With eye on tourists, Katy increases hotel rooms

Plans for water park, convention center also driving traffic

Over the past five years, the city of Katy has nearly doubled its stock of hotel rooms as the once-rural town has been transformed into a destination.

“It’s just amazing what’s going on,” said Mayor Fabol Hughes. He said executive training programs, a monthlong Jehovah’s Witness convention at the Merrell Center and corporate relocations help keep the city’s hotels busy.

Many visitors to the Houston area also include a stop to the mall.

With the unveiling of another hotel last Thursday near Katy Mills Mall, the city is expecting more tourism and growth in the coming years.

The planned opening of a $45 million water park in May, as well as plans for a new convention center and Boardwalk District, are expected to further drive tourism traffic.

The water park alone — to be called “Typhoon Texas” — could bring in some 800,000 visitors over its six-month season, and Hughes would like them to see Katy as a place to spend more time.

‘Destination location’

“It will be a destination location,” he said. “They’ll come here and be able to get a hotel and spend a couple days here.”

The mayor was one of several Katy officials who attended a ribbon cutting Thursday for the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel by the mall, featuring 111 rooms and a pool.

The hotel brought the city’s total number of hotels up to eight and total number of rooms to 757, according to Kayce Reina, Katy’s tourism marketing director.

The mall has served as an anchor of commercial development for the city of 15,000 residents, which anchors the booking Katy region.

Former Mayor Johnny Nelson still considers its opening in 1999 to be one of the greatest accomplishments from his days as city administrator.

And it continues to attract investment.

It soon will be the neighbor of the planned Boardwalk District development, which will include a public plaza, convention center, multiple restaurants and another hotel.

With that and four hotels currently in the planning stages, the city is expecting to add 500 to 600 hotel rooms over the next five years, according to estimates.

‘We’re open for business’

Hughes has tried to play an active role in bringing in new business.

“I was elected mayor two and a half years ago,” he said, “and the first thing I did was announce that we’re open for business.”

To that end, the city hired Reina, its first marketing director, and the mayor hosts weekly meetings with representatives of business and city officials.

“We invite them to come in and talk to us, and we have all the decision makers in one room,” he said, including the chief of police, public works officials, the city attorney and engineer and others. “When these folks leave, they’ve got a definitive answer of whether they want to be here or not.”

With all the new hotels coming to Katy, the city benefits from more than just tourism spending.

The city also collects a hotel and motel tax, which brings in about $1 million a year. Growth spurs concerns

Some 15 percent of that budget goes to support the arts and other related activities in the city, according to the mayor. The bulk is used for advertising and marketing.

All that growth has come with some concerns. As with many development projects, people worry about traffic and the integrity of the downtown Katy area, which is the historic center of the nearly 11-square-mile city. “So many people are really concerned about that,” Hughes said.

“We are about protecting our heritage and our tradition here,” he said. “We’re not trying to spoil that. Everything we’re doing is outside the (downtown) Katy area.”

The mall, new hotel and planned Boardwalk District all sit south of Katy Freeway, or Interstate 10. “We still want to keep Katy, Katy,” he added.