ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — More people visited St. Johns County hotels in the early months of 2023 compared to a year prior.
"We have nine hotels in St. Augustine and three in the Jacksonville area," said Troy Blevins of Jalaram Hotels.
Some are the hotels in the company are high-end, while others are not. The company says it sees a broad range in travel trends in St. Augustine.
This winter, there were more people staying in hotels.
"January was up about 10 percent over our nine hotels," Blevins said. "February was up about seven percent."
And those numbers are not even as robust as the overall St. Johns County figures.
The amount of bed tax collected (the taxes guests pay at hotels) spiked in January 2023. The jump was 27 percent compared to January 2022. February bed tax numbers were up seven percent year over year, according to Susan Phillips, the President of St. Johns County Visitors and Convention Bureau.
"It was off the charts," she said. "We had great weather in both months. No winter weather. There weren’t storms or anything."
There were strong numbers, even when hotel prices were higher.
"There is still a lot of pent-up demand. Airlines and gas prices have gone up but people wanted to still get away."
Blevins observed the higher-end hotels fared better.
"It seems to be the travelers that have the higher end income are still traveling," he explained. "The blue collars are picking and choosing a little more wisely."
Bed tax collections can indicate how other tourism businesses are doing.
March bed tax numbers have not come in yet. As for April, some St. Augustine business leaders tell First Coast News that April seems slow.
The winter numbers could have been affected by more hotels in the St. Augustine market or even higher rates, but Blevins said, "We saw an uptick in visitors also."