Hawaii has been a vacationer’s paradise for decades. Back in the 60s, and even into the 70s, Honolulu, and in particular, Waikiki Beach, was probably THE place to go on the Hawaiian Islands. You can probably thank Elvis and the Brady Bunch for a little bit of that popularity.
Some of the hotels in Honolulu have been around just just as many decades. In fact, the Brady Bunch drove up to the Sheraton Waikiki during that episode in 1972.
Unfortunately, the Sheraton Waikiki, along with 3 other adjacent hotels in Honolulu, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the Moana Surfrider Hotel and the Outrigger Waikīkī Hotel, are at risk for daily fines of $5,000 up to $15,000, as well as the potential to lose their respective beach or commercial permits.
What did they do?
They’re “presetting” beach supplies.
Presetting? I don’t get it
In Hawaii, all beaches are considered public property. So even if you’re a multi-bajillion dollar hotel with beachfront property, you don’t “own” the beach; just the land your hotel is on. That means if a family, or a bunch of teenagers, or a homeless person wants to hang out on the beach in front of your hotel, they’re legally allowed to do that.
Thankfully, all the hotels are apparently letting the public onto the beaches in front of their respective establishments. So that’s good.
However, about a dozen beachfront resorts on Waikiki Beach are setting up multiple lounge chairs, umbrellas, etc. on the beach on a daily basis. This makes it look as though that beach area is theirs, which in turn discourages “outsiders” from using that section of the beach.
So what happened?
Last Friday, the state’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) within the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) issued cease-and-desist letters to each of the aforementioned four oceanfront resorts. They did the same to five Waikiki Beach activity operators (specifically Waikiki Beach Services at the Royal, Waikiki Beach Beachboys at the Sheraton Waikiki, Faith Hawaiʻi Surf School, Aloha Beach Services, and Aqualani).
The letters warned the hotels and businesses that they were in violation of the HI law against “presetting” beach supplies. That law says that businesses aren’t allowed to set up beach items (umbrellas, chairs, etc.) every day (many of the hotels in question would set them up in the morning and then take them down at night). The law explains that presetting takes space away from public beach-goers and makes it look as if the beach in front of that resort is only for resort guests.
The letter continued that hotels and rental companies are supposed to set up items like chairs and umbrellas only when guests want to use them and should remove them from the beach when the customer leaves.
It wasn’t a surprise
DOBOR didn’t just spring this on the hotels and activity operators. They had sent notices to several properties on Waikiki back in July of 2023. The properties and companies that got the formal cease-and-desist letters had been observed not following the July ’23 notice during site visits between then and now – and they had photos and video to prove it.
So now what?
So far, none of the businesses have been fined. However, they have all been put on notice to begin complying immediately. If they don’t, they can expect the following fines for violations of HRS Section 200-3.5:
- $5,000 for a first offense,
- $10,000 for a second offense,
- and $15,000 for a third and subsequent offenses.
Continued violations will result in enforcement actions, including but not limited to the imposition of fines, revocation of commercial use permits and the inability to obtain future commercial use permits.
Feature image: Edmund Garman / flickr / CC BY 2.0
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3 comments
lol. HI strikes out at the small handful of “premium” beachfront waikiki hotels at its own risk. The ability to get a set of chairs and umbrella is a big part of why people are willing to pay the high prices these hotels charge for small, old, unimpressive rooms. The state is pretending (and so far, that’s all it is) to attack its tourist tax base, as well as the first hotels to ever exist on this beach before it became part of the urban jungle. If I’m management at the Moana Surfrider or Royal Hawaiian, my response would be “go ahead, make my day.”
Necessity is the mother of invention. I bet most of these hotels (the Marriott ones owned by Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts) will build one common “Beach Club” which will be off the beach, but still have sand and well as better drink service and exclusivity.
Comment redacted by YMMV to remove portions that were against YMMV’s requirements for approval.
In this case, all of it. Whomp whomp. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