Miami Beach had its breakup with spring break a year ago, and so far, hoteliers said the market is generally doing pretty well since the split.
This year’s campaign is just kicking off, and it’s similar in style and substance to last year’s, said Richard Slutter, managing director of lifestyle hotel operations at Driftwood Hospitality Management. There are road closures, bag searches, increased parking fees and limited hours for the beaches. That’s helped visitors to the city know what to expect during this period of time.
Even with the city’s efforts to calm down the spring break crowd, Driftwood’s hotels in the Miami Beach and Miami area have kept up occupancy pace, even increasing a bit in some cases, he said. They’ve been focusing on the fact that guests now will be a bit older than before or there may be more families coming for spring break. There are even small groups coming in.
That means adjusting strategies, including making sure the food-and-beverage offerings aren’t catering just to the happy hour and party crowds, he said. The goal is to take advantage of “a more elevated experience because we have a slightly more sophisticated spring break client,” he said.
Last year, Concord Hospitality’s hotels in the area performed as desired, said Craig Haas, area director of operations at Concord. This year, it’s been a little bit of a struggle to get occupancy generally. There’s a lot of political turmoil right now, and the Miami area is usually a big draw for travelers from Latin America. There’s no one thing that’s caused occupancy to slow.
The guest mix is generally the same as before, he said. Concord’s hotels didn’t typically draw in the spring break crowd, but of what they did attract, there’s less now. The hotels are still seeing a lot of guests before and after their cruises.
Davidson Resorts’ hotels in Miami Beach operate in the luxury space, and that combined with their location north of the typical spring break hotspots means they see more families and couples than the typical spring break crowd, Davidson Executive Vice President Steve Contos said via email.
“Our guest mix has remained consistent since the shift in Miami Beach’s philosophy,” he said. “If anything, it has created a more relaxing environment for our guest when they step off property to explore Miami Beach.”
One year to the next
The guests coming to Miami Beach are a bit older than they were before, Slutter said. The college students who otherwise would come for spring break are aware of the new restrictions in place, so those who still come are less inclined to be the party crowd. They aren’t booking as many rooms as they used to, either.
With Easter falling in April this year, that leaves March free of any holidays that would disrupt business travel, he said. That’s changing the longevity of people staying for spring break. It’s also helping with the amount of group and corporate transient demand during the month.
“It’s great to have a lot of group in the month of March and in the market in general now in 2025 that can cover any shortfalls in leisure travel,” he said.
Having fewer guests from the spring break party crowd means less wear and tear on the hotels themselves as well as less stress on the staff, Haas said.
“It’s just the strain on the staff to have to deal with challenging people that are wanting to come to disrupt other guests as well,” he said.
Spring break demand in Miami Beach typically runs through March, and this year it will certainly die down by Easter in April, Haas said. What should boost demand at the end of March is the Ultra Music Festival. It’s an electronic dance music event, so while it’s not the spring break crowd, there are some similarities in the guest demographic.
“It’s definitely a demand generator,” he said. “It’s [the] 25th anniversary, so that certainly is a peak moment for us here at the hotels in downtown Miami, specifically.”
In the weeks leading up to spring break, bookings were showing strong performance indicators, particularly with average daily rate up year over year, Contos said. The guest mix this year is consistent with previous years.
With steady occupancy anticipated, Davidson’s properties staffed up its leisure departments, namely its food and beverage, spa and recreation, he said. They also focused on elevating the overall guest experience through on-property activations, special offerings and beachside activities.
“We are designing experiences to help create memorable stays for our core demographic of luxury family travelers and couples with an emphasis on personalized service and programming that celebrates the best of Miami Beach,” he said.
Demand in the market has largely stabilized post-pandemic, and Davidson sees solid occupancy across its hotels, he said. The revenue strategy is similar to last year’s approach in that it tries to drive ADR during periods of compression and drive occupancy when needed.
Looking ahead
This year’s campaign by the city was a “reality check,” in which they hired models and did a press campaign to further spread the word about the rules going in place, Haas said. It’s definitely getting the message out there about what to expect in Miami Beach this spring break.
In the future, however, he said he’d like to see more effort to generate replacement business to make up for any loss in demand from people who chose to go elsewhere because it wasn’t the party environment they wanted, he said.
“Trying to replace the business that’s being lost due to these crackdowns would be a great benefit for the city,” he said.
Fort Lauderdale took a similar approach a while ago to deal with its spring break party reputation, he said. Now its slogan is “Everyone Under the Sun." He’s optimistic Miami Beach can see results similar to Fort Lauderdale with a similar approach.
“I think that eventually Miami will transcend into that,” he said.
The city’s campaign has been successful because it’s been consistent one year to the next, Slutter said. It’s helped people know what to expect in terms of street closures, beach closures, parking costs and more. It also gives guests a more secure feeling when there’s more law enforcement present around the area.
As the city looks at future campaigns, it should keep what it has in place and add to it, he said. There should be an opportunity in the next year or so to work with the city and the convention and visitors bureau to put together a targeted campaign for the types of consumers and clientele the city wants during the spring break season.
“I think that’s the next step,” he said. “Right now, the function is making sure all of this leads to safety and stability and continued occupancy growth. The next step will be putting together a plan so that we can continue that occupancy growth and gain a more affluent clientele and continue making gains and gains in our rate every year.”