Whether you’re planning a small meeting of top executives or a convention looking to attract thousands, a destination that people want to visit is a big advantage. Nothing creates buzz and excitement like great nightlife, which gives attendees who are spending their days discussing business and attending educational sessions the opportunity to cut loose and enjoy themselves, network in a setting more conducive to letting their hair down and really getting to know people, and experience a scene they can’t get at home.
And when it comes to Florida after dark, the first place anyone thinks of is Miami. “When it comes to nightlife, few cities in the U.S. or around the world are known to do it bigger or better than Miami,” says William Talbert III, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’ve had a record summer, a record year. We’ve had a 20-year record in terms of bookings of conventions and meetings, and double-digit growth from key Latin American markets. It’s all about the buzz, and the nightlife is part of the buzz.”
The traditional heart of Miami’s nightlife is South Beach, which has white-hot clubs like Mansion and Cameo on Washington Avenue, Mango’s Tropical Cafe on Ocean Drive, and Mynt and the recently reopened Amnesia—of 1990s fame—on Collins Avenue, just to name a few.
Nightspots like Club LIV at the Fontainebleau hotel epitomize the velvet rope lifestyle—it’s the place where Jay-Z was widely reported to have dropped a cool $250,000 on Champagne this summer, and where Kris Humphries managed to get into tabloid trouble for allegedly dancing a little too close with female patrons during his 72-day marriage to Kim Kardashian.
But LIV appeals to a wider demographic than musicians and athletes—Air Berlin used the 22,000-square-foot, two-level space when it launched new service in Miami earlier this year (the city is nearly finished with a total rebuild and expansion of the airport). Club LIV is only open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, but is available seven days a week for private events. It has state-of-the-art A/V systems, catering through the Fontainebleau, and staff that can assist with everything from event themes and decor to booking live musical acts, DJs, and performance artists. Another direction planners can look is The Opium Group, which owns five clubs in Miami, including Mansion, Louis in the Gansevoort Hotel, and Cameo, and has a corporate events department.
“LIV is one of the hottest clubs in the entire world today, and it is on Miami Beach,” Talbert says. “Every star, every athlete, everybody hangs there. When the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat [to win the NBA championship in June, team owner] Mark Cuban brought his team to Club LIV to celebrate. That’s the kind of place it is. Google it and look at all the stars, and all the focus on what happens in Club LIV.” For instance, Cuban reportedly racked up a $110,000-plus celebratory bar tab that night.
And while LIV may have some of the hardest velvet ropes to pass, group business is very attractive to clubs like that, says Mark Howard, director of sales of Advantage Destination and Meeting Services, a Miami destination management company. “Seven to 11 pm is when corporate groups want to be there, and Miami’s nightlife gets going between 11 pm and 5 am.” And once groups are inside those clubs, attendees can stay for the night while the lines outside grow.
While there are nights when the velvet ropes are virtually impassable, the big nightclubs are generally quite flexible with groups, Howard says. “They will set up private areas or arrange bottle service. There are lots of options—it depends on the day of the week.” There are also lots of price points, he says, noting that bottle service begins at $300 and the sky is the limit—as Jay-Z’s and Mark Cuban’s Champagne bills demonstrate. It’s also important to make sure the club’s party theme for the night your group is there doesn’t send the wrong message, Howard cautions.
And remember that there is life outside of South Beach too. “We all know about South Beach and how popular it is, and how it has continued to evolve, but now we have a very exciting downtown growing,” says Talbert. “And there’s the new Wynwood area adjacent to downtown, a kind of artsy district. We have a new development off downtown called midtown, a new billion-dollar development.”
Wynwood, tucked in between downtown and midtown, is home to the Wynwood Arts District, a collection of around 70 galleries, museums, and other attractions. On Biscayne Bay, the district is just a short drive from South Beach and near the growing number of restaurants and clubs of downtown.
Tampa Bay Beat
For all its sexy allure, Miami isn’t the only place groups go to in South Florida. For many, Tampa is an equally hot destination.
“Channelside Bay Plaza, in the heart of downtown Tampa, is one of our premiere entertainment districts,” says Travis Claytor, a spokesperson for Tampa Bay & Co., the city’s CVB. “It’s adjacent to downtown, and a 10-to-15-minute walk from the Tampa Convention Center. You have restaurants, bars, live music, a bowling alley, and it’s right in the heart of the convention corridor. It also has a courtyard that a lot of groups have been known to hold events in. It has a stage where you can put live bands, put banners up, and get that outdoor feel—and still have restaurants and bars all around you, right next to the water.”
Head over to Ybor City via a 15-minute trolley ride, and attendees will find a diverse neighborhood with a variety of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs featuring live music ranging from reggae to blues to R&B, Claytor says. “You can sit upstairs at a bar overlooking Seventh Avenue and watch people walk up and down the strip,” he says. “Or head over to the Tampa Bay Brewing Co. and sit outside and enjoy the beers they make right there in the restaurant—it’s a microbrewery. Central Ybor is the hub of all that.”
Farther afield, there’s the International Plaza shopping center and the attached Bay Street, which has a string of restaurants, bars, and venues that are very popular on Friday and Saturday nights. And that’s less than a 15-minute drive from the convention center.
In downtown St. Petersburg, there are a variety of nightlife options, ranging from live music at Jimmy B’s on the boardwalk to the well-known jazz club Central, near the Jannus Live outdoor concert venue. It’s also walking distance to Beach Drive, where hip bars and restaurants share space with museums and art galleries.