Spring break hottest ever for Manatee, Sarasota hoteliers in March

MANATEE -- A combination of spring-break travelers, snow birds, spring-training fans and an early Easter holiday are inundating Manatee-Sarasota hotels and rentals in March.

"We're turning away approximately 10 reservations per day," said David Teitelbaum, owner of four Anna Maria Island resorts. All Teitelbaum properties are booked solid in March. Many families booked up to a year in advance to assure they could stay at their favorite condo or resort, he said.

Rates for Teitelbaum's properties run anywhere from $200 to $500 a night, depending on the room, with a $10 increase in weekend room rates.

Teitelbaum is not the only hotelier who has had to turn away requests for rooms.

The Holiday Inn and the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Lakewood Ranch are selling out on some days in March, said Rob Ferguson, corporate director of Sales for Kinsman Hotel Associates. Even with sold-out days, though, Ferguson said he hasn't seen quite as much demand as last year.

"We've been sold out, and for the most part we're selling out, but not as quickly as last year," Ferguson said. "There's been a little softening compared to last March because the weather is so nice up north."

Still, room rates are "higher than we've ever had before," he said, at $249 to $289 per night.

Higher room rates make Karen Gallagher's job a little more difficult. Gallagher works at the downtown Sarasota visitor's center and said she's able to find rooms for visitors most of the time but the price point often doesn't match what they hope to find.

"I have had people ask me for a beach room for $100," Gallagher said. "And I say, 'I'm afraid that is not going to happen and I'll see what I can do.' You can't really find a

$100 room on the mainland. This year I've been able to find a room, but it's not always a room at the rate they want to pay."

The Hampton Inn in downtown Bradenton has also said "no" to callers often during March. Kelly Ann Dixon, hotel director of sales and marketing, said those who plan ahead don't get turned away.

"Everyone, as long as they booked early enough, was able to find rooms," Dixon said. "We're running at about 97 to 99 percent occupancy for the month."

"Early bookers" were able to get $269 to $289 room rates, while those who came late to the spring-break party paid anywhere from $269 to $339. All rates depend on the type of room ranging from standard rooms to suites.

Alternative bookings don't hurt

According to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Manatee and Sarasota counties have 672 licensed lodging establishments with 15,870 rooms. This includes hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and other vacation rentals regulated by the state of Florida. Totals do not include unregulated accommodations booked through services such as Airbnb or Craigslist.

And with such a "crazy" busy March, Ferguson isn't as concerned about alternate accommodations services as he might be the rest of the year.

"This time of year there's such a great demand that everybody's going to prosper," Ferguson said. "It will affect the supply; it will be greater with these growing concepts. We just hope people have good experiences with them, and if they get a raw deal it looks bad on the area. We hope they are reputable people."

One Airbnb host, Val Jenvey, lives in Sarasota and rents multiple properties through the online service. All her accommodations are booked through March except for one, where she has availability in one room during the last week of the month.

"It's catching on. ... I'm having some peeps that had hotels, found us, then canceled their hotel," Jenvey said through an Airbnb message. "Social people like me don't like to be cooped up in hotels and prefer interacting with others, sharing meals, etc. It's all over the map."

Richard Bolam, a 72-year-old retired U.S. Navy veteran, rents several properties in the Sarasota area.

"It's totally booked up for the month of March and it was booked up last year," Bolam said of his two-bedroom Anna Maria Island condo rental. "It's families who have been coming down for the last few years."

Airbnb and other accommodations will also help tourist tax numbers. In Manatee and Sarasota counties, any lodging facility with rentals of less than six months must pay tourist taxes on the rental amount. Virginia Haley, executive director of Visit Sarasota County, said she believes the area will see record-setting March numbers.

It's "mainly because of Easter falling in March this year," Haley said. "I don't think they're going to be huge records because we were at such high occupancy last year, and there's not a whole lot of room to grow."

Historically, March is a strong month for tourism in the Gulf Coast region. In the 2014-15 fiscal year, March was the best month for tourism, and Manatee County netted $1.7 million in tourist tax revenues, according to the Manatee County tax collector.

March was also the strongest month for Sarasota County last year. The Sarasota County tax collector reported $3.2 million generated through tourist taxes.

"It's something you see in all of Southwest Florida; it's generally beautiful weather," Haley said. "And it's still winter in our key feeder markets."

Janelle O'Dea, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow her on Twitter @jayohday.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Spring break hottest ever for Manatee, Sarasota hoteliers in March ."