Meeting planners and the venues they book have exhibited more environmental awareness that most other industries in recent years. The LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort in Naples, Florida is applying the green sensibility by enabling meeting planners to make a tangible difference in saving a threatened species, the loggerhead sea turtle.  Named as the three-year Turtle Awareness Partner with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort has launched  “GROUPS GO GREEN” as a way to protect the Conservancy Sea Turtle Monitoring and Protection Program. Upon booking a meeting or group event at the upscale Naples resort, planners can receive a five percent credit to the master account, of which the full amount or a portion can be donated to the Conservancy for rebuilding a turtle tank used for rehabilitating sea turtles and releasing them back into their natural environment. 

From May to October, approximately 50,000 sea turtles in Florida come ashore and deposit 70 to 180 eggs, of which only about one in 1,000 hatchlings survive to maturity. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida patrols beaches, marks nests, counts hatched eggs and educates the community about important conservation measures that will give sea turtle hatchlings the support they need to survive. As the sea turtle tank at the Conservancy is in need of major repairs from years of housing juvenile loggerhead sea turtles, LaPlaya is offering this package as a way for groups to give back and donate to the rebuilding of the tank, which is a significant part of rescue mission efforts for the threatened loggerhead sea turtles.  A dedication plaque is being placed in front of a glistening fountain on-property in an area deemed Lantern Lane. Entitled “Wishing Turtles Well,” this plaque serves as recognition of LaPlaya’s partnership with The Conservancy of Southwest Florida and both parties’ devotion to rescuing endangered sea turtles. All change tossed into the fountain is also being donated to the Conservancy.  “This program further demonstrates LaPlaya’s desire to set the gold standard for sea turtle protection issues,” said Rob Moher, vice president of marketing & development for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “Through this great partnership, groups receive a wide array of first-class amenities at LaPlaya while having the opportunity to help the environment.”

A “boutique” beach resort & conference center on the Southwest Florida Gulf Coast, LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort, features 16,000 square feet of lavish indoor and outdoor meeting space, which includes more than 11,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, the Vanderbilt and Bay View Ballrooms and eight breakout meeting rooms ranging from 735 to 1,250 square feet and 189 guestrooms.  Meeting Planners who book the “GROUPS GO GREEN” package can also arrange team-building eco-excursions at the Conservancy through the resort concierge. For more information on the “GROUPS GO GREEN” package at LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort, call (800) 237-6883 or visit www.laplayaresort.com.