ON PUERTO RICO AS A MEETING DESTINATION

Ramón Sánchez: Why Puerto Rico? Well, it's the most accessible island in the Caribbean. We're part of the United States; therefore, it's easy to do business here. No passport is required. There's the same electrical standards, same US currency. We like to say that our currency exchange rate is four quarters to a dollar. No other island has the infrastructure that we do. We tell people that if your phone doesn't work in Puerto Rico, it's probably because you haven't turned it on. My phone is a Miami phone, and I use it here. So conducting business in Puerto Rico is very simple.

ON THE MULTIPLICITY OF VENUES

When You Are Not at a Meeting

Between the three LXR properties here in Puerto Rico—the El Conquistador, the El San Juan, and the Condado Plaza—nearly $300 million is being invested in renovations. The InterContinental just underwent a major renovation. The Ritz-Carlton right now is undergoing a renovation. The Marriott just came out of a $35 million renovation.

On top of that, there's new development in the Condado district. La Concha Hotel is a beautiful hotel. Next door to that is the Condado Beach, the oldest hotel in Puerto Rico. It was built in 1919 by the Vanderbilts as their weekend retreat. That will open at the end of next year as a five-star property.

There's also the Pierre Hotel—our first Double Tree. We're very excited about that. And, of course, there's the new 500-room Sheraton Hotel, which will be our anchor hotel at the Convention Center. It is scheduled to open in 2009. It'll be operated by Starwood under the Sheraton brand. It's going to be key to the continued success of our Convention Center.

ON WHAT THE RENOVATIONS MEAN

Take the El Conquistador: It just furthered its $103 million transformation with the opening of its conference center. Combined with the resort's existing space, it offers a total of four ballrooms and over 100,000 square feet of tech-sophisticated meeting space, more than any other resort in the Caribbean.

The Westin, the old Westin Rio Mar, has been reflagged to the Wyndham. They're pumping around $36 million into that hotel. All of the guest rooms have the Be Well beds now. They're very comfortable. They've just opened with an expanded casino. So that hotel is a huge incentive property, very important for us as far as meetings and conventions.

ON OTHER AREAS OF THE ISLAND

Looking toward the West Coast, in Porta del Sol, the Mayagüez Resort just finished a major renovation, which features 12,000 square feet of meeting facilities. And they just opened a new river pool. And in Ponce, the Ponce Hilton also just opened a 6,000-square-foot exhibition center.