TORONTO — Travel agents who become certified (or re-certified) as a RIU Hotels and Resorts specialist will receive two nights free in any of the 100-plus RIU properties, revealed Sergi Ruiz Pique, the company’s VP Business Development, Partner Marketing and MICE (America).

Pique was speaking at a VIP lunch yesterday at the Jazz Bistro in Toronto for 70 travel agents and representatives from Sunwing Vacations. He told Travelweek the certification can be done online (riuspecialist.com) in about 40 minutes in either English or French.

In what must be one of the shortest speeches ever at a travel industry function, Pique summed up in about two minutes some of the other developments at the hotel chain. These include the opening of three new properties including the Riu Playa Blanca in Panama; the Riu Palace Antillas in Aruba (the hotel’s second property on the island); and a Riu Palace in St. Martin.

“We don’t just open hotels, we also renovate what we have,” Pique added. Examples include the Riu Cancun which was recently renovated at a cost of $20 million. The Riu Plaza Miami Beach is being renovated now and will open in the winter, and the Riu Plaza New York, a new building in Times Square, will open in the fall of 2015.