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Category: Meetings

Houston Arboretum & Nature Center: It's Dog-Gone Great!

By VisitHouston on Jun. 18, 2015

By John Egan The Houston Arboretum & Nature Center has collared some high praise from pups. The nonprofit Houston Arboretum & Nature Center appears at No. 11 on Milk-Bone's new list of America's top 50 dog-friendly destinations for road trips. But it also ranks as a favorite for plenty of people, including meeting planners. By cross-referencing online reviews with data about dog-friendly restaurants and hotels, Milk-Bone compiled its list of dog-approved parks and landmarks. Each place was…

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3 ‘Authentic’ Experiences for Houston Meeting Attendees

By VisitHouston on Jun. 11, 2015

By John Egan These days, meeting planners increasingly are craving "authentic" experiences for attendees of corporate and association gatherings. According to BizBash, it's no longer enough to secure a meeting location "purely based on the feasibility and budget appropriateness of its room block and function space." "Instead," BizBash says, "groups want to experience local culture outside of the hotel, both as a part of the meeting, and separate from it, returning to their desks enriched and…

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19 Facts About the Marriott Marquis Houston

By VisitHouston on May 28, 2015

By John Egan With its debut set for November 2016, the soon-to-be-gleaming Marriott Marquis Houston is rising in the midst of the Houston Convention District. The $355 million, 29-story hotel, connected to the George R. Brown Convention Center, will feature 1,000 guest rooms and 100,000 square feet of event space. "When the Marriott Marquis opens its doors in 2016, it will increase the hotel room capacity in downtown Houston by 20 percent and will give the George R. Brown Convention Center…

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5 Sightseeing Suggestions for Houston ‘Bleisure’ Travelers

By VisitHouston on May 21, 2015

by John Egan Business travel doesn't need to be all work and no play. Increasingly, travelers are blending business and leisure, resulting in a trend dubbed "bleisure" travel. A 2014 survey by Hotwire.com found that nearly half of Americans who travel for work tack leisure time onto their business trips. "You might have to travel for business, but it doesn't mean you have to let much-deserved leisure trips fall by the wayside," said Henrik Kjellberg, president of Hotwire.com. Not surprisingly…

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7 Tasty Twists on Crawfish in Houston

By VisitHouston on Apr. 29, 2015

by John Egan Sure, you can savor boiled crawfish at any number of fine joints in Houston, and we wouldn't discourage you from doing that. But any number of local restaurants put their own spin on mudbugs. Here are seven distinctive crawfish dishes you should sample in the Bayou City. Wild Cajun's crawfish egg rolls At Wild Cajun, East meets West (or maybe that should be South) in the form of crawfish egg rolls. These Vietnamese-influenced creations represent just one of the many offerings at…

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Travel+Leisure Readers Serve up Top Rating for Houston Food

By VisitHouston on Apr. 23, 2015

By John Egan Eat your hearts out, America. Houston is the country's No. 1 city for foodies, according to readers of Travel and Leisure magazine. In praising the sizzling fare in Houston, Travel+Leisure trumpeted: "The business-travel hub staged a Texas-sized upset this year, winning the food category by offering an irresistible combination of refined tastes and downhome comfort." The magazine says its readers ranked Houston the top US food city in three categories: burgers, brunch and…

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Restaurants and Retail in the Works for Houston Convention District

By VisitHouston on Apr. 06, 2015

by John Egan Next year, it'll be easier to eat, drink and be merry in the Houston Convention District. As many as seven new retail stores, restaurants and entertainment venues are on tap for the area surrounding the George R. Brown Convention Center "as part of a bold streetscape makeover in the newly revitalized eastern section of downtown Houston," according to Houston First Corp., which manages the convention center. These new spots are on track to open in late 2016, ahead of the Super…

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Houston: ‘America’s Next Great Food City’

By VisitHouston on Mar. 19, 2015

By John Egan Want to dine in what GQ magazine touts as "America's next great food city"? Then prepare to whet your appetite in Houston. "Houston is our fourth-largest city in population," famed restaurant critic Alan Richman proclaims in GQ's March 2015 issue, "but in food it's poised to move into the top three." In dishing about Houston's eating environment, Richman singles out three restaurants: Oxheart, a tasting-menu spot featuring American-style meat, fish and vegetables; Uchi, which…

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Houston Museum District Mixes Culture and Conference Space

By VisitHouston on Mar. 12, 2015

By John Egan The Houston Museum District paints a cultural picture like no other in the country. Within a roughly 1.5-mile radius of the Mecom Fountain in Houston's Hermann Park, the 19 institutions that make up the Museum District attract more than 7 million visitors a year. That's more people than the entire population of the Houston metro area. The district's 19 institutions reflect the impressive ascent of Houston's ethnic and cultural diversity, a transformation that's "more dramatic…

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7 Reasons Why Houston is Both a Hot and Cool Destination

By VisitHouston on Feb. 11, 2015

By John Egan It sounds like it doesn't make sense, but Houston is both a hot and cool destination. Forbes anointed Houston one of the country's coolest cities, while Travel and Leisure magazine crowned Houston one of the country's hottest destinations. If that weren't enough, Business Insider named Houston the best American city in 2014. "The winner of accolade after accolade, Houston is a top destination for business and leisure travelers alike," Resonance Consultancy said in ranking the…

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