Specializing in mammoth properties that offer everything a meeting will need under one roof, Gaylord Hotels is quite adept at going big, but another key meetings differentiator is its personalized service for events of any size.
This high standard of service ranges from its Teal Coats—the nickname for its teal-blazered Event Experience Managers—to Celebrity Services and event planning teams that serve as onsite partners dedicated to executing a successful meeting.
[Related: Gaylord Pacific Set to Launch a West Coast Game-Changer]
Teal Coats
Every meeting is assigned a Teal Coat as its dedicated single point of contact throughout the event, ensuring seamless execution and applying their problem-solving skills as property experts.
Introduced to meeting planners ahead of their arrival onsite, Teal Coats can help manage all on-floor operations and are fully locked on to the planning team’s schedules and preferences.
“The role of the Teal Coat is to provide onsite daily support for the meeting planner, and really, they're attached at the hip with our planners,” said Russ Mitchell, DOSM for the newest Gaylord property, the San Diego area’s $1.3 billion Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center set for a mid-May opening. “They're available to take care of last-minute setups, or if a speaker walks into a room and they don't like a particular way that the setup is, or if there's last-minute audiovisual needs, VIP requests or a change to a rooming list.”
Celebrity Services
A unique Gaylord Hotels offering, the Celebrity Services team specializes in personalized services for groups’ VIP attendees. Offered as an add-on option, these Gaylord team members can arrange services such as airport pickups and private VIP check-ins, catering to a meeting’s select guests from arrival to departure.
The brand is well-versed in catering to the needs of VIP customers, as Gaylord traces its beginnings back to the founding of Nashville’s venerable Grand Ole Opry in 1925 as Gaylord Entertainment Company.
“Celebrity services really goes to the experience of the brand and Gaylord’s history in the entertainment world, and are designed to take care of our groups’ VIPs,” Mitchell said. “Services can include arranging the experience from the moment of arrival in town, where we set up town car services, to the arrival experience, where they're basically shuttled behind the front desk and given a really high-level, high-touch experience into the hotel.”
Celebrity services can also set up restaurant reservations and smooth the departure process at the end of the stay.
[Related: Gaylord's West Coast Expansion and More, With DOSM Russ Mitchell]
Purpose-Built for Meetings
With more than 9,000 employees, which Gaylord calls its “Stars,” the expanding Marriott brand—with Gaylord Pacific its sixth property—prides itself on being a one-stop shop for everything a meeting needs, all under one massive roof.
“When we talk about it being purpose-built and you look at this model, you see the amount of space that we have under one roof and the ability to accommodate events, whether it's in the meeting spaces or in our outdoor event spaces or restaurant spaces,” Mitchell said. “We've really tried to create the all-inclusive destination resort for meetings—groups don't have to leave the property or deal with some of the logistics that go with moving people offsite.”
The ample onsite amenities and personalized service all add up to repeat clients for a brand that now features an option, or two, in every time zone in the contiguous U.S.
“Once our customers come into the brand, we've seen there's a lot of loyalty because of a certain niche market that this brand meets,” he said. “Once they come in and they experience some of the touches, like our Celebrity Services or our Teal Coats, it just brings them back time and time again.”
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Gaylord Hotels
This article was created in partnership with Gaylord Hotels.
