Some Treasure Coast hotels see increased bookings as hurricane approaches west coast

Rooms are filling up.

Some hotel workers from across the Treasure Coast say they've seen a barrage of bookings and inquiries for space to stay as Hurricane Ian swings toward west Florida.

In Vero Beach, the Star Suites hotel, 2550 Flight Safety Drive, is almost at capacity.

Caspian Monsiston, a front-desk agent with the Star Suites hotel said almost all of the hotel's 60 rooms have been booked.

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"The moment that the news came out about the hurricane coming pretty closely, we got calls off the hook," Monsiston said. "And that started ... around last week around the 20th."

Monsiston said she thinks the hurricane's forecast path over the west coast influenced more people to come to the Vero Beach hotel.

Steven Vitale, the owner and manager of the Old Colorado Inn, 211 S Colorado Ave. in Stuart said the establishment has had at least three inquiries for hotel rooms as of Monday morning.

"I think in this instance where we're out of the cone, I think we're going to get a lot of bookings," Vitale said.

The Old Colorado Inn has 23 rooms, including vacation rental houses and cottages.

Vitale said despite the potential business, he wishes the storm would miss the west coast.

"In reality, I’d rather that the storm just fizzle out," he said.

Some hotels still haven't seen increased bookings.

Shiv Dhimmar, the general manager of the Rodeway Inn, 2601 South U.S> 1, Fort Pierce, said he's seen no difference in bookings from now compared to other parts of the month.

Tourism authorities across the Treasure Coast said it's too early to tell if hotel bookings across each county have surged.

"We haven’t started to see any impacts. We’re watching and waiting to see," said Nerissa Okiye, the tourism director for Martin County. "Once further evacuations go into effect that’s when we’ll start to see any impact.

Kirk Funnel, the director of tourism and marketing for Visit Indian River County, said he hasn't seen any data on hotel stays based on hurricane evacuations yet.

But Funnel said he expects more bookings to happens as Hurricane Ian inches closer to the state.

"... If the storm does stay on its current projections, I would expect some booking from the west coast," Funnel said. "I will expect these to be last-minute bookings ..."

With the most severe parts of Ian forecast to hit Florida's west coast, Vitale said he hopes to provide an escape for visitors as the storm passes through.

"If it's going to go to them, we can provide a safe haven for them," Vitale said. "It almost kind of will be a nice little getaway for some of them here in the heart of downtown Stuart."

Mauricio La Plante is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm focusing on Martin County. Follow him on Twitter @mslaplantenews or email him at Mauricio.LaPlante@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Hurricane Ian: Hotel bookings in Treasure Coast begin to rise