Summer Visitors?

If you’re like our big extended family, we often have visitors during the summer who take advantage of the fact we live in Florida to spend a week at the beach. A few years ago, I started making arrangements for our visiting families to stay at one of the local hotels on the beach since there is often “no room at the Florida Native Mom” inn for extended periods.

The first year we suggested our families stay in one of the many family-friendly resorts in Daytona Beach was a little rough. I had to assure them that I loved each and every one of them and thought it would be a “great idea” for them to actually spend their summer break on the beach instead of at my home in the mainland suburb. Now I couldn’t lure them back to my house if I tried.

My brother and sister-in-law enjoy staying at one of the beachside hotels because so many offer kid-suites, rooms with efficiency kitchens, water-park-like pool decks and most of all, they’re economical. They have two young boys and spend the morning on the beach then visit us to swim with our kids in the pool and have a cookout in the afternoons. Everyone is happy!

I encourage you to follow my lead on this. While you may feel a little bad about sending your relatives to stay at a local resort instead of sleeping on your couch for a week, consider these facts from my area in Daytona Beach:

Last year we had 7 million visitors to the Daytona Beach area that spent an estimated $3 billion in our restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores and gas stations. The tourism industry is one of the biggest and most important industries to our local economy.

By setting your relatives up in local accommodations, you’re pumping up our economy and potentially salvaging family relationships!