Custom «Gaylord Opryland Hotel» Essay Paper Sample

In the recent past there have been numerous natural disasters that have wrecked havoc in many parts of the world. The effects of these disasters have been felt mostly on social and economic level since it has taken the government and the private sector several months / years and thousands of dollars to reconstruct the destroyed infrastructure. Some of the most recent natural disasters to affect the world are the Haiti disaster and the Nashville floods. This research paper is going to cover the following areas in reference to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel; Background of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, events that led to the interruption of services at the hotel, issues identified in initial meetings and finally the project description. According to FS, the Gaylard Opryland Hotel is one of the best and largest hotels to be ever designed in Nashville T.N America. The hotel consists of more than 2700 rooms and 200 suites.

The unique feature about this magnificent hotel is that it is the largest non-casino hotel in America. The history of the Gaylord dates backs to the early 1900 when two families (Gaylord and Dicksons) entered into publishing business. It was not until 1925 when the two business partners formed the Oklahoma Publishing Company. The Opryland Hotel opened its door in 1977 and in 1983 Gaylord purchased the Grand Ole Opry hotel and the Opryland Hotel for an estimated cost of $250 million. From then the hotel was expanded in different phases before it was hit by floods.

According to Santos, the flooding of the Cumberland River in May, 2010 after weeks and weeks of heavy downpour caused flooding not only in Nashville but it also affected the operations of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It was also reported that at least 21 people lost their lives in the floods that also affected the towns of Mississippi and Kentucky. The more than 1,500 guests at the hotel were evacuated overnight and had to spend the night at the nearby high school. There were several negative effects that the closure of the hotel as a result of flooding had to the company and the community in general. First negative effect was that the hotel had to be closed for renovations; this meant that most of its employees were sent home. The last negative effect was that since the hotel was not in operation, it lost millions of dollars in business. On a positive note though none of the 2,800 rooms and suites were affected and this meant that the renovation process would be faster than expected.

The indefinite closure of the hotel left many people from the staff, guests, shareholders and stakeholders devastated since none of them knew when the hotel was likely to be back in operation. For six months before the hotel was reopened there were several meetings between the contractors, suppliers and management on the renovations that were to be carried out on the premises. Some of the hotel areas that were redesigned and renovated are the presidential suites, the magnolia guest rooms and the cascades lobby. The bars and restaurants were also redesigned and the management came up with new menus for the wild client bases. The new inclusions on the menu include the following; Ravello, Solario, The Falls and the Cocoa Bean. The reopening of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel after six months closure was welcomed by the shareholders as well as the guests. The main beneficiaries of the reopening were however the employees who secured their jobs back.