Melissa Frederick, The Examiner
2008-04-25 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

The Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Prince George’s County is expecting around 1,000 individuals to attend its invitation-only grand opening Friday, including a number of local and national public officials.

Gaylord’s event (which is followed by a black-tie gala in the evening) comes after the hotel held its soft opening April 1, when the rest of the National Harbor development made its debut.

The hotel had a shaky start. In its first week, dozens of guests complained of stomach problems, which were attributed to the norovirus. The next week, health officials responded to complaints of mice in the rooms and hallways, which were addressed after it was found a construction company did not properly seal the building.

Despite the snafus, the hotel began breaking hospitality records before it even opened. It had one million rooms pre-booked last June, which is the fastest a hotel has reached that milestone. It now has 1.5 million rooms pre-sold through 2018.

Spokeswoman Amie Gorrell would not say how many of those rooms are booked in 2008, but added the hotel is not yet sold out for events this year. Corporations such as Harley-Davidson, Procter & Gamble Co. and Goodyear have already booked conventions at the facility.

The hotel is expected to be competition for the D.C. Convention Center. Destination DC, which runs the convention center, has booked 43 events for 2008, according to spokeswoman Carla Barry-Austin.

Gaylord is in discussions about joining Destination DC, Washington’s official tourism promoter, according to Gorrell.

The $865 million Gaylord facility is the largest hotel and convention center on the eastern seaboard. It features seven restaurants, a 20,000 square-foot European spa, a dance club and vodka infusion bar, among other attractions.

Calabasas, Calif.-based ValleyCrest Landscape Communities designed a 30-acre, $12 million landscape project for the center, which includes a colonial garden, a tree-lined river walk, and more than 40,000 flowers.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com