About Mark Fioravanti
Mark Fioravanti, president and CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties, stated in January 2025 that the company owns five of the ten largest non-gaming convention resorts in the U.S. and is undertaking a $1 billion capital improvement plan over four years. He described supply-demand dynamics as "quite positive" in the large group space, with group business having recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Fioravanti noted that the company's balance sheet is in "terrific shape," with net leverage under four times and $1.5 billion in liquidity, and said all planned capital improvements can be financed from operating cash flow. He acknowledged short-term disruption from the expansions but said the long-term value creation is "quite compelling for shareholders."
In September 2024, Fioravanti said business levels had returned to pre-pandemic levels for room nights sold, with third-quarter revenue up 39% and profitability up 44% compared to the same period in 2019. He reported that group bookings for 2024 were 10% ahead of the prior year and 12% ahead for 2025. Fioravanti attributed the sustainability of pricing to investments made during the pandemic, when the company deployed approximately $1.7 billion in capital across enhancements, expansions, and acquisitions. He said the pandemic reinforced the importance of bringing large groups together for culture and strategy, driving a strong return to in-person meetings.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Mark Fioravanti's recent appearances.
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Transcript (12 segments)
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Host0:05
Welcome back. Take a look at shares of Ryman Hospitality. The lodging REIT rising yesterday on the earnings report. They own convention resorts and a couple of concert venues, and their strength is coming from the return of corporate bookings while leisure spending is declining. Here is the President and CEO, Mark, welcome to the show. Good to see you.
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Mark Fioravanti0:33
Thanks for having me, Kelly.
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Host0:38
I am familiar with the Grand Ole Opry, spent some time there. I think I saw Vince Gill there. Can you speak to whether this much hyped trend of spending on entertainment is something that you are seeing and is broad based, or what is going on with a little bit of this decline that you mentioned?
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Mark Fioravanti1:01
We are continuing to see broad-based spending across our businesses, both in the hotel business, as well as entertainment. On the hotel side, that is both in the group business and our hotels are primarily large convention hotels with 70% of our business being group. We're seeing strong spending there, both in terms of rate and outside the room spending in areas like banqueting. We're also seeing it on the leisure side. As we look into the fourth quarter, we're seeing solid leisure demand with our sales up, our pace of sales up in the fourth quarter over the last year, which was a record for us.
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Host1:41
With moderation of regular vacation rates declining, is that right?
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Mark Fioravanti1:46
Our leisure rates are holding up, as well as outside the room spending. What we are seeing is a stronger growth trend coming out of the pandemic on the group side.
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Host1:58
Absolutely. How much more does that have to run, where are we compared with prepandemic levels and how much further could that go?
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Mark Fioravanti2:06
From a perspective in this third quarter, we were 39% of revenue versus the third quarter of 2019; profitability was up 44%. As we look at our group business moving forward, our business on the books for 2024 is 10% ahead of where it was at the same time last year. We're up 12% for 2025, compared to the same time last year.
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Host2:34
That's so interesting. So basically, the corporate is back, and your results are much better than they were prepandemic. Do you think that's sustainable?
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Mark Fioravanti2:43
We do. The reason we think it's sustainable is a couple of reasons. Number one, the pandemic made everyone realize you have to bring people together, particularly large groups, if you want to talk about culture strategy, products, et cetera. So coming out of the pandemic, there was a strong move back to bringing people together. I think the other issue that's driving some of our growth is, we have made significant investments in our properties since 2020. We looked at the pandemic as an opportunity to go on the offensive, and we deployed approximately $1.7 billion in capital across both our businesses, whether that's enhancements, expansions, or acquisitions in new properties.
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Host3:32
You have major complexes in San Antonio, I mentioned Nashville, Kissimmee, Florida, Grapevine, Texas, Colorado, even in Maryland at National Harbor. So that CapEx is paying off. How much are higher prices driving returns and is that a trend where we are seeing moderation?
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Mark Fioravanti3:49
Higher prices are driving returns. We are seeing, though, that business levels have returned to prepandemic levels in terms of the — part of the issue, we think that the pricing is sustainable, because we haven't invested in the properties. We have enhanced the product and the experience. Consumers look for value, they don't necessarily just look at price.
