$10 a night.
Capped at $100 a stay.
The guest registration fee can be fixed with one sentence. This page shows the math, the association's own cost record, and what every resort around us already charges - so you can check the work, not take our word.
Built from the TMA's own budgets, audits, minutes & contracts. Nothing here is hidden analysis - every figure cites its source.
One flat fee, fifteen levels of unfair
The fee is $73 per reservation whether the stay is 2 nights or 30. That single design choice created most of the anger.
And the amount was never priced from a cost. The record is plain: $38 in 2023 was "a conservative amount"; $45 and $58 passed in a single motion in 2023; and the $73 vote in August 2025 gave its reason out loud - "either assessments would get raised or another source of revenue is needed." When a director asked for "a cost projection to justify what the new fee would be raised to," none was produced. The lone dissent on the original fee - "a lack of clarity on how the revenue will be spent" - was never answered: the money goes to the general fund, untracked.
A fee with no cost basis, no cap, and no accounting isn't just a billing choice - it's a trust problem. It leaves every owner guessing what the number will be next year and why, and it leaves the community arguing about a figure nobody can explain. A fee priced at its cost, published and tracked in the open, ends the argument.
TMA minutes 11/14/2022, 10/26/2023, 4/10/2025, 8/21/2025One sentence, one booking line item
capped at $100 per stay.
| Stay length | Today ($73 flat) | Proposed | Change for the guest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 nights | $73 | $20 | saves $53 |
| 3 nights | $73 | $30 | saves $43 |
| 5 nights (our typical stay) | $73 | $50 | saves $23 |
| 7 nights | $73 | $70 | saves $3 |
| 10 nights | $73 | $100 | pays $27 more |
| 30-night winter guest | $73 | $100 | pays $27 more |
Every stay under a week gets cheaper. No stay pays more than $27 above today, and the per-stay cap holds any single stay to $100.
To be clear about the future: these are today's rates, priced from today's costs. They can and should adjust over time - but through the cost-study formula in the safeguards below, in the open, instead of "from time to time" by board motion.
How many guests, how many nights
How many reservations? The association's own books answer: fee revenue ÷ fee rate. $327,630 ÷ $38 = ~8,600 reservations (2023 audit). $372,946 ÷ $45 = ~8,300 (2024 audit). $539,000 ÷ $73 = ~7,400 reservations budgeted for 2026. 2023 & 2024 audited financials (CRI); 2026 Approved Budget, signed 11/20/2025
How many nights? The Miramar Beach market average stay is 5 nights (AirDNA); TOPS'L runs slightly longer because of winter monthly renters - call it 5.5 nights average, or roughly 40,700 guest-nights a year. With the $100 cap trimming stays past 10 nights, about 36,000 nights are billable.
Revenue: 36,000 nights × $10 = ~$360,000 a year (range $335,000-385,000 depending on the exact stay mix).
It matches what guests actually cost us
From the association's own contracts and budgets, the annual costs attributable to rental guests:
| Cost item | Source | Annual amount |
|---|---|---|
| ISN registration system (ops + amortized $23,140 install) | ISN agreements, 2022 | ~$12,000 |
| Billing & admin labor (invoicing 40+ rental companies monthly) | VMG management contracts | $25,000-45,000 |
| Security, guest-facing share: 50% of the actual $580,000 security budget - the share the TMA itself stated ("spending less than 50% of their time securing TOPS'L, instead acting as a welcome center") | 2026 budget; Mar 2021 manager's report | $290,000 |
| Tides amenity payment, expressly guest-fee-funded | Minutes, 12/21/2022 | $30,000 |
| Marginal wear share (roads, landscaping, gate hardware) | Contracts folder | $0-75,000 |
| Entrance/guardhouse capital, guest-traffic share (amortized) | 2024-25 contracts | $10,000-20,000 |
| Total documented cost basis | ~$370,000-470,000 |
The proposed fee raises ~$360,000 - at the bottom of that range. The fee becomes a fee again: it asks guests for no more than the documented costs they generate, with every allocation shown. Today's $539,000 sits above even the top of the documented range, and none of it is tracked against anything; this proposal prices the fee inside the record and puts every dollar where owners can see it.
Everyone else already charges per night
Our flat per-reservation fee is the outlier on this stretch of 98. Even at $10 per night, we'd remain the cheapest.
| Property | Their guest fee | A 5-night stay costs |
|---|---|---|
| Palms of Destin | $25/night (HOA-mandated; $5/night long-term) | $125+ |
| Seascape Resort | $28/night peak · $14/night off-season | $140 peak |
| Sandestin | ~$45/day (owner comparable, 5/29/2026 Summit minutes) | ~$225 |
| TOPS'L today | $73 flat per reservation | $73 |
| TOPS'L proposed | $10/night, $100 max | $50 |
Palms' long-term rate and Seascape's seasonal split show the market already uses caps and adjustments - a $100 max is squarely normal. One caveat, stated for fairness: neighbors' fees generally include amenity access; ours currently buys gate registration, with amenity access contested. Settling that dispute is what would make our $10 the best value on the beach rather than merely the lowest price. Palms of Destin & Seascape fee disclosures (public rental listings - verify with test bookings before formal presentation)
What it costs owners
The current fee over-collects by design so dues stay flat. Pricing the fee at the conservative end of its documented cost means the budget loses roughly $179,000 a year ($539,000 − $360,000). Across 592 units, that's $76 per quarter: assessments move from $285 to about $361.
That $76 is not a new cost. It is the existing subsidy, made visible and shared honestly - currently paid invisibly by guests who never got a vote.
Renting owners come out roughly even or ahead: a unit with 20 five-night stays sees $460/year less in guest-facing charges against $302/year more in dues, and cheaper short stays make listings more competitive. Non-renting owners pay $302/year more and get, in exchange, a transparent fee priced from published costs and a community no longer arguing over a number nobody can justify. Guests get the fee structure every other resort on the coast already uses.
Four safeguards
A real cost study - then publish it
Our audit firm (CRI) can do this as an agreed-upon-procedures engagement, typically $7,500-20,000. Refresh every three years. This is standard practice; Florida impact-fee law requires exactly this proportionality from local governments.
A written formula for increases
Fee changes track the cost study; anything beyond it requires a member vote. No more "from time to time."
Annual reconciliation in the audit
Fee revenue in, fee-funded expenditures out. One page, every year. This answers the 2022 dissent permanently.
Pull the stay-date data first
From the registration system if its entries include dates, or from the rental management companies if not. Then publish the old-fee-vs-new-fee table for real stays, so every owner sees exactly what their guests would have paid.
"Charge guests $10 a night with a $100 max, like every resort around us does; it asks guests for less than the documented costs they create, it's still the cheapest fee on the beach, and every dollar of it is finally accounted for in the open - honesty that costs $76 a quarter."