SVG VAT, lodging tax, and the Mustique Company service charge
The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VAT and lodging tax apply to the rental component, with the Mustique Company service charge layered on the headline. The combined line runs roughly 12 to 16 percent of the rental total. On a $50,000 peak winter week, the combined tax and service line is $6,000 to $8,000.
Full staff team: in the headline
The headline bundles four to seven staff positions, typically: butler, cook, housekeeper, gardener, laundress, occasional dive captain, occasional driver. The villa is staffed for the duration. Daily housekeeping is included. The cook is included; in St Barts, the chef is a separate line. Breakfast is included on most rental contracts; lunch and dinner are at-cost groceries plus the cook’s service. This is the single largest structural difference between a Mustique rental and a Caribbean villa elsewhere. The included cook is the rental program’s signature line.
Cotton House membership and tennis: in the headline
Every rental villa carries access to the Cotton House facilities: the beach club, tennis courts, equestrian centre, basics gym, and the resort restaurant on a separate reservation basis. The Cotton House dinner is the single most-booked restaurant night on the island (the Wednesday calendar is also pre-booked through the rental desk). The membership line is bundled.
Electric mule: one or two in the headline, supplements at $180 to $260 per day
Each rental villa includes one or two electric mules as the island’s standard transport. There are no rental cars on Mustique and no taxis in the conventional sense; the mule is the conveyance. Larger groups requesting a second or third mule pay roughly $180 to $260 per mule per day. The supply tightens sharply over Christmas and New Year. Plan the mule allocation when the booking is made; the rental desk does not adjust mid-week.
Mustique Airways and private charter: $480 to $14,000
The standard routing is BGI (Barbados) to Mustique via Mustique Airways on the 12-seat Britten-Norman Islander. The scheduled service runs $480 to $720 per seat one-way; a private charter on a King Air 200 or Pilatus PC-12 runs $4,800 to $9,500 per leg from BGI, $7,500 to $14,000 from UVF (Saint Lucia). SVD (Argyle, Saint Vincent) is the alternative connection on the inter-island routing. The dusk arrival cut-off at Mustique is strict; the recommended pattern is a late-morning departure from BGI.
Basil’s Bar, Cotton House dinner, and restaurant economy: $0 to $1,200 per night for the group
The Wednesday Basil’s Bar jump-up dinner (the island’s standing weekly event) runs $120 to $180 per person on the buffet plus cocktails. A Cotton House dinner runs $140 to $220 per person on the menu, with the cellar adding the wine bill. The Firefly restaurant runs $80 to $140 per person. Pre-book the Wednesday Basil’s table on arrival; the New Year version of the same night runs at full capacity.
Motor-boat day, snorkel, dive: $1,400 to $4,800 per day
Day boats from Britannia Bay to Bequia, Tobago Cays, or the southern Grenadines run $1,400 to $2,800 for a half-day, $2,800 to $4,800 for a full-day on the standard 36 to 40-foot motor boat with captain and mate. Tobago Cays Marine Park entry is $20 per person. The reef diving runs $180 to $260 per dive, two-tank, on the Mustique Company dive operation. The boat day is the single most-booked add-on after the Cotton House dinner.
Pre-stock and grocery: $1,500 to $4,200
The rental desk coordinates the pre-stock with the cook on the villa. The list is sent two weeks ahead. The cost is the groceries plus a 15 percent service margin. For a group of 10 over seven nights, $2,000 to $2,800 is reasonable; the fortnight Christmas booking with chef nights runs $3,500 to $4,200. The wine and the alcohol budget is the single largest pre-stock line; the Mustique markup on imported wine is a structural feature of the model, not a margin abuse.
Staff gratuities: $400 to $900 per staff member per week
The Mustique norm is $400 to $900 per staff member for the week, in cash on departure, distributed by the butler. A typical six-bedroom carries five staff. On a fortnight Christmas booking with six staff, plan for $4,800 to $10,800 in cash gratuities, available for the departure morning. The rate sits at the upper end of the band for the holiday fortnight.