Leading Question

Bulldozing is more like it. Quaint shorefront hotels and motels continue to go down, and in their place come residential units-in some cases, high-rises. Then there are the pseudo-inns called condotels, which are condos purchased by individuals who may use them for short stays, but then place them for guest rental as part of a hotel-like operation run by a separate company that oversees the property.

Either scenario, however, is viewed as a negative among tourism and retail officials. "We're concerned. We're losing rooms," says D.J. Petruccelli, president of the Greater Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Why is this happening? "Money," Petruccelli says. Developers and investors can squeeze more profit out of condo units than hotels, he says. There are about 2,100 hotel rooms in Fort Myers Beach, but condotel projects will eliminate roughly 70 of them-and that's just in the near future, Petruccelli says. Hotel rooms accommodate short-term guests who go out to eat and buy incidental supplies-toothpaste, the forgotten swimsuit, etc. But condotel guests tend not to spend as much in the community because they cook, eat in their rooms and don't go out as often.

One concept floating around is to remove the Sandman, Howard Johnson, Ramada and Day's Inn properties and redevelop the land with mixed-use buildings, officials say. And further inland, on the shores of the Caloosahatchee River, the Fort Myers Holiday Inn is expected to be razed to make room for a high-rise condominium.

The disappearance of beachfront hotels-particularly in favor of condotels-is not limited to Southwest Florida. "It really started happening a lot last year," says Jeff Weinstein, editor-in-chief of Oak Brook, Ill.,-based Hotels magazine. "It's a fad."

-Phil Borchmann