Ryman is paying $1.38 billion for two Orlando hotels that netted $10.4 million. Someone has to make up the difference, and it will not be Ryman.
The math is roughly $867,000 per key across 1,592 keys. For context on what Ryman already owns, its portfolio runs to 12,364 rooms across five Gaylord resorts (also a Marriott flag) and two more JW Marriotts, so this single transaction adds about 13% to its room count and introduces Ritz-Carlton to the company for the first time. For context, high luxury hotel rooms typically run about $1MM/key but that’s usually brand new construction and only a third of these keys would fall into that category. In short, this seems high.
According to Ryman’s own press release,Grande Lakes generated net income of $10,414,000 in the twelve months ended June 30, 2026. Add back $57,754,000 of net interest expense, $39,844,000 of depreciation and $1,993,000 of ownership-structure items, and you get adjusted EBITDA of $110,005,000. Ryman is paying 12.5 times that figure. Against the $1.38 billion price, the bottom-line profit is a return of about 0.75%. Those figures are likely why the hotels were available, and also indicate the high price (it had to be high to get a deal done.)
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.
