One of the oceanside cabanas at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.
Photo provided
By Steve Pike
There was a time — not that long ago — when hotels and resorts along the beach had a “slow” season. The snowbirds were gone and the locals stayed home. That’s no longer the case. Thanks in large part to lower gas prices and attractive staycation packages, the area’s beach hotels and resorts are as busy in the summer months as in the “season” winter months.
“The trend has changed in recent years with us seeing that summers have gained momentum and have a very healthy buzz,” said Colin Clark, general manager of The Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach. “For the fourth year in a row we have experienced a record-breaking year. Palm Beach Island and the county continue to be buoyant with increasing visitors each year.”
The Four Seasons’ summer packages are good examples of how area hotels drive summer business, particularly among Florida residents. The resort offers Florida resident rates that begin at $199 per room, per night through September, as well as a third night free for guests over the same period.
Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan also has a Florida residents’ rate that begins at $199 per night and includes free valet parking and free meals to kids under 12.
Among the summer promotions at the Delray Sands Resort in Highland Beach is one (online only) whereby guests pay the day’s high temperature for a room the first night of a stay.
At the newly flagged Tideline Ocean Resort & Spa — A Kimpton Hotel (formerly The Omphoy) in Palm Beach, director of sales Kate Connor said, “We are definitely seeing increased occupancy.”
Tideline offers Florida residents weekday and weekend rates, as well as a “Summer Stay and Save” promotion that gives guests as much as 30 percent room rates.
“It’s been a great summer all around for us as well as the other hotels in Palm Beach County,” Connor said. “We’re seeing a lot of last-minute bookings, but we’re also seeing a lot of people taking advantage of those summer offers.”
Summer guest demo-graphics, said Connor, a longtime hotel executive in Palm Beach County, haven’t changed, “but they’re just coming in greater numbers.”
The majority of the business at those hotels, she said, is from the summer drive market — guests who come from the Orlando and Miami areas to take advantage of the rates and the beaches.
“People realize they don’t have to go far for a great vacation,” Connor said.
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