses employee issues but also customer satisfaction issues. 

"It's all about making a promise (to the employees) and keeping it," he said. 

This is a strategy that works, he said. "We have received early word that we are in the Orlando list of top 100 businesses to work for." 

In the future, Gaylord Hotels will be opening a Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, in the summer of 2004. The company's premier resort is Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn., with 2,883 guest rooms and 600,000 square feet of meeting, convention and exhibition space. 

The Gaylord brand has been added by Gaylord Entertainment to what was formerly Opryland Hotels and Resorts. 

Colin V. Reed, president, CEO of Gaylord Entertainment, said, "It is our goal that every property that bears the Gaylord name will reflect the vision of those who plan events as well as the vision of our company." 

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