Luminary Hotel set to open next week in downtown Fort Myers

The Luminary Hotel is set to open next week in downtown Fort Myers and is expected to bring a steady stream of money to Southwest Florida.

Light fixtures are going up and hammers are pounding nails into the wall, all in anticipation of their grand opening.

“The last time I saw, they had 99 guestrooms on the books so it’s a little bit better than we thought it might be,” said Tom Albrecht, the hotel’s director of sales.

The Sept. 23 grand opening may not be what they expected when the plans were made, but Albrecht and others on the team are remaining optimistic.

“For the remainder of 2020, we have 35 different events with about 3,000 people coming in,” Albrecht said. “That translates to about $1.8 million in terms of economic impact in Fort Myers and we’re on pace to beat that by far and already got three bookings for 2022.”

Steve Hollister is banking on the hotel to bring business to his restaurant as well. He owns Twisted Vine Bistro, which sits just across the street from the Luminary Hotel.

“Typically at this time of year, downtown is jumping and there’s a lot of people walking around, and it’s been less than that,” Hollister said.

The pandemic is to blame for some of the declines in business, but Hollister wants to look toward the future – when the coronavirus is no more and the hotel is a major attraction in downtown Fort Myers.

“I think it’s going to be a really good thing for all of downtown,” said Hollister. “It’s going to bring a lot more people.”

Everyone hopes the reality of that day comes sooner rather than later.

Hotel management is continually sanitizing the building to keep its guests safe. They will also ask guests to wear masks and practice social distancing.