Indoor waterpark resorts have continued to expand throughout North America with 107 open facilities in the United States and an additional 14 open facilities in Canada as of June, 2008. There are 4,138,150 indoor aquatic square feet and 31,865 hotel rooms associated with indoor waterparks as of June, 2008. This family-oriented resort segment has established itself as a viable segment of the travel industry and has expanded well beyond its original Wisconsin base. By the end of 2008, 26 states and five provinces will have at least one indoor waterpark resort. The number of indoor waterparks has grown significantly since their inception in the early 1980s, and the average number of hotel rooms attached to these waterparks has also increased substantially over the years. Between 1998 and 2007 in the United States and Canada, 96 indoor waterpark resorts opened either as new construction properties or as additions to existing hotels.
David J. Sangree, MAI, CPA, ISHC is President of Hotel & Leisure Advisors, a national hospitality consulting firm specializing in appraisals, feasibility studies, and impact analysis for hotels, resorts, waterparks, and other leisure real estate. When this article was published, David Sangree was Director of Hospitality Consulting with US Realty Consultants and a Principal in the Cleveland office.
"Hotels with indoor waterparks will fill rooms almost fully every weekend and school break all year long. For hotels that typically go empty on weekends, the indoor waterpark is the best thing to come along. In some cases, indoor waterparks will add up to 26 points of occupancy"
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