Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc at JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. That's really helpful. And so I guess, just to paraphrase right, 80% of those cancel -- that's planned cancellations for the next 3 months? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 / 10:45PM, RHP.N - Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc at JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : And we're still living in a Delta world, and so a pessimist was okay, well, then what you could see an elevated cancellation activity rolling forward as long as Delta is a problem. Maybe take the flip side of that in a more positive way, how is this level of cancellations during Delta different than prior waves? Is it getting better -- is it better than before. And so there's no real question there, but I guess the point is like which side of the ledger should we look, how should be look at?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Because of the rebooking?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And just so we understand, when you say near-term booking, i.e., 100% of fees are probably due is everything between August and October for an August booking considered short term? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 / 10:45PM, RHP.N - Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc at JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. All right. Got it. So like all 80% is we're talking like full fee. And when you -- and back -- and this is my later question, but I'll ask you now. Back in early COVID, it was very -- it was not conventional for what -- to do what you guys were doing, which is basically retain these bookings and win -- and give these guys their fees back to retain the loyalty and build a book. And so my question later was going to be, are you going to gain share on the backside of of this. But the second part of that question is now, is that still the balancing act of letting -- waiving some of the fees if it's a really important client? Or are we taking all these fees in?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. That's helpful. Maybe you could just talk about your individual markets. I know that there's no travel restrictions or mass mandates at any of your properties or any of your markets that your properties are in. But obviously, certain markets have higher prevalence rates of the virus. And so maybe just which markets are doing better than other markets right now? Is there any Delta going -- or sorry, Delta bad word, is there a differentiation between the markets?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : And on the National, which I have a couple of questions on that. The ramp, is it -- would you say it's similar to how the other properties ramped in May opened? Or is it better because it's opening later in a better environment?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Got it.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : And then you mentioned the union, and this goes into one of the questions I had for you later on cost, but everybody knows about the labor shortage within hospitality right now, it's obviously industry-wide. Are you having the same problems on the portfolio? But also as for the DC, does the union structuration make it easier for you to get labor back in that hotel?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 / 10:45PM, RHP.N - Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc at JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And on costs and margins, and I don't know if you guys have given any -- I don't think you've given any specific guidance to this, some of your peers have. What is Ryman's margin structure look like on the other side of this at similar demand and mix levels of 2019, look it qualitatively?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. I want to get back to the demand side and ask about leisure versus corporate or leisure versus corporate group. I guess I could kind of bunch those together, the second two. But when you talk about Delta impact and a little bit of softening, is that mostly group-oriented comment? Have you seen any impact on the leisure side or transient, I guess, you'd call it.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : And you guys have had to pivot toward leisure and you've come up with all kinds of new entertainment and things to build into the schedules and agendas of your transient guests and we heard a lot about that last year. When we go to the other side is even by winter, I mean, do you feel like some of your leisure occupancy will -- or some of your group and business occupancy will permanently be sort of sold to leisure transient because you've done it well. Do you think that's going to be a permanent mix shift for you?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : COVID generalization.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. The rate story, right, for the industry as a whole, I think, is shocked us all in terms of how fast and steep the rate recovery was. And I know you guys have good rate metrics on your forward group bookings when you benchmark to '19. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 / 10:45PM, RHP.N - Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc at JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum Before we talk about the group bookings, but just what do you think drove -- take us into the revenue manager's room back in COVID and when we were starting to increase rate without occupancies necessarily being that high. How do you think you as well as the industry were able to get that recovery rate?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. That's helpful. And speaking of the big box hotels, when you look at supply coming over the next 2 to 5 years, what does the landscape look like pipeline, I guess, for hotels of your stature and size?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : What's different about this dynamic?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : They've got the same -- something exact same with you're guys is. That was a joke.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : I actually have a question about Las Vegas because if you think about what Las Vegas is doing, which is adding tons of new -- like new offerings, right? They have -- they now have an NFL team. They have the sphere coming with [MS Sushan] of all these live shows that are in state of the art big sphere thing. And I guess the question is when you talk to your big corporate customers that have annually -- every year, huge events, is the draw to Las Vegas from -- are they getting calls from meeting planners in Las Vegas that every year, they have another thing that can offer them. Is that something that's pulling your customers more towards Las Vegas because in terms of supply growth, yes, there is supply growth there. And there's also a network effect of other things that your competitor here would be able to offer the convention guests.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : There's a lot of work can be done... REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 / 10:45PM, RHP.N - Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc at JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : I want to take a quick pause and make sure that anyone on the webcast or in the audience knows they can submit a question really easily through the website, the conference website. And I've been hitting refresh every 10 seconds up here. So I will see it. If you want to ask a question. Anyone in the audience have a question? Okay. Great. So everyone's -- well, my favorite question, entertainment business. Solid grower, obviously, consistently, 10% of 2019 EBITDA, I think, roughly. What is the future of this business? What does it look like? And how do you unlock the value -- the full value of that?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Got it. Okay. And in the past, I think you guys have said that the Entertainment business does ultimately should exist outside of the company. And so I guess the question is, how big is critical mass? And at what point does -- is there no synergy from that business being part of your portfolio?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Or to go to a different company?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Right, that could -- for the growth and grow it. So on the physical asset side, on the hotel side, Rockies obviously worked out really well, right? That was a multistage deal for you. Talk about the next -- the markets on the short list of where you would want to be in the next 10 to 20 years, right, to extend the Gaylord brand, what would make the most sense? And what type of partnership structure would probably make the more sense?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And in terms of the structure, the JV structure that the Rockies -- the way you did with Rockies, did that turn out as ideal as you'd want it to? Is there things you would have done differently about that once we think about the way that you might do the next one? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 / 10:45PM, RHP.N - Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc at JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : I know you were probably very excited about that Austin deal. And obviously, you stepped away from it in the middle of COVID. Do you still think that was the right choice? Would you -- or I guess it's a pretty unanswerable question, but what -- I mean, is that the market still on your short list of places you'd want to be?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. Great. And then just in terms of leverage and capital allocation, maybe remind us where the balance sheet is today? When do you see it getting back to your target leverage levels, and sort of what's on your mind in terms of capital allocation when you sort get into that primary range eventually?

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : In that period of time where you don't have to pay the -- do you have the sense of that length of time? Is that something you could share in terms of how long you think get that...

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. Perfect. Anymore questions from inside the room? Okay. I think that's it. Todd, Jennifer, thanks so much for being with us today. Hope you enjoy Las Vegas.

Question: Brandt Antoine Montour - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : It's the same is here as it is on your property.