Dianne Heffernan is director of meetings & incentives with ProEvents (Protravel International's events division).
What does your job at ProEvents entail?
ProEvents is the meeting planning division of Protravel International. We’re a third-party planning company that works with corporate meetings, events and incentive travel for many clients. I’m in charge of a team of planners and we are responsible for everything from going out and getting the sale to creating the proposal and handling all the logistics behind creating and executing a fantastic event.
You brought a group to Puerto Rico in March 2016. Could you share some details?
My group was an association within the building industry. It was their annual meeting, and there was a little bit of meeting involved, but more of it was fun. They weren’t required to go. Attendees chose to go. The event in Puerto Rico was well-attended; everybody that was eligible did attend. Our home base was the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in Rio Grande, to the north of El Yunque National Forest.
The Zika virus was starting to make headlines in the U.S. around this time as it spread through Brazil and much of the Caribbean. Did you have any hesitation in bringing your group to Puerto Rico?
None at all. I did have one gentleman who was bringing his son and daughter-in-law and he mentioned he was a little concerned. I sent him to the CDC website; we talked about the precautions he should take and ultimately he decided to bring them. We held an off-site at Hacienda Siesta Alegre at the base of El Yunque—the place I was most concerned about—so I arrived two hours early to scope things out. It was an open-air event and there were no bugs whatsoever. The higher-end resorts spray for mosquitoes regularly and that was also the case with Hacienda Siesta Alegre. I received zero complaints.
Would you bring a group to Puerto Rico now?
I wouldn’t hesitate to bring a group back there. Puerto Rico really has it all. They have some fantastic restaurants in Old San Juan and the Condado Beach area. The off-site dinner at Hacienda Siesta Alegre featured local entertainment, salsa dancers and a rum sommelier. The evening was a huge hit! The people in Puerto Rico are warm and friendly and they embrace visitors and have a can-do attitude.