Houston Evolves into a First-Class Convention City
HOUSTON - With a booming downtown, expanded facilities and a multitude of leisure activities, there has never been a better time to book a convention in Houston.
"We finally have the infrastructure in place that we have been looking forward to for so long," said Greg Ortale, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The convention center expansion is complete. The stadiums are built. We've added hotels. Downtown's nightlife has resurged. METRORail is running. This is the absolute best time to be in Houston."
FACILITIES
Completed in December 2003, a $165 million expansion project virtually doubled the size of the George R. Brown Convention Center to nearly 1.2 million square feet of exhibition, meeting and registration space, in addition to a variety of wireless capabilities. Convention-goers in Houston will appreciate the convenience afforded by the George R. Brown's downtown location. In addition to the headquarters hotel across the street, the Brown is flanked by the new Toyota Center arena to the south and Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, to the north. Within one mile, visitors will find 15 hotels and more than 5,000 hotel rooms, bringing the total number of hotel rooms in the Greater Houston area to more than 60,000. Also nearby is the city's flourishing Theater District.
Houston's new 7.5-mile light rail system connects downtown to Houston's other major event facility, Reliant Park, which consists of Reliant Stadium, Reliant Center, Reliant Arena and the Reliant Astrodome. The 1.4 million square foot Reliant Center and the 71,500-seat Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans and the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, make Reliant Park one of the most versatile complexes in the world.
HOTELS
Downtown Houston has more than doubled its number of hotel rooms since 2001, with the opening of the Hilton Americas-Houston, the official convention center hotel, and the resurgence in Houston's boutique hotels. Attached to the George R. Brown Convention Center by a doubledeck pedestrian skybridge, the Hilton Americas-Houston is a 1,200-room hotel that was built in conjunction with the expansion of the convention center in 2003.
The Magnolia Hotel, Alden Houston Hotel and Hotel Icon are all boutique hotels housed in historic properties. The Magnolia Hotel transformed a 1926 landmark into a chic property with 314 guestrooms. Alden Houston Hotel, with its famed restaurant, 17, and trendy bar, a+, has quickly become a favorite among visitors and Houstonians. The Hotel Icon also boasts an excellent restaurant, VOICE. Houston's most unique hotel is the Inn at the Ballpark. Opened in January 2004, this luxury baseball-themed hotel is walking distance from Minute Maid Park. Other downtown favorites include the Hyatt Regency, Four Seasons, The Lancaster and two Marriott properties.
The Galleria area, or Uptown, is Houston's second largest business district, with more than 6,200 hotel rooms. Hotel Indigo and Granduca are Uptown's most recent additions. Hotel Indigo, a new concept from the InterContinental Hotels Group, has the feel of a boutique hotel paired with the advantages of a global hotel corporation—and it's walking distance to The Galleria. Granduca resembles an Italian villa with suites that have kitchens, dining rooms and living rooms.
Hotel Derek, a modern hotel in Uptown Houston, features conveniences and upgraded luxuries demanded by today's savvy travelers. Hotel Derek’s Business Lofts include a business alcove with a Dell Personal Computer with a 19-inch Flat Panel Monitor as well as a Dell 1600 Multi-function Laser Printer, stocked with legal and letter-sized paper. The alcove is also stocked with a business tool box, filled with items such as scissors, calculator, white out, paper clips, ruler, tape, stapler and other essential work items. The room also features complimentary high-speed Internet access, two-line cordless telephones and FedEx supplies in the closets. The InterContinental Houston, located just a few blocks from the Galleria, also provides a variety of services to business travelers, including a 24-hour business center, currency conversion and a jetlag recovery kit. The InterContinental also offers 21 flexible meeting rooms with more than 50,000 square feet of versatile meeting spaces, each wired to the latest high-tech standards.
The Doubletree Post Oak has been renamed the Hilton Houston Post Oak following the complete transformation of its guestrooms, public spaces and exterior in March 2005. The $15 million transformation touched nearly every guest area of the landmark property.
In the heart of Uptown Houston, the Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa is Houston's urban resort nestled upon 18 acres of beautifully wooded landscape. This luxury hotel has floor to ceiling windows with beautiful wooded views in every guest room, with complimentary use of the private fitness club for each guest. The Houstonian also offers 32,000 square feet of dedicated function space and a 17,000-square-foot, two-story spa, Trellis, which opened in May 2003. Additional Galleria-area hotels include the Westin Galleria and Westin Oaks, JW Marriott, Omni and the St. Regis Hotel.
The Houston Marriott Westchase is located in the rapidly growing Westchase Business District in West Houston. The largest Marriott in Houston, the hotel offers 600 guest rooms and 22 meeting rooms, with 40,000 square feet of total meeting space.
