Meeting News - November 16, 2009 - (Page 30)

Island Guide By Kinley Levack Caribbean Battles Downturn With New, Expanded Properties Despite its reputation for blue skies, glittering waters and sunshine-filled days, the Caribbean has had a stormy last year or so. According to a PKF Hospitality Research report, the region saw average hotel profits decline by 16 percent in 2008 and the trend is expected to continue in 2009. Visitation was down 4 percent. All is not gloom and doom in the Caribbean, however. Properties have developed deals to entice planners, and renovations and construction are underway. The Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center Hotel & Casino is on track to open this month with 503 guest rooms and more than 35,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Also in Puerto Rico, the St. Regis Bahia Beach is scheduled to open in October 2010 with Radisson’s Our Lucaya 139 guest rooms and seven meeting spaces totaling 6,000 square feet. New group space is available at Puerto Rico’s Wyndham Rio Mar, where the Aqualuna Restaurant is becoming a reception room. The ocean-view space includes an 880-sq.-ft. foyer and 1,200-sq.-ft. seating area. Rio Mar also has added a fire pit overlooking the beach. The 600room hotel offers more than 48,000 square feet of meeting space. The Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa will undergo a $35 million renovation project over the next two years that will include all guest rooms and the hotel’s 15,000 square feet of meeting space. The Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino has completed a $50 million renovation that included all 411 guest rooms, the lobby, lounge and bar and both main restaurants. The top floor of the resort has been transformed into the Tradewinds Club, which offers such amenities as private checkin, a special pillow menu and access to a private lounge. Ground broke on Feb. 14 for Jamaica’s Montego Bay Convention Centre. The facility, scheduled to rebrands as a twosome be finished within two years, will feature more than 50,000 square feet of exhibit space, 20,000 square feet of banquet space and 11,000 square feet of meeting space. The venue will be located across from the Shoppes at Rose Hall. In January, The Iberostar Resort opened the last of its three hotels in Jamaica. Iberostar Rose Puerto Rico’s Wyndham Rio Mar renovates Hall Beach & Spa Resort, Iberostar Rose Hall Suites and Iberostar Rose Hall Grand Hotel offer a total of 978 guest rooms. On Grand Bahama Island, Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort has been rebranded as two distinct resort properties, the upscale 740-room Radisson Our Lucaya Resort, Grand Bahama Island, and the more family-oriented, 478room Our Lucaya Reef Village. The properties will share golf, spa, fitness, dining, meeting and water sports facilities. Sandy Lane on Barbados, a 112-room luxury resort, completed a multimillion-dollar renovation last year that included guest rooms and the 47,000-sq.-ft. spa. The 350-room Hyatt Curacao is scheduled to open in January with more than 9,000 square feet of indoor and more than 10,000 square feet of outdoor meeting space. It also will feature a spa, two restaurants and multiple pools. r 30 MeetingNews November 16, 2009 www.meetingnews.com http://www.omnihotels.com http://www.omnihotels.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - November 16, 2009

Meeting News - November 16, 2009
Table of Contents
Meetings Spotlight
Viewpoint
Event Profile
Construction Cites
Meeting People
Association Watch
Travel Dashboard
Dateline: Reno
Island Guide
South Regional

Meeting News - November 16, 2009