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Convention District Signs up Additional Hotels
While the Sheraton Convention Center Hotel (500 rooms) is slated for completion by September 2009, a total of 1300 additional rooms in four additional hotels are likely to be open by 2012. These include A Courtyard by Marriott with 300 rooms with completion scheduled for December of 2012, and the Aloft Puerto Rico Convention Center hotel (Starwood) with 252 rooms with completion in May of 2012, plus two additional hotels; one of 500 rooms and the second with 200 – 250 rooms – the RFPs have not yet been issued for these last two.
If you’ve potential business for the Sheraton Convention Center Hotel, long time friend Willie Chin is your man to contact – he’s Director of Sales and Marketing for the property (willie.chin@sheraton.com).
And That’s Not All . . .
Marriott International will begin construction of the first JW Marriott Hotel on the island (360 rooms) on property adjacent to the Gran Melia. Construction should begin next year on this $180 million dollar five star property.
Not to be outdone, Starwood Hotels is moving forward with the Bahia Beach St. Regis Resort. This property is comprised entirely of suites – 139 of them, to be built at a cost of $150 million dollars. Located on 483 acres on Puerto Rico’s coconut palm forested north coast, just 25 minutes east of San Juan airport, this little jewel should be an immediate success. We anticipate a late 2009 opening.
Travel Services Inc. Earns Charter ADMC Designation
The Association of Destination Management Executives (ADME) just announced that Travel Services, Inc., a leading Destination Management Company in Puerto Rico since 1955, will be in the Charter class of Destination Management Companies receiving their Accredited Destination Management Company (ADMC) accreditation.
Travel Services is one of 24 destination management companies (DMC) representing 32 office locations who met the ADMC Program standards and completed successfully a very stringent review of their application by the ADMC commission. The company is the only firm on the island with this accreditation; and its senior management includes Joanne Ferguson, the only Destination Management Certified Professional on the island. Joanne is also a Certified Meeting Planner (CMP).
Barbara Dunn, Esq. Attorney and Partner with Howe & Hutton, Ltd., and member of the ADMC Commission, stated, “I underestimated the scope of the ADMC application process and was impressed as to how thorough and comprehensive the submission process is.”
Program standards include requirements that measure the longevity and stability of the company, its commitment to the DMC industry and its service levels to clients.
“I congratulate those companies who have achieved the Charter designation and applaud them for taking this important step for our industry,” says ADME’s President Ilene Reinhart, DMCP, CMP. “The program is designed to set the standards and industry best practices for Destination Management Companies and will enable clients to identify professional DMCs when they are searching for an industry partner.”
Destination management companies are a key element in helping a destination develop appeal for the very upscale incentive travel award group market and this market is key to the economic viability of the major resorts on the island today.
Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts Introduces its Most Prestigious Brand, Gran Meliá, to
The re-flagging of Paradisus Puerto Rico Resort to Gran Meliá Puerto Rico will be the brand’s first entry into U.S. Territory. The conversion to Gran Meliá Puerto Rico, a traditional European Plan (EP) resort, is the result of changes in Puerto Rico's marketplace, as well as Sol Meliá's ongoing strategy to expand the Gran Meliá brand in the Americas. Gran Meliá is Sol Meliá's most luxurious EP brand, aimed at both the high-end leisure and business traveler. Sol Meliá plans to make investments to improve the hotel’s services and décor subse-quent to the new, rigorous standards set by the Meliá brand. Gran Meliá Puerto Rico will offer The Level, an exclusive service, more personalized than Royal Service, which will provide the most discerning guests with private areas, exclusive pool and beach areas, personal concierge and other customized services.
Gran Meliá Puerto Rico will also revamp its gastronomic offerings with Spanish-Puerto Rican fusion cuisine, a grill and an international restaurant. And in addition to European Plan the resort will be offering Breakfast Only, Modified American Plan and Gran Melia Meal Plan.
The resort will also include Yhi Spa, Sol Meliá’s new spa brand, a sophisticated facility designed for health and wellness. The new spa will feature more than 11,000 square feet offering the latest treatments for body, mind and soul.
According to Ken Dittrich, Managing Director of the property, “We are changing the hotel concept due to the different demands of the Puerto Rico and international markets.”
Fairmont Hotel Resurfaces – Financing Set
On a peninsula on the northeast coast of the island, the western half of which is occupied by the Paradisus Puerto Rico Resort, the Fairmont hotel will occupy the eastern half of the peninsula. Redwood Capital Partners LLC working with Empresas Diaz – the owners of the land – has signed a letter of commitment with Canada’s Fairmont Hotels and Resorts according to the February 1 issue of Caribbean Business. Several years ago a “ground breaking” had been held, however the project lay dormant from that point on, and it was generally thought the project had fallen through.
Now quite alive, the project will consist of 250 hotel rooms and 150 condo-hotel units. No date has yet been announced for the opening.
No Passport Required for Puerto Rico – Convention Bureau Promotion Offers Signi
Meeting planners who take advantage of this promotion can earn a subsidy of $10.00 per room per night for groups of more than 250 room nights booked between now and June 30th, announced Ramon Sanchez, Executive Vice President and COO of the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau. Rooms must be booked through the Convention Bureau to qualify.
For further information, visit http://www.meetpuertorico.com/news_center/documents.asp?id=357.
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