Big. As in Texas big. There’s no better way to describe the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine.
Sitting on 125 acres at the southern tip of Lake Grapevine, the Gaylord Texan is an eyeful, especially if you’re a meeting planner. Consider 1,814 guest rooms; more than 492,000 square feet of flexible pre-function, meeting and exhibit space (including four ballrooms); a two-level, Texas-themed atrium; a location just minutes away from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport; and easy access to a vibrant, authentic main street that drips Texas.
But good things can come in small packages, too, and the folks at the Gaylord Texan have a thing or two, or three, up their sleeve. Like secret rooms behind obscure doors.
“We wanted that element of surprise,” Thomas Egan, director of sales and marketing at the Gaylord Texan, says of the property’s secret rooms. “We wanted to find a way for guests to be able to share their stories and experiences in our truly unique place. It’s all about creating an atmosphere for a personal connection.”
So when MPI brings its 2020 World Education Congress (WEC) to the Gaylord Texan, meeting participants could find themselves in the 50,000-square-foot Texas Ballroom in the morning and later that day behind the green, southwestern-style turquoise door with Isabel sharing stories about agave and how tequila can help mend a broken heart. Oops, one secret is out.
But there’s no secret to the success that Grapevine’s meetings and events business has reaped from the Gaylord Texan choosing the middle ground between Dallas and Fort Worth to build what is now the third-largest convention center hotel outside of Las Vegas. There were plenty of suitors, from Houston to Dallas, but the Gaylord Texan opened its doors in 2004 and plays a major role in helping attract 15 million visitors generating $2.4 billion annually to Grapevine.
“They wanted authentic Texas and they found it here,” Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate says of Gaylord’s decision to open in the city. “That was a game changer for us.”
Since the grand opening, the Gaylord Texan has made meetings a central focus and has continued to expand its space and drive innovation into its offerings. Egan says the property draws 70 percent group business and “we know that is critical for Grapevine. The Gaylord brand is about unique experiences and a sense of place.”
Visitors will know they’re in Texas, whether they’re in the atrium featuring the winding waterways of the Rio Grande, the Palo Duro Canyons, the Texas Hill Country and a reproduction of the San Antonio River Walk or in the meeting spaces where there are nods to Texas birds, the local wine history, cowboys and longhorns.
The Texan recently unveiled a $115 million expansion, adding the Vineyard Tower with 86,000 square feet of meeting space and 300 guest rooms, and spent another $7 million to retrofit the Glass Cactus, a live-music venue overlooking Lake Grapevine and site of the MPI Foundation’s 2020 Rendezvous event. The Gaylord also invested $5 million in the 10-acre Paradise Springs waterpark.
Food and beverage are also top of mind, as evident in the Zeppole and Old Hickory Steakhouse venues, which can accommodate groups.
“The south-central Texas market is very competitive,” Egan says. “Our guests today versus 20 years ago have a refined palette.
“We want to create a sense of place, an experience in everything we do. We know that we have to provide diverse experiences, whether in our food and beverage or in the overall experience of being here.”
