Local hotels have seen a decrease in staffing and tourism, but Discover Coronado plans to continue levying assessments on the Marriott, Hotel del Coronado, Loews and Glorietta Bay Inn as they have done in the past.
A report presented at the March 18 City Council meeting by Todd Little, the executive director of the Coronado Tourism Improvement Districts (CTID), outlined tourism performance concerns and stated possible challenges Coronado might face in the future.
The CTID, also known as Discover Coronado, is a municipal entity created by the council to provide supplemental funding to market and promote tourism on the island.
The district wants to continue to levy assessments for the fiscal year 2025-26, collecting a total of $2.175 million from the Marriot, Hotel del Coronado, Loews and Glorietta Bay Inn. They will decide to continue to levy two 0.5% assessments on April 15.
It is an assessment that the four resorts impose on themselves to improve the desirability of the destination.
The council approved the annual report and management plan from the CTID advisory board and adopted a resolution declaring their intent to continue levying assessments.
According to Coronado’s municipal code, the assessments will be collected monthly by the hotels based on two separate one-half percent surcharges on the gross room revenues for each occupied room per night for the previous month.
Little said staffing and tourism at the local hotels have been a little low due to hotel renovations, like the over $550 million expansion at the Del, as well as a new accommodation that opened across the bridge, the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center in Chula Vista, a $1.35 billion project with 1,600 rooms.
The entire industry is struggling simply because there’s just not enough people who want to go to a hotel and work, they like to sit on their computer at home and work virtually.
Executive Director of Discover Coronado Todd Little
“The entire industry is struggling simply because there’s just not enough people who want to go to a hotel and work, they like to sit on their computer at home and work virtually,” Little explained.
He also said renovations at the Hotel Del have decreased the amount of guests that are able to stay on the island.
But Little said he is confident that the lull is temporary because the new rooms and renovations will offer more opportunities to welcome guests and “level things off pretty quickly.”
Mayor John Duncan did note that despite the years of construction at the Hotel Del, the transient occupancy tax, which is set at 10%, revenue for the city has maintained at a significant amount. Duncan speculated this partially could be because of supply and demand increasing prices and therefore causing an increase in the tax of the room.
Little said he is concerned that competition from the Gaylord has already been attracting employees and visitors that might’ve gone to Coronado hotels.
“They’re going to hurt us mostly on the labor side,” Little said.
Another factor he is worried about is the new federal administration.
I’m a little concerned about the tariff conversations that will hurt our international travel from Canada and also from Mexico … I’m worried about border waits for those employees of ours that cross the border every single day.
“I’m a little concerned about the tariff conversations that will hurt our international travel from Canada and also from Mexico,” Little expanded. “I’m worried about border waits for those employees of ours that cross the border every single day.”
