Hilton Puerto Rico has been renovating and adding new features to its meeting properties, many of them centered around food and beverage. The Caribe Hilton—known as the birthplace of the piña colada—debuts a new lobby bar in March, Caribar, with a menu inspired by local cuisine. For groups, the resort offers pina colada making classes, a fun and fitting activity. The 916-room hotel has a 15,700-sf exhibition hall and 24 meeting rooms. The 386-room El San Juan Resort & Casino recently introduced the Chef’s Studio, an opportunity for groups of up to 8 to dine inside the main kitchen’s walk-in freezer, which has been converted into a high-end private dining room. The El San Juan has 35,000 sf of meeting space. At the 571-room Condado Plaza Hilton, the catering menu is now infused with herbs from the new on-site herb garden, located on the rooftop of the Royal Ballroom. More than 10 varieties are being grown, inspiring new dishes such as cilantro watermelon ceviche and mint cilantro coconut rice.The hotel has 40,000 sf of meeting space.
The big renovation news among the Puerto Rico Hilton properties comes out of the Embassy Suites San Juan Hotel & Casino in Isla Verde, with 12,000 sf of meeting space, which recently completed a makeover of all 299 guest suites. The new look is a combination of soothing Caribbean ambience and bright colors reflecting the personality of the island.
For meetings, the 254-room Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino Resort has just introduced a new space, the Salon del Mar meeting room, with stunning views of the ocean. It can accommodate up to 60 guests. That is in addition to the hotel’s already existing 60,000 sf of meeting space.
Also in Puerto Rico, the 750-room El Conquistador, a Waldorf Astoria Resort, has its own conference center with two ballrooms, 16 breakout rooms and more than 100,000 sf of meeting space.
