Marriott International Inc. has announced plans to acquire the Gaylord brand, and management of the Gaylord Entertainment Company's four U.S.-based hotels for US$210 million, conditioned on legalese (shareholder approval of Gaylord's conversion into a real estate investment trust). Gaylord will continue to own its existing hotels and Marriott will assume management of them under long-term agreements. The transaction will add 4 hotels and approximately 7,800 rooms to Marriott’s portfolio: the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee; the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Florida (near Orlando); the Gaylord Texan on Lake Grapevine near Dallas; and the Gaylord National on the Potomac in National Harbor, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.)—that's a total of 2 million square feet of meeting and event space. The transaction is expected to close by October. For more information, read the Washington Post article here.