The recent opening of the Puerto Rico Convention Center already has proved to be a boon for local hotels as well as the island's reputation as a meetings destination. At the same time, the lack of a headquarters hotel and a lodging shortage in San Juan mean that the center likely won't operate near full capacity until at least 2009.
Officially, the PRCC is capable of hosting events with 10,000 attendees. Practically, however, the current limit is more like 3,000, acknowledged Ana Maria Viscasillas, executive director of the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau.
"We hoped that the headquarters hotel would have opened at the same time as the convention center," said Viscasillas. "We clearly prefer to have a headquarters hotel so that delegates can be within walking distance. When we have 3,000 more rooms in the San Juan vicinity, within the next five years, we can look at hosting 10,000 people."
The planned 500-room Sheraton San Juan Convention Center Hotel was originally scheduled to open in 2007. Ground was broken in late 2005, but the opening date has been pushed back to 2008.
Meanwhile, Viscasillas said the CVB has been making do by utilizing existing hotels — notably those in neighboring Condado — to bring in the largest meetings possible for now. "We want people to have an unforgettable experience, so we have started in the lower end," in terms of meeting size, said Viscasillas.
The Caribe Hilton is serving as the de facto headquarters hotel for a number of large meetings this year, including this month's Interphex conference (1,450 room nights) and the Caribbean Gaming and Hospitality Conference (1,070 room nights) in June. Larger events, such as the Society for American Archaeology's annual meeting (3,687 room nights), are being handled by multiple hotels.
Stephen Nass, general manager of the Caribe Hilton, said the hotel has committed up to 600 of its rooms for events at the PRCC, even though it means turning aside some leisure business during high season.
"If we said we were not interested and proposed that they share with three other hotels, the clients could just say that they'll go to Nashville or somewhere else," explained Nass.
The Hotel Normandie, the Sheraton Old San Juan and the Wyndham Condado Plaza are among the other hotels hosting meetings at the PRCC for 2006 and 2007.
The shortage of hotel rooms close to the PRCC has not stopped city officials from pitching San Juan as a destination for citywide meetings. "We have not been known as a citywide destination, but we're now planning up to 12 such events per year," noted Viscasillas.
For example, in August 2007, the National Guard Association of the United States is scheduled to bring an estimated 5,000 attendees to the PRCC for its annual meeting.
For citywide events, Puerto Rico not only is drawing upon the hotels in Condado and Old San Juan but also those in Isla Verde, Miramar and downtown. If, as scheduled, the Service Employees International Union brings its 6,500 annual-meeting attendees to town in May 2008, plans call for the event's 13,800 room nights to be spread among the Caribe Hilton, the Wyndham Condado Plaza and the Radisson Ambassador Plaza in Condado, as well as the Best Western Hotel Pierre and the Hotel Excelsior in downtown.
Among the plans to add 5,000 hotel rooms across Puerto Rico by the end of 2008, significant additions in the San Juan area will be the 474-room Renaissance La Concha Hotel and Casino in Condado (on the site of the former 248-room La Concha Hotel) and the reopening of the 300-room Condado Vanderbilt Hotel.
The Caribe Hilton recently added 168 villas at its Paseo Caribe complex, and it has plans for 96 more units. The hotel itself is slated to expand from 646 to 910 guestrooms by the end of 2006. And the 570-room Condado Plaza, the closest hotel to the PRCC, is slated to undergo a $50 million renovation.
Clarisa Jimenez, executive director and CEO of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association, said that while it is "very clear that we need more hotel rooms," the island is "ready right now" to host conventions.
Transportation Challenge
One concern about citywide events is attendee logistics. Traffic in Condado and Isla Verde is daunting, and most people arriving at and departing from the PRCC still do so by taxicab.
Nass said there needs to be a concerted effort to expand mass-transit options in San Juan. Mentioned in the initial plans for the PRCC were water taxis from Condado, while an extension of the recently opened Tren Urbano, the light-rail system serving San Juan's business district and some of its bedroom communities, also is a possibility.
Growing pains aside, Puerto Rico's tourism officials and hospitality leaders remain strongly optimistic about the PRCC's potential to transform the island into a first-rate meetings and conventions destination. Nass, for example, believes that the convention center will help build up offseason business, provide a better balance between leisure and business travel bookings and even help to further drive vacation travel to Puerto Rico by exposing meeting and convention attendees to a destination that they might not have otherwise considered.
Already, Nass has seen his advance group room bookings double from 2005 to 2006, due largely to the convention center.
"You have to remember that 90 percent of our business comes from the U.S., and 50 percent of that comes from five states — New York, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois and California," said Nass. "We'd like to see some corporations in Georgia and Texas start having their conventions in Puerto Rico."
Through 2010, the PRCC has booked about two dozen international events with 500 or more attendees, and 70 events overall.
"We've been very successful with small and medium-sized meetings," said Viscasillas. "Now, it's time for us to think big."
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