Checking out the competition - at the beach

Phyllis and I are on a 'business trip.'  We are in Myrtle Beach, SC, visiting with Phyllis' sister and husband, who spend several weeks here to escape winter (they live in northern Michigan!).  So while we're here, we've been checking on what's involved to rent a beach home, instead of a mountain home like All Decked Out or Smoky Mountain Tower.

Now, remember, when you rent our Gatlinburg cabins, we only charge you the nightly rate and the tax.  We don't charge any extra fees, like registration fees or cleaning fees, etc.

So we wanted to see if we could rent a beach house under the same circumstances.  Guess what.  Not a chance!

We were shocked when we discovered all the add-on fees here.  Like this:
   -Sales tax - 13% (okay, that's pretty close to our 12.75% tax)
   -Processing fee - up to 5% of your rental rate.
   -CVB fee - $2.00 per night (I think this has something to do with the convention and visitor's bureau)
   -Security deposit - $500.00
   -Linens - $35.00 per bed (I really can't believe this one!)
   -Cleaning fee - $110.00.  Okay, to be fair, you can clean the house yourself.  Then you have to pay a $25.00 inspection fee - and if you didn't clean the place to their satisfaction, you still pay the cleaning fee!
   -This one I love - Charitable donation fee of $1.00 per night.  Okay, it's optional, but it appears to be pretty tough to get out of.

That totals almost $750.00 in extra fees - plus the security deposit.

So, you ask, are the rental rates cheaper?  The easy answer is "NO."  For a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in the busy season, the price is $344.29 per night - and you have to rent for a full week.  You can only check in on a Saturday.  With the extra charges listed above, your rate goes up to $451.43 per night.  Compare that with the ability to check in any night and stay for as little as two nights in the mountains.  And, by the time you figure all the extra charges, their rate is more than double our rate per night!

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that a mountain vacation is looking a whole lot better than a beach vacation!  And if you compare Myrtle Beach to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area in terms of restaurants and activities, we've got them beat by miles!  So we hope you'll come and enjoy the mountains with us.

Anybody want to comment on this?  We'd love to hear from you!