sent

This is one of the reasons I chose RH for our upcoming trip as well!!! I am going to be busy with work off-site until the afternoon so I wanted my husband to be able to go to the beach or do whatever he wants to relax and enjoy the resort. What's he going to do renting 2 chairs if I can't join him?

I can't remember when I made the reservation, but I do recall reading this benefit on the hotel's website at the time. Will calling and complaining get me anywhere?

alanslegal

What a joke that the Royal Hawaiian charges for beach chairs now Its this reason why I have avoided staying at the Moana Surfrider, but now the Royal is playing the same dirty game, looks like my next stay will be at the Sheraton Waikiki. No beach but I'll just spend money on drinks by their infinity pool.

LIH Prem

While they list a charge for chaise lounge/umbrella sets, that's similar to many resorts that do that.

Basic beach chairs may still be n/c. Check with the resort before condemning them and getting everybody here all bent out of shape.

-David

cbrown5294

Thank you very much for your email inquiry. Starting April 1, 2012, our Waikiki pool services has implemented a new program where guests can rent beach chairs and umbrellas plus make cabana reservations all online now. Here is the link for more information: http://www.royalhawaiianbeachservices.com/ and where you can make reservations.

This new system came into action after receiving an abundance of requests from our guests to implement a system where they could reserve confirmed seating on the beach online instead of a first come, first seating policy.


A MAJOR

cbrown5294

ahh I did

sent

There were complaints on Trip Advisor of people putting down towels to save beach chairs and not coming back to the chairs for hours. Responses from the management said "We understand, and we are putting together a new system to fix that." I figured it would be a more elegant ticket reservation system or something. I guess if they charge for it, people won't have to save chairs anymore.

Resort Fee + Beach chair fee + Luau at $159 pp --> That's a lot of fees for this one hotel! This our first trip to Waikiki so I am really curious about the amazing location of this hotel to see what the fuss is all about that brings about all of these fees. We're going to Maui & Kauai as well so it will be interesting to see the difference people talk about at those SPG resorts as well.

freeloader

wow, what a COMPLETE joke. i was there for 5 days during high season in winter, there was never a moment when space ran out... never was there a big issue with getting a nice space. oh and btw, you don't have to charge $40 to institute a reservation system

one of the RH's selling points was the free chairs. in general, the rooms are smaller and very fewer nice ones that face the ocean. its why i paid more money to stay there - the beachfront seating. def will not stay there again

alanslegal

I posted a message on their Facebook wall and got a similar response.

Per Facebook reply; "Aloha Alan, thank you so much for sharing your concerns. Our beach reservation system has been in effect since April 1st and is a result of the many guest concerns over the years regarding having to wake up very early to secure and spot and then not being able to leave for longer than a 90 minute period without loosing the spot."

For what its worth, I have never needed to wake up early to go secure a spot. I usually had breakfast, turned up around 11am and grabbed a beach chair. I also recall very active patrols of the seats so if it was vacant for a long period of time, those seats would be cleared and made available. Anyway what's been changed is changed and as I posted on their Facebook wall that I will avoid their hotel for this individual reason. I could easily bring my own foldable chair and park myself on the beach just in front of their ropes anyway

Anyway it is positive to see that the RH did not remove my FB post (as some businesses like to remove all negative comments).

LIH Prem

thanks for confirming. I agree with you.

-David

LovetoTravel83

Was plaaning to go to this hotel in a few months, not anymore after this.

HNLbasedFlyer

Isn't the fee just for a beach chair confirmed reservation? I think it is still free if not reserved.

sent

That's a good point and I hope we're all just misreading this whole thing.

cbrown5294

Nope that question was asked and here is the response-

if you choose to enjoy our private guest beach, then all chaise lounge chairs are by reservation only via the Waikiki Beach Services online booking system: http://www.royalhawaiianbeachservices.com/. The charge is $40 per day for two chaise lounge chairs, an umbrella and a table.

HNLbasedFlyer

OUCH! That's pretty bad then. Hawaii, especially Waikiki is on record pace this year for tourism and should easily beat 2007 levels. They are definitely taking advantage - and not in a good way. I thought the Royal Hawaiian would be better than that but they decided to go with the model you see in the south of France - not good.

alanslegal

If anyone is on Facebook, go to the Royal Hawaiian wall, and you can see my initial dissatisfaction post. In additiond a few others posted as well including a query asked by someone else, asking "are all of the beach chairs now be reservation only, or can one claim a chair that hasn't been reserved when they arrive at the beach for the day/morning/afternoon?"

The official responce by the RH Facebook Team was that "if you choose to enjoy our private guest beach, then all chaise lounge chairs are be reservation only"

That proves that one needs to pay to be able to access the chairs even if its a quiet day or late in the afternoon when seats become clearly vacant.