When Todd Nelson, the patriarch behind the Kalahari Resorts & Conventions brand, was in the Pocono Mountains in 2015 opening his third property, his mind was already made up about where he and family would go next: Texas.
The vision became reality when the Nelson’s family-owned operation opened Kalahari Resorts & Conventions Round Rock in the booming community just north of Austin. The $550 million complex encompasses 1.5 million square feet, including the largest indoor water park resort in the U.S.
Kalahari Round Rock features the most meeting and event space of any Kalahari property, with more than 200,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and an additional 50,000 square feet of outdoor space including an event barn, covered terraces and lawn. The property overall is the largest of the Kalahari brand, which includes properties in Wisconsin Dells, Wis.; Sandusky, Ohio; and Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains.
“Everything is bigger in Texas, so it was the perfect place for our largest and most luxurious resort yet,” said Nelson, who opened the property this past weekend with a celebration that included country singer Lee Greenwood, Texas-inspired food and beverage and a spectacular fireworks show in front of 500 invited guests. Grammy-nominated singer, actress and mom Jordin Sparks was one of the resort’s first guests.
“Everything is bigger in Texas, so it was the perfect place for our largest and most luxurious resort yet.”
“We’re proud to be able to open the Round Rock location as scheduled despite what a challenging year it’s been for everyone,” Nelson said.
The Round Rock resort, which comes on the 20th anniversary of the opening of the company’s first Kalahari, has been a boost for both the local economy and the hospitality business. The resort created nearly 1,000 jobs in 2020 and expects to hire additional staff as demand grows in 2021. The resort is located across from the Dell Diamond baseball complex; Round Rock is also home to Dell Technologies. Nelson said he looked at other sites in Texas, but “they felt like corporate America and we’re not corporate America. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else except Round Rock. Texas is a fabulous state; they get it. The city said, ‘Yes, we work toward yes, yes is the right answer.’”
Kalahari Resorts, with its African-themed decor and family-friendly amenities combined with convention space, has proven to be a successful model as the mix of business and leisure in a resort setting has resulted in increased meeting attendance. Given the challenges in the industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the central Texas location will be an ideal drive-market destination as well as having easy access from other national markets.
“I think that Texas is a really key, centrally located market for us,” said Travis Nelson, Todd’s son. “This allows us to be a national destination and international destination with Austin, Houston, Dallas, some of the largest airports in America. This was a no-brainer for us, so we’re thrilled to be here.
“The meetings business is incredibly important to our success at all of our resorts. Obviously, we have the large transient demand with the water parks and theme parks, but the convention center drives up to 50 percent of our occupied rooms, depending on the property.”
With 975 guest rooms, Kalahari Round Rock features a 200,000-square-foot convention center that includes two ballrooms—the Kilimanjaro with 40,000 square feet and the Kalahari with 22,000 square feet. Both have airwalls for smaller configurations.
In addition, the meeting space includes 16 meeting rooms, multiple hospitality suites with flexible space and a full-service business center.
The massive property includes an additional 50,000 square feet of outdoor event space. Two of the most unique features are the Anatole Arts and Entertainment District—an outdoor area with a fire pit, a stage, a bar and space for arts exhibits ideal for networking—and a Texas-styled event barn with 5,600 square feet (it’s the only Kalahari property to feature such a space).
While weather is a factor at the three other Kalaharis, the event barn is ideal for Texas’ more moderate year-round weather.
“The meetings business is incredibly important to our success at all of our resorts.”
“We’re thinking the barn will be used for weddings, private events, any intimate types of dining or meetings,” said Natasha Lucke, owner Nelson’s daughter. “My sister (Ashley Nelson) actually is an event planner here at our property and she was pushing for a barn. We’ve got indoor and outdoor space—it’s a two-level convention center, and the grand entry is just spectacular. This was definitely an evolution of our brand; it’s definitely a more modern convention space. The finishes and the technology were thought through very carefully, and we’re 20 minutes from the state capitol, and that couldn’t be better suited for us for all our groups.”
Like the rest of the meeting and event industry, the privately held Kalahari has been impacted by the pandemic. Travis Nelson said Kalahari had to cancel more than 100,000 occupied group rooms in the fourth quarter of 2020. Back in March, the company had to furlough 4,300 associates and “those were some dark days. You can imagine the impact that had on our business.”
He said Kalahari has been worked closely with all of its partners to continue to move things down the calendar, loosening cancellation policies and resulting in “quite a bit of business on the books for 2021. We’ll have a lot of groups that have stuck with us. I think we're going to have a very strong 2021, and hopefully as the news continues to be positive about treatments and vaccines, we’ll be ready to have a really big 2021.”
Safety protocols have been put into place at the resort with sanitizer stations throughout, associate wellness initiatives including self-assessments and temperature checks, enhanced sanitation with hospital-grade disinfectants and new operational procedures that allow for social distancing and minimized contact. The property has a health wellness concierge, a new department tasked with going around to help remind guests about social distancing and to keep masks up at all times unless they are swimming in the pools. A channel on the hotel room televisions also remind guests of the safety protocols. Occupancy at the resort will be limited for amenities and attractions, including restaurants, in accordance with local rules and regulations.
“What we’ve decided to do is to be a leader in content generation, in safe meeting practices, in getting the messaging out there of how you can do it right, and we’ll be ready when people are ready to come back,” Travis Nelson said. “I believe that second quarter of next year, third quarter of next year, there’s going to be demand like we’ve never seen in this business. And we are perfectly suited to take care of those guests when they’re ready.”
The new resort boasts a 223,000-square-foot waterpark with 30 waterslides, 20 pools and whirlpools, three acres of outdoor pools, a world-class spa and salon and 20 onsite dining options. One of the pool areas is for adults only. Some of the restaurants are carryovers from the other Kalahari properties, but one new addition is Cinco Niños featuring Mexican food and a tequila bar.
The Nelsons have expanded meeting space at their other properties, unveiling a $35 million convention center expansion that added 112,000 square feet at Wisconsin Dells. The Poconos meeting space has twice expanded since opening five years ago, most recently adding 105,000 square feet of meeting space.
“This is our fourth Kalahari and it’s easy to see that each time we’ve opened a resort we’ve been able to improve, and that is certainly the case here in Texas,” Travis Nelson said. “The entrance feel you get when you walk in the lobby and the convention center space is really well laid out, and it’s quite a way off of from the water parks. You could really separate those two pieces and just about every single area of the hotel has been thought about and improved.
“It’s really amazing to think about the roller coaster ride we’ve been on, but to culminate at the end of 2020 with some really great news is big for us and for the city of Round Rock.”
