Galveston
Offering Both Charm & 4-Diamond Appeal
By Bill Carter There’s a pretty impressive roster of destinations that offer a pristine waterfront location, a fascinating history or a unique architectural heritage. But there are precious few that offer all three. Galveston Island, Texas is one of them, according to local hospitality industry officials like Meg Winchester, CMP, director of sales for the Galveston Island Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’re an unknown gem,” she said. “What surprises planners the most is that in nine out of every 10 cases, their attendance increases because of the location. They also find that Galveston is a very easy, cost-effective destination to come to, and everybody walks away saying the service is phenomenal.”
Galveston offers a solid hospitality infrastructure for meetings, including 4,000 hotel rooms and 130,000 square feet of total meeting space, she said. This, along with its unique trifecta of lures makes it a reliable choice for planners like Madeleine Sellouk, CMP, senior events manager at API, formerly known as the American Petroleum Institute. Based in Washington, the organization has used Galveston four times over the past 15 years and has seen steady improvement in its infrastructure and delivery of services. Sellouk hosted a conference for 700 attendees in January 2007, using all four of the city’s Four-Diamond hotels. “The city is self-contained,” she said. “It has some excellent restaurants. The convention center is probably the nicest I’ve ever seen anywhere. The service level is exceptional. There’s nothing that’s impossible to do. Any trepidation we had was based on concern about whether people would be turned off by flying into Hobby (William P. Hobby) airport and then having to spend an hour to get to Galveston. That was a big concern. It ended up that absolutely no one complained about that trip, so it was an unfounded worry. The other benefit is that there are a lot of things for people to do after the meetings. I would go back any time now.”
Michael Kemp, area director of sales at the San Luis Resort, Spa and Conference Center, a three-property waterfront complex on 30 acres that includes the Galveston Island Convention Center, said that Galveston is becoming more known every day. “We are truly an emerging destination,” Kemp said. “If a planner is looking for a resort-type destination that has beaches, a downtown historic area, and excellent dining and shopping options, you can’t beat the value we bring to the table.”
Galveston may also be described as an undiscovered gem because despite its small size—the island is 32 miles long by 2.5 miles wide—it can claim four AAA Four-Diamond hotel properties.
Honored with a AAA Four-Diamond Award since 1999, San Luis Resort includes the 250-room San Luis Hotel with more than 40,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 6,000-square-foot ballroom; the 240-room Hilton Galveston Island with 10,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 3,500-square-foot ballroom; and the 178-room Holiday Inn Resort on the Beach with 4,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 2,000-square-foot ballroom.
Kemp said the resort offers the benefit of being adjacent to the 140,000-square-foot convention center, which features a 43,100-square-foot exhibit hall, a 15,500-square-foot ballroom and 12,000 square feet of breakout space in 16 rooms.
Two of Galveston’s other major meeting hotels are sister properties. Both have earned the Four-Diamond designation and both are members of Historic Hotels of America.
The 226-room Hotel Galvez, A Wyndham Historic Hotel, has a total of 13,000 square feet of meeting space that includes a 4,550-square-foot music hall with arches and chandeliers that epitomize turn-of-the-20th-century elegance. Outdoor function space includes a 3,000-square-foot garden featuring a waterfall.
The 119-room Tremont House - A Wyndham Historic Hotel, has 17,000 square feet of meeting space and a newly renovated 8,000-square-foot ballroom and the 3,573-square-foot Sam Houston Room, which can be subdivided into two rooms. A rooftop terrace offers views of the strand.
Key Info · Sales Tax: 9.25 percent
· Hotel Tax: 6.75 percent
· Transportation: The Galveston Island Rail Trolley runs year round throughout the Historic Downtown Strand District. |
The fourth Galveston property to earn a Four-Diamond Award is the 428-room Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa and Convention Center with 100,000 square feet of meeting and event space. The hotel includes the largest ballroom on the island—the 60,000-square-foot Expo A, B and C, which can be subdivided into five spaces as small as 3,000 square feet each. The property also includes the 15,000-square-foot Moody Ballroom. Director of Sales and Marketing Jamie Weir said on-site attractions include an IMAX theater that was the country’s first and a trio of pyramids that feature an aquarium, an indoor rainforest and a science pavilion. The resort’s first golf course will open in June.
The Hawthorn Suites at The Victorian Resort and Conference Center, located on the seawall and less than a mile from the convention center, features 220 one- and two-bedroom condominiums and 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel is in the second phase of a multimillion-dollar, three-phase renovation that will be completed by the end of this year.
