Originally Posted by
AllThePants
^all true re: the daybeds/cabanas. My experience with them so far:
- The Hyatt hotels do indeed commission with ResortPass to sell unallocated pool space / daybeds . typically they keep their inventory partitioned. i.e. an outsider can book via resortpass on a weekday or non-peak weekend, but on heavy weekends what will usually happen is the cabanas will only be available for booking by registered hotel guests. can't blame the property for trying to make a buck. or can. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- The "internal" rates are typically cheaper than the "external" rates. i.e a random outsider cabana rental may be listed at $350, but a guest booking can be made fore $150 -- with a verified reservation/confirmation number.
- I've booked many of these as a registered hotel guest -- and would flip a coin as to when the charge has ever actually show up on my bill. i.e. as a hotel guest you typically don't have to put down a CC to secure the cabana, and it's usually up to the Pool/Recreation staff to follow up and bill your room for the cabana rental. And I don't know if it's just lack of staff followup or an unspoken Globalist perk to just let this slide -
but I'd prefer corporate/operations to not get wind of this hole in revenue 
.
More data points:
- The Andaz Maui is a property that *will* definitely bill you for whatever rate you agreed to via their online booking system at ipoolside -- as a guest or not. I booked a daybed there for a few days, and it definitely showed up on my folio. If they say it costs 400 bucks, you will be billed 400 bucks. And it's also one of the few properties that doesn't have a separate "internal" portal vs an "external" portal. It's a pretty limited customer base in Wailea, so demand is going to be pretty inelastic. Not like somebody's going to be coming along to celebrate their 5-year-old's birthday party at the Andaz pool who isn't already (a) staying at the Andaz or one of the other pricey resorts in the Wailea area or (b) local but entertaining affluent people who fit into group (a). it's a different market there.
- The Andaz Maui is one of the few properties where I would continue to gladly pay the daybed fee -- and this largely depends on your personal circumstances. As a parent with kids hanging out at the bottom/bumbye pool, my favorite/ideal spot is Daybed #21, right at the corner where you can (a) watch the ocean, (b) get drinks/food delivered, and (c) dive in to rescue kids in need on a moment's notice. That said, the going rate for these daybeds last year were much lower (typically $200, and always typically tracking much lower than the "adult" level daybeds or other cabanas). The price seems to have jumped, so they may've taken some steps to sort out their demand curve.
- You can usually find a cabana to book close to or on the date you want to book it. They've got their prices pretty high, so are really willing to play the chicken game and willing to leave them unoccupied rather than micro-optimizing for maximum occupancy. What you'll find is that the larger capacity cabanas will usually be bought up by families who want to have a covered area for a crib/baby with a base of operations for multi-family runabouts. The adult pool cabanas will usually be bought up a little later in the morning by well-heeled people who just don't want to be bothered to be scouring/stalking the pool chairs for a contiguous/ private space. I wouldn't expect the prices to go down (if anything they will go up) over time. Basically -- if you have a situation where you would need a cabana (baby, kids, multiple parties arriving at different times, or just the need to reserve a prime-ish spot without having to get out of bed early and playing chair games), the expectation is that you will either pay the going rate. Or not.
- Personally, we usually book one because we like to leave and come back at several times during the day, going to the beach, back to our hotel room, and back to the pool, while just leaving a bunch of our pool toys in place for the kids and always knowing we have a spot. And we don't like to hog/reserve chairs with towels and being in awkward conversations with folks contending for seats, since usually nobody is in the right there. And the personal shade system also helps later in the day when the sun sets.
One last note:
- We've definitely shown up numerous times at our booked/paid-for cabana with random people just "accidentally" occupying it. Which would usually be a fine misunderstanding, except when they go out of their way to get rid of our parked toys/books/hats to make themselves at home. Please don't be those people.
All great data points. Thanks for sharing. I went ahead and called the concierge and booked a Bumbye Cabana right in front of the main pool as our "home base." for the day. At $500 it was steep to what I remember paying before, but I don't want to play games and I want something at the main pool with full sun coverage. I didn't see any internal vs. external rate though. Maybe I should have the charge sent to my friend's room who booked an Ilikai villa. See if it magically doesn't appear!
In my younger years I'd play the game, but as I get older convenience is key.