Stay Tranquilo - Touring THE Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Hotel in Puerto Rico & 1:1 w/ GM Mark Frances

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

In this episode of the Stay Tranquilo Talks, powered by Stay Tranquilo Network, we tour the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Hotel and sit down with GM, Mark Frances, on all the amazing Puerto Rico has to offer and the amazing amenities on property. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. We're here at Prime 787 at the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve. We are here with Mark, and we're here at the Puerto Rico Open. It's a beautiful day outside. Sun is shining, wind is blowing. It's been an awesome day. So thank you for being here and taking time. No problem. We're in the AC, so it's great. Yes, it is. It feels nice in here. So can, can you tell us a little bit about the property, exactly where on the island it's located. And yeah, we can get into a little bit about the tournament. Yeah, no problem. We're about 45 minutes out of of San Juan. Okay.

About 30 minutes from the airport on the east, northeast coast of the island, so northern coast but east side. And we're on a tiny peninsula, but it's a thousand acre peninsula. We're right at the end of that peninsula on 72 acres, surrounded by ocean all the way around us and the peninsula has just under two miles of beachfront. That's beautiful. Yeah, I mean, walking around the last few days, just seeing the course and then the hotel kind in the back, it's a real.

surreal out here. It's truly beautiful and I think it's obviously a destination a lot of people would like to attend. How has it been hosting the tournament now? How many years has it been here that you guys have hosted it? I think it was four or five you said yesterday. I've been here four years. Yeah, for four years hosting it for me. I think we're in town seven. Seventh year now hosting it. Amazing. So super exciting for us. Yeah, absolutely brilliant. We love having it here. one of the big tournaments of the year, big, big sports events of the year in Puerto Rico. So for us to be able to host it is just fantastic. Over the last few years since you've been here, how have you really seen the tournament grow?

I know the tournament's been something that there's a lot of other priorities, I guess you could say, on the tour. And sometimes they kind of put this one a little bit off to the side, but they know the importance of this event, right? And obviously you know here. This is a qualifier, right? Exactly. So there's a lot of guys that this means a lot to, right? It's a big fight out there. the next few days it's going to be that's some great golf being played absolutely you know

generally during the year it's a it's a resort course but they uh you know they toughen it up for the PR open and we've got some great players out here and yeah we've just seen the whole event grow over the last four years you know coming out of the back of COVID we went didn't have too many people around to this year which is looking spectacular i mean already you can't get in in the main gate it's packed and we haven't even started the tournament yet so very exciting for us to see this this volume of people and so many Puerto Ricans coming out to come and watch. Where do you see specifically on the hotel side, where do you see a lot of the traffic coming from for this event? Is it family and friends? Are there actually recreational fans that just thoroughly enjoy this event?

Where do you kind of see a lot of that traffic coming from? Complete mix. Complete mix. You're not wrong on any of those. So we have not only players staying with us, we have their families staying with us, we have PGA staying with us, we have golf channels staying with us. We have fans from the US that have flown in specifically for PR Open. That's awesome. And then alongside that, we have a whole bunch of folks on vacation that are going, oh, wow, there's the PR Open going on. So we're going to introduce the PR Open to a whole bunch of new people who didn't even know it existed.

So it's terrific. Yeah, I mean, it is a little bit unfortunate, in my opinion. You have a signature event in the Arnold Palmer going on in Orlando, Florida right now, which is an awesome event, right? And obviously all those players have the right to be there and deserve that, right? But I feel like it takes away a little bit from this because I'm a fan of golf. I'm a fan of Puerto Rico, right? If they could potentially put this maybe on a different weekend where they can ultimately allow maybe more recreational fans to come to this event, make a little weekend out of it, make a trip out of it, see the beautiful island, you know,

and make it as like a not only destination but also an experience within the golf tournament. Do you, do you, what's your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think that's definitely something to think about. You know, we're definitely on the backseat when it comes to importance of tournament. But I think as the years go by, it's becoming more and more prevalent that this is an important event.

So I'm sure in the future we're going to see a shift. Okay. And we'll see it shift to a weekend where more people will come out, more fans will come out. You know, I think, I think that Discover Puerto Rico, our DMO's done just a phenomenal job promoting Puerto Rico in the last three and, in the last three and, a half to four years, the growth of tourists to this island has just been phenomenal.

So Puerto Rico's on the map again. You know, I think for many years we weren't. The fact that you don't need a passport to come out here, you can jump on a plane on a Friday morning and spend the weekend in Puerto Rico and you're back home Sunday night. There are not many places in the Caribbean, you can do that without having to spend hours in passport control. And you know, here, you're just flying and off you go. Yeah.

