InterContinental Buenos Aires' meeting space includes a colonial church
InterContinental Hotels operates a trio of properties in Argentina with three entirely different themes. For split programs, it’s easy to combine downtown Buenos Aires with either the upscale Nordelta suburb or Mendoza’s hip wine country. Together, the destinations offer one of the world’s most value-packed “town and country” meeting destinations, offering Old World glamour and New World vino.
First, the Cliff Notes: During the early 1900s, Buenos Aires was the wealthiest city in South America when it exported 40% of the beef consumed in Europe. Gauchos (cowboys) worked the fertile pampas (countryside) bringing to market the largest cattle herds in the world. The booming economy lured many Europeans from all social classes to the city, resulting in the classically elegant architecture, a love for fine food and wine, and the torrid tango.
BUENOS AIRES
The historic San Telmo District in central Buenos Aires is the birthplace of tango as we know it today. It’s where working-class Italian, French and Spanish men and their local Latina partners invented a dance so sensual, it took upper society two decades to acknowledge it, publicly.
Today, San Telmo is coming back into vogue with edgy new restaurants like Aramburu, and groups should definitely explore the cobblestone squares, vintage shops and 100+ year-old market.
Just minutes from San Telmo inside the Financial District, the 309-room InterContinental Buenos Aires is attached to the 17th century Iglesia San Juan Bautista cathedral. The high-rise tower is arguably the city’s most well-centered group hotel within close proximity to most of the major attractions. Plus, all of the meeting spaces were renovated last year, and all of the guestrooms are undergoing a complete overhaul this year.
“About 85% of our group business is from abroad, and over 90% of that is from the U.S. and U.K.,” says Maarten P. Drenth, GM. “Groups come here because we’re the only luxury property located where the country was born, so it’s a very authentic experience. You feel like you’re in Buenos Aires. I mean, you can have a wine tasting in a 300 year-old convent next door.”
Drenth says they’ve hosted inside the church and courtyard: Evita, Aida and tango performances, history lectures, and concerts by singers from the world-class Colon Theater—Argentina’s grandest public venue—located a few blocks away. Total meeting space includes 15 rooms for 900 people.
Continuing the authentic vibe, the outdoor Terraza del Virrey restaurant is fun for 200-pax dinners. It’s housed inside a glass wintergarden structure next to a traditional Argentine rotisserie grill where attendees can watch chefs preparing all of the different cuts of meat for their rodizio-style dinners.
Just five minutes from the InterContinental, the trendy new Puerto Madero District has burst on the scene in recent years with its shiny post-mod glass towers and regentrified warehouse buildings lining the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the city’s most popular Italian restaurants and parrillas (Argentine steakhouses) are located here, such as Cabana Las Lilas, as well as the hippest cultural venues for group rental in the Faena Arts District.
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