New Year’s Eve Curfew Causing Mass Hotel Room Cancelations In Key West

NYE Party Is Pretty Much Over In The Conch Republic

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com NYE Blogger

Once word started getting out about Key West’s New Year’s Eve curfew of 10 p.m., potential visitors started canceling their hotel rooms about as quickly as they were expecting to be slamming drinks at the bars along Duval Street.

Instead of being booked at 95% capacity, hotels are now at between 50-60%, Jodi Weinhofer, president of the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys & Key West, told the Keys Weekly newspaper. She also told the publication she expected the occupancy rate to continue to drop.

“I think we’ll be down to 40 to 50% for that weekend with the curfew in place,” Weinhofer said.

In early December, Key West Mayor Teri Johnston – without the full support of the city council or the hotels and bars – announced a New Year’s Eve curfew for not just NYE but the entire weekend. Under the rule, people have to be off the streets by 10:30 p.m.

To help make this happen, she also cut off alcohol sales by 10. Tho, of course, people could easily still have been partying in the streets by drinking their own booze out of what PubClub.com calls “concealed cocktails.

Hotels are offering free cancelations thru Dec. 30 or Dec. 31, and that’s a nice convenience for the potential travelers. After all, who wants go to a place for New Year’s that closes at 10 p.m.?

And where would those people go when they are told to get off these streets? Back to party in their hotels rooms, of course.

With no conch, wench or high-heel drop taking place, either, the empty streets and closed bar would hardly make for a memorable NYE anyway.

RELATED POST:

• NYE In Key West Party Review