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Long holiday weekend draws in-state travelers; local hotels filling up
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With the Fourth of July falling on a Friday this year, Lee and Collier county hoteliers are looking forward to a robust weekend.
Despite high gas prices and a dour economy, in-state travelers are expected to carry the holiday.
Teri Lamaine, director of sales and marketing at Inn at the Springs, said the Bonita Springs resort is filling up quickly.
“Basically folks are now really beginning to call,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “We were 52 percent occupied at the close of last night and I just checked today and we’re at 72 percent. That’s pretty good considering all the doom and gloom we’ve been hearing about the economy.”
Like most local hoteliers, Lamaine says she expects her hotel to be near capacity this weekend and a large majority of guests will come from within the state.
“They are people from the Sarasota/Tampa and Fort Lauderdale/Miami areas, what I call the tank-of-gas customers,” she said.
“They are more likely to wait to make reservations. A lot of them are kind of hesitant because they want to see what the rain storm situation might be.”
The Inn at the Springs is offering a $25 Visa gas card for guests staying at least two nights. The lack of fireworks in Bonita Springs this year has not had any effect on business, she said.
“Not many folks are really asking where they can see fireworks,” said Lamaine. “We get a lot of questions about where they can get a cheeseburger and beer on the beach, or where they can rent Ski-Doos. We’re also getting a lot of eco-tourism questions this year.”
The expected strong weekend is good news for Paul Kepple, co-owner of the Flamingo Motel on Bonita Beach Road.
“Our reservations are better than Memorial Day, which was unusually slow,” said Kepple. “I think maybe people are coming out of their shells a little bit and swallowing the high gas prices.”
Kepple said only two of his hotel’s 18 units are still available for the weekend. Until now, the summer had been slower than usual.
“Our summers are usually full all around but it hasn’t been as good as in past years,” he said. “On Memorial Day, the beaches were empty, the restaurants were empty, it was like a ghost town, almost spooky.”
Naples hotels are also doing well.
Lamaine said the Inn at the Springs’ sister property, the Inn at Pelican Bay, had just one room available for the weekend as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort is already sold out and the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort has only a few rooms left, said spokeswoman Lauren Rotchford.
Both resorts sell out every Fourth of July.
“We have a lot of Florida residents, a lot of families,” she said. “There are a lot of family activities and we have a shuttle that takes them to the (Naples) Pier for fireworks.”
The Naples Grande Beach Resort has also sold out, said marketing communications manager Jill Dunning.
“We’ve been fairly strong for the summer and we are 100 percent occupied for the Fourth,” she said. “We are getting lots of people coming from the other coast. I think less people are flying and more people are driving. I know that’s what I’m doing.”
Resorts on Fort Myers Beach also report good bookings for the weekend, particularly those properties located near Times Square where the city holds its fireworks display.
“We are expecting a sellout Friday,” said Ellis Etter, director of sales at the Pink Shell Beach Resort. “Thursday we’ll be in the upper 90s (percent occupancy). We can’t compare it to last year yet because the bookings aren’t all in, but I think it will be pretty close.”
Sunstream Resorts includes six properties in the Naples area and Fort Myers Beach. Spokeswoman Dina Craig said most of those resorts are nearly full and expect to sell out.
Park Shore Resort had just one available room as of Tuesday afternoon and Bellasera had just three. Specific numbers for the company’s Fort Myers Beach properties weren’t available but were similar, she said.
“We’re seeing a lot of people take extended weekends, well into next week,” said Craig.
“Typically we have more Florida travelers in the summer months, but it’s probably a little bit more this year, about 70 percent in-state.”
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This is exactly what one lady wrote about in her Letter to the Editor. Naples relies on local patrons to get them through the off-season. I hope all those hotels and restaurants realize how much their businesses will be hurt if the Alligator Alley is sold to a profit seeking foreign investor. Tolls will increase and tourism will decrease.
Contact the Governor and Tell Him This Plan Stinks! Go to the opinion page here at Naples Daily News and scroll down one screen. Click on Tell the Governor How You Feel and send a message.
Don't blink, or this first of many public assets will be sold by this administration. Act Now!
#1 Posted by intense on July 3, 2008 at 8:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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