Area hotels: Bookings surpass 2009 holiday numbers

PANAMA CITY BEACH — No vacancy will be flashing at hotels in Bay County, despite the worst oil spill in U.S. history swirling in the Gulf of Mexico, hotel employees said.

“We’re 100 percent full. We’re completely booked,” said Mimi Nguyen, front desk employee at Bay Point Marriott.

Last-minute bookings and walk-in traffic are up, bringing a sigh of relief for hotel owners who earn most their revenue during the next 60 days.

“We’ve kind of dodged a bullet,” said Tom Sparks, Edgewater Beach Resort general manager. “It could have been worse.”

Memorial Day weekend kicks off the tourism season — among the top economic drivers in Bay County. Those hotels that don’t see a good weekend have to catch up during June and July to make ends meet, Sparks said.

Bookings dropped dramatically when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank off the Louisiana coast more than 30 days ago and gushed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. People began canceling charters and hotel stays even though no oil touched Northwest Florida beaches.

By the Sea Resorts lost about $18,000 since the oil spill began, general manager Lee Ann Leonard said. Other hotels lost about $15,000 or more. Bookings have since leveled out and began spiking this week.

“It was kind of at a standstill; that’s one thing we’ve noticed,” Panama City Days Inn front office supervisor Shelly Ubrey said. “Everybody is waiting.”

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This Memorial Day weekend might beat last year in turnout, hotel employees said. Rain lasted the entire holiday and the worst recession in decades helped create one of the worst turnouts ever.

Things are better this year.

In the last couple of days, Edgewater saw between 30 to 40 bookings, Sparks said. The Days Inn on Front Beach Road had five rooms left Friday and will be sold out, Ubrey said. Leonard said her resorts are 70 percent full; a year ago they were at 50 percent.

Several hotels and resorts had deals earlier to draw vacationers, but many have nixed those because bookings are strong. Edgewater had deals earlier, but prices are now set.

Paradise Found Resorts & Hotels executive vicep Julie Hilton said some of her properties offer deals on hotel prices. She expects some properties to be full this weekend.

Despite strong bookings, hotel owners and managers wonder how many people booked elsewhere after the oil spill. They wonder whether Memorial Day turnout would have been even bigger without the slick.

“That’s the scary part: How much have we really lost?” Leonard said. “You still don’t know who booked somewhere else.”