The funding, which also will be used for general corporatepurposes, is for the 1,500-room project in Grapevine, TX and a1,400-room Opryland Hotel Florida. The Florida hotel is set to openFeb. 2, 2002, and Grapevines in spring 2003. The $200-millionfinancing is being secured by the 2,884-room Opryland HotelNashville.

The FL and TX hotels boast 400,000 sf of meeting and exhibitspace, promoting a strategy to enable convention groups to rotatemeetings among all Opryland-branded properties, according to DaveJones, president and CEO of Gaylord's hospitality group. TheFlorida development hopes to lure travelers from the Northeastwhile Texas is geared to attracting those in the West.

"Our clients are speaking volumes by booking business even asconstruction continues. We have almost 600,000 room nights undercontract in Florida already, and we have reserved another 700,000room nights for contracts and proposals in negotiation," Jonessays.