We’ve scaled way back the PLACE we stay and focus more on doing what we want while we’re there.
Last 2 years we’ve stayed “bayside” on west beach in gulf shores for reasonable.
200 a night is about as cheap as you can stay that close the beach. I personally can’t justify spending twice that, just to stay in a super nice condo. Unless it rains, we’re rarely in the condo. We try to keep our total bill under 2000.00 so we can go every year (we only stay 5 nights).