Season is won in October

By February, every Naples business is busy. That's the problem.

Collier County's own planners add 20% to the permanent population to estimate peak season. For 2026 that works out to roughly 83,000 extra people, and a county of more than half a million.

Most owners treat that as a wave to ride. The ones who grow treat it as a deadline.

Seasonal residents don't arrive and then start looking. They search from Ohio, Michigan and Ontario in the weeks before they come down. They book the pool service, the dentist, the dinner reservation and the remodel estimate from a kitchen table 1,200 miles away. By the time they land, the shortlist is set.

So the question isn't how you handle January. It's what they see in October.

Four things to finish before the first flights land

• Your Google profile. Season hours, new photos, current services. A profile last touched in April reads as closed.
• Your reviews. Ask this month's happy customers now. Recent reviews carry more weight than old ones, and you won't have time in March.
• Your booking path. If the only way in is a phone call during business hours, you lose everyone searching at 9 pm Eastern.
• Your follow-up. Decide today who answers a missed call in peak week. A text-back in seconds beats a callback tomorrow.

None of it is hard. All of it is harder in February, when you're short-staffed and the phone won't stop.

The businesses that own season don't out-work everyone during it. They out-prepare everyone before it.