Zota Beach Resort on Longboat Key aims for December opening

The Zota Beach Resort hopes to make its debut in Longboat Key in early December, according to Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione.

The hotel, developed under Ocean Properties’ Opal Collection, is a part of the 600 to 800 hotel rooms headed for Manatee County over the next two years. Falcione discussed the addition of short-term rental space with hoteliers in October at a retreat held at the Powell Crosley Mansion.

“We desperately need that property to open,” Falcione said, referring to the 185-room hotel at 4711 Gulf of Mexico Drive, during a meeting of the Tourist Development Council.

The building formerly housed a Hilton hotel and was constructed in 1973. Zota is pet friendly and will offer one and two-bedroom rooms as well as suites, in addition to three meeting rooms totaling 3,000-square-feet with a capacity for 120 people, according to the Bradenton Area CVB’s website. Guests will be able to rent jet skis, kayaks and water sport gear. The hotel offers an array of typical resort amenities, including daily newspapers, a full breakfast, room service and a swimming pool.

Before Falcione announced Zota’s intended opening date, the council tackled another z-word: Zika.

Walter Klages presented the state of tourism, which showed overall visitation up by nearly 9 percent year-over-year in May. Most visitors, as in past reports, come from inside the Sunshine State, but European visitation was up by a little more than 2 percent, as well. Klages said this bodes well, especially with concerns about Brexit and Zika.

“We have the not-yet-developed epidemic of Zika,” Klages said. “We would be amiss not to address it. At this juncture though it has yet failed to create cancellations in the European market.”

“It’s all about perception,” Falcione said, and he expressed concerns that the Bradenton area would be lumped in with concerns about Zika in Florida, as it’s reported in a broader context on the national stage. Manatee County has seen two travel-related cases of Zika so far, and Sarasota County reported its first travel-related case last week.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott responded to a question from the Bradenton Herald about Zika’s effect on tourism during his stop at Intertape Polymer Group in Sarasota last week.

“We had our first travel-related case in February and immediately called an emergency declaration and started preparing,” Scott said. “We’ve got great emergency management teams around the state and this state gets ready for things such as a hurricane and if you come here, you’re going to be prepared and you’re going to be informed.”

This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Zota Beach Resort on Longboat Key aims for December opening."