Volume 2, No. 13. July 12, 2002
Flood
of information
One of the best ways a waterpark can battle the real and perceived effects of
widespread regional flooding is to maintain a constant flow of updated information.
Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels, Texas, found its own Web site
to be the most effective way to get news out to guests, staff and the media
after the park closed over the Fourth of July weekend due to central Texas’
devastating floods.
“The thing
that hadn’t hit me before this was the ability of the Web to put instantaneous
news in front of all the people who want to know about Schlitterbahn,”
said Sherrie Brammall, the park’s public relations director. “We hadn’t
used it that way before. We will from now on.”
Schlitterbahn remained
open through the first onslaught of rains early last week, which caused flooding
throughout San Antonio and closed both SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas for
two days. On July 3 Brammall and her team sent out faxes and e-mails assuring
the media and hospitality industry that despite the prevalent television reports
of what was happening to the south in San Antonio, their park had remained open
and would be operating as normal over the holiday.
The morning of
the Fourth, however, came word that Canyon Lake would rise over its banks and
surely flood the Guadeloupe—and, subsequently, back up the Comal River
which flows past Schlitterbahn. That night, park staff moved anything movable
to high ground and evacuated the resort rooms. The delayed opening the next
day evolved into a shut-down that lasted through the rest of the weekend, a
first for the waterpark.
On Monday, Schlitterbahn,
which is laid out in three distinct sections, only opened the Blastenhoff area
and charged a reduced admission rate. The place, Brammall said, was “packed.”
“We spent
time walking around the park on Monday trying to find out where the guests were
from and how they knew we were open that day,” she said. “The overwhelming
response was our Web site. People had been watching the Web site, keeping an
eye on it to see how we were doing. People appreciated the fact we were putting
out updates, and most of the people were from out of town.”
Brammall did have
other means at her disposal of disseminating the message: those e-mails and
faxes, plus TV news helicopters flying over the park Sunday evening with live
shots while Brammall was being interviewed. “They said then Schlitterbahn
would be opened.” Still, it was the web site that people used most. “It
was a time when our phone lines were clogged with people calling in. To have
the message board on our Web site was invaluable.” Key to that success
was Webmistress Pat Quiroz. “She stayed near her computer the entire weekend
to make sure any updates were posted immediately.”
Schlitterbahn opened its Surfenburg area on Wednesday, and the entire park resumed normal operations yesterday. That highlighted another usefulness of the Web’s power to disseminate news. “The other group we had to communicate with through all this was our staff members,” Brammall said. “We told everyone to keep logging on to the Web site. There’s no way we could make personal phone calls to everybody.”
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