Senior Week is still a moneymaker for Wildwood businesses, whether they like the tradition or not

For two weeks in June, Susan Chilelli can make more than $40,000 renting her three Wildwood apartments to high school seniors.

In her eyes — and her ledger — Senior Week is still alive and well.

“Let me tell you something, it’s thriving,” said the Westchester, N.Y., native who bought the Wildwood property in 2019. She charges more than double her usual weekly rate for each of the two Senior Weeks, which this year run through June 22.

Of course, renting to 18-year-olds also means more work and more liability: She collects digital signatures and photocopied driver’s license from every parent, and sets strict ground rules, including a prohibition on visitors who aren’t on the lease.

The extra steps are worth it, she said: “Overall, it’s successful.”

For decades, Senior Week has been an annual rite of passage down the Shore, with thousands of just-graduated 18-year-olds flocking to towns like Wildwood in mid-June, just before the prime season heats up, to party the week away. Wildwood officials have told The Inquirer the weeklong party may have begun around the 1970s, when students from Catholic schools in Philly came down after graduation to stay in rooming houses for about $2 a night.

In recent years, amid headlines and viral videos depicting kids behaving badly, the pushback against gatherings of unaccompanied teenagers down the Shore has grown. Last week, Wildwood officials banned backpacks on or near the boardwalk at night, saying police officers often find illegal drugs and alcohol in teens’ backpacks.

» READ MORE: Wildwood bans backpacks after issuing a ‘disaster emergency’ over Memorial Day weekend

But neither steps to curb rowdiness, nor the pandemic, nor generational trends away from binge drinking, have ended the Senior Week tradition.

Some business owners still welcome the crowds, often marketing specifically to seniors. They say they’re grateful that these weeks remain moneymakers and will take any extra business they can get during the few months they are open.

“We have a short season and we want to be able to capitalize in every possible week,” said Johnny Zarfati, owner of Oxygen Tattoo Body Piercing & Tattoo Shop on the Wildwood boardwalk. “We are thankful for any possible tradition that can hold strong, such as Senior Week.”

The weeks draw large groups of teenagers who will often talk one another into getting tattoos, henna, piercings, or hair braids. Each customer might spend $100 to $200, he said, and the volume is higher than a typical June week.

“Keep them coming,” Zarfati said. “I want as many seniors as possible.”

There is no doubt that Senior Week remains a tradition that brings money into Wildwood. But some business owners debate whether it’s as popular as it once was — and whether a thriving Senior Week scene is in fact good for business.

One property manager, who has 16 Wildwood units, said they have noticed an increase in demand for Senior Week rentals over the past three years. They were fully booked for Senior Weeks by December, far earlier than their units get booked up for other summer weeks, and have already been getting inquiries for next year. They asked not to be identified due to concerns about the animosity toward Senior Week renters from some business owners and residents.

“It’s important for seniors to have a dedicated week somewhere,” the property manager said. “I don’t think it deters any other kind of tourism. It adds to the tourism market.” (Case in point: This year, the Barefoot Country Music Festival overlaps with the last days of the second Senior Week.)

Elsewhere, business owners say the groups of seniors they’d see roaming around in June just a few years ago are now few and far between.

At Zombie Shark, a T-shirt shop on the boardwalk, “we really miss the seniors,” said Omar Adel, who has worked there for five years and noticed fewer high school grads coming into the store over that time. A sign outside the shop advertises discounts for seniors.

In past years, Senior Week has been a boon, as groups of teenagers flock to the store to buy off-color T-shirts etched with sentiments like “I love Hot Moms” and “I don’t get drunk. I get awesome!”

Each customer might spend only $20 on average, he said, but if groups of a few dozen come in throughout the week, that makes for more business than they’d do otherwise. In recent years, Adel said he’s noticed fewer and fewer groups of seniors and has heard anecdotally that Ocean City, Md., has overtaken Wildwood as the hot Senior Week spot.

“It’s definitely less popular,” said John Donio, president of the Wildwood Business Improvement District and owner of the Daytona Inn & Suites. But to him, “less popular” also means “definitely better than it was 25 years ago.”

He’s among those who believe that welcoming unaccompanied, underage high school students into town does more harm than good for the business community.

“Ultimately any resort town, in New Jersey or Maryland or Delaware, all up and down the eastern seaboard, I don’t think it’s a great thing business-wise for any town if you’re taking a long view,” said Donio, who has owned vacation rentals and hotels in Wildwood for 25 years. Senior Week is only positive “if you’re taking a short view, [saying], ‘I just want to grab some cash and get out of here.’”

Property owners who rent to seniors are “lazy,” Donio said. “It can be lucrative, but it’s also mostly done incorrectly, with no security, no chaperones, no one watching the property.”

Chilelli, who can make more than $40,000 on Senior Week rentals, said she or a friend are in a nearby unit 24/7, keeping an eye on the tenants and encouraging good behavior. She collects a $350 cleaning fee and a hefty security deposit.

In her experience, the vast majority of senior renters are respectful. She’s kept deposits for only two of more than two dozen Senior Week groups who have rented from her.

“You’ll get a bunch of the stupid kids who ruin it for a lot of good kids,” she said. “I do believe that it’s a positive thing for these kids. They want to go and have fun. Why shouldn’t they?”