Meetings Focus recently traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to check out renovations to the San Juan Marriott Resort and explore nearby off-site group activities.
During his time there, e-Media content developer Eric Andersen, sat down with Milton Segarra, President and CEO of Meet Puerto Rico, to discuss the destination’s new branding initiative targeted toward the convention market.
The new ad campaign is titled ‘On a Tropical Island. In the Caribbean.’ It features imagery showcasing the natural beauty of Puerto Rico, while detailing some of the meeting specs (1.2 million square feet of meeting space, 14,000 hotel rooms, 2,000 dining options, hundreds of non-stop flights).
It then trails off with the formal details to highlight that in addition to all these amenities a planner expects, Puerto Rico also provides a one-of-a-kind experience for groups.
Meet Puerto Rico recently launched a new branding campaign targeting the convention market. Could you tell us a little more about the campaign and what message you are trying to send to planners?
We already knew the quality of the hotels, convention center, facilities and venues, are all important to planners, but ultimately the destination goes first. People want to meet in a destination they like.
When selecting a destination a planner, besides having a very dedicated agenda with certain expected outcomes for their event, wants their group to be able to have fun.
And using that particular approach we wanted to communicate, listen Puerto Rico does have the hotels, venues, convention center and ease of access you’re looking for, but guess what? We’re also an island in the Caribbean and no U.S. passport is needed to visit.
What segment of the group market is Meet Puerto Rico targeting?
You’ll see a very important effort in appealing to the incentive and corporate groups. Those groups have the potential to make decisions quite rapidly, and that will impact our hotel base members within the next six to 24 months.
Along with that, you’re also going to see a very important effort to connect with associations whose booking cycle could go from two years to 10 years, and we’ll also be targeting specific vertical markets like sports and entertainment, destination weddings, in addition to medical and health groups.
Our source of business, and this is so important to us, is pretty much equally divided between incentive, association and corporate groups. Maybe 40% on corporate, 33% for associations and so forth.
The big reveal of Puerto Rico’s new branding campaign was made at the Hotel & Tourism Association’s monthly luncheon. Joaquin Cruz, director of marketing over at the San Juan Marriott, mentioned this was a highly attended event. Are all of the hotels on board with the new campaign and working closely with you to help actualize your goals?
We were very pleased with the attendance at the monthly event. All the key players in Puerto Rico from government officials, to hotels, transportation companies and event companies, were there. We saw some real support and it made us realize how important this new branding campaign is to make sure we keep up the pace of bookings for Puerto Rico.
What is Puerto Rico’s biggest challenge in attracting some of these larger-size groups for conventions?
Oftentimes, once people know the types of resources we have, they say “Hey, why not in Puerto Rico?” The main issue is following up on that the lack of awareness about bringing a group to Puerto Rico for those planners who have concerns.
Perhaps someone might wonder, “Is there the proper air transportation available to get to Puerto Rico? Are the logistics a problem for us?” It won’t be a problem. We have local and national companies that will take care of the logistics as they would in Vegas or New York or Orlando.
People might assume it's more costly to ship materials to Puerto Rico, but that isn’t the case. So, the lack of awareness on specific details is something we need to overcome, because once they see the product and I’m talking about hotels, convention centers, transportation and other services, they will say, “You know what? I can do it in Puerto Rico and it’s going to be a heck of a meeting.”
That’s why we’re educating people, and meeting planners specifically, along with travel directors and corporate travel directors, about why you should hold a meeting in Puerto Rico.
How was 2013 in comparison to recent years in terms of meetings business? What are your goals and what are you hoping to see in terms of the trend for 2014?
In 2013 we started to see an increase in bookings. If you compare the July to December window of 2012 with the July to December window of 2013, our booking pace in terms of number of groups and number of room nights booked increased almost 40%.
We are working under a new business model and we have a revamped sales force in the U.S. All of our marketing plan will be laid out in 2014. So this is like a transition year for positioning us as Meet Puerto Rico. And that’s very important.
At the same time, you’ll see continuous selling support, to keep Puerto Rico on people’s minds at the most important tradeshows and in industry publications. Social media will play a significant role in what we do as well.
Are there any new renovations or additions to the San Juan you are excited about in 2014?
We are excited about renovations that have already been completed, for example recent additions to the San Juan Marriott (which included upgrades to guestrooms and suites), and another at InterContinental San Juan.
We are also excited about the additions to our luxury portfolio, including the W Retreat & Spa in Vieques, which is an offshore island, The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in Rio Grande, The Ritz-Carlton, San Juan, and Royal Isabela – which is truly a five-star resort on the northwest coast of Puerto Rico.
These properties have helped to provide us with new product, especially for the high-end, incentive type of groups and corporate groups.
Outside of those luxury properties, some new key players are entering the industry, like the Hyatt House in San Juan’s convention center district, along with two other Hyatt Places that have opened in the past two months. Courtyard by Marriott also recently made its debut in the convention center district.
What do you think makes Puerto Rico a great place for groups to meet?
Most importantly, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory where no U.S. passport is required for entry, which contains all the conveniences you’re looking for in a world class destination. However, the type of setting, the appeal of the destination, the warmth of our people, the quality of hotels, venues and convention centers that we have–in a tropical setting–provides a totally different opportunity.
Once you’re inside a ballroom it could be here, it could be in Vegas, Orlando or in Taiwan, but at the end of the day, when you step out of that room, it’s about what you are getting out of the destination and Puerto Rico can provide a heck of an experience to top any meeting, in any place of the world.
