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Mark McGowan and his wife Jenn didn’t mind getting stranded in sunny Southwest Florida on Friday, even if it meant they had no place to sleep.

The couple’s flight to Boston from Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers was canceled, along with about a dozen other flights to the Northeast, as a storm dropped as much as 2 feet of snow.

“We have no rental car, no hotel, but we really don’t care,” said Mark McGowan, who will have to wait until Tuesday to get home. “We’ll sleep on the beach if we have to.”

The cancellations sent hundreds of stranded passengers flocking to local hotels, which were already brimming from spring break, spring training and snowbirds with spring fever.

The Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau’s airport staff hunted for rooms for people who couldn’t find another flight out. Around midafternoon, most of the eight hotels with shuttle service to the airport still had vacancies, but their rooms were going fast, said Simone Behr, a visitor services coordinator for the bureau.

Airline employees scrambled to rebook passengers on later flights, but with the storm expected to last through Friday and into today, there was no guarantee on those flights. Many may have to wait until Sunday or later to get home.

“It will be interesting to see how much vacancy there is as the day goes on,” Behr said.

The area should have enough rooms to accommodate everybody, she said, but people might have to drive a little farther to get to them.

By midafternoon, most of the hotels within a few miles of the airport were listing no vacancies on a travel Web site.

Alexa Hardin, manager of Comfort Suites about three miles from the airport, said she heard of people driving all the way to Port Charlotte to find rooms. With spring break, spring training and a college baseball tournament in town, Hardin said, her hotel has had few vacancies during all of March.

She had to turn a lot of business away Friday, she said.

“It’s been hectic,” Hardin said. “It’s a good break from January because January was pretty bleak compared to past years.”

Jill Kinney was one of those looking for a hotel room at the last minute hotel with her husband and two boys Friday.

When they checked out of their room in Sanibel in the morning, their flight to New York City was still a go.

But by noon, it was canceled, with the soonest flight out delayed until Sunday.

The family was reviewing their options, including renting a car and driving home. Kinney’s son was pulling for a weekend at Disney World.

“My husband is an Eagle Scout and so is my son,” Kinney said. “We’ll figure something out.”

By 1 p.m. they had a hotel room in Estero and a rental car. For their trip home, they got bumped up to first class.

Robert and Linda Dentel weren’t so lucky. The weather caused them to miss a close family friend’s wedding in New Hampshire.

Their airline told them they could fly as far as Charlotte, N.C., but they might have trouble finding a hotel room there.

“If you don’t have a connecting flight, you’re not going anywhere,” Robert Dentel said.

“Mother nature is not being kind,” his wife added.

It was hard enough for travelers to rebook a flight for two people. Ken Heaton had to do it for 32.

Heaton, head coach for New Jersey City University’s baseball team, was in town with his players and coaches for the Gene Cusic Classic tournament.

Their first flight out on Jet Blue was canceled so Heaton quickly rebooked his entire team on a Southwest flight. At 1 p.m., that flight was canceled but, amazingly, he found another that was scheduled to leave at 7 p.m. on USA 3000.

“I guess in baseball terms, three strikes and you’re out,” Heaton said. “If we don’t get there on the third airline, I guess we’re staying. We’ve got a plan to sleep in the airport.”

Luckily, he brought two credit cards to cover the $14,000 cost for 32 tickets.