On the tropical Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, there are more than 13,000 hotel rooms with 50 percent located in the San Juan area.
Visitors are drawn to the blue cobblestone streets that meander from the cruise harbor to the 16th-century Spanish citadel, and charming Latin flavor pervades local culture. A short 10-minute drive across town is the upscale Condado resort area of San Juan, where The Condado Plaza Hilton has stood out as a stylish address ever since it opened in the 1950s. It has the distinction of being the only hotel overlooking both the Atlantic Ocean and the Condado Lagoon, thanks to the property’s pedestrian bridge that links two separate hotel wings. And this is just one perk for visiting meetings and conventions groups.
Sublime Ocean Bites
The Condado is also blessed with an unusual shoreline for the resort strip: its long oceanfront features crashing waves against rock walls, while its lively pool area is adjacent to a calm bay beach, ideal for swimming. Foodies flock to the hotel to dine at Pikayo, the flagship restaurant of Wilo Benet, one of Puerto Rico’s most accomplished and endlessly creative chef.
Ease of Accessibility
Located 15-minutes from both the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport and the Puerto Rico Convention Center, the property attracts groups looking for convenience and the extra flexibility of 54,000 sf of indoor and outdoor meeting space. There are three ballrooms (including the recently renovated 12,800-sf Plaza Grand Ballroom), 19 individual meeting and conference rooms, boardrooms, hospitality suites and pre-function areas. An oceanfront garden is the hotel’s most enticing outdoor space, located adjacent to a glass-walled interior room, popular for corporate functions and seated dinners.
“We have the most flexible function space here,” says Sharyl Toko, general manager of The Condado Plaza. “Many event rooms are adjacent to outdoor spaces, and the majority have natural lighting and views of the beautiful lagoon or ocean.”
Speed It Up & Slow It Down
Through it all, tech support at The Condado Plaza Hilton keeps groups linked in with a high-speed WiFi system bandwidth scalable up to 1,000 mbps. To slow things down, the property offers an eco-friendly artificial reef that gives groups a chance to snorkel along three underwater trails, ideal for treasure hunt team building activities. And in the Condado Laguna, kayaking attendees occasionally find themselves in a different sort of meeting when the local manatee family—mom, dad and child—gently swim up to say “hola.”