Even though we're considered a rural location in Puerto Rico, we're only 30 minutes from the airport. Well, that was one of the things that I was speaking with Brad from Discover. He was saying how easy it is to get around the island, which that was something that was astonishing to me. You know, we're staying at El Carribe, the Hilton over there, and I think I guess San Juan area. And highways are great. Transportation is easy to get. I mean, you can get up and down the island relatively easy, which when you go to other islands, it's not the case at all. No, this is the most developed and most economically active island in the Caribbean.

You know, we live in two beautiful worlds, right? We live in this incredible world where we're surrounded by beaches and coconut trees and spectacular scenery and rainforests. And we have a Home Depot, you know, and a Costco. So we really are within the United States, but we're not. Right. It's very cool. Yeah, no, it is, I feel like, like you said, it's like the best of both worlds.

You get that trouble-able feel, but you can make a living out here, you can make a life out here, and establish like a true economy. Very economically active island, incredibly low unemployment, highly skilled and well-educated workforce. It makes for everything to be perfect, right? So it's a great environment to be in. Yeah, definitely. So can you tell us a little bit about the property? This property is beautiful. You mentioned to base off location, but some of the amenities and, and, and, you know,

things that you can access one on property here. Well, I won't bore you with all the statistics, but we're pretty big, we nearly 600 rooms, 486 of those are nearly 600 square feet each. So in any other hotels, those would be a suite. In our hotel, those are just a standard room. And then we have 93 suites and six villas, including a presidential suite,

five swimming pools, which is unheard of. We have the largest swimming pool in Puerto Rico, and one of the largest swimming pools anywhere in the Caribbean. 72 acres of land, so we have a lot of space. So even when the hotel is running 100%, you don't feel like you're crowded. 17 food and beverage outlets, which is pretty unheard of in the Caribbean.

If you're not in an all-inclusive, which we're not. Anything from, you know, grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich through the prime where we're sitting right now, where you can, you know, enjoy really well-aged steaks and so on. We have a full spa on the property. And then all the rest of the gob that goes with being in the Caribbean, and you can kayaking and paddleboarding and, you know, bike riding and you can go play golf. Exactly.

You know, we have El Junker rainforest on our doorstep, which is just, you know, incredible. You know, I really see us as the kind of gateway to El Junker with the closest, closest big hotel to El Junker. We have a great relationship with them. Interesting. You know, I think it's a very special place. You know, the only rainforest in the national park system in the United States. I read online all the time about, oh, national parks you should visit and everybody forgets.

There's a rainforest out here, right? That's such a good point. I was actually having the conversation the other day with someone, and we were talking about different national parks to visit. We're from Miami. We have the Everglades right there in our backyard. Florida Keys. It's not considered a national park, but it's almost its own little world in itself. You can't leave the United States when you go to the Keys.

Yeah, exactly. It almost, I mean, it's the Caribbean, essentially. But, you know, then you go, obviously you go up north and you have the mountains and those different regions up there. But I think you nailed it. I mean, you have a rainforest two hours away from you if you're there in South Florida, right? I think that's something that people don't think about, right? You think of Puerto Rico and obviously you think of the beaches. Obviously, Miami's got its own beaches and it's got its own taste and flavor down there.

But to your point, you get to experience something that you don't really get to see relatively anywhere. You may think you have to go so far to go see that. Yet here you are in Puerto Rico and you get a little bit of everything. with the forest there. Yeah, we're not your typical kind of what people imagine the Caribbean to be, you know, azure water and so on. We're tropical and hard and we have waves and we have green ocean and we have we have rainforests and it's just a rugged place to be, but it's safe, right?

This is a, this is, I've lived and worked all over the Caribbean. This is a safe place to visit. I feel it. You know, you pull out your U.S. dollars, you're at home. You feel that. Yeah, the vast majority of people will speak English with you and make it a really comfortable and happy place to be. We have had great hospitality with everyone that we've crossed with,

the locals, the people working in the event. And sometimes that's not the case. Sometimes people look at, you know, you're from the U.S., like they're almost like a little standoffish, right? And it's the complete opposite here. The hospitality here is amazing, and that's something that really caught my attention, just how hospital everyone was, obviously, how beautiful the island is.

It's truly a unique place. because I don't know why I came in here with, I guess the Caribbean kind of has its reputation. Puerto Rico does feel different. It is different. I've lived on seven islands in the Caribbean, and it's completely different to the rest of them. You know, I think Puerto Ricans are friendly people either way,

and they've always been friendly people. But I think particularly in the last three or four years with this phenomenal drive for tourism in the island and the massive effort that the government is making, the DMO is making, the tourism company is making, that it's breeding this understanding through all of the local communities

that these tourists are really important. They drive economic growth within the island. In terms of the greater tourism industry, we're not huge compared to some of these much smaller islands than us. We have so much other industry going on in Puerto Rico. We have so many other services. We have great banking, pharmaceuticals.

