Wednesday
Thursday
Thursday Reception
Friday
Friday Beach Party

Workshop Agenda

Friday, February 29

8:00-8:30 Continental Breakfast Buffet
South Foyer

Design-Development of Hotel Waterpark Resorts

8:30-9:30 What’s It Cost to Build A Hotel Waterpark Resort?
Ballroom A
How much should be spent on land for your hotel or resort? What about soft costs and construction costs for building different types of hotels. Learn from professionals who work with project costing got hotels, waterparks and resorts everyday. Listen as they guide you through many small decisions that can add up to big bucks. From feasibility through cost-estimating, discover how different building types and components can affect your costs and impact your patrons.
Bill Ryan, Architectural Design Consultants, Lake Delton WI
Carin Brown, Neuman Group, Beaver Dam WI
Jeff Coy, JLC Hospitality Consulting, Cave Creek AZ

9:30-10:15
Breakout 1: Case Study: What’s New With Mega Waterpark Resorts?
Ballroom A
When you think of the ultimate in hotels and entertainment facilities, you think of places like Las Vegas, Macau, Bahamas and Dubai. What’s different about these projects --- other than clients with deep pockets? Hear from the team that built the Atlantis Resorts in Nassau and Dubai and all of its expansion. Learn about the surprises encountered, lessons learned and mistakes avoided.
Greg Cloward, Cloward H20, Provo UT
Breakout 2: Hotel Waterpark Resort Development 101
Guava-Tamarind Rooms
Understand the development process for a hotel waterpark resort. Learn about sizing your project to the market and site. Discover the common mistakes and pitfalls to be avoided. Learn about programming, budgeting, site analysis, team formation, pre-design, design, permitting, construction and pre-opening. Hear the recommendations from a firm that has done it many, many times.
Matt Freeby, Water Technology Inc, Beaver Dam WI

10:15-10:30 Break

10:30-11:15
Breakout 1: How to Create a Waterpark for Multiple Customers & Uses
Ballroom A
Learn how to maximize the utilization of your waterpark by designing it for different types of customers and multiple uses. Most waterparks operate from morning to early evening during the week. Some are open only certain days. Discover how to capitalize your waterpark investment by modifying its use to attract a larger, more diverse customer base and generate higher revenues.
Jamie Skowronski, Ramaker & Associates, Sauk City WI
Breakout 2: Case Study − Indoor Waterparks Sell More Than Just Hotel Rooms
Guava-Tamarind Rooms
Indoor waterparks have a proven ability to boost incremental sales at many hotels and resorts --- from food & beverage and meetings to residential estate, including condos, timeshare and vacation homes. Using case studies, discover the business goals and operational strategies at four different resorts. Massanutten Resort in Virginia, a timeshare-only property. Kalahari Resort in Ohio, a hotel & condo property. Split Rock Resort in Pennsylvania, a timeshare and hotel property and Silver Mountain Ski Resort in Idaho, a condo-hotel property. Learn why an indoor waterpark was included in each resort project, how it impacted resort sales and interfaced with other resort operations.
Ken Ellis, Aquatic Development Group, Cohoes NY

Saving Energy and Going Green

11:15-12:15 Energy Issues & Costs
Ballroom A
Understand the issues of air quality, energy recovery, facility lighting, water consumption, evaporation and filter backwash. Who decides how much you will pay for utilities --- you or the utilities company? Learn how to negotiate the rates you pay for power and water. Avoid backwashing using regenerative filters and save thousands of gallons of water per year. What does it mean to be a “green” hotel waterpark resort?
Jeff Nodorft, Counsilman-Hunsaker, St Louis MO
Rick Coy, Clark Hill Law Firm, Lansing MI
Barry Gertz, Neptune Benson, Coventry RI
Paul Newman, Architectural Design Consultants Inc, Lake Delton WI

12:15-1:45 Lunch & Locker Room Talk from America’s Energy Coach
Indigo Bay
Lunch will be provided compliments of our sponsors. Our featured luncheon speaker is Tom Kiser, founder of Professional Supply Inc and “America’s Energy Coach.” Tom is a high-energy, outside the box, creative thinker who (politely) says that hotel indoor waterparks are “energy hogs.” He helped save Ford Motor Company over $50 million in their energy expenses. He’s got some ideas for waterpark designers and developers to consider. Tell us like it is, coach!
Tom Kiser, Professional Supply Inc, Fremont OH

Financing & Operating Your Hotel Waterpark Resort

1:45-2:45
Breakout 1: How to Prepare Your Request for Equity & Debt?
Ballroom A
Build your waterpark on paper first. Learn from the people who assemble the costs and raise the money. How do they do it? Learn how to assemble your Equity/Loan Request Package, how to select a design-engineering firm & get preliminary drawings, how to determine all your project costs and decide issues of ownership, branding and management
Jeff Coy, JLC Hospitality Consulting, Cave Creek AZ
Ron Williams, Financial Comprehensive Network Inc, Houston TX
Lou Frillman, GVA Marquette Advisors, Minneapolis, MN
Mike Kwiatkowski, Virchow Krause, Madison WI
Breakout 2: What’s It Cost to Operate a Hotel Waterpark Resort?
Guava-Tamarind Rooms
Understand how to set up a waterpark department in your hotel and budget for labor. Learn about the expense ratios for Administrative & General, Marketing, Energy, Maintenance and Insurance. How much should you spend on Franchise Fees and Management Fees?
Dean Morgan, SplashUniverse Waterpark Resorts, Valparaiso IN
Jeff Lococo, Lococo Companies, Sandusky OH
Joe Haas, Kalahari Resorts, Sandusky OH

2:45-3:45
Breakout 1: Show Me the Money: How to Get Cash & Equity Through Tax Credits, Incentives & Cost Segregation?
Ballroom A
Looking for creative ways to boost project equity, return on investment or cash flow? One way is by understanding the tax benefits available to you. Credits and property tax incentives come from a variety of sources requiring considerable negotiations with local, county and state officials. Using cost segregation, you can accelerate depreciation deductions that increase after-tax cash flows in the early years of operation. But, if you snooze, you lose. Learn how to take advantage of these benefits.
Brian Walsh, Virchow Krause, Madison WI
Breakout 2: Behind the Scenes of Hotel Waterpark Resort Development
Guava-Tamarind Rooms
A successful resort project requires many experts. Yet there are companies that claim to do it all. For the first-time hotel waterpark resort developer, it is difficult to determine who does what and when --- from feasibility to visioning, master planning, site planning, facility design, engineering, ff&e, purchasing, construction and installation. To sort it out, some resort owner-developers hire an objective and independent project manager. Hear the story about who really does what and when.
Kris Volk, Volk International, Conifer CO
Michael Lee, Michael Lee Design, Orem UT

3:45-4:00 Break

4:00-5:15
Breakout 1: How to Get the Money for Your Hotel Waterpark Resort Project?
Ballroom A
Learn to raise equity and arrange for debt financing from the experts who have funded many hotel waterpark resort projects. Discover how to get your project funded.
Jeff Coy, Moderator
Mike Kwiatkowski, Virchow Krause Capital, Madison WI
Rick Burton, Marshall BankFirst, Minneapolis MN
Bob Waun, Vacation Finance, Birmingham MI
Breakout 2: Pre-Opening -- Everything You Need to Know & Do
Guava-Tamarind Rooms
What needs to be done before you open the doors to your indoor waterpark? Learn the answers to questions of who , what, where, when of marketing and sales and operations.
Tiffany Woodward & Melissa Mowery, Wave Development, Milwaukee WI

5:15 - 5:30 General Session: Questions & Answers and Wrap Up
Ballroom A