Slated for completion in 2028, the re-envisioned Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas will include 800,000 sf of exhibit space, 430,000 square feet of breakout space, and a walkable entertainment district with new retail, hotels and restaurants. Courtesy Rendering

Like the legendary cowboy culture, Tex-Mex cuisine, strong southern hospitality and a profound love for football, meetings are big in the state of Texas. This partnership has a long history and the reason is simple: Texas is jam-packed with events spaces of all shapes and sizes, vibrant cultural scenes and some great food. Coastal regions like Corpus Christi and Galveston draw groups thatlike to meet near beaches. Dallas and Houston have renowned restaurants, sports teams and airports with easy national and international access. Houston also draws medical conventions with its stellar medical facilities. Fort Worth has renowned museums and the famous stockyards, and every group that meets in San Antonio loves the River Walk, not to mention the chance to explore big ranches and rodeos, the Alamo and other historic sites.

Fort Worth 

The International Parking & Mobility Institute held its IPMI Conference & Expo in Fort Worth during the summer, with 2,400 in attendance. It was a good fit for Rita Pagan, DES, director, events and exhibits in Fredericksburg, VA.

“We’re always looking for locations that provide entertainment, dining and attractions for our attendees,” said Pagan. “They should be safe, walkable and ideally in a community or destination of interest professionally and personally. We want our attendees to be able to explore outside of our event while they’re visiting the location we’ve chosen.” However, she added, “It can be a challenge to keep room rates within a certain range to ensure that our public and municipal members can easily participate and budget to attend each year.”

The 17th-largest city in the United States, Fort Worth has a rich history and atmosphere, and it is one of the premier meeting destinations in the nation, as it has plenty of things to do and see. “You may not always have time to get out while attending a conference, but we were able to bring Fort Worth to them,” said Pagan. “Our opening event at the River Ranch Stockyards provided a taste of the city and its history, and it’s being hailed as one of our best welcome events ever.”

It helps to have a good partner. “Visit Fort Worth was the perfect partner in helping us bring this meeting to fruition,” Pagan noted. “They were vital in helping us access experts and information about things our attendees may be interested in. From start to finish, they made the process easy and assisted at every corner of the event process.”

The Fort Worth Convention Center has great space and Pagan’s group utilized almost all of it. Being able to take over an entire convention center creates great networking for attendees, without the confusion of other hosted events interacting in the same space. “It’s always challenging to plan the smaller details of an event when you’re not local, so the Visit Fort Worth staff were always available to answer my questions and offer solutions — even to questions they had never had anyone ask before,” added Pagan.

As for hotels, the group used seven smaller hotels plus the Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth as the headquarters hotel. According to Pagan, the beautiful property, restaurants and entertainment helped set the atmosphere for their attendees. Her best advice to planners considering Fort Worth is simple: “Use your partnership with Visit Fort Worth to the fullest. They were amazing!”

Dallas

There are two types of people in this world. Texans and everyone else. From the city to the beach, the coast is more than their part of the state. In Dallas, planners find one of the largest contiguous urban arts districts in the nation, spanning 68 acres. After work, attendees can take a stroll through the district to visit some of Dallas’ most significant cultural landmarks, all conveniently located in the heart of Downtown Dallas.

The 267-room JW Marriott Dallas Arts District, the first JW Marriott in the city, opened over the summer with 20,000 sf of meeting space, a rooftop pool and a collection of regional art. Also open in the city’s Harwood District is Hotel Swexan. As the name suggests, the 134-room family-owned hotel melds Swiss heritage with Texas hospitality.

San Antonio

San Antonio hosted the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) over the summer. Heather Smith, CMP, meetings manager for the group calls the city a great destination. ONS met there for its 47th Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress during the spring. The event drew 3,000 professional attendees and 1,500 exhibitors and others to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

“We rotate our conference among east, west and central cities. San Antonio has proven to be a great destination in the central United States. There are hotels within easy walking distance of the convention center and the adjacent River Walk gives attendees somewhere to go after a busy day of learning. There’s ample airlift and we never have to worry about snow in the spring. The fact that it’s a big city yet still has everything we and our attendees need in a relatively condensed footprint makes it a good fit for us.”

Like Pagan, Smith has high praise for the city’s CVB and convention center. Visit San Antonio went above and beyond to make sure they were well taken care of. They led the group on a great planning site visit, helped them find local speakers, entertainment and restaurants, and in general, just made sure they had everything they needed.

