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Looking to Hack the Massanutten Resort Fee?

escanoe

TUG Review Crew
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Location
Washington, DC
Resorts Owned
HGVC: Flamingo & Anderson Ocean Club
Vacation Village: Woodstone at Massanutten and Grandview (RCI Points) & the Colonies
I have noticed that often there is better last minute 4BR availability at Massanutten Woodstone than 2BR availability.
For instance, this Sunday no 2 BR units are available, but a 4BR is available at the exact same TPU level as a 1BR?

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For those of you that are not Massanutten aficionados, the reason if you are booking last minute and want a bargain not to get the 4BR with the same TPU requirement is that Massanutten does their resort fee on a per bedroom basis. If your family is willing to cram into a 1BR unit, the resort fee is 1/4th what it would be for the 4BR.

Here is the question I have looking for a hack to this dilemma:

All of the 4BRs can lock off into 2BR sides. If someone booked a 4BR, showed up at the front desk, and said they just wanted to use (and have a key for) one of the 2BR sides, would the resort let you have a 2BR (half of what you traded for), let the other half go unused, and let you only pay the resort fee for a 2BR?​

If anyone knows the answer for this, please post. If not, sometime in the future I may risk taking one for the team to find out what happens.

I have also at times weighed booking a 4BR rather than a 2BR when the trading power difference is minimal thinking we might have friends go .... but not know for sure if they could make it. In that case, it would also be good to know how the resort fee worked if you only used half of what you booked.

It would also kind of stink if a 3 person family was going to Woodstone, booked a 1 BR, put in a free RCI platinum membership size upgrade request, and you ended up with a 4BR instead of a 2BR. If they did not let you split the 4BR then ..... that would be a moderately expensive "free" upgrade.
 
Last edited:

tschwa2

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
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Location
Maryland
Resorts Owned
A few in S and VA, a single resort in NC, MD, PA, and UT, plus Jamaica and the Bahamas
I know as an owner with a 4BR exchange through rci, the resort has been willing to split the unit and one half in the name of a guest arriving before me and then keep the other half in my name. So I don't think they would have a problem splitting a unit for an owner and either releasing it or having it sit empty. Not sure if they would split the lockoff of an rci exchange for a non owner ahead of time. I have a tendency to book the 4 BR and then see if any family or friends want to come paying just the resort fee for the week. If we split it off and put it in their name the pay the $98 fee which still isn't bad for a 2 BR even if they don't stay the whole week. If we leave it in my name and I check in then it's $59.50.

I think at check in a supervisor could and would change the reservation to a 2BR from a 4 BR if requested to save on the resort fee for anyone.
 
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