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Palace Resorts recently acquired land in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic to construct a roughly 1,500-room, Palace-branded hotel that is expected to be open in as early as three years, said Frank Corzo, vice president of U.S. field sales for the company.
“That’s a project that we are really excited about,” said Corzo in a recent interview with TravelPulse. “This will be a property built from the ground up and will be focused on families, Millennials and destination weddings.”
This would represent Palace Resorts’ second Caribbean destination. Moon Palace Jamaica was Palace Resorts’ first hotel opening outside of Mexico.
Corzo said all other details regarding Palace’s new Punta Cana resort will be revealed at the fifth annual Palace Resorts Global Conference from August 22-25 at the newly-opened, The Grand at Moon Palace Cancun.
The Palace Resorts Global Conference attracts industry insiders, travel agents, and tour operators from all over the world to gather at Moon Palace Cancun to learn the latest news and information the brand has to offer.
“It’s funny. When we did this for the first time, it was mainly just to see if it would be well received by the industry,” said Corzo, “and here we are five years later with an event that has become a staple in the industry and an event that the agents look forward to.”
This year’s event is expected to attract about 500 agents. About 300 are from the U.S. with the remaining attendees coming everywhere from Latin America to Asia.
“You want to reward your top producing agents, but you also want to open it up to agents who might not be selling you,” said Corzo. “So, we’ll provide sales tips on how they can sell us more and the agents who may not be selling us as much also get to see how we treat the agents that are. In my position, I always have to look at the industry and look at how we can do more business or else you will plateau.”
Corzo told TravelPulse there will also be a heavy tour operator presence at the conference with Travel Impressions, GOGO Vacations, and Apple Vacations all expected to be among the companies in attendance.
Also expected at the conference, said Corzo, is the official relaunch of Palace Resorts’ popular travel agent program, the PRO Specialist Agent Program, which Corzo said has been “dismantled” and rebuilt with additional features aimed at helping agents better negotiate groups and other tools to assist in closing sales. The name of the program will be officially changed to Palace Resorts PRO 2.0.
Corzo said the PRO program had been around for about five years and it was a highly comprehensive program that provided marketing tools and marketing support for travel agents. Another component of the PRO program was the “Cash is King” benefit that provided agents with opportunities to make more money.
“We noticed that the program was becoming more of a co-branding strategy,” said Corzo, “so we decided to throw in some tools, some new toys and new features that the agents will find very beneficial.”
Los Cabos Success Equals Cancun Upgrades
Le Blanc Spa Resort Los Cabos, the second Le Blanc-branded hotel in Palace’s portfolio, will be heavily showcased at the upcoming conference. Corzo said management of the popular Millennial-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive resort will be on hand to show agents in attendance how they can make money on the resort.
“That is a very high-end property in a new destination for us and we want to make sure agents know about that product,” said Corzo. “Los Cabos is a destination that is only positioned as a high-end destination and it gives our brand, and gives us, a lot of value.”
And because “the market has responded really well to [Le Blanc Spa Resort Los Cabos],” Corzo said Palace Resorts has decided to upgrade its original Le Blanc Spa Resort in Cancun.
The Cancun property has been closed since June 21 and the hotel plans to reopen by November 25, according to a Palace Resorts spokesperson. Corzo said the renovations will include a complete overhaul of the resort’s lobby area and some of the hotel’s common areas.
Mexico Advisories Didn’t Hurt Business
Last week, the United States Department of State issued an update for its travel advisory to Mexico by deeming all major tourism destinations safe.
The Mexico Tourism Board revealed that more than 40 of the country’s major international tourist destinations have no travel restrictions and exist in states where there are no special travel advisories for tourists.
But before that, there was confusion from clients about the State Department’s new travel advisories. Corzo, however, said Palace Resorts was fortunate in that it didn’t lose much business over exaggerated safety concerns in Cancun.
“We have a powerful brand in the industry and I think the agents who sell us know how to position our product to customers and know how to overcome that challenge,” said Corzo.
And Corzo said the Mexico tourism industry learned its lesson from not being as proactive in 2009, when the swine flu, recession, and gang violence crushed Mexico’s tourism industry.
“Back in 2009, it was kind of every man for himself, but today there is this unity among the destination, and with the tourism board and the rest of the industry,” said Corzo. “We have all overcome these challenges and showed that these are isolated incidents.”
The “Fly Me To The Moon” Package
In other Palace news, the hotel company recently launched its “Fly Me To The Moon” promotion for guests traveling to Moon Palace Jamaica.
Fly Me To The Moon includes two round-trip airline tickets from anywhere in the U.S. to Jamaica when booking a stay of six nights or more.
The promotion also includes $1,500 of resort credit, which can be used on a wide selection of activities, such as destination tours and spa treatments. Children and teens under 17 years old stay for free.
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