Allegiant changes course, plans more hotel rooms, fewer condos at SW Florida resort

The parent company of low-fare airline Allegiant Air will build more hotel rooms and fewer condos than initially planned at its resort development in Southwest Florida.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co. will build no more than 180 condos instead of 720, the number initially planned when the company announced plans in August 2017 for its Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor in Port Charlotte.

Allegiant also will build a 500-room hotel instead of the 75-room hotel it announced last year. The company expects construction of the $420 million first phase of the resort development to start as early as February.

The company has spent $30 million to acquire the 22-acre development site in Port Charlotte, which is seven miles from Punta Gorda Airport, where Allegiant Air is the sole carrier.

Last year, only 75 hotel rooms were planned because it expected condo owners to market their units as vacation rentals through Allegiant and split the income with the company.

But John Redmond, the president of Allegiant, said on a conference call with investors that the company became concerned that “people won’t give us rooms to sell when it’s busiest and the rates are the highest.”

Allegiant may have changed course because hotel guests are likely to stay at the resort for shorter periods of time than condo owners, which could mean more passengers on Allegiant Air flights to and from Punta Gorda Airport, according to Christopher Wesley, a professor of economics at Florida Gulf Coast University. [Naples Daily News] – Mike Seemuth