Meet Puerto Rico Exceeds Goal for Group and Convention Sales

July 11, 2014

Meet Puerto Rico reached its annual goal by ensuring 189,109 room nights during the fiscal year 2013-2014. According to Milton Segarra, Meet Puerto Rico’s CEO, 409 groups and more than 100,000 delegates will visit Puerto Rico for a meeting, conference, convention or incentive travel in the next few years.

“It has been a year of challenges, but we were able to focus on our goal of positioning Puerto Rico as the ideal destination for groups and conventions. For the first time in over 10 years we met and exceeded by a 100.9 percent our goal of 187,500 room nights,” said Segarra. He added that the sales growth was 53 percent when comparing it with fiscal year 2012-2013, which closed with 120,984 room nights booked.

Meet Puerto Rico developed two promotional efforts to generate sales. The first one, Dial & Smile, took place in November 2013 and generated more than 49,000 room nights in two days. Escape the Meeting Blah! Promotion was held in April and generated an additional 66,632 room nights.

With regards to the Puerto Rico Convention Center, Segarra said that Meet Puerto Rico has a contract with the Convention Center District to sell and market the center internationally. “This year we were able to ensure 30,394 night rooms for the center, an increase of 69 percent compared to FY 2012-2013.”

Segarra, who has been leading the organization for a year, said they have reformulated Meet Puerto Rico’s business model to align it with the changes and trends within the industry. “We were able to embrace the change, identify the needs, transform the organization and stay current and relevant within the industry,” he said. Included among the changes are rebranding, a new advertising campaign, the relaunch of the website, an increase in social media use, changes in the sales force, new measurements and a decrease in operational costs.

Joanne Ferguson, president of the Meet Puerto Rico’s board of directors, acknowledged Segarra’s leadership and his team for achieving their goals. “The industry is delighted with the results achieved by Meet Puerto Rico. This means more business for the hotels, but also for the small and medium sized businesses whose services we offer to these groups.”