When it comes to staging meetings, Texas has every base covered. Take the Austin Convention Center, for example. Hosting a full calendar of major conventions and events, from auto shows to SXSW, and in January 2017, the 61st edition of PCMA Convening Leaders, the LEED Gold-certified, gigabit-rated building remains a high-tech trailblazer. With attributes that include renewable-energy-powered infrastructure, complimentary Wi-Fi throughout, a prime downtown location by Austin’s red-hot entertainment district, and within reach of 11,000-plus hotel rooms come 2017, the venue is a showcase of accessibility and versatility.
The same attributes are found across the abundant Lone Star venue portfolio, as the following cross-category standouts show.
Lodging Leaders
Being presented as the “Convention District of the Future,” Houston’s downtown campus becomes the first in Texas to have two headquarter hotels connected to a convention facility when the $335 million, 1,000-room Marriott Marquis Downtown Houston makes its anticipated debut this month.
Meanwhile, the 1,200-room Hilton Americas-Houston, anchoring the district since 2003, remains Houston’s largest convention hotel. Connected by two air-conditioned skywalks to the George R. Brown Convention Center, the AAA Four Diamond property offers 91,500 square feet of versatile space ranging from chic boardrooms to the nearly 26,000-square-foot Ballroom of the Americas and 40,000-plus-square-foot Grand Ballroom, among the largest in the city.
Honors also go to the 299-room Hilton Dallas/Plano Granite Park, which gave the expanding Plano market a significant new group base in August 2014. Within 25 minutes from DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport, the hotel’s waterfront boardwalk-connected conference center features 30,000 square feet of flexible space, including two ballrooms and spacious prefunction area.
Close proximity to Plano’s Fortune 500 companies and mixed-use Shops at Legacy district, plus a complimentary 24-hour business center, state-of-the-art audiovisual technology, Mediterranean-style restaurant and outdoor resort-style pool, make this a rock-solid choice for meetings of up to 1,000 participants.
With its prime River Walk location in the heart of downtown San Antonio, the 338-room Omni La Mansion del Rio is an elegant address for meetings and events, with more than 18,000 square feet of flexible space. Renowned for the handmade margaritas at its Las Canarias restaurant, the European-accented, Spanish Colonial-style property, transformed into a hotel in 1968, has a rich legacy reaching back to 1853. Guests also have access to Forbes Four-Star treatments plus the fitness center at companion property Mokara Hotel & Spa.
First established in 1986 by the Moody Foundation as a hippotherapy (horse-based) facility for people with head injuries, Galveston Island’s Hope Arena later expanded and became the Moody Gardens Convention Center. Today, the award-winning venue is the meetings centerpiece of the 242-acre Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa & Convention Center resort, along with 418 luxurious, newly modernized accommodations, 103,000 total square feet of space, and abundant attractions such as golf, a ropes course, Rainforest and under-renovation Aquarium Pyramid, and this winter, the ICE LAND exhibition of large ice sculptures.
Texas Ties
Hungry for authentic Texas connections? Groups will find a feast of venues and experiences across the state, such as Amarillo’s Big Texan Steak Ranch. With its Old Western decor, open dining room and communal tables, this global visitor icon, founded on Route 66 in 1960, is famed for its long-running 72-ounce steak dinner challenge.
Finish the steak, shrimp cocktail, baked potato, salad and buttered roll in under an hour and it’s free! In 2015, current record-holder Molly Schuyler devoured not one but three entire meals—the first in four minutes—in just 20 minutes (it’s on YouTube). Seating 450 guests, with flexible configurations for groups, the Big Texan also offers a 54-room motel, Texas-shaped pool and popular new microbrewery.
In response to perennial growing demand, plans are now being finalized to relocate the Big Texan restaurant to a new 200-acre site just under a half-mile away. The tourism-focused development is slated to include a 20,000-square-foot banquet space for groups, new hotels and other visitor amenities.
