In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Amanda Santana, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Viva Resorts by Wyndham.
What were your goals for coming to FIT?
We have been participating here at FIT for many years, but this is the second time that we have our own stand, due to the importance of the Argentine market for Viva Resorts. We are normally present at the Dominican Republic stand because we have most of our properties there, but we also have properties in Mexico and the Bahamas and we decided, given the importance of the market and because we are more international, to have our own stand.
Apart from that, Argentina is the most important destination in Latin America for us and it continues to grow, it is in the top five internationally for the chain. In other words, it is essential for our company and that is why we are here.
Last year we announced that we were going to grow and enlarge our portfolio with a new property that we started building last year and today we are almost ready. On December 11th we are going to open a new property in the Dominican Republic, in a new destination called Miches, which is only 1 hour and a half from the Punta Cana airport. It is a little-known, unspoiled gem, a paradise, and we hope to count on the Argentine market, as with the rest of our properties.
Tell us a little more about the property. What amenities does it have, the number of rooms and its layout?
Viva Miches by Wyndham has 538 rooms, of which we have different categories. The vast majority have a sea view or are facing the sea and those on the first floor will have private pools that will be called splash. Then we will have, as in all Vivas, a wide gastronomic variety. Apart from the buffet restaurant, we will also have four a la carte restaurants of different nationalities. The gastronomic variety is something that we put a lot of effort into because we are international, but we were born in a Dominican/Italian company, so we have that influence. Italians like to eat very well, as do Argentines. We have a very demanding clientele gastronomically speaking.
Then there is the entertainment. While it is true that most all-inclusive hotels offer entertainment, ours has something more. There is fun for all ages, day and night. We have our program of spectacular themed parties at all our properties. And we are well known for the fun, the atmosphere at our properties.
And last but not least, the rate. The quality-price ratio is the best on the market, which doesn't mean we're the cheapest, but we do have the best quality-to-what-you-are-paying ratio. All of this will be replicated at Viva Miches, a completely new hotel, which will also offer a theatre and all the sports facilities, a kids' club and everything we normally offer at our hotels.
How do you work to be environmentally sustainable?
We are a company that believes a lot in sustainable tourism, that we are responsible for the communities where we are, because we must be grateful and help the environment. We belong to the Wyndham Green program with all our hotels, which is a program of Wyndham, the largest hotel chain worldwide, which is responsible for classifying hotels. There are different levels, depending on the measures you have in your hotel to make it sustainable; plastic reduction, energy production and a series of initiatives that have been in place since the beginning of the operation.
At Viva Miches we have had to evolve and we are going to start from the beginning. The destination is new and both the government and the public and private sectors are promoting it because we understand that it has tremendous potential and we want to grow as a model destination, well organized, sustainable, where all the players have the same vision.
What corporate social responsibility initiatives do you implement?
We have been implementing different actions in our properties for quite some time. For example, we started with the reduction of plastic. We are trying to get rid of single-use plastic in our properties and that has been a challenge. In addition, we are working on renewable energy with solar panels in several of our properties. And of course, we are a great generator of jobs in each hotel, and we have many children in the community who we support.
Today, society is much more responsible for caring for the environment, for physical well-being, for eating responsibly, for not drinking like people used to. How do you reflect this in your hotels?
In all our hotels there is a corner that we call The Health Corner, where if you want to eat healthy, or have any allergies or intolerances, it can be handled perfectly. And continuing with the theme of sustainability, we also work on saving water. We have many initiatives, for example, saving water with the towel system. Customers are increasingly more aware and for the new generations it is already something natural. We have learned, but the new generations even prefer to pay a little more for a hotel that is responsible, that cares about the environment and the sustainability of sustainable tourism.
And finally, you talked about the importance of the Argentine market. What other markets are really strong for you in Latin America?
The main one and number one is Argentina, then we have Chile and Uruguay. We are working in Colombia and also in Brazil and Puerto Rico, which is growing. The local markets, Mexico and the Dominican Republic are obviously important for properties.