How we figure beach vacation package prices before a reservation
Every figure on this site follows one rule, so you can check our math. Here we lay out how we put together beach vacation package prices, what sits inside them and what you pay on top, before any reservation is made. Every figure is quoted as the opening amount for a couple sharing a single room.
Our office charges you nothing to plan a stay: no planning fee and no booking fee. A commission comes back to the office from the hotel once the stay is complete, and nothing is collected through this website: the hotel registers you at its own desk and processes payment there.
Rate, fees, nights, then rounding up
Each stay has a set number of nights and a nightly rate for a room for two. We add any resort, amenity or parking fee the hotel charges every guest, multiply by the nights, and round up to the next $10. That gives the figure for two. Per person is that figure divided by two, rounded up to the next $5.
Take the two nights in Erie as an example: the room is $190 a night, and we count a parking allowance of up to $16 a night, which the quote confirms. Two nights at $206 come to $412, which rounds up to $420 for two. Half of that is $210 per person.
Thirteen figures side by side
The table below lists all thirteen stays in catalog order, from Geneva-on-the-Lake, where the July sun sets over the lake, to Cape May, where it keeps to the shore. Each row gives the nights, the figure for two and the per-person figure. Every one is a from figure, and your written quote confirms the real number for your dates.
Room and mandatory fees counted in
- Room nights for two at the office's working rate for that month
- Resort, amenity or parking fees the hotel charges every guest
Costs you pay on top
- State sales tax and county or city lodging tax
- Fuel, tolls and any parking not counted in the figure
- Town beach tags, gate passes and similar local charges
- Meals, beach chairs and anything optional
Beach tags, passes and parking by town
In Cape May, anyone 12 and older needs a beach tag in season; in 2026 a daily tag was $10 and a weekly tag $25, sold by the town, and the motel may lend tags for stays of 2 or more nights. Ocean City NJ asks the same of anyone 12 and older, at $10 a day or $20 a week in 2026.
At Chincoteague the beach lies inside a national wildlife refuge on Assateague, which charged a vehicle pass of $10 a day or $25 a week in 2026; walking or cycling in is free. Rehoboth Beach meters street parking near the beach at $4 an hour from May 15 to September 15 in 2026, and Virginia Beach charges $2 an hour in city lots by the oceanfront in season. At Lakeside, the hotel's package already holds two adult four-day gate passes and South Gate car parking.
Lodging taxes added by each hotel
Hotels add state and local lodging taxes to the room, and the rate is set by the state and often by the town as well. Because those rates vary from Ohio to North Carolina, we leave them out of the figures and name them in your quote, so you can see them before you say yes.
Why your quote may differ
Hotels set their rates night by night, and your dates may fall in a busier or quieter week than the month we used. A hotel can also change a fee between the day we priced it and the day you write. That is why every figure reads from, and why the quote, with the hotel's rate for your nights, is the number that counts, higher or lower.
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