Prevue January-February 2014 - (Page 63)

Leadership Summit with AMResorts Secrets Vallarta Bay hosts annual incentive planner conference [ON LOCATION] GREG OATES T he 13th annual Leadership Summit took place in November at the new Secrets Vallarta Bay Puerto Vallarta, with 74 buyers, suppliers and sponsors in attendance. The purpose of the conference was to drive new group business and maintain relationships, while exploring the attributes of Puerto Vallarta as a meetings and incentive destination. Florida-based Opus Group organizes and hosts the event every year, with Prevue participating as ofﬁcial media partner. American Airlines and United Airlines provided lift. As a group venue, the all-inclusive, adults-only Secrets Vallarta Bay was a pleasant surprise for everyone due to its unique variety of venues for dining, receptions and functions. The beachfront hotel comprises one half of a newly remodeled high-rise, mirroring its adjacent sister resort, the family-friendly Now Amber Puerto Vallarta. Both properties are operated by the all-inclusive AMResorts hotel group. You pull up in front of the expansive third ﬂoor lobby with an equally large open-air deck perched high over the multiple pool areas below. The views of the Paciﬁc are breathtaking, especially at sunset. Most of the outdoor deck is covered so Opus Group organized an evening cocktail event where everyone could meet while the sun set into the water. The same space was popular day and night throughout the event for impromptu networking. Everyone raved about how much they enjoyed the resort lobby. Secrets Vallarta Bay and Now Amber share ﬁve meeting rooms and a 6,930-sf ballroom for events up to 870 people. Like the hotels and grounds, the meeting facilities are spotless. There's also fast WiFi and a dedicated group entrance. The selection of F&B is impressive, especially the Oceana seafood restaurant perched right on the beach just steps from the water. The opening night party was held in the indoor/ outdoor Market Cafe, leading out to the pool area. And the ofﬁcial sit-down appointment session took place in the spacious Tamarindo Mexican restaurant following a great local breakfast. The 1-on-1 sessions were interesting because these were all senior incentive planners, except almost 80% of them had never been to Puerto Vallarta before. So there was a lot of interest in learning about the destination, especially with business on the upswing looking ahead through 2014. "The mood was deﬁnitely more positive than in 2013, with more speciﬁc requests for dates and rates," says Christopher Perks, founder/president of Opus Group. PUERTO VALLARTA RHYTHMS Every year, the Summit's host destination is chosen based on a signiﬁcant amount of criteria. "We always want the destination to be as diversiﬁed as possible, with many different options for each attendee to delve deeper into the region," says Perks. "This gives each attendee a menu of activities, so we don't all go everywhere en masse, except for the lunches and dinners." Amstar DMC organized the events and handled all logistics and transportation. The most popular scheduled activities included a golf tournament, sailing regatta, a walking tour through the seaside colonial section of Puerto Vallarta, eco/ adventure tours into the rainforest, and a pub crawl in town. The highlight offsite experience was a trip to the secluded La Caletas cove for an exceptional dinner and the excellent "Rhythms of the Night" amphitheater performance. "I can't say enough about Amstar, they received top marks from everyone," says Perks. "You couldn't ask for more in terms of creativity, service and worthwhile reasons to justify the investment for everyone to be there." theopusgrp.com; secretsresorts.com; amstardmc.com prevueonline.net | 63 62-63_Seattle-Leadership.indd 63 1/8/14 8:52 AM http://www.theopusgrp.com http://www.secretsresorts.com http://www.amstardmc.com http://www.prevueonline.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue January-February 2014

Planner's Pick: Boston
Fresh Meets: Hyatt All-Inclusive
Bureau Buzz: Branson
Good Business: Baha Mar, Bahamas
Sea Shores: Celebrity Cruises
The Art of Roi
Corporate Retreats
Scotland
Florida Special Section
On Location: La Cantera, San Antonio
Convention Centers
On Location: Edgewater, Seatle
On Location: RIU Rivera Maya
On Location: Secrets Vallarta Bay, Mexico
Colombia
Check Out: Hilton Bomonti, Istanbul

Prevue January-February 2014