Wyndham Reflags El San Juan, El Conquistador

<B> Wyndham Reflags El San Juan, El Conquistador</B>

By Frank Rosci

The 389-room El San Juan Hotel & Casino and the 751-room El Conquistador Resort & Country Club were recently reflagged as Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, giving U.S. business travelers and meeting groups a very familiar name and even more options in Puerto Rico. Its new acquisitions solidify Wyndham's position as the single largest resort and hotel presence on the island.

With hoteliers in Puerto Rico reporting near-record occupancies for fall 1998, and with expectations running high that strong bookings and good business will continue well into this spring and beyond, Wyndham's timely absorption of the two hotels reflects the thinking behind the chain's expansion plans, especially with regard to warmer climes.

"Puerto Rico is a critical component of our growth strategy," said Brian Gamache, president of Dallas-based Wyndham Resorts. "Just as we are expanding our presence in Florida, which is a natural location to Puerto Rico, Wyndham wants to establish itself on the island as the chain of choice for Caribbean meetings and business travel."

Several reasons for Wyndham's affinity for Puerto Rico include the island's U.S. commonwealth status, the quality and extent of its air service, plans for a new convention center--which is scheduled to open in 2001--a diversified economy and the island's competitive business nature.

"From a business and meeting perspective, the world is your market in Puerto Rico because it is not at all one-dimensional, presenting opportunities to book corporate travel, incentives, group meetings and pre- and post-cruise business," Gamache said.

"In an atmosphere of strong economic development, which means additional business travelers, we think Puerto Rico will continue to emerge as the Caribbean's prime meeting destination because of its user-friendly base," added Gary Pugatch, vice president of Wyndham Resorts in Miami.

In addition, air service to Puerto Rico grew even more with Continental Airlines' recent expansion to its existing service from Newark. The airline in December also began new daily, direct service to San Juan from Houston, as well as from Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Trans World Airlines recently launched a new daily service from Boston, and a new Puerto Rico-based carrier, Sun Airways, also began service from San Juan to Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando in December.

Statehood for Puerto Rico, a much discussed and often controversial topic, would only strengthen the hospitality industry there, Gamache said, by making it even more familiar to Americans, while necessitating creative measures by the island's officials, such as tax incentives, to keep business interests growing.

Jorge L. Davila, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., expressed optimism that the high occupancies on the island will continue and explained the PRTC's goal: "An important strategy for the PRTC is to let travelers know our island is a great place to visit any time of year and the numbers indicate our programs are helping build Puerto Rico into a year-round destination."

At the Wyndham El San Juan Hotel & Casino--a former Williams Hospitality Group property--an $80-million improvement program was completed in the fall of 1998, including $50 million to renovate public areas such as the hotel's Palm Court lobby, with its hand-carved mahogany ceiling, and rose-colored walls and flooring. Of the money spent, $2 million was used to renovate and refurbish the grand International Ballroom, while doubling pre-function and meeting breakout space.

In all, the El San Juan has 25 meeting rooms in 35,000 square feet of space for groups of up to 1,600 attendees.

There also are a number of outdoor sites, including eight acres of gardens, pools and beachfront--locations where themed events, dinners and other group activities may be held.

An abundance of Wyndham meeting space on the island has spurred the chain to aggressively seek groups from non-traditional places--such as Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles--all the while maintaining strong ties to the East Coast, which is the island's meetings business breadbasket, Gamache said.

Meeting groups who use the El San Juan typically range from small board meetings to incentive groups, who take anywhere from 75 to 150 rooms, or include 150 to 300 attendees, Gamache said.

The lion's share of business--as much as 60 percent--comes from the United States. Local business accounts for about 20 percent, while an approximate 15 percent comes from South and Central America, and roughly 5 percent hails from Europe.

All guestrooms at the El San Juan have three two-line telephones with fax/modem and voice mail. The hotel has a business center, which is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, that offers three full work stations with three computer terminals, a variety of software, printers, a copier and fax machines.

Guestroom amenities include a safe, ceiling fan, stereo, television, cassette and CD player, minibar and individual temperature control.

The El San Juan is located five minutes from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport and 15 minutes from Old San Juan.