D.C. Gaylord to Open in '08
By Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/7/2007
After two years of construction and one more to go, the Gaylord Natl. Resort and Convention Center in Natl. Harbor, Md., has an official opening date. The 2,000-room resort, with more than 470,000 square feet of meeting, exhibit and pre-function space, will open April 25.
Gaylord Hotels also named Sheldon Suga senior vice president and general manager of the property.
The exhibit hall will be a short walk from many hotel rooms. Planners will also have access to an adjoining 20,000 sq. ft. outdoor covered patio that can be used to extend breaks and receptions from the exhibit hall to an outdoor waterfront setting. The 300-acre Natl. Harbor waterfront development site will offer five more hotels with 1,000 additional guestrooms, all within walking distance of the Gaylord property.
Suga said the exhibit hall's most unique feature will be its view. One complete side will have floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the Potomac River. The facility will offer meeting and tradeshow planners "exhibit space that's like nothing else they've ever seen in Washington, D.C., or the entire mid-Atlantic region for that matter," he added.
John Caparella, Gaylord Hotels executive vice president and CEO, said the facility would satisfy the desire of many meeting planners for a quality, state-of-the-art convention facility within a short distance of the U.S. capital.