“The center’s staff and the in-house vendor staff were extremely nice and accommodating, especially with any center or destination-specific questions or details. It was never hard to reach someone, and it was clear they cared about our event and its success,” said Smith.

ONS used the Stars at Night and Hemisfair ballrooms at the convention center, along with the meeting rooms in between and below. “Having our larger sessions in the ballrooms and smaller sessions in the rooms in between allowed for a simple flow for our attendees. It’s always nice when the session rooms can be in one area, for both attendees and staff,” she said, adding, “The location of the main dining outlet right outside the exhibit hall and main entrance to the building was also excellent. Our attendees and exhibitors were frequently going there to grab a quick bite or drink. The menu and food quality are a step above other centers. We had beautiful weather while there, so we often found people taking their food outside the main entrance to enjoy the sunshine.”

Because ONS also holds multiple satellite symposia at the headquarter or co-headquarter hotels throughout each day, Smith said it is important that those hotels have ballrooms large enough to accommodate the group’s needs and be within a short walk of the convention center so attendees can easily walk back and forth between educational sessions.

Smith didn’t experience any real challenges, even with the issue of the meeting overlapping with FIESTA, a celebration commemorating the memory of The Alamo, which includes a parade. Visit San Antonio made sure they had the events calendar and everything else they needed to prepare.

“It did create compression with the hotels, but due to San Antonio’s diligence, we were well prepared for that and planned our housing accordingly,” she said. “They made us well aware of any street closures near our hotels, so we could plan if needed.”

In the end, none of the closures impacted the attendees as everything was open to pedestrians and nothing related to the festival happened directly outside the center or their two HQ hotels. As a bonus, the venue offered them a unique opportunity to engage in the local culture and partake in FIESTA after conference hours.

“Everything from the genuine kindness of the people you work with to the local food and weather makes San Antonio a great destination,” added Smith.

The city has several hotels in the pipeline that will be of interest to groups. Kimpton plans to debut its first San Antonio property late next year. Located in downtown, it is a part new-build and part adaptive reuse of an 1850s-original schoolhouse. Bridging the historic buildings, the courtyard and its natural foliage will become an outdoor entertainment and event venue. In addition to the courtyard, the hotel will feature more than 11,000 sf of flexible meeting and event space, inclusive of a 5,000 sf ballroom. An existing downtown hotel will soon transform into the boutique Plaza San Antonio Hotel & Spa with 21,171 sf of indoor meeting space. It is slated to open next year.

The 121-room Artista San Antonio is a new build on River Walk and may possibly open by next year. Also coming to River Walk late next year is the InterContinental San Antonio, a 391-room hotel with 40,000 sf of meeting space.

Austin

Austin offers amenities for work and play, with new hotels, growing flights and unique meeting spaces. Within a few walk-able blocks you’ll also find the Lady Bird Lake Hike & Bike Trail, legendary live music venues and some of the best margaritas in the country.

Meeting spaces like the Austin Convention Center, the Palmer Events Center and the Travis County Exposition Center round out Austin’s large-scale meeting facilities.

The CitizenM Austin Downtown is scheduled to open with 344 rooms less than a mile from the convention center, and the 129-room EVEN Hotel Austin Uptown plans for a December opening. A Hyatt Centric opened on Congress Avenue with 246 rooms and the unique Recording Lounge, which can accommodate a six-person group in a space inspired by the city’s rich musical heritage. Finally, starting in 2025, the Austin Convention Center will begin its much-anticipated expansion.

The AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, located in a culturally rich and innovative neighborhood, offers luxury accommodations in a sustainable setting. Everything from the concrete in the walls to the soap in their dispensers was reviewed and evaluated based on its environmental impact. The hotel is near many restaurants and museums. Planners and their attendees can experience the energy of being on The University of Texas campus, in Downtown Austin, and near the football stadium and Texas Capitol.

Galveston 

TCEA, a nonprofit association of educators working to advance learning with technology in Austin, TX, held its Elementary Technology Conference on Galveston over the summer. After virtual conferences in 2020 and 2021, the group returned to fully in-person events. For them, registration hasn’t yet reached pre-pandemic levels, but 950 attended this year’s conference. Lori Gracey, CAE, executive director, said her group loves Galveston.

“There’s a range of housing options (both quality and price) that are close to the convention center. Our attendees are educators, and this location allows them to attend the conference and also bring their families for a summer beach vacation. Galveston Island offers many different types of activities appealing to our attendees,” said Gracey.

