Photo by Wyatt Kostygan. Jason Samson gives a media tour of Aloft Sarasota.

After years of unmet demand in Downtown Sarasota for a hotel in the city core, Aloft Sarasota has opened its doors to guests. “Our ownership and development team wanted to be the first to come to market with a hotel in this space,” said Jason Samson, general manager for the Ringling Boulevard hotel. SRQ sat down with Samson to talk about the new business, also the first Starwood Hotels and Resorts facility to open in the Sarasota market.

Many amenities in the hotel will be open to the public. What percentage of traffic do you anticipate to be from guests versus locals stopping by the Re:mix lounge and WXYZ bar? Unlike a lot of brands, Aloft is really a place for people to gather. I expect to to be about 50/50, because we have a component of clientele with apartments at One Palm, and then you have a lot of condominiums on Gulf Stream and you have businesses on Ringling and other high-rises downtown. We’ve been marketing to people downtown, and people have been knocking on our doors for two weeks seeing when we were going to open. 

The hotel has plenty of room amenities aimed at working travelers. What mix of visitors are you expecting to use the hotel? Most likely it’s going to be 40 percent business/60 percent leisure. Rooms right now are priced in the mid-200s, and in March it will be from the low-200s to the high 300s. Out of season, rates will be between $159 to $200. We’re expecting occupancy when the market really starts turning into peak season in the next few weeks. After President's Day weekend, we expect a quick ramp-up.

Photo by Wyatt Kostygan. Jason Samson gives a media tour of Aloft Sarasota.