The sale price is subject to adjustment based on certain provisions of the agreement. The transaction is anticipated to close in June. After the transaction is completed, the hotel will retain its current name and will remain branded as a full-service Marriott resort. Vail Resorts, through its Vail Resorts Lodging Co. subsidiary, will continue to manage the resort for 15 years under a management contract with DiamondRock.

Vail Resorts purchased the 345-room hotel in December 2001. Included in the original purchase were the hotel and two adjacent parcels of developable land. The land parcels, which have been earmarked for key real estate development, are not included as part of the hotel's sale.

"With this price tag, Vail Resorts is thrilled with this sale of the Vail Marriott," says Adam Aron, Vail Resort's chairman and chief executive officer. "We will retain management of the hotel for at least 15 years, at the same time being able to implement our strategy of capitalizing on current robust hotel market valuations. Indeed, the price we will receive for the foregone cash flow streams resulting from the hotel's sale represents a significant premium of more than 50% above the cash flow stream multiples at which the resort business of Vail Resorts has traditionally been valued."

Vail Resort's subsidiaries operate the mountain resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado, Heavenly in California and Nevada, and the Grand Teton Lodge Co. in Jackson Hole, WY. The company's subsidiary, RockResorts, a luxury resort hotel company, manages "casually elegant" properties across the US.