By Kelli Ainsworth
The growing demand for additional hotels in the city of Katy has resulted in a boom of new hotel construction around Katy Mills mall.
Kayce Reina, Katy's Marketing and Tourism specialist, said managers of the city's hotels have told her that they are constantly at capacity, which has spurred the need for more hotel options.
A Country Inn and Suites, Four Points Sheraton, Homewood Suites and Courtyard Marriott will bring hundreds of additional hotel rooms to the city. The Country Inn and Suites, Homewood Suites and Courtyard Marriott have all broken ground and are under construction. Four Points Sheraton will hold its ground breaking Nov. 1.
"There is a need for more room to be available in our city limits, and those new hotels will provide us with that," Reina said.
More hotels around Katy Mills will help the city of Katy accommodate out-of-town visitors for its major events. The Southland Conference has held its annual tournament since 2008 in the city at the Merrell Center. In addition to the teams traveling for the tournament, hotel accommodations are needed for out-of-town spectators. Reina said in previous years there was not always enough hotel rooms near the Merrell Center to accommodate all those who came to Katy for the conference.
The push to turn the Katy area into a destination has, in part, contributed to the greater demand for hotels, said Ann Hodge, president of the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce.
"We are becoming more and more of a destination, that's why the chamber adopted the theme destination Katy," Hodge said. "We feel like the more people become familiar with the opportunity to come visit Katy and spend a couple of days, the more there is that push toward tourism in the Greater Katy area."
In addition, she said the hotels' location inside the city of Katy will contribute to the city's hotel occupancy tax dollars, which will allow it to increase efforts to drive tourism in Katy.
Katy's locally headquartered companies and proximity to the Energy Corridor also bring business travelers to the area, Hodge said.
"As we've seen the commercial development really take off, that certainly has an impact on the hotels and lodging industry," she said.
PetroSkills, an oil and gas education and training company, has a conference center located in the Katy Mills area. Oil and gas professionals from all over the world come to the conference center for training sessions that last one or two weeks. Donna England, PetroSkills conference director, said that on average, 40 to 60 percent of the people attending training sessions are from outside the Houston area.
Some of these business travelers book their trips so they arrive the weekend before the conference or leave the weekend after and take advantage of nearby recreation and shopping, England said.
When Petroskills first opened its conference center in Katy six years ago, there were only two hotels nearby, England said. Even now, with a few more hotels operating, conference attendees are not always able to stay nearby.
"We desperately need them," England said. "Even now we experience sellouts; sometimes people have to go all the way to Hwy. 6 or even to Sealy. We're really looking forward to having the increase in rooms and the variety."
