For Antonella Lazzeri, 58, a writer based in Bournemouth, a recent experience at a five-star resort in Abu Dhabi made her think twice about booking a hotel in 2024 without doing extensive research first. The hotel’s cabana-style beach club was, she recalled, “gorgeous: all trickling hot tubs and beachy, barefoot restaurants”.
Yet it was, she complains, “completely overrun” with 18- to 20-year-olds who had visited the resort facilities with a £26 day pass. “They were completely wasted,” says Lazzeri of the youngsters, who dive-bombed into the pool and shouted and sang off-key. She says she “snapped” when one of the belligerent group started shouting racist rap lyrics at a family with young children in tow. “They quieted down a bit after I stormed over and the manager offered me a free drink,” adds Lazzeri, “but they weren’t thrown out and my stay was ruined.”
Sian Downes, 34, an events planner based in Hawick, has a similarly bleak view of a group you might encounter on your travels this summer, known in American hotel jargon as “passers”. During a family holiday in Key West, Florida, last month, she said she couldn’t find a sunbed next to her hotel pool because of the rampant sale of day passes via booking site ResortPass, which has signed up more than 1,500 luxury hotels, including upscale brands such as Waldorf-Astoria, JW Marriott and Hilton.
“We had no choice but to go to the beach despite paying $300 (£232) a night for our room, which was extremely annoying.
“In the future, I will check to see if a luxury hotel I book is booked through ResortPass and avoid it,” she adds.
Pool passes have long been offered in regions where both luxury hotels and backpackers congregate, such as Goa in India and parts of Thailand.
Today, passes offering access to a range of amenities, such as poolside loungers, business centres and air-conditioned lobbies (and in some cases daytime hotel room access) for significantly less than an overnight stay are becoming increasingly common around the world.
It’s no surprise that hotels are trying to bridge the gap between thrifty travelers and expensive room rates. According to aggregated data from luxury travel company Virtuoso, high-end room rates are 85 percent higher in July than the same month in 2019, while the purchasing power of British travelers has fallen by 26 percent since the pandemic.
US-based ResortPass claims to have a 95 per cent share of the day-guest business, offering access to hotels in 27 countries from $25 (£19) a day. It’s not the only third party on the scene, though.
Dayuse.co.uk, based in France, offers access to hotels across Europe for periods of a few hours, from £42. The app focuses on popular short-stay destinations such as Bali, Tenerife and Bodrum.
Elsewhere, daybreakhotels.com sells day access to amenities such as hotel spas and swimming pools, alongside day use of hotel rooms in 15 countries including the UK, UAE, Italy and Spain, from £30, with a focus on spa-goers and business travellers who want to work from the hotel.
Specialist resortforaday.com caters to cruise passengers, offering pool and beach access near popular cruise ports. For July, it’s offering a deal on resort pool and beach access, with drinks and snacks, in Cozumel, the Caribbean cruise port, from $65 (£50). Meanwhile, brands including Accor and W Hotels are allowing direct day bookings.
For hoteliers, the appeal of populating their hotels with day passengers is clear. ResortPass told Telegraph Travel that the average day pass customer purchases a full day of access via the website for around $165 (£128), with these customers often spending more on poolside amenities or other hotel facilities than overnight guests.
Will Ashworth, founder of the upmarket Watergate Bay resort in Cornwall, began offering day passes in 2012. He says the influx of visitors, who pay from £65 a day for access to Watergate Bay’s infinity pool overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Finnish sauna and cliff-top hot tub, helps the resort retain staff during the winter months.
“It works really well for us, allowing locals and non-residents to experience the hotel as if they were a guest,” Ashworth explains, adding that in his experience, day pass guests are “just as well behaved” as overnight guests. Watergate Bay limits the number of day passes to dozens per day, Ashworth adds, “to preserve the guest experience.”
Mirah Marhaendra, managing director of Raffles Doha, a luxury venue with attractions including an “aqua urban deck” and an “acoustic music penthouse” that can be booked direct for £58 a day (12pm-8pm), says combining day passes with overnight stays requires “careful orchestration” on the part of hoteliers.
