Naples daily hotel rates close in on $300

NAPLES — Buoyed by strong visitor demand, hoteliers in the Naples area pushed daily rates up 12% in the first quarter compared to the same three months in 2014, to an average of $299.10 a night.

Hotel occupancy in Collier County in the first quarter also reached 89.7%, a 1.5% increase compared with the first quarter of 2014, according to the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau,

“The first quarter 2015 continues the trend of a stellar 2014,” says Jack Wert, executive director of the bureau, in a statement.

Visitors to the Naples area in the first three months of the year also spent more than they did in the first quarter of last year. The bureau estimated total economic impact from visitors in the first quarter was $730.4 million, an 11.7% increase over the first quarter of 2014.

“Last year visitors to Collier County provided a $1.8 billion dollar impact to the community, which extends to lower taxes for households as well as job growth for residents,” Wert says in the statement. “I'm optimistic that with our strong first quarter start we will top those numbers in 2015.”