The group was based at San Luis Resort, Spa & Conference Center and used the Galveston Island Convention Center at the resort. “The convention center looks directly out at the beach and so provides a wonderful atmosphere,” Gracey said. “It has enough meeting space to accommodate our multiple sessions, a large exhibit hall that can house both our meals and exhibitors in the same space and a pre-function area where we have adequate space for registration and other activities. The only thing that doesn’t quite work for our event is hosting large presentations or featured speakers in the exhibit hall. The convention center doesn’t have carpet in the exhibit halls, so the sound quality is poor for these types of sessions in those rooms.”

Sammy Unberhagen, director of exhibits, sponsorships & events for the group, said the hotel was chosen because of its proximity to the convention center, attractions, restaurants and the beach. Everything their attendees needed was a walk or a short drive away, he said.

“Visit Galveston was very helpful. They provided our attendees with a savings pass that contained discounts on dining and other attractions around the area,” said Unberhagen. “They were onsite at our conference to ensure attendees were signed up for the pass and to answer any questions about the area. They’ve been an excellent resource for things happening on the island and services for our event.”

Gracey praised both the hotel and convention center’s staff as being friendly and informative. According to her, the banquet team at the convention center did an amazing job attending to their guests. Some of the most positive feedback Gracey received from their attendees was about the quality of the food served and the service from the in-house AV team at the convention center from the San Luis Resort.

“Utilize Visit Galveston,” said Unberhagen. “They’re a great resource for everything Galveston-related. They truly want each organization’s event to be a tremendous success and will do everything they can to ensure that happens.”

The Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) in Austin, TX, also held its summer conference on Galveston over the summer, based at Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa & Convention Center, which encompasses all of the above, as well as a golf course and attractions all in one spot. The conference draws more than 1,000 attendees. After the pandemic, the group returned in a hybrid format but soon went back to face-to-face meetings, said Tracy Ginsburg, CAE, Ed.D., executive director.

While high flight costs have impacted some groups, Ginsburg noted that TASBO staggers meetings and holds them across the state, “so that members who can’t travel long distances will have an option close to home if not this year, in the future. We have a variety of academies, conferences, etc., and there’s something in every part of the state for members to choose from.”

As for why Galveston is a good fit, Ginsburg said, “Our summer conference is family friendly and there’s no place more family friendly than Galveston and the beach.” Moody Gardens is also an easy choice, she said. The group uses the resort’s hotel and the convention center. “Truthfully, Moody Gardens is the only facility on the island large enough to host our meeting. We don’t like being spread across venues as it makes the experience more difficult for members.”

Ginsburg sees many positives in the resort. “The staff is wonderful and willing to help members. We had to be very agile with walk-in registrations and room assignment, and they were quick to respond when we realized we needed to flip rooms. The food was excellent.”

Houston

Not far from Galveston, the city of Houston has much to offer groups and soon it will have one more option. The new Great Wolf Lodge Texas Gulf Coast will open fall 2024. This is a good choice for meetings at which attendees can bring family along. The resort will have 532 rooms, the usual expansive water and adventure parks and nearly 16,000 sf of conference and meeting space. The city is also looking forward to welcoming the Republican National Convention in summer 2028.

Ranked 9th as the most ethnically diverse large city in the United States, Houston is an international city often described as a melting pot of different cultures. The lushness of Houston can be appreciated in 366 city parks with more than 200 green spaces and over 125 miles of trails. Facilities focusing on nature include Discovery Green, the Nature Center, the Houston Arboretum and the Downtown Aquarium.

Corpus Christi

Another Texas beach town offering plenty for groups and attendees is Corpus Christi, where the Solid Waste Association of North America Texas Chapter (TXSWANA) met this summer for its annual conference. The group of 250 was based at the Omni Corpus Christi, a short walk from the water.

Vanessa Burnett, executive assistant of solid waste services for the city of Corpus Christi, said putting the conference together is always a group effort. She noted that they’re also back to pre-pandemic registration levels. The group worked with the CVB, which “assisted with the hotel contract, the publications we were able to send out to the TXSWANA website and they gave us swag for our attendees,” said Burnett, who also used the convention center, including  classrooms and the event-center area. “The whole convention staff worked well with us and exceeded our expectations.”

The price point was fair and economical, and the location was convenient to where their convention and social events were located. As most groups that meet in Texas, they found a wealth of area amenities and that super-sized Texas hospitality to help make their event a great success. | AC&F |