Raffles closes day passes during peak season and in some pool areas. Other daily deals are explicitly aimed at locals: the “all-inclusive daycation” at Rixos The Palm Dubai Hotel & Suites (with unlimited house spirits, pool, beach gym and kids’ club access, from £84) offers the city’s expat population “the opportunity to spend the day relaxing in luxurious surroundings, perhaps with visiting family,” says Ali Ozbay, the hotel’s vice president of marketing.
Jenna Brown, 34, a food safety expert from Kent, is a typical day pass customer. Brown spent $100 (£77) on resort access for her family at a hotel a short drive from Miami airport for the day they docked after a week-long cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship through the Bahamas and Florida Keys. Booking a day pass was a “no-brainer,” says Brown. “It was either be stuck with a four- and nine-year-old lugging our bags around the airport all day, or book a resort with a pool on ResortPass and hope we could relax a bit,” she explains.
What is the experience of using a day pass like for those of us with more to do than plod around in fluffy slippers or soothe the little ones with churros by the pool? Well, your correspondent writes this from the Diptyque-scented foyer of the Londoner in Leicester Square, fueled by second-hand Assam tea and surrounded by a morning medley of business meetings and well-groomed women sipping champagne before lunch. I’m here on a dayuse.com 10am-6pm day pass with room, which costs £340 (35 per cent off the overnight rate) and includes access to a corner king suite, use of the Residence lounge area and access to the Londoner’s underground spa and gym.
The benefits so far have included excellent people-watching and crisp air-conditioning; the downsides include the real risk of dropping £150 on a few glasses of Dom Pérignon Brut (limited drinks and canapés for guests are included in standard day deals). Still, in the current tense climate for hoteliers and hotels alike, the day pass revolution is a democratic innovation that many will embrace.
Six of the Best Hotel Day Passes
The Wet Deck Day Pass, W Ibiza
The W’s Wet Deck Day Pass includes access to the W’s pool, a lounge chair, a complimentary glass of champagne and €100 in credit to spend on food and drinks at the Wet Deck, which features an international roster of DJs. You’ll also get 20 percent off massages at Away Spa and free parking.
Details: From €85 per person; marriott.com
‘Leisurely Londoner day package’ at the Londoner
With a pool, hot tub, steam room and sauna access, plus a keycard for a corner king suite, the Londoner’s day pass is no bargain, but a tempting option for the well-heeled or hard-working looking to escape the hustle and bustle of Soho. Day-use bookings elsewhere in London start from £42.
Details: £340; bookable via dayuse.co.uk
Summer Day Membership at Swim Club, Watergate Bay Hotel, Newquay
Access to the boutique’s 25m sea-view pool, clifftop hot tub and Finnish sauna, with complimentary drinks, a meal at seafood specialist Zacry’s and a 60-minute spa treatment, is included in a great value deal from £120. Or grab day access to swim and dine for £65 per person.
Details: From £65 per day; watergatebay.co.uk
Day Pass, Tabacon Thermal Resort & Spa, in Costa Rica
This luxury spa resort offers a limited number of day passes each day for visitors to experience the “natural river fed by volcanic and mineral springs in a tropical rainforest” with 18 swimming pools, plus an outdoor hydromassage pool and restaurants and bars from 10am to 10pm.
Details: From £68; tabacon.com
Day Pass, Hilton Orlando
A classic ResortPass offering, this pass grants you access to a range of resort pools from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., including a zero-entry pool with a winding water slide, a 2,500-square-foot pool deck and lazy river, and a 900-foot winding river “with complimentary inner tubes, waterfalls, fountains and water cannons.” Poolside food and beverages are included.
Details: From £30 per adult and £17 per child; bookable via resortpass.com
Club Med Bodrum Classic Day Pass
The Classic Day Pass at Club Med Bodrum is ideal for those who want a slice of all-inclusive action in Bodrum. The pass includes access to the pool and private beach, a buffet lunch and all-inclusive drinks.
Details: From £90 per adult and £20 per child; bookable via DayPass