The summer season is unofficially here; and that typically means crowds of people swarming to beaches to enjoy time off and relax at a resort property on the ocean, gulf, or lake — but imagine being charged a mandatory resort fee of $8,257.00 at one particular resort property.
A Resort Fee of $8,257 — Or Higher — at This Resort.
That number was not the room rate. That was the mandatory resort fee.
So where is this $8,257.00 mandatory resort fee being charged? Montauk on Long Island in New York is the location.
If you book a standard ocean view room for two adults at the best available rate at Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa from Tuesday, August 8, 2023 through Tuesday, August 15, 2023, your stay will cost a total of $10,718.58, which includes a mandatory resort fee of $1,578.00…
…and if you book a deluxe oceanfront two bedroom cottage for two adults at the best available rate at the same resort property for that same week, your stay will cost a total of $56,085.71, which includes a mandatory resort fee of $8,257.00.
Even worse is that the amount for the first night room, taxes, and mandatory resort fee is due at the time of booking the reservation. Unlike most other hotel and resort properties which charge mandatory resort fees, they will not even wait until guests arrive at the property before they collect it.
If a guest changes his or her mind and wants the full deposit refunded, that is not a problem at all — as long as the cancellation request is received at least 30 days prior to the scheduled date and time of arrival. If the request is received within those 30 days, the customer is out of luck.
The reason why these mandatory resort fees are so expensive at Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa is because they are calculated at 20 percent of the base room rate. As $8,257.00 is 20 percent of the base room rate of $41.285.00 for the week in a deluxe oceanfront two bedroom cottage, that is the mandatory resort fee…
…and because the mandatory resort fee is based on a percentage of the room rate rather than a fixed fee, its final price theoretically has no limit other than the percentage of 20 percent on the base rate.
The mandatory resort fee at Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa includes:
- Access to the beach
- Access to the fitness center
- Access to the health club
- Access to the swimming pool
- Access to Wi-Fi and the Internet
- Beach loungers
- Beach towels
- Bottled water in the room
- Coffee in the room
- Concierge service
- Fitness classes
- Housekeeping services
- Parking
- Safe in the room
- Shuttle service
- Telephone calls
- Valet parking
- Yoga classes
What would a stay would be like without all of what the mandatory resort fee includes? Stay in the room and sleep on the bed for a week — and perhaps have permission to look outside the window?
Final Boarding Call
I never was a guest at Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa. I am sure it is a nice place at which to stay. It is likely worth every cent of the room rate…
…but to charge a mandatory resort fee is tacky and unnecessary — no matter how nice is the hotel or resort property. Simply add that mandatory resort fee into the room rate. Stop fooling people into thinking that the room rate is actually what they will be paying — plus government fees and taxes, of course — before they get hit with the mandatory resort fee. Just add $1,179.57 to the $5,897.86 to the base rate; and the base rate per night should be $7,077.43.
Easy.
Photograph ©2021 by Brian Cohen.
