Greetings from Ocean City, Maryland, where I have been unsuccessfully trying to confront my own biases. Maybe you can help.
I’ve covered in detail my disdain for the Mid-Atlantic beach vacation, mostly on the grounds that there are so many other places you can get to for less than the cost of a typical DelMarVa (That’s DELaware, MARyland, VirginiA for those not from here) beach week. I even found a post I wrote in 2012 about it. But I’m here this week because my soon-to-be-college-student daughter (FKA Deal Girl) wanted a beach week with a friend and I found a three-bedroom condo for $399/week on a certificate. I see some Ocean City weeks on Heroes Vacation Club for August if you’re interested.
The condo we are in is older, but recently remodeled and I have no complaints about the unit. And for $400/week, I have no complaints about the trip, even though the weather has been surprisingly cold and rainy for June. We saw the wild ponies at Assateague Island, explored the Victorian-era town of Berlin nearby, and have had fun just leaning into vacation vibes.
But let’s be real here: There’s nothing upscale about Ocean City. In ideal conditions you have the beach, the boardwalk with its carnival rides, t-shirt shops and famous vinegar-topped fries. On rainy days if you’re stuck in town your options are limited at best. Don’t take my word for it, Ocean City’s official website suggests splashing in the puddles as a fun option.
I am paying $57/night for the experience. I would feel much differently if I were paying ten times that.
I ran a quick VRBO search to try to figure out what people are actually paying to stay here for a week. Not even for this specific unit, but for a beach week in general. The cheapest I could find on VRBO was $1,400/week, or $200/night. I found motel rooms as low as $1,000 for the week, but some of them looked pretty sketchy. If you wanted to stick to a name brand, the Courtyard by Marriott would run you over $4,000/week.
And points won’t help you save much. Most rooms by Hilton and Marriott were around 60,000 points per night, even accounting for the fifth night free, and I saw some well over 80,000.
I can understand the family paying $200/night for a beach vacation. While with points and miles it’s certainly do-able, the typical family of four may have a challenge finding another weeklong vacation for $1,500. I would personally make another choice, but at least I get where this family is coming from.
But who on earth is paying over $500/night to stay at a Courtyard on the boardwalk in Ocean City? The bottom line answer is that clearly someone is, because the market dictates what hotels charge and if they couldn’t get that rate they would charge less.
So please help me understand: If you are a fan of the Maryland or Delaware shores, tell me what I am missing. Because if I were paying anywhere close to retail prices for this trip I would be absolutely miserable thinking about what else that money could have done. And we have three days left on our trip, so I’d love to try to find the secret sauce here.
