ANNA MARIA ISLAND — Hoteliers are making Anna Maria Island all the more appealing as a tourist destination.
Aside from white sandy beaches and warm weather, island hotels and resorts are promoting another commodity on tourists’ radar: value.
In an effort to increase tourism spending this fall and winter, which are relatively slow seasons in Manatee County, some hotels and resorts are providing the incentive of a free night’s stay to guests.
The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau pitched the idea to Manatee County hotels this year and got 16 properties to participate, including a few on Longboat Key.
The properties that are offering a free night to guests who book two, three or six nights are getting the benefit of the CVB advertising their deals online as well as increased reservations.
“Overall, the CVB’s efforts are creating huge, huge increases in both occupancy and tourism,” said Larry Chatt, general manager of Island Real Estate.
Island Real Estate’s vacation properties have seen October’s reservations increase 45 percent from October 2008. In addition, November bookings are up 25 percent and December stays are up 40 percent over the same months last year.
“People are learning that they can get a fantastic vacation for almost half-off in-season,” Chatt said.
While the months of September-November have the lowest average daily room rates, those months also bring in the least amount of tourism spending for Manatee County hotels and resorts.
In September 2008, the occupancy rate for all of Manatee County was 34.7 percent, the lowest rate for any month since 2005.
That rate improved this September to 40.1 percent. Occupancy for Anna Maria, which is offering a bulk of the free-night promotion, also saw improvement. The island’s occupancy rate improved from 32.8 percent in September 2008 to 39.4 in September 2009.
“The CVB decided we needed to provide our visitors continued value especially going into our slower seasons,” said Gentry Baumline-Robinson, spokeswoman for the CVB’s public relations agency Hayworth Creative. “So far it’s been a success.”
A success for other island businesses as well.
At Beach Bums on Pine Avenue in Anna Maria, store Manager Lauren Sato said bike, kayak and baby equipment rentals are up more than 50 percent this October from last year.
“It’s definitely helping,” Sato said of the free night promotions. “We’ve had a really great offseason. This tends to be a slower time for us and we’ve just been a lot busier than we’ve been in the past. The more tourists that are in town, the more people need us for rentals.”
Ken Davis, manager of Rotten Ralph’s, said the Bradenton Beach restaurant on Bridge Street, too, is seeing business pick up.
“We’ve had a real good October which is something we haven’t had,” Davis said. “Even September was good. Usually, we’re so slow then.”
Jason Luper, manager at Bungalow Beach Resort, said the Bradenton Beach hotel has seen about 10 percent to 15 percent of tourists take advantage of the free night promotion. Since August, Bungalow Beach Resort has been offering a free night when vacationers book three nights.
“As far as promotions go it’s definitely one of the most popular,” Luper said. “This October has been one of the best Octobers we’ve ever had. Normally, October is really weak.”
October has generated an average of $252,902 in bed taxes over the past four years, far from the profit Manatee County collects during peak months such as March, which has averaged $781,512 since 2005.
“I’m not concerned about my high season, my high season is always good,” said Liz Mann, property manager of Dawg Daze Villa.
It’s the offseason that causes room for concern. So, the Holmes Beach resort jumped at the chance to get free advertising from the CVB by offering a third night free to visitors when they book two nights through Dec. 15.
“This has helped fill in some of our gaps in the offseason,” Mann said. “It exposed us to new people. We have a lot of repeat guests, but with this we got a lot of response from some neighboring county residents coming to visit.”
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