Fort Bend County welcomed its first full-service hotel in October 2003 in the heart of the $200 million Sugar Land Town Square development. The Sugar Land Marriott Hotel offers custom-décor guest rooms and state-of-the-art meeting facilities that accommodate up to 1,500 guests.
The San Luis Resort, Spa & Conference Center is less than an hour from downtown Houston. The hotels offer magnificent Gulf Coast views from the guest rooms, as well as a full-service salon, spa and signature boutique.
CONVENTION SERVICES
Make the most of your convention by utilizing the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau's Convention Services department, your tool for the perfect meeting. From planning site visits to assistance with housing and materials, the Convention Services team will ensure that your convention is a success.
LEISURE ACTIVITIES
Discovery Green, Houston's new 12-acre urban park, opened on April 13, 2008. Offering everything from a model boat pond and an amphitheater to two destination restaurants and year-round arts programming, Discovery Green is truly an urban oasis. The park also offers special event spaces.
Main Street is Houston's entertainment district with street cafes and live music. Also downtown, the Bayou Place entertainment complex offers restaurants, bars and entertainment venues like the Verizon Wireless Theater and the eight-screen Angelika Film Center. Other nightlife hot spots include Rice Village and Richmond Avenue.
Houston is one of five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in the four disciplines of the performing arts-ballet, opera, symphony and theater. All troupes have enjoyed international acclaim and prestige, including Grammy, Emmy and Tony Awards.
Houston boasts the fourth largest museum district in the country. With landmark museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Houston Museum of Natural Science as part of the 18-institution district, it's easy to see why. Visitors to the Museum District can view one of only two Rembrandt paintings in Texas, one of the most highly renowned Surrealist collections in the country, the top collection of gems and minerals in the world and a 7,400-square-foot model of the human body.
With more than 165 public and private golf courses, visitors to Houston can play golf 365 days a year. The new Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club, which opened in August 2005, was designed specifically to host Houston's only PGA TOUR stop, the Shell Houston Open. Additional favorites include Memorial Park Golf Course, one of the best municipal courses in the nation, and Wildcat Golf Club, the home course of the Houston Astros, Rockets and Texans.
Experiencing a moon landing at Space Center Houston is just the beginning of the adventures you'll find in Houston. Explore the world's oceans from inside Moody Gardens' 12-story Aquarium Pyramid, then appreciate science and nature in the Rainforest and Discovery Pyramids. Place bets on horses at the Sam Houston Race Park or greyhounds at the Gulf Greyhound Park. Or visit Traders Village on the weekends for food, fun and great finds from more than 800 vendors. For history buffs, visit the San Jacinto Battleground Complex, which marks the spot where Texas won its independence from Mexico, or the Lone Star Flight Museum, a large collection of restored aircraft and photo archives housed in an aircraft hanger. The Downtown Aquarium is a 500,000-gallon under-water adventure complex that includes a Ferris wheel, an aquatic carousel, Shark Voyage, a white tiger exhibit and a restaurant. Overlooking Galveston Bay, the Kemah Boardwalk features themed restaurants, retail shops, and amusements for the whole family. Almost every major cruise line now departs from either the Port of Houston or the Port of Galveston for a luxurious Caribbean cruise. Before you embark on your journey, spend some time in historic Galveston at the various art galleries on The Strand or catch a show at the Grand 1894 Opera House.
MULTICULTURAL ARTS
With more than 90 languages spoken in its households, Houston is a city that celebrates its diversity. It's rare to find a weekend without a festival going on-Greek, Italian, Chicano, Asian-American, Juneteenth and many more. Houston's Project Row Houses, a highly acclaimed art and cultural community center, consists of 22 renovated shotgun-style homes. Ten of the houses are dedicated to art, photography and literary projects, which are installed on a rotating six-month basis. When a group of artists is commissioned, each is given a house to transform in ways that speak to the history and cultural issues relevant to the African-American community.
The Ensemble Theatre is the oldest and most distinguished professional theater in the Southwest devoted to the African-American experience. It was founded in 1976 by the late George Hawkins, an accomplished stage and film actor. The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum pays tribute to African-American military history from the Revolutionary War to modern times. Talento Bilingue de Houston is one of the largest Latino cultural centers in the United States and develops programs and activities such as mariachi, ballet folklorico, drama, video and film production, professional theater, art exhibitions and festivals.
The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau maintains its mission to improve the economy of Greater Houston by attracting conventions, tourists, film projects and international government officials through aggressive sales and marketing efforts. Houston is a major convention destination, and the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau is armed with the knowledge and expertise to ensure your convention is a success.
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