Gaylord Entertainment reported a 91 percent drop in income for the second quarter as fewer people are attending conventions at its hotels.
The hotel chain, which owns the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, reported net income of $8.78 million compared to $106.8 million in the second quarter of 2007 when the company had a one-time gain of $140.3 million from the sale of its investment in Bass Pro Group.Revenues, however, grew 36 percent to $258.2 million, up from $189.3 million in the same quarter in 2007. The company said it has booked more room nights for 2009 than they had for 2008 at this time last year through its group sales contracts. But executives added that net definitie bookings for future years has dropped 17 percent as conventions expect fewer members to attend.“We are seeing higher than historic attrition levels across the brand, which have affected occupancy and will likely continue for the remainder of the year,” said Colin Reed, chief executive. “We are confident, however, in our business model, the contractual protection we have and our ability to maximize profits given this difficult operating environment.”Of its four properties, the Gaylord Texan was the only one to see a slight decrease in revenue to $48.0 million, compared to $48.4 million in the same period last year. Revenue per available room increased 1 percent to $132.56.In mid-day trading, shares of Gaylord [ticker: GET] had dropped 9 percent, trading around $28.80 at 11:00 a.m. CDT.Andrea Ahles, (817) 548-5523
