More beach for the buck on Anna Maria Island
By GRACE GAGLIANO – gagostin@bradenton.com
BradentonHerald.com

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.”

For more on this article visit the Bradenton Herald.

Tags: headlines, Holmes Beach City, news

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Anna Maria Island Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.