The honest math
Vacation Home or Hotel for a Big Group in St. George?
Home / Plan Your Stay › Home vs Hotels
For a group of sixteen to twenty, the choice usually comes down to one vacation home versus six or seven hotel rooms. The honest answer is that it depends on what you compare. Cheap motel rooms can undercut a house on the room rate alone, but once you add a kitchen, shared space, and the cost of feeding a group, one home is often the better deal, and it is clearly better during events and peak season. Here is the real comparison, with no thumb on the scale.
The short version
- House: from $599 a night, sleeps up to 20
- Hotels: roughly $50 budget to $150-plus per room, more at peak
- Six rooms of comparable quality meet or beat the house price
- The home adds a full kitchen and shared living space
- Biggest gap: events and busy season, when rooms spike
Is a vacation home cheaper than hotel rooms?
It depends on the hotel. St. George rooms range from about $50 a night at budget motels to $150 or more for mid-range and nicer hotels, and a lot higher during marathon, Ironman, and senior games weekends. Six budget rooms can come in under the house on room cost alone. But six rooms of the quality most families actually want tend to land between the house and well above it, and that is before resort fees and eating every meal out. Here is the side-by-side.
| Factor | One vacation home | Six hotel rooms |
|---|---|---|
| Nightly price | From $599, fixed for the whole group | ~$300 budget to $900-plus for comparable rooms |
| Kitchen | Full kitchen plus a second garage fridge, cook for everyone | Mini-fridge, eat out |
| Shared space | Living and dining for the whole group | A lobby, or crowd into one room |
| Privacy | Six private suites, own bathrooms | Six rooms, often scattered |
| Together | Everyone under one roof | Split across floors or buildings |
How many hotel rooms equal one house?
Sunshine Suites sleeps up to twenty across six king suites and a bunk room. To house that many people in a hotel, you are booking six or seven rooms, since most rooms hold two to four. That also means six or seven keys, six or seven bathrooms in different rooms, and a group that scatters across the building instead of gathering in one living room.
What do you get in a home that a hotel can’t give?
The two big ones are a kitchen and a shared living space. For a group, cooking even half your meals at home is a real saving over restaurants, and one big table to eat at together is the thing people remember. Add a private hot tub, a fire pit, a washer and dryer, and six suites that each have their own bathroom, and the house does things six hotel rooms simply cannot. See the layout on the home page and the per-person math on the large groups page.
When does the home win biggest?
During events and peak season. When the St. George Marathon, Ironman, or the Huntsman World Senior Games fill the town, hotel rates jump and rooms sell out, while a whole-home rate holds steadier and keeps your group together. If your trip lands on a big weekend, the house tends to win on both price and availability. Our events calendar shows when those weekends are.
Is a home right for every group?
Not always, and it is fair to say so. If you are a single couple or just need a bed for one night near the interstate, a hotel is simpler and can be cheaper. The home makes sense when you have a real group, want to eat and gather together, and value privacy and space over a front desk. If that sounds like your trip, booking direct skips the third-party fees too.
Sources: St. George hotel listings (Expedia, Tripadvisor). Updated June 2026.
One roof beats six keys
Keep the group together for less
Six private suites, a full kitchen, sleeps up to 20 from $599 a night. See if the dates are open.
By Marchele Oldham, Owner & Host · Updated June 2026
I host Sunshine Suites, our 7-bedroom home for big families and groups at Paradise Village at Zion in Santa Clara, Utah. After years of welcoming reunions, teams, and multi-generational trips, I write these pages from what our guests actually ask and experience. Questions about your dates? Call or text +1 801-400-9274.