Meeting News - March 1, 2010 - (Page 48)

Dateline: Tennessee Gaylord Sees Mtg. Demand Start To Climb Gaylord Entertainment Group, parent company of Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center and three other large meeting properties, in February reported lower 2009 revenues for Opryland but said advance meeting and group bookings started to pick up in the latter months of the year. Gaylord reported that Opryland generated $247.1 million in 2009 revenue, down nearly 17 percent from 2008, and saw occupancy fall 9.4 percentage points. However, Gaylord-wide advance group bookings in the fourth quarter were up 8.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008, net of attrition and cancellation. “While net advance bookings were down year over year, an 8.7 percent quarter-overquarter improvement gives us confidence that meeting and convention groups will continue to return to our hotels in the years to come,” said Gaylord chairman and CEO Colin Reed. Reed also described Gaylord’s collection of cancellation and attrition fees as “aggressive.” —Chris Davis Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Resort Knoxville To Spend Stimulus Money On Conv. Center Solar Panels Knoxville, Tenn., officials want to spend $250,000 in federal stimulus money to install solar panels on the roof of the Knoxville Convention Center, the city said in February. The funds—part of a $2 million U.S. Department of Energy grant as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act— would pay for approximately 25 percent of the $1 million project. Pending authorization, the panels could be installed and generating electricity as soon as 2012, officials said. —Matt Alderton .. the. w Kno ta Got e ou’v Y CO LE IL V X NO K E NV N TIO N E NT R DID YOU KNOW? The Knoxville Convention Center has 500,000 sq. ft. of ﬂexible meeting space, a 27,000 sq. ft. ballroom, a 461-seat lecture hall and so much more! Most importantly of all, it has everything you need to BOOK YOUR NEXT EVENT! 48 MeetingNews March 1, 2010 www.meetingnews.com http://www.Knoxville.org/meetings/kcc http://www.Knoxville.org/meetings/kcc http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - March 1, 2010

Meeting News - March 1, 2010
Contents
Newsmaker
Meetings Spotlight
Viewpoint
Event Profile
Meeting People
Travel Dashboard
Construction Cites
MeetingNews Research
Citywide Meetings
Dateline: Florida
Mid-America Regional
Dateline: Tennessee

Meeting News - March 1, 2010