Hakins Meetings & Incentives Sidesteps Menacing Hurricane Dennis

Ritz-Carlton evacuation of Weichert, Realtors President's Club successfuly carried out by Hakins Meetings & Incentives prior to Hurricane Dennis arrival.

Montego Bay, Jamaica (PRWEB) July 14, 2005 -- Weichert, Realtors Presidents Club, 475 winners strong, avoided the glaring eye of Hurricane Dennis as the storm roared through the Caribbean this past week.

The teamwork, communication, and quick-thinking of Hakins Meetings & Incentives helped carry early arriving attendees safely back to the states and halted the advance of more island-bound Presidents Club winners before Dennis menaced Jamaica.

Wednesday, in the wee hours of the morning, as Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall General Manager Martin Nicholson and his outstanding staff -- led by Convention Services Manager Devin Passelle and Destination Services Manager Lee Weinstock -- finished last-minute preparations to welcome guests, all eyes looked warily toward an advancing tropical storm.

Jamaica-bound winners were met by Hakins representatives at both Newark and Philadelphia airports, told of the impending danger, and a last-minute program cancellation. Dennis had been upgraded to hurricane status. Scheduled flights back home for 130 passengers already airborne were arranged by fast-acting Hakins staff, both in New Jersey and Jamaica, who also met arrivals in Montego Bay and turned them right around to escape the hurricane.

Jim Weichert, President of Weichert, Realtors, deadheaded a chartered Miami Air 727 from Newark to ferry 105 Presidents Club winners out of the way of the slow-moving tropical storm that gathered force over the Caribbean, strengthening to a Category Three Hurricane.

Eighty-two winners who opted to stay, riding out the unpredictable Dennis at the Ritz, had their 4-night incentive dampened by drenching rains and howling winds, but -- amidst the evacuated, huddled masses in the main ballroom -- they missed looking Dennis in the eye as he veered northward, sparing Jamaica a direct hit.

The Weichert, Realtors Presidents Club was originally scheduled in May, but was postponed due to flooding at the Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall caused by heavy rains.

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