Expansions & Renovations

Tortuga Bay Honored With AAA Five Diamond Award for 2011

The Oscar de la Renta Designed Hotel is the First in the Dominican Republic to Receive the Prestigious Designation

NEW YORK, NY - June 24, 2010 - Tortuga Bay, the luxury boutique hotel designed by Oscar de la Renta, has been honored with The AAA Five Star Diamond Award for 2011. The hotel is the first in the Dominican Republic and one of only four hotels in the Caribbean to ever receive this distinction.

The AAA Five Diamond Award for hotels and restaurants is reserved for properties that exemplify the highest level of excellence in every facet of operation. Only one-third of 1 percent of the over 31,000 properties approved by AAA achieve this designation.

Tortuga Bay, which opened at the PUNTACANA Resort & Club in 2006, has received much attention for its guest experience, including VIP transport from the airport, access to the exclusive Bamboo Restaurant and Six Senses Spa, and ability to play the resort’s two golf courses, the Tom Fazio-designed Corales and P.B. Dye-designed La Cana. The many amenities available to guests make the PUNTACANA Resort & Club the Caribbean’s premier golf and beach resort destination.

“We are sincerely honored and humbled for Tortuga Bay to be recognized by both AAA and American Express with these prestigious honors” said Frank Rainieri, President and CEO of Groupo PUNTACANA. “The focus at Tortuga Bay has always been to create a memorable experience for our guests and I am so proud that the hard work of our staff is being rewarded in such a wonderful way.”

This honor follows this month’s earlier announcement that the hotel was named to the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts Program. The program is a Card benefit of U.S.-issued Platinum and Centurion® Cards, where in Card members enjoy special amenities when staying with luxury partner hotels around the world.

“It is our goal that guests are treated with incomparable service from the moment their plane touches down in Punta Cana,” said Vincenzo Calcerano, General Manager of Tortuga Bay. “It is easy to have a relaxing trip when you are in a setting as beautiful as PUNTACANA Resort & Club, staying in a luxurious villa. However, it takes more than that to make a trip unforgettable. It is our job to ensure an unbelievable experience for all guests who choose to stay with us, and I’m so pleased that our staff is being recognized for their efforts.”

Tortuga Bay is a Leading Small Hotel of the World and a member of Virtuoso and Signature Travel Network.

About PUNTACANA Resort & Club
The development of Grupo PUNTACANA dates back to 1969 when Dominican businessman and hotelier Frank R. Rainieri and Theodore W. Kheel, the prominent New York attorney and labor mediator, created a partnership to construct a resort and real estate community that respects the natural habitat of Punta Cana while offering a world-class vacation experience. Maintaining a dedication to sustainable tourism, PUNTACANA Resort & Club has since grown to encompass over 26 square miles and now includes Tortuga Bay; Six Senses Spa; the PUNTACANA Ecological Foundation; four residential communities (Corales, Hacienda, Marina and Arrecife); a full-service marina; nine restaurants; a shopping village; two 18-hole golf courses; and Punta Cana International Airport, a modern facility that incorporates innovative and eco-friendly design. In 1997, Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta joined the Group as co-investors and have made PUNTACANA Resort & Club their home. Currently, Punta Cana is the most highly visited Caribbean destination and is easily accessible from all over the globe.

Coming Up In The June Online Hotel Business Review


Feature Focus
New Trends in Hotel Architecture and Design
On any hotel design project, architects are generally serving at least three masters - the owner/developer, the hotel operator, and the general public who will utilize the hotel - and each have their own goals, objectives and demands. The owner/developer is concerned with brand standards, the target market and the hotel's locale, while the operator is concerned about achieving the highest possible revenue through efficient design. The public is demanding that architecture and design be fully integrated into the guest experience, based on prevailing tastes and preferences. The architect's role is to respond professionally and efficiently to meet the demands of all and to develop a unified solution. Though each project has its own prerequisites and obligations, there are some general design trends which seem to be prevalent across the industry. First, there is an increased emphasis on the importance of the lobby. The principle here is that first impressions matter and that a hotel has only a few minutes to convince a guest that they have made the right decision. Hotel lobbies are being completely re-imagined - from eliminating front desks altogether to turning lobbies into warm, intimate social spaces, replete with fireplaces and comfortable furniture. There is also an increasing use of ambient natural light, even in large spaces like ballrooms and meeting rooms. In addition, there is greater emphasis on incorporating the distinctive attributes of any given location into the hotel design, which guests are defining as central to their experiences. The June issue of the Hotel Business Review will report on all these exciting developments in the fields of architecture and design.
In this issue...
Experiential Design Across All Sectors
By Ellis Katz, Principal, John Portman & Associates
Challenges of Contemporary Design in Historic Buildings
By Gary Meadows, President, HCI Architecture, Inc.
Ideal Meeting Spaces Should Offer Flexibility, Flexibility and Then Some
By Ronald M. Lustig, Design Architect/Principal, Earl Swensson Associates, Inc.
The Hotel Lobby
By Jennifer Skaife, Senior Associate, DiLeonardo
PLUS: Keeping an Eye on the Return on Design; Check In To the Future; L'AND Vineyards Wine Resort; How to Preserve Architectural Detail; Catering to Women in Hotel Design; Sustainability Retrofits, and much more.