The Grand Rio Mar Resort offers amazing amenities and embraces the community by fulfilling its corporate social responsibility. Today’s guest is Evy Garcia, the Director of Sales & Marketing at Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort. She sits down with host Andy McNeill to discuss the many beautiful offerings of this luxurious event destination. From scenic views courtesy of its ocean-side location backdropped by the beautiful El Yunque National Forest, there’s plenty of areas to explore and enjoy. Evy also shares how they’ve helped restore and reforest the area after the destruction caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria. With the help of the community, the guests, and the resort itself, the forest has been reopened and enjoyed by many ever since. Learn more about the many programs offered by Wyndham Grand Rio to care for its nature and the abundant recreational activities to enjoy in Puerto Rico in this episode of Destination Everywhere!

Andy McNeill and Todd Bludworth are travel and hospitality entrepreneurs and owners of the global meetings organization, American Meetings, Inc. From sourcing hotels to corporate event management around the world, their team selects corporate event venues and meeting planners for a wide array of enterprise business clients, providing ideas for convention themes and strategies for running global meetings and events. Learn more at www.americanmeetings.com.

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Grand Rio Mar Resort

In this special spotlight episode of Destination Everywhere, Andy McNeill is joined by Evy Garcia of Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Puerto Rico Golf and Beach Resort overseeing the 400-room hotel, two world-class golf courses, the country club, and the Rio Mar community. They discuss the destination’s luxurious amenities and how they’re giving back to the community by taking care of its nature.

The Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort is located on the northeastern side of the island of Puerto Rico, just half an hour from the airport. A convenient location for tourists and non-natives who are not familiar with the landscape. The entire hotel sits right on the ocean backdropped by the El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rainforest in the United States forest system. You are assured of a scenic view from every direction. The beautiful rainforest offers guests various activities such as a relaxed walk around the forest to enjoy and immerse in nature. You can also scale the area and go to the towers to enjoy the beautiful views and vegetation all around. If you’re looking for an adventure, you can opt for a hike around the area for a chance to dip into the waterfalls within the rainforest.

Wondering about what creatures you might encounter? The resort also offers birdwatching activities for you to enjoy and satisfy your curiosities. If you listen closely, the sound of coqui frogs, native in Puerto Rico, roaming around the forest. You have the opportunity to enjoy both fauna and flora without leaving the resort premises.

Another activity you can enjoy across the wide area of the resort is horseback riding. You can follow a trail to the creek in the rainforest, which also flows and connects to the golf course and the river.

With the devastation left behind by hurricanes Irma and Maria, the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar people took it upon themselves to embrace the rainforest to rehabilitate and reopen it. With that followed other community-serving programs such as tree-planting and clean-up trails to continually liven the rain forest. The resort has deemed it part of its corporate social responsibility to consistently encourage planting trees in the area and take care of the creeks and trails. After all that work, volunteers reap their rewards by enjoying the beautiful freshwater pools from the waterfalls with free meals courtesy of the resort.

The resort also offers other fun activities to help you get in touch with nature. There’s an annual project surrounding turtle nesting where we welcome leatherback turtles and secure the areas so that when the hatchlings are ready to go, the guests can help bring them back into the ocean safely. For some interaction available all year round, the resort also offers iguana feeding for the whole family to enjoy safely. It is an exciting opportunity to commune and see the magnificent beauty of nature in action.

The Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Puerto Rico Golf and Beach Resort boasts two great golf courses and spacious tennis centers. The resort offers spa services and yoga classes for businesspeople or even family members looking to relax. You can also enjoy mixology classes and a unique rum tasting experience immersed in Puerto Rican culture and music for more fun adult activities. You may also join in the feasts of the coffee for when the beans are ready for harvest in the different plantations. You can also experience the longest Christmas in the world as well as the San Sebastian Street Festival from November to January with artistic, musical days and wild carnival nights.

About Evy Garcia

Joining the Wyndham Grand family in March 2018, Evy Garcia has led the communications initiatives for Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Puerto Rico Golf & Beach Resort as the Director of Sales & Marketing overseeing the 400-room hotel, two world-class golf courses, country club, and the Rio Mar community. With over 20 years of expertise in the hospitality industry at Caribbean resorts, and as a corporate planner, Evy is a seasoned marketing veteran who has been at the forefront of major business strategies while navigating several crises. Prior to joining Wyndham, Evy led the sales team at El Conquistador, A Waldorf Astoria Resort.

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