Sanibel Island Hotels Still Struggling With Only 20% of Rooms Open After 27 Months

After 27 months, only a fifth of Sanibel Island's hotel rooms are back in business. Hotels are running with bare-bones staff — most working with less than half the employees they had before the hurricane.

The small size of local hotels makes rebuilding tougher, says chamber president John Lai. Most properties have limited space for construction work.

"It's not apples to apples; we've got to open up 10 hotels or small inns and cottage properties to make that 100 rooms that they can get," John Lai, president of the Sanibel-Captiva Chamber of Commerce, told NBC2 News. "I will tell you that because they're smaller, a lot of times there's less resources. They're waiting for the insurance to come in before they can start. The biggest challenge here that we have is insurance."

But there are some positive signs. Sundial Beach Resort and Spa and Jensen's on Captiva will reopen soon, while Island Inn has started booking rooms again.

Fort Myers Beach is doing better, with half its rooms now available, and the Best Western Plus plans to open next month with 74 new rooms.