"Among our eight hotels, five in Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and Cozumel have just completed or have renovation programs currently in process, two in Cancun and Los Cabos are adding convention center facilities and two properties in Los Cabos and Ixtapa are brand new," said Emanuel Schreibmaier, VP of Sales and Marketing of Sol Melia's Americas Division, based in Miami.  "More locations and more variety of service niches ranging from golf and spa to dive, meetings and all-inclusives make us well-equipped to handle diverse needs of travelers for the year 2000 and beyond."

The 250-room Melia Azul Ixtapa Beach Resort and Conference Center just opened this month with all-inclusive services and amenities, including two swimming pools, four restaurants, nightly entertainment and an activities staff to arrange deep-sea fishing, golf outings and sightseeing trips to Zihuatanejo.  A conference center with 5,500 square feet to accommodate up to 650 people is also featured.  "Our resort product and group capabilities in Mexico is certainly enhanced by the addition of the Melia Azul Ixtapa which offers the most complete array of services in the destination," added Schreibmaier.

Convention center facilities will also be opening in December, 1999, at the Melia Cancun and Melia Cabo Real, changing their names respectively to the Melia Cancun Convention Center Beach & Spa Resort and the Melia Cabo Real Convention Center Beach & Golf Resort.
 

Melia Los Cabos San José del Cabo  Baja California Sur  - Mexico

The Melia Cabo Real Convention Center will feature 20,785 square feet of meeting space to accommodate up to 1,302 people.   The property just recently renovated all 302 of its rooms, opened a new spa and shopping galeria and acquired a 50-passenger catamaran exclusively for guest use.  The resort, surrounded by championship golf courses, is one of three Sol Melia properties in Los Cabos, joining the Melia San Lucas and the Meliá Los Cabos All-Suites Beach & Golf Resort which opened in April, 1998, and was the host hotel for the 1999 PGA Senior Slam golf tournament in March.

The Melia Cancun Convention Center will feature 16,146 square feet of function space for up to 1,200 people.  As part of its overall expansion plan, the resort just opened a new wing of 132 additional rooms, a second swimming pool and an additional poolside restaurant.  Now in progress along with the convention center construction is the addition of another 139 rooms, bringing the total of rooms close to 700 by the end of 1999. The property is well-known for having the largest garden atrium in the Mexican Caribbean and a state-of-the-art spa indoor spa facility along with outdoor spa treatment cabanas offering moonlight massages.

"Our new convention center facilities coming up in Cancun and Los Cabos along with the large number of rooms we have in each destination will really allow us to  aggressively pursue the group and incentive market," said Schreibmaier.  "Our unique combination of resort locations and group and meeting facilities make us a very versatile player in Mexico."

Sol Melia is one of the world's most successful hotel companies with its three brands -- Melia Hotels, Sol Hotels and Paradisus Resorts -- totaling more than 250 hotels in 25 countries worldwide.  Sol Melia's 1999/2000 expansion plans include new properties in Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico and throughout Asia Pacific and Europe.