Yesterday, Sunday morning, the Verdanza Hotel in Isla Verde said goodbye to its last “regular customer.”
Today, in the early hours of the morning, they opened the doors exclusively for some international guests who will help the inn to straighten the finances a little, which have been hit hard since the closure caused on the island by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Verdanza – which has stood out as a hotel closely linked to the island’s sporting events in recent years – will be home to teams from Mexico, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Virgin Islands and Canada. . The teams will meet in the third and final qualifying window for the AmeriCup 2022 tournament, which will take place on February 17-21, without an audience and in balloon format at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.
Approximately 222 rooms – located between the six floors of the hotel’s main tower and three other floors of the adjacent building overlooking the pool – will be fully occupied by players and FIBA staff working in the window.
El Verdanza will become a huge balloon in which athletes will have to stay at all times in their designated areas, in accordance with strict anti-Covid protocols.
“It’s going to be a big balloon,” said Ricky Newman, Verdanza’s general manager. “Starting on Sunday (yesterday) morning, we said goodbye to a corporate client we have had here for many years. Once there, the hotel is 100% ballooned with FIBA until 22 February. There will be no tourists, “he said.
“This has fallen from the sky for us, because it is a time when global tourism due to the pandemic is on the ground. Hotels in Puerto Rico barely occupy 20 or 30%. Filling a hotel is a blessing and this for us is a very positive impact, even for a short time. Due to this, the money is moving and I was able to hire new staff, even temporarily. Easily, this is a good millionaire injection for the industry. It is something that has not been seen, I would say, since February 2020 “, he added.
All health measures, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Puerto Rico Department of Health and FIBA itself, have been implemented in Verdanza.
“Each team will have one floor. There is no “jangueo” in the hall here. We have very strict restrictions. The players simply arrive, go to their living room to eat – located on the same floor where they will stay – and there they will eat or take the food to their rooms “, he explained.
About 1,000 meals will be prepared daily and they will also have a healthcare team to help in any emergency and will also administer coronavirus tests.
“This is a challenging project, but at the same time it wasn’t that difficult, because we’ve previously implemented a pretty rigorous protocol,” Newman said. “What helped us a lot was the restriction imposed by FIBA on delegations to limit a maximum of 25 people per representation. That way we can maintain better control, “he added.
Puerto Rico, which will have shipowner José Juan Barea in its arms, begins its participation on February 19 against Mexico and on February 20, against the Bahamas, as part of Group D action.
In that group, the United States – already qualified – is undefeated at 4-0. It is followed by Mexico, 2-2; Puerto Rico, 1-3; and Bahamas, 1-3. The top three in each group advance to AmeriCup 2022.
Group C consists of the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Virgin Islands and Canada. This group starts on February 17, with the Virgin Islands against Canada, at 20:00 Cuba announced that it will not participate because of Covid-19.
Newman, who is also a big fan of the sport, crosses his fingers to Puerto Rico to get his ticket to AmeriCup 2022. If so, the island could host one of the stations, and Verdanza would have a new boom.