By Kailey Aiken
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hotels and businesses are preparing to accommodate spring break travelers in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
St. Pete Beach, known for its beautiful white sand beaches and stunning sunsets, is nearly back to looking like what countless “top 10 beaches in the U.S.” lists promise. However, if you drive down the side streets off Gulf Boulevard, you’ll still see discarded piles of furniture sitting by the curb. If you walk around long enough, you’ll spot dead palm trees and “closed for construction” signs. And if you take a seat in a lounge chair at a hotel pool, you’ll notice how sparse the crowd is.
In October, Hurricane Milton tore through Florida’s Gulf Coast, leaving a trail of destruction across St. Pete Beach. For the past five months, hotels in St. Pete Beach have been repairing and rebuilding. Staff said they are hoping they will be ready to welcome visitors for spring break, one of the most crucial economic periods of the year.
Major Hotels Set to Open
Some of the most popular hotels on the beach will be open in some capacity for peak season.
The Don CeSar website said it is set to reopen around the beginning of April. In a statement on its website, the resort said all essential systems are repaired, and it is taking this opportunity to make other enhancements to its resort. Upon initial reopening, reduced services and amenities will be available.
According to the latest updates on its website, Island Grand and Rumfish Beach by TradeWinds are open to visitors except for a few amenities and guest rooms on the ground level of Island Grand.
The Sirata Beach Resort is open with the exception of one restaurant and the fitness center, it said on its website.
The Hilton Garden Inn, home to Coconut Charlie’s Bar & Grill, is fully reopened. It reported minimal damage and has been up and running since before the new year.
“We have corporate backing, so the costs of repairs weren’t much of an issue,” said Jay Reyes, a front desk agent at the Hilton.
“The pool was an easy fix, and other than that, we just needed to do renovations on the first floor to meet city ordinance codes,” Reyes said.
Although the Hilton was revived relatively quickly, corporate-sponsored recovery funding is the exception, not the rule, in St. Pete Beach. According to data from HotelChains.com, the Hilton Garden Inn is one of only five hotels in St. Pete Beach affiliated with a major chain.
Reyes said that their access to corporate funds was advantageous in getting their hotel up and running sooner than other hotels in the area, the majority of which are independently operated.
Smaller Hotels Face Delays
A few hotels that will be missing out on the spring break rush include Postcard Inn, the Beachcomber, and the Bellwether. They have stated they hope to reopen during the summer months but will miss the peak season from March to May when schools are off during various weeks for spring break.
“Our teams continue to navigate the complex and long recovery that has come from these historic storms,” said management for the Bellwether and the Beachcomber in a statement to Fox. “The significant damage the resorts sustained has led to delays in reopening. Our goal is to welcome guests back as soon as possible.”
Many smaller, more affordable hotels are taking longer to come back from the hurricane, said Kyle March, an employee at Suncoast Watersports.
“The issue is that close to half of these hotels right here on the beach, especially most of the cheaper ones, are what lots of the spring break college kids book,” said March. “And they’re still closed.”
March said the off-season on the beach has been challenging. A lot of clean-up work being done on the sand kept visitors away until the new year, and March said he believes the cost of the higher-end hotels that have reopened has reduced the number of people able to afford staying on the beach.
“We’re looking forward to spring break and the summer when hopefully things start to look up, and more and more hotels start to get back to open like normal,” said March.
Bringing the Crowds Back
“It’s definitely been more empty than usual here,” said Amy Nichtern, who has been visiting the TradeWinds every spring for over 10 years. “I think it’s also a matter of, are people afraid to come back? Do they think everything is destroyed here? Do they even bother to look into a trip here right now?”
Visit St. Pete-Clearwater has been working to dismantle the idea that the area is still out of commission.
“Everybody’s eager to see the visitors come down,” said Jason Latimer, director of public relations at Visit St. Pete-Clearwater.
After speaking with local officials and businesses in the initial few weeks after the hurricane, the board realized a large portion of the county was ready to welcome people back.
“We worked together with everybody, and we developed a campaign called Still Shining,” said Latimer. “We wanted to let people know that the sun was rising, and we were all still shining down here and ready to welcome folks back.”
In January, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater launched a new campaign, the Ampersand Campaign, leaning into the variety of things to do in St. Pete in addition to the beach.
“We’ve got all these other wonderful arts, and culture, and food, and activities that you can take part in,” said Latimer. “So it’s letting people know that there’s a lot more than just the sand.”
As hotels across St. Pete Beach continue to rebuild and recover, Latimer said it is important to consider and prepare for the possibility of future hurricanes. Following Hurricane Milton, it was all hands on deck to get the beaches cleaned up and to get the businesses ready to reopen.
“That was a Herculean effort,” said Latimer.
Hurricanes and natural disasters are not at our whim, but what we can do is reflect on the actions taken after this hurricane, learn from them, and improve on them for the future.
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Photo courtesy of Kailey Aiken.