GOLDEN GATE, Fla. — All hotels and temporary lodging facilities are at 100% capacity – hosting a number of different first responders, frontline workers, and displaced hurricane victims, according to the Collier County Tourism Department (Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB).

“The scene has been extremely chaotic. We are just trying to fit the jigsaw pieces together so we can help as many disaster crews as we possibly can. To get our town back to normal,” said Liz Sanders, who represents the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Golden Gate City.

Sanders said that all 211 rooms at her facilities, located directly next to the newly built Paradise Sports Complex, are booked.

“Absolutely the majority is disaster crews … anything from adjustors to FPL, to other types of cleanup crews. We also have a lot of evacuees; some people are asking us to stay until February because their house is gone. It’s quite the combination, we are trying to balance it out to help everybody, but it’s a challenge,” said Sanders.

As the Hurricane Ian rebound continues, many facilities are now near the point of future booked events.

“We’re concerned about what we can do with what’s already on the books. People that booked with us months and months ago,” said Sanders.

We spoke to those staying at the Hertz Arena hurricane shelter, who are concerned they are being forced out due to future events.

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Many frontline workers and first responders have been contracted out months in advance for repairs. Others displaced by Hurricane Ian have no other options.

“We’re at that fine line of if we can host all the events we want to host because we have so much demand for these rooms with the crews,” said Sanders.

Hotels that cannot accommodate already booked reservations typically have to “walk” their guests to another facility and foot the bill.

“Guess what? Everybody’s full. Normally you have to walk people to other hotels and pay for them if you can’t accommodate them when they have a reservation. But right now, there’s no place to walk anybody to. Can’t do it,” said Sanders.

Hotel issues come in the wake of the upcoming tourist season in Collier County. Both the Collier County Department of Tourism (Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB) and the Naples Chamber of Commerce said Collier County’s population nearly triples during the height of snowbird season.

“As we look to the future, as we look to the season, I think we need a clearer crystal ball. I think we are going to see a prolonged recovery that will take place. That won’t really allow for that normalcy of Christmas, Thanksgiving, those blips,” said Paul Berines, the Executive Director of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB.

“We have had an incredible bounceback in the last few weeks … but we still need to give the first responders, the contractors, and the residents in the market a little bit of shoulder room … we have a lot of work to do to get the market back to what it was,” he added.

The Naples Chamber of Commerce said very few of the 1,200 businesses they represent suffered closure-type damages in Hurricane Ian.

“Season is always a big part of our economy, and we do expect that economy to come back again, and that’s what will help us recover from the Hurricane,” said Michael Daley, the President of the Naples Chamber of Commerce.

Both organizations are preaching patience for tourists to come to Collier County.