Yesterday morning, Gaylord Entertainment CEO Colin Reed spoke to more than 200 Chamber members about the chain of events at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center during the May flood, and provided new information about the company's ongoing recovery process.
Reed emphasized the importance of having a disaster/emergency plan in place – no matter the size of your business – to enable you to respond as quickly as possible in the face of a disaster. He credits Gaylord’s extensive disaster planning with the smooth and successful evacuation of thousands of hotel guests to a nearby high school. When asked to provide an estimated cost-benefit analysis for creating a disaster plan, Reed replied, "You can’t do a cost-benefit analysis on the possibility of losing lives." Reed added if Gaylord didn’t have the plans, resources and people in place on the evening of the flood, many hotel guests might not have survived.
Gaylord’s recovery process is well underway and includes more than $20 million in renovations, such as revamped suites and two new restaurants. Reed again credits disaster planning as one of the reasons the company has been able not only to rebuild, but to continue taking reservations despite being forced to remain closed since the weekend of the flood. In fact, the hotel has booked more than 300,000 room nights for the first six months of 2011, which represents a 10 percent increase in advance bookings from this point a year ago.
Prior to reopening the hotel in November, the company plans to have a grand re-opening party, and has recently started re-hiring from the pool of employees they had to let go. Reed estimated 80 percent of the employees they laid off will be re-hired.
Read the Nashville Business Journal article for more highlights from yesterday’s presentation, and view the video below from NewsChannel 5 for Reed’s recount of events at Opryland Hotel during the flood.