Founded in 1755, Laredo offers its own distinct culinary encounter via 90-minute classes in border cooking with Frontera Fusion. Blending Hispanic and American culinary traditions, this immersive program, by reservation, is hosted by two local venues, the landmark La India Tasting Room Cafe and Vega’s Interiores.
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Founded in 1924, the former, designated a “Texas Treasure” by the Texas Historical Commission, is among Laredo’s oldest spice packing companies. Here, groups can learn about how spices and herbs are used in cooking and for improved health. Located on Laredo’s famed San Bernardo Avenue, the former offers classes in traditional and unconventional use of the Mexican mortar and pestle, or molcajete.
In May 2016, another Texas treasure, Chef Robert Del Grande, surprised Houston by relaunching his legendary Cafe Annie.
Located in Abilene’s historic downtown, Frontier Texas! features spellbinding holographs of real people telling first-hand stories of life on the Texas frontier between 1780 and 1880. Offering tours and evening functions, the venue’s facilities include a large parade ground area and pavilion.
The Old West also comes alive aboard the Grapevine Vintage Railroad. Featuring vintage carriages pulled by circa-1896 steam locomotive Puffy or 1953 diesel Vinny, programs include round-trip weekend excursions from Grapevine’s Cotton Belt Depot to Fort Worth’s Stockyards National Historic District, special events like the Great Train Robbery and Christmas Wine Train, and private charters for up to 398 people.
Featuring more than 400 artifacts, including historic spacecraft and moon rocks, Space Center Houston is the only Smithsonian affiliated institution in the Greater Houston area and a top draw for tours and customized private events. Opened in January 2016, the new eight-story Independence Plaza complex uniquely features an exact replica of a space shuttle mounted on a 747 carrier aircraft.
Worth $4 billion and ranked the world’s most valuable sports franchise by Forbes, the Dallas Cowboys have global brand cachet. Along with private events and tours (including an award-winning art collection) of AT&T Stadium, the team’s enormous home in Arlington, groups can now book an exciting range of programs at the team’s new World Headquarters and Training Facility in Frisco, Ford Center at The Star.
Other Metroplex favorites include Southfork Ranch in the Plano area, fictional home of the Ewings from TV’s Dallas and stage for 1,300-plus annual events, with 63,000 square feet of indoor space and generous outdoor areas.
Home of Mesquite Championship Rodeo since 1958, the Mesquite Arena also offers specialty rodeos configurable for groups, plus new Mesquite Marshals arena football action. And for Dallas groups, an unforgettable must-visit is the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, commemorating the life, assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.
Sweet Surprises
From the off-beat to the unexpected, the Texas portfolio rewards seekers of unique experiences.
San Antonio’s UNESCO-designated Spanish Colonial-era missions are not the only heritage draws in town. Located along the River Walk’s Museum Reach section, V.F.W. Post 76, chartered in 1917 by Spanish-American War veterans, is the oldest post in Texas. Housed in a rambling Victorian-style home from 1904, the riverside venue is a truly unique rental option for groups, who can arrange for food trucks, live music and more in the spacious outdoor area.
Featuring the newly renovated Japanese Garden of Peace, the National Museum of the Pacific War is a stirring Hill Country option in historic Fredericksburg, while Corpus Christi groups can visit the heroic World War II-era USS Lexington, the U.S. Navy’s longest serving aircraft carrier.
Surprises in the Midland and Odessa region range from the Smithsonian-affiliated Ellen Noel Art Museum of the Permian Basin to the Odessa Meteor Crater, second-largest in the nation. Odessa features two unexpected homages to historic England, the West Texas Stonehenge replica, and on the campus of Odessa College, the 410-seat, octagonal-shaped Globe Theatre, a near-perfect replica of William’s Shakespeare’s namesake Elizabethan-era stage in London, which is available for rent. For sweet treats, Midland groups can tour the mother of all candy stores, Susie’s South Forty Confections.
