The purchase makes sense if you look at who is still spending money on hotels. Upscale travelers are now considered the most reliable customer group in the hotel business, and Ryman is leaning into that trend.
That mix of large resort and convention space and luxury amenities fits right into Ryman's existing portfolio, which already includes the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa and the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee.
Ryman is not just a hotel company. It runs large conference and resort properties where groups book hundreds of rooms at a time. Adding a Ritz-Carlton to that lineup gives the company a new slice of the high-end leisure market, the kind of traveler who books a spa weekend rather than a convention.
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This is a big purchase, and Ryman is not paying for all of it with cash on hand.
The seller has been in this deal for a while. Trinity Investments and Elliott Investment Management bought the resort together in 2018 as partners. After the purchase, they poured money into a large renovation and also built a water park on the property. In 2023, Trinity said the venture refinanced the resort using a $750 million CMBS loan, which is a type of loan backed by commercial real estate.
There is also some noise around Ryman's other business. A June report from Bloomberg News said the company was looking into selling its stake in Opry Entertainment Group, which owns the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium. That would be a shift away from its entertainment roots, but the company has not confirmed anything.
The price tag stands out even for Florida, where big resort sales have been happening. BDT & MSD Partners paid $750 million for the Four Seasons Orlando, and Bass Pro Shops spent more than $300 million on an Islamorada fishing lodge with a long history. Ryman's deal is larger than both of those put together.
That gap shows how much demand there is for premium resort properties in a state that draws tourists year-round. It also shows that investors see Orlando as more than a theme park town. The Grande Lakes property offers something different: a resort experience that does not require a park ticket.
The bottom line: Ryman is putting real money behind the idea that luxury travel will keep growing. The company is also giving itself options by selling stock and potentially trimming its entertainment business. For investors, the question is whether that bet pays off as the deal closes in the third quarter and the company takes over a property that has already been through one big renovation cycle.
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