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A presidential suite at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in August runs about $20K to $30K per night. A 40m motor yacht in the same week, all-in with VAT, APA, and gratuity, costs roughly $200K to $260K. The hotel side at seven nights and the yacht side at one week are not the same product, but they are routinely the same conversation. Both sit on a desk in the same planning meeting. Both are presented to the same client.
We work the math at five destinations below, with 2026 rates and 2024-2025 invoice data. The aim is not to push you to one side. It is to make the trade explicit so the client picking the suite knows why, and the client picking the yacht knows why.
The two products
A presidential or signature suite at a five-star Med or Caribbean property buys you 150 to 400 square meters of private floor area, a terrace or pool, the staff of the hotel hotel-wide, the restaurants on site, and a fixed address. Service is full but compartmentalized. Breakfast is from room service, transport is from the concierge, the beach club is the hotel's. Each request goes through a different point of contact.
A yacht charter at the same price point buys you a 35m to 55m motor yacht with 4 to 7 cabins, a saloon and dining area, 8 to 18 crew reporting to a captain, a chef, a chief stew, and a tender or two. Service is single-point. The captain runs the yacht, the chief stew runs the interior, the chef runs the menus, all reporting to the captain who reports to you. The address moves. Three days in Saint-Tropez, three in Porto Cervo, one in Capri, if that is the plan.
The numbers we run below are for two adults, two teenagers, and two children, plus a nanny on the staff side, plus one or two grandparent guests on occasional nights. Six to eight people, in suite-and-second-room or in 4 to 5 yacht cabins. Seven nights.
Destination one: Saint-Tropez and Cap d'Antibes
Hotel side. Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc is the comparison. A presidential suite at $22K to $28K per night, plus a connecting room at $4K to $6K per night, plus the staff brief (mainly the kids' meals and the dad's morning runner). Seven nights at $26K to $34K total per night lands $182K to $238K on the room line. Add F&B at the Eden-Roc restaurant ($1.5K to $3K per dinner for six, three to five dinners across the week), beach club daily ($300 to $700 per day, six guests), drivers ($800 to $1,500 per day), restaurants off-property ($3K to $6K per dinner at Da Cesari, Le Club 55, La Vague d'Or), gratuities (10% to 15% across staff). The all-in lands $250K to $350K.
Yacht side. A 42m to 45m motor yacht in August. Base $175K to $230K, APA at 30% adds $52K to $69K, VAT at the French effective rate around 10% on in-waters portion adds $18K to $24K, gratuity at 12% adds $21K to $28K. All-in $266K to $351K.
The two products land in the same bracket. The hotel buys you 350 sqm of suite, full hotel access, walk-to-pool. The yacht buys you a moving address across the Riviera, swim-from-anchor, and the single chef-captain-stew service line.
Verdict for Saint-Tropez and Antibes: tie on cost. The decision is mobility. If the family wants Cap d'Antibes for the week, the suite. If the family wants Antibes-Cannes-Saint-Tropez-Porto-Cervo across the week, the yacht.
Destination two: Positano and the Amalfi Coast
Hotel side. Le Sirenuse in Positano. The signature suite is roughly $6K to $10K per night in peak. Add a connecting room at $2K to $3K. Seven nights at $8K to $13K lands $56K to $91K on the room line. F&B at La Sponda, drivers (the Amalfi Coast road tax in time and money is real), private dinners at Marina di Cassano, boat day trips ($3K to $5K per day for a 14m local day boat), staff gratuities. All-in $110K to $180K for the week.
Yacht side. A 40m motor yacht based in Naples, running the Capri-Positano-Amalfi loop. Base $130K to $180K. APA at 30% adds $39K to $54K. VAT at the Italian effective rate around 8% to 10% adds $11K to $17K. Gratuity 12% adds $16K to $22K. All-in $196K to $273K.
The yacht is significantly more. What you get for the difference is the swim from anchor in Marina Piccola, the lunch at anchor off Praiano, and not having to drive the Amalfi Coast road three times a day in August.
Verdict for the Amalfi Coast: hotel for cost-conscious families, yacht for anyone who has driven the Amalfi Coast road in August. The road is the determining factor.
Destination three: Mykonos
Hotel side. Cavo Tagoo or Belvedere Mykonos signature suite at $5K to $9K per night in August. Add a second room at $1.5K to $2.5K. Seven nights $45K to $80K on rooms. F&B at the hotel and at the on-the-water restaurants (Spilia, Hippie Fish, Nammos which costs the equivalent of a small Greek village's GDP), drivers, the bar tab, gratuities. All-in $100K to $180K.
Yacht side. A 38m to 42m motor yacht based in Athens, running the Mykonos-Paros-Naxos loop. Base $130K to $175K. APA at 30% adds $39K to $52K. Greek VAT at 12% on the in-waters portion adds $13K to $18K. Gratuity 12% adds $16K to $21K. All-in $198K to $266K.
