PHOTOS: American Niagara Hospitality celebrates opening of The Reef Beach Club & Pool inside Sheraton At The Falls

American Niagara Hospitality formally debuted The Reef Beach Club and Pool inside the Sheraton At The Falls on Tuesday. The Reef Beach Club & Pool is an exclusive area for guests of the hotel. With a 3,000-gallon black tip shark tank in the forefront, it was designed to be unlike that of any other hotel in Western New York.

Geoffrey Reeds, executive director of sales and marketing for American Niagara Hospitality, said, "We still have the largest indoor pool in Niagara Falls, USA, but we came back and not only finished the pool - redid the liner; we added two 15-person hot tubs; obviously the 3,000-gallon shark tank; the stingray observation pool; redid all the decking (and) made it a little more colorful; painted nice, new Adirondack chairs - just to make it a more casual and fun environment for mom and dad to kind of sit and watch the kids play in the pool, and watch the sharks.

"We do a feeding time once a day for the sharks, so everybody can watch that. It's just more family-friendly - a little more than just the average pool."

Assemblyman John Ceretto, Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. President and CEO John Percy, and local tourism leaders attended the grand-opening event.

The Reef is the latest addition to a campus that already includes a Rainforest Café, TGI Fridays, At The Falls Arcade and a Starbucks.

Reeds said the improvements "started about four years ago when the DiCienzo family purchased the hotel. Michael, who kind of oversees the U.S. division, has had a clear vision for transforming some of the spaces and turning them into more family-friendly, in the case of the pool and the Rainforest Café and the Fridays that we converted from what was kind of dead ballroom space; the Starbucks. Once we finish a project, we move on to the next one, to just try and enhance the space that we have, and appeal to both the family and the business traveler, alike, that is coming to Niagara Falls."

Doug Nickerson, vice president of operations for American Niagara Hospitality, said, "The Reef Beach Club & Pool not only gives our guests an experience unlike any other at any hotel in the region, but it's also important for our community and the downtown area to continue to see development and commitment from business owners in order to generate excitement for our visitors and to increase the length of stay for our guests in the area - especially in our non-peak times."

The project comes on the heels of the multimillion-dollar renovations of the ownership group's Days Inn At The Falls property this past June, also located in downtown Niagara Falls.

American Niagara Hospitality also operates Niagara American Grill and Sweet Treats Shop.

The shark tank was installed by Aqua Tech Custom Tanks & Cabinets.