Miami Beach's Spring Break Rules Leave Businesses Feeling the Heat

Last year, Miami Beach broke up with spring break and their new reality check video shows they aren’t getting back together, but not everyone is letting the relationship go just yet.

“These restrictions have left us with a total void of energy,” says David Wallack, the owner of popular South Beach nightclub Mango’s Tropical Cafe. “They end up kicking all the best customers out and the young kids, who don’t spend any money, still come. The police do their jobs very well and it’s a quiet two weeks in March, but that is death for all the businesses.”

Wallack says many business owners paid off multiple months of mortgages through their profits in March and he is not alone in his concerns about the restrictions. Jay Shirodkar, president of Yes Hospitality Group, which manages Naked Taco located on Collins Avenue, expressed similar feelings.

“We obviously don’t want to see widespread crime or shootings, but we really disagree with the way the city has been shut down,” Shirodkar tells New Times. “To have all these restrictions then this video basically saying Miami Beach is not the place to come on a vacation is very extreme. It’s taking away from a city that can be managed in a different way.”

The video, released last month, portrays a fake reality tv show set in Miami Beach for spring break. As eager spring breakers arrive, their fun is quickly cut short when they are confronted with the rules the city has put in place like DUI checkpoints and no drinking on the beach. Their dream spring break turns into a nightmare and the video ends stating, “The show is fake, but the rules are very real.”

This is Miami Beach’s second year rolling out comprehensive and aggressive rules to combat the chaos spring break often brings. The restrictions started last year after the City of Miami Beach was forced to declare a state of emergency in 2023 due to two shootings and “excessively large and unruly crowds.”

The rules, which apply between March 13-16 and March 20-23, include DUI checkpoints, a $100 flat fee parking rate, enhanced police presence, road closures and a whopping $532 nonresident towing rate. While the rules and messaging surrounding Spring break have "yielded overwhelmingly successful results," according to Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) spokesperson officer Christopher Bess, some business owners don’t feel the same way.

"At the end of the day, to have somebody come and throw up barricades, put in curfews and more than anything use this kind of dialogue is really disappointing," Shirodkar says. "They're doing more marketing for us negatively than they've ever done positively."

Wallack and Shirodkar are not just concerned with what these restrictions and messaging do to their best weeks of the year, but what they do to Miami Beach’s overall reputation.

"People don't necessarily equate a message to two weekends or even one weekend. They're going to take it as a general thing," Wallack says. "Miami Beach’s industry is hospitality, but videos like this are overtly damaging the businesses."

The MBPD and City of Miami Beach see the restrictions and messaging differently. In a press release last month, Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner said the city "set a new standard for spring break in Miami Beach last year," becoming "a place where residents, businesses, and visitors could truly thrive."

Officer Bess echoed this sentiment to the New Times saying, "Last year, we created the blueprint of a spring break operation plan that was successful, and this year we're going to implement that plan again but take it a step further."

This step further, according to Bess, is the rolling out of a real time intelligence center where MBPD staff monitor about 850 cameras — plus drones that can fly up to speeds of 45 miles per hour and track people in the dark through infrared sensors — covering the seven-mile island.

In terms of crime statistics, they are correct, Miami Beach has no doubt become safer. In 2024, from March 1-17, there was an eight percent reduction in arrests compared to the same time period last year, including a 26 percent decrease in felony arrests. Bess said that the decrease has continued this year.

More importantly, there were no deaths or shootings in 2024, Meiner told Local 10 News, but Bess and Meiner also claim businesses are benefiting from these restrictions.

Bess told the New Times that data showed businesses actually did “a little better” in 2024 compared to 2023 and Meiner cited the fact that hotel occupancy in 2024 was up from 2023 during the Local 10 interview.

Business owners seem to have mixed feelings on the restrictions, but like Wallack and Shirodkar, many are not fans. Last year, local business owners reported revenue losses and Miami Beach nightclubs, M2, Mynt Lounge and Exchange, even went as far as suing the city over a midnight curfew.

Miami Beach is only in the second year of its spring break crackdown, and it's unclear whether the tough measures are here to stay. Though Meiner claimed in the initial press release that the restrictions "ensure Miami Beach remains a welcoming destination where people can enjoy our world-class beaches, restaurants, and community in a safe family-friendly atmosphere," Wallack couldn't disagree more.

"Miami Beach can only be one of two things," Wallack says. "It's either a hospitality mecca or it's a retirement community — there's nothing in between."