Bed taxes show perkier Key in summer

The summer doldrums are so two years ago.

Local hoteliers are reporting a strong summer for the second consecutive year — and Longboat Key’s tourist development tax numbers in both Sarasota and Manatee counties show that this summer is drawing even more tourists than last year, when businesses saw a recovery after 2010’s oil-spill related concerns and past seasons’ economic woes.

Tourist development taxes, aka “bed taxes,” which are paid on rentals of less than six months, were up on the Manatee County side of the Key by 16.4% in June and nearly 13.8% in July, compared with the same months in 2011. Although in May, the north end saw a slight dip of 3.6%.

In Sarasota County, Longboat Key collected about 13.5% more in May and 23.9% more bed taxes in June than it did during the same periods in 2011. Figures for July were not available at press time.

Ocean Properties Ltd., which owns the Longboat Key Hilton Beach Front Resort, Lido Beach Resort and Holiday Inn Lido Beach, is saying “I do” to a recent spike wedding in business.

“It has been startling to us the amount of inquiries we’re getting for the end of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 for weddings,” said Karen Rangel, regional director of sales. “For destination weddings, the Sarasota area is becoming very popular.”

Rangel said resort guests have booked longer stays than in the recent summers.

The resorts got a boost because the Fourth of July fell on a Wednesday, which led many guests to book five-day stays, instead of staying only for a long weekend.

At Casa Del Mar, General Manager D.M. Williams said he believes he also benefited from the Wednesday Fourth of July. He says the resort booked at near capacity for both the weekend before and after the holiday.
The resort was up 25% over the previous year in June and July, according to Williams.

“If this keeps up and we don’t have any hurricanes before Oct. 1, it will be my biggest year in 31 years,” said Williams, who estimated that bookings for the year would be up 15% from the previous year.

Longboat Key, Lido Key, St. Armands Key Chamber of Commerce President Tom Aposporos wasn’t surprised that bed-tax collections were up, based on the chamber’s traffic and phone calls during the summer.

“The area seems to have sustained business not at the same level of season, but also certainly better than in years past,” he said.