Woodlands’ attempts return to meeting glory days
The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center, once the premier meeting place in Texas, is undergoing a $50 million redevelopment to help bring back its former glory and perhaps a AAA Four-Star rating.
The overhaul includes a new guest facility, parking garage and 1,000-foot “lazy river.”
The facility’s conference space already is certified by the International Association of Conference Centers.
“We wanted to take the resort to a four-diamond level of quality,” said Dan Leverett, the property’s vice president of commercial properties. “It’s a rating level that separates us from the masses.”
Local hotel industry tracker John Keeling of PKF Consulting Corp. says redevelopment is the right way to go at a time when the resort business is becoming more competitive in Texas.
New luxury properties recently announced in Texas include the 492-room Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa near Austin, which opened in June 2006, and the 1,000-room PGA Tour-JW Marriott Resort set to open in San Antonio in 2008.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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