Where To Go

Forty-five miles south of Cancun is Playa del Carmen, located in the state of Quintana Roo on Mexico’s east coast. The beach town is home to Grand Hyatt Playa del Carmen Resort, a hotel that has been aggressively marketing for corporate events. In only two years of operation, the resort has hosted more than 120 groups of different sizes, including coordinating two complete buy-outs, for Mazda and Mexican beer brand Cervecería Cuauhtémoc.

Veronica Sarmiento, the resort’s director of sales and marketing, notes that Mexico is a diverse market that affords meeting planners a wide variety of options for their events, from beaches to urban centers to historic colonial cities.

“In Playa del Carmen, the transition from tranquil beach town to thriving cosmopolitan city center has cast a new light on the city as a grand destination for meeting and incentive groups, with a level of connectivity that is desirable and conducive to the organization of meetings, conventions and events of any size,”she says. “Transportation is simple and easy, with Playa del Carmen only being a 45-minute drive from Cancun International Airport, and strong data and Internet service is available region wide.”

The Mexican peso has continued to be weak against the US dollar, meaning the cost of hosting an event in the country should prove to be a good deal, says Sarmiento.