§ 51.82 Are a concessioner's rates required to be reasonable and subject to approval by the Director? ( a ) Concession contracts will permit the concessioner to set reasonable and appropriate rates and charges for visitor services provided to the public, subject to approval by the Director.
( b ) The Director shall approve rates and charges that are reasonable and appropriate in a manner that is as prompt and as unburdensome to the concessioner as possible and that relies on market forces to establish the reasonableness of such rates and charges to the maximum extent practicable. Unless otherwise provided in the concession contract, the reasonableness and appropriateness of rates and charges shall be determined primarily by comparison with those rates and changes for facilities, goods and services of comparable character under similar conditions with due consideration to the following factors and other factors deemed relevant by the Director: length of season; peakloads; average percentage of occupancy; accessibility; availability and cost of labor; and types of patronage.
( c ) The Director shall identify the rate approval method to be used for each category of facilities, goods, and services to be provided when preparing the prospectus for a concession contract. The Director will use the least burdensome and most market-based comparability method. Unless the Director determines that market forces are not sufficient to determine reasonable and appropriate rates, the Director shall make a competitive market declaration as the means of comparability, and rates and charges will be approved based upon what the concessioner determines the market will bear. Other rate approval methods will be used only when the Director determines that market forces are inadequate to establish the reasonableness of rates and charges for the facilities, goods, or services. The Director will monitor rates and charges and competition and may change the rate approval method during the term of the contract to reflect changes in market conditions.
( d ) Each contract shall include a schedule for rate requests and describe the information necessary to include in a complete rate request. Upon receipt of a request for a change in rates or charges the Director shall, as soon as practicable but not more than 20 days of receipt of the request, provide the concessioner with a written determination that the request is complete, or where the Director determines the request incomplete, a description of the information required for the request to be determined complete. Where changes in rates and charges have been requested and the request has been deemed complete, concessioners shall be allowed to notify visitors making reservations 90 or more days in advance of the anticipated rates. Those rates are subject to adjustment prior to the visit based upon the Director's review and final decision about the requested rate change . The Director shall issue a final decision approving or rejecting a request by a concessioner to change rates and charges to the public within 10 days of receipt of a complete request in accordance with the conditions described in the contract, except for those change requests requiring a full comparability study, for which the Director shall issue a decision as soon as possible and in no event longer than 30 days after receipt of the complete request. If the Director does not approve of the rates and charges proposed by the concessioner, the Director must provide in writing the substantive basis for any disapproval. These timeframes will be exceeded only in extraordinary circumstances and the concessioner must be notified in writing of such circumstances. If the Director fails to meet the timeframes described above, and has not notified the concessioner in writing of the existence of extraordinary circumstances justifying delay, a concessioner may implement the requested change to rates and charges until the Director issues a final written decision. If the Director denies the requested change to rates and charges after implementation by the concessioner, the Director will not require the concessioner to retroactively adjust any rates or charges for services booked prior to the Director's denial.
[65 FR 20668, Apr. 17, 2000, as amended at 88 FR 90119, Dec. 29, 2023]