Gaylord Entertainment says company positioned for growth despite abandoning development project

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., July 12 - Gaylord Entertainment Co. is shifting its attention to growth opportunities other than the recently abandoned Chula Vista, Calif., development project, Rob Tanner, Gaylord's director of investor relations, said during a presentation Thursday at the CIBC World Markets Consumer Growth Conference in Boston.

The company believes it is positioned for growth despite its announcement that it pulled out of the Chula Vista project this week due to demands from labor negotiators that would have increased costs, Tanner said.

"We're not going to confect any deals that do not deliver an adequate return for our shareholders," Tanner said.

"Our long-term growth strategy remains very much the same," he said later in the presentation.

The company expects growth to come through expansions of current assets, the capture and expansion of relationships with new and existing customers seeking meeting space, and the enhancement of options at existing locations by finding the appropriate operating or capital partner.

Gaylord also plans to grow the business by building smaller properties that will allow it to enter markets that would not support a large hotel, acquire assets to renovate, and manage properties that the company does not necessarily own, he said.

Tanner said the company believes its balance sheet will be able to sustain most of the intermediate- and short-term growth planned by the company.

Gaylord Entertainment is a Nashville-based hospitality and entertainment company.

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