We have incredible medical care in Puerto Rico. Absolutely outstanding. world-class medical care. So that all makes for just, you know, a wonderful place. As a tourist coming out here, you never need to worry about taking travel insurance. You've got great medical care on your doorstep. Something goes wrong. There's great doctors.

We have doctors on call for this hotel. You don't get that in the Caribbean. So this is a really terrific place to come on vacation and make a second home. Definitely. What is it, just to go off that point, what is it that you think that's why Puerto Rico has it may be taking that leap compared to some of these other Caribbean? be an islands that have more of an influx of traffic. Well, the vast majority of the other islands that I've lived on is tourism has been this

singular economy. Got it. It's not in Puerto Rico. It is one of many attributes to the economy that for many, many, many years pre-Maria really didn't get much attention. You know, tourism struggled to make headway. But I think coming out the back of Maria and so many people coming to the island to help clean up and tidy up and rebuild.

They got to really see what it was about. People went, wow, this is fantastic. I'm going to come back when everything's great and come on vacation. And we're really starting to see that now. And I think it's the no passport. We, U.S. That is a huge one. Especially lately, people are having major problems with their passports in the United States.

Right. They're impossible to get. If you try to get a hold of someone there, it's good luck, you know? And you might get lucky here and there some people, but people are having struggles like with the whole renewing of the passport and just that process that you don't have to. So it's incredible in particular for destination weddings. Okay.

Because if you're going to invite 100 people to go to the Caribbean, they've all got to have a passport, they've all going to get vetted or visas in some cases. Puerto Rico, driver's license, and go. So you know all of your guests are going to attend because it's easy to get here. Nice to, you know, four hours from New York, two hours from Miami, we're super easy to get to. And interestingly, from here, we're starting to become a gateway to the rest of Latin America. We have so many flights taking us from here.

to Panama, to Colombia, to Chile, to Peru. You can get from Puerto Rico anywhere instead of having to deal with the mess of Miami. Because you can go anywhere from Miami, but you've got to arrive four hours early to get you in Puerto Rico. You come and have a couple days, and then you can be in, you can be in Bogota in four hours. That's a good point, yeah.

So, you know, it's a great jumping spot to other places to visit that are tourist-friendly. Awesome. So one last question before we wrap it up. what about this destination, not necessarily Puerto Rico, but more about the hotel itself, would you consider that makes it a place to stay tranquil? Well, it's the people, right? It's the people.

But we're just, you know, I think we found our place in the world. We're just a really good four-star family hotel, right? And that's all we want to be good at. We're not trying to be anything fancy. We're not trying to be anything luxury. We're not trying to be anything other than just a great place for families to come hang out, pick up some shells on the beach, watch the sunset, hang out in a hammock, ride a bicycle. You know, before you know, three days have gone by and you go, wow, I've been really busy doing nothing.

Yeah. You know, and we have this really great catchphrase here that the team came up with that is doing nothing means everything. I like that. Yeah, sometimes people think they get almost, what's the word? Not caught up, but they feel guilty almost for not doing anything. And I think that's the perfect way to do it.

So my frustration is I'm trying and we're working with the team to take it back the other way. I think for years and years and years pre-COVID, everybody felt like they needed to be a wellness hotel or a spa hotel. And you had to keep guests busy from sunrise to sunset and then everybody had to be busy. all the time.

Yeah. And we just went, oh, come on, it's too much. Do nothing. Read a book. Lie on a hammer. Go with your grandkids and pick up some seashells. Like when last did anybody take a walk on the beach and pick up seashells, right? They're so busy looking for a yoga class or where's your spinning room?

Or the next tour to take. Yeah. The funny joke that we always have, like back home is like, we need a vacation from the vacation. It's ridiculous. Because people are like, no, go, go, go, all the time. And that's how you feel. It's like, I feel like I didn't even go. on vacation, yet here I am and I want to be on vacation, you know?

So I love the idea of travel to visit and educate yourself. Of course. You know, I love the idea of traveling to a destination to really understand that destination and see everything you possibly can. But we're the US. Just come here and chill, you know? Relax. You know, there's lots to see in Puerto Rico, but you don't need to rush around to see it.

Yeah. Right? It's super easy. It is. Well, I think that was awesome. I appreciate your time, beautiful hotel and beautiful venue. Thank you. And we hope to see you again soon. So thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. Of course, thank you. Appreciate it.