The Mykonos hotel side is significantly cheaper. But the Mykonos charter side gives you the routine that defines a Cyclades week: the swim at Rhenia, the anchor at Klima for the sunset, the next morning at Naxos. Hotel guests at Mykonos take day trips to do those things from a chartered day boat. Yacht guests live on those things.
Verdict for Mykonos: hotel for the night life and the room, yacht for the daytime and the Cyclades.
Destination four: St Barths
Hotel side. Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France or Eden Rock-St Barths suite at $6K to $14K per night in February or December peak. Connecting room at $2K to $3K. Seven nights $56K to $119K on rooms. F&B is expensive (St Barths in peak runs $250 per person per dinner without the wine), drivers (the island is small but the cars are needed), beach club fees, day-charter outings. All-in $130K to $230K.
Yacht side. A 42m to 50m motor yacht based in Antigua or Sint Maarten, running the St Barths-Anguilla loop. Base $180K to $280K in peak Caribbean season. APA at 25% adds $45K to $70K. No VAT. Gratuity at 15% adds $27K to $42K. All-in $252K to $392K.
The yacht is significantly more. The yacht buys you the swim from anchor off Colombier, the dinner at Le Toiny on Friday and the dinner at Le Senequier on Saturday, both without the cab home. It also buys you Anguilla on Tuesday and Tintamare on Wednesday, which the hotel doesn't.
Verdict for St Barths: depends on whether you want St Barths or the Leeward Islands. The hotel anchors you to one bay; the yacht works the chain.
Destination five: the BVIs
Hotel side. This is where the hotel side starts to thin out. The BVIs do not have the suite product of the Riviera or St Barths. Rosewood Little Dix Bay reopened in 2025; a beachfront pool suite runs $3K to $5K per night peak. Seven nights at $5K plus a connector room lands $35K to $60K on the room line. F&B, drivers (limited), day boats. All-in $80K to $140K.
Yacht side. A 40m to 50m monohull or a 24m catamaran in peak Caribbean season. The catamaran is the interesting comparison here. A serious crewed 24m to 28m catamaran charters at $80K to $130K base. APA at 25% adds $20K to $33K. Gratuity at 15% adds $12K to $20K. All-in $112K to $183K.
The yacht is a hair more. The yacht buys you the entire BVI archipelago at the pace of an anchor a day, which is the actual point of chartering in the BVIs. The hotel buys you a beach you cannot leave easily.
Verdict for the BVIs: yacht, on margin. The BVI hotel product does not justify the trade.
Where the suite wins
The suite wins when the family wants one address and the address is on land. It wins on the Amalfi Coast (where the road is the problem and the suite eliminates it for everything within walking distance). It wins for families who do not want to move every two days. It wins for honeymoons where one bed and one view is the entire requirement. And it wins when the budget cannot stretch to a yacht in the size class that fits the group.
Where the yacht wins
The yacht wins when the family wants to be in three places in seven days, when the routine is built around being on the water, when the kids are old enough to swim from the yacht and young enough to not yet need a city at night, and when the budget supports the size class. It wins by default in the BVIs, the Grenadines, the Bahamas, the Cyclades, and the Adriatic, where the hotel product is thinner and the water is the destination.
What we said no to
We would not pair a presidential suite with a daily day-charter boat as a stand-in for a charter. The day boats available in most Med destinations are not equivalent to a 40m crewed yacht for a family of six. We would not book the cheapest available 30m yacht to compete with a $25K suite. The math does not work, and the yacht will not deliver. And we would not recommend a yacht charter in a destination where the hotel product is dramatically stronger and the cruising radius is short. Capri-only is a hotel week. The Amalfi Coast for seven nights without leaving the bay between Praiano and Positano is a hotel week.
Combining yacht and hotel
The pattern that works in 2026 is a one- or two-night pre-charter stay at a hotel near the embarkation port, with the suite as a staging room. Monaco for the pre-Cannes-Saint-Tropez yacht week. Le Negresco for the Antibes embarkation. Naples or Sorrento for the Capri pickup. Mahon for the Balearics pickup. Bridgetown for the Caribbean. The hotel is the holding pattern. The yacht is the trip.
For hotel inventory at all five destinations, see our sister site HotelsForKings.
FAQ
What does a presidential suite cost? $5K to $35K per night in the Med in peak, depending on property. The Eden-Roc, Cap-Ferrat, Belmond, and Aman top-end suites run at the high end.
Is the yacht ever cheaper? Not at like-for-like head count. At eight or more guests, the yacht is closer to the suite math because suites do not scale by capacity beyond a point.
Can a suite handle six guests? Most signature suites accommodate two adults, with connecting rooms for the rest. For a family of six, you are looking at the presidential suite plus two connecting rooms, which compounds the per-night rate.
What is the best destination to combine yacht and suite? Monaco, Cannes, Antibes, Naples, and Mahon all work cleanly as embarkation-night pairings.
Where can I see the hotels you would actually recommend? On our sister site, HotelsForKings.