Colin V. Reed, Gaylord's president/CEO and Michael Rose, company chairman, couldn't be reached by GlobeSt.com at publication deadline for comment on their strategy. But hospitality industry brokers, familiar with the executives' plans, tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity that Reed and Rose are betting heavily their Orlando operation will help pull the company out of the red and possibly save their jobs as well.

Largely due to non-hospitality acquisitions in the last two years, Gaylord Entertainment lost $237.3 million in the first nine months of 2001. In 2001, the Tennessee company lost $153.5 million on revenue of $514.4 million. In 1999, Gaylord showed a profit of $349.8 million.

So confident their Orlando Gaylord Palms undertaking will be a winner, Reed and Rose convinced a New York lender consortium in October 2001 to loan the company $210 million to complete construction at the Kissimmee, FL-based resort and convention center.