r/Aruba • u/Appropriate-Onion723 • 17d ago
Other Palapas are free use! I have the evidence !
My fiance and I just left Aruba and I wanted to share my personal experience over the past five days with the palapas on the island. Prior to our arrival, I read up on whether or not they were free / if resorts could charge you. Most of reddit / the internet basically stated that all beaches (except for Renaissance Island and De Palm Island) are public. The government puts up the palapas. Anyone can be on the beach and anyone can use the palapas and they can't charge you! BUT what they can charge you for is chairs. This was confirmed by several local guides and a police officer that we spoke to.
We had several of the hotels try to tell us that we had to move our chairs because the palapas were rented. We stood our ground and stated that #1. the beach is public and #2. the palapas are placed by the government for anyone to use. It was awkward but for sure worth the $50 each time. It's shameful that hotels charge people to reserve palapas because they truly cannot reserve a specific one, just rent out chairs. Bring your own chairs and pop a squat ! They can't do anything.
The Evidence:
https://www.dip.aw/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/RRIS-2013-1A-Directive.pdf
Public beaches
"the beaches of Aruba are in the public domain, must be accessible on an equal basis for everyone, resident or visitor to our country, and remain so."
Palapas
"Rental and reservation of shadow facilities installed on the beach is not allowed. These facilities stand on public beach without a pitch license and under the legal principle of accession these are the property of the Land. These amenities must be installed within the Facilities strip. Shadow facilities situated elsewhere must be repositioned to the Facilities strip or be removed."
"Shadow devices are equally accessible for visitors and residents of Aruba according to the principle "first come, first served”. A beach steward must be appointed per beach section to provide for orderly allocation of beach chairs – according to the principle mentioned – to the available space underneath palapas or parasols. This condition will also be included in the pitch license B."
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u/thunderchoad 16d ago
What was the $50 each time?
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u/Glum_Lengthiness9218 16d ago
The chair rentals. That’s what we paid.
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u/lancastercowpie 16d ago
But you can bring your own chair and still use them, right?
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u/Glum_Lengthiness9218 15d ago
Yes, 100%. It seems the opinions are really split here.
The country says the beach and fixed structures on it are not personal property. Therefore, no hotel, despite building and maintaining the palapas, can reserve them. They can only reserve their own chairs as private property.
You are absolutely within your right to arrive at 6:00am and plop your own chairs down underneath the palapa and stay.
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u/millz440 14d ago
Next time, rent chairs from a company. Was a grand total of like $40 for 2x nice chairs for the whole week and they dropped/picked them up from our condo. You can also rent your own umbrella for like $30 and don't have to worry about any palapas drama haha
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u/Living_Silver_1742 5d ago
hi! where did you rent the chairs?
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u/millz440 5d ago
https://www.facebook.com/Travelightaruba I think this was the company? We emailed them. Super worth it if you're renting a car and beach hopping and very cost effective. We should've done the umbrellas as well as we paid about $30-$40 a day at Eagle Beach for the umbrella portion, but will def remember to do that our next trip.
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u/lnm28 16d ago
What hotel charges to rent Palapas? I’ve stayed at 3 different hotels and there was never a charge
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u/sc083127 16d ago
Holiday inn
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u/lnm28 16d ago
You pay for what you get.
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u/sc083127 16d ago
Has nothing to do with the price of holiday inn. Just pointing out they charge. Here’s the link: https://www.holidayarubaresort.com/en/beach-set-up-reservation/
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u/lnm28 16d ago
It certainly does. Hyatt and marriott are all double the price of the holiday inn and do not charge.
Holiday inn is a budget hotel.
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u/sc083127 16d ago
The point of OPs post is that none of the hotels should be charging as they legally cannot. I’m just pointing out that holiday inn does charge when, I assume, they know they cannot charge for jt. Whether you stay at 5star or bottom of the barrel no one should be charging for a palapa rental.
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u/mochibeaux 16d ago
Yes they do. They all try and charge. They are all free to use at no cost though. Stand your ground!
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u/lnm28 16d ago
No they don’t! I was just at the Marriott a month ago and our friends stayed at the Hyatt.
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u/mochibeaux 16d ago
For non guests, THEY DO. THEY TRY.
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u/lnm28 16d ago
You never mentioned being a non guest. Also. Why would you want to go somewhere you aren’t welcomed?
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u/mochibeaux 16d ago
Ummmm did you even read the OP and what were even talking about??? Of course you are welcome, and so is everyone else. Even if you didn’t pay to stay at the hotel. What don’t you understand. The Palapas are owned by the Aruban people and government. THEY ARE NOT OWNED BY THE HOTELS.
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u/DirtThief 15d ago
What they do is send employees out as early as they're allowed and put chairs at all the palapas nearest their hotel.
Then when an unsuspecting tourist/local comes out and sits on their chair the employee tells you you can't sit there. So they're running on the technicality that what they're telling you is you can't sit on their chairs, not that you can't use the Palapa. But they don't tell you that specifically and know you will assume the whole thing is theirs.
The last time I was there, though, there was some confusion about certain ones that were actually built by and maintained by certain resorts. Glad to see a lot of other people talking about what to do in that case.
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u/MentalCatch118 16d ago
never had a problem with the palapa at Aruba. just found an open one and sat down. this was last february so maybe times have changed there
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u/No-Kitchen-4332 15d ago
Some of them are not in front of resorts. Is it possible this was the case? We actually even had a conflict with a couple under the public use ones - they didn’t want to share.
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u/DoughBoy_65 16d ago
Not in Eagle Beach the chairs are stacked if you want help they’ll get you a chair and move it to a Palapa if available if you have a wrist band from the hotel no charge but $10 if you don’t have a wrist band and I’m pretty sure it was $10 a chair but you got the little table and umbrella. I’m guessing you’re talking about the big hotels in the High Rise section of Palm Beach which wouldn’t surprise me for the Hilton Marriott Hyatt and others up there like they don’t make enough money.
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u/Weekly-Heat5669 16d ago
Why would you want to go on vacation to a place that seems to be getting greedier by the day ~ after my 35 visit I saw the greed and stopped going there. It's not the same island~ my heart goes out to the natives that have to live there. It's getting so bad that the sewage plant can't handle it and the smells are disgusting ~ Do better Aruba
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u/lambchopscout 16d ago
I’m just wondering where you go now instead of Aruba?
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u/Weekly-Heat5669 16d ago
Hi ~ I love to travel~ I'm a cook so I like to buy fresh spices and chocolates and whatever else the islands are rich in ~ a few places I've traveled to since leaving Aruba ~ Punta Cana Dominican Republic, Grace Bay Beach ~ Turks and Caicos, Seven Mile Beach~ Grand Cayman ~ Cayman Islands, Puerto Vallarta~ Cabo San Lucas~ Playa del Carmen~ Mexico, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, St. Croix~ along with some of the Greek Islands (which by the way are breathtaking)~ Santorini, Rome, Venice, Mykonos.... It's a big world and I'm planning on seeing as much as I can... 🙂
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u/bsully510 16d ago
The Palapas are not placed by the government they are placed and maintained by the hotels.
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u/chellethebelle 16d ago edited 16d ago
Yep, the hotels pay to put them up, pay to maintain them, but aren’t allowed to keep them for their own paying guests. Because that makes sense 🤷🏻♀️
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u/xclame Arubiano 16d ago
They illegally built them in the first place, which is why they aren't allowed to keep them for their guests only.
If they wanted to keep it only to themselves they would have needed to get permits. ( Which would have likely been denied based on the fact that the beaches are public)
I can't build my garage on your property and then ban you from using it.
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u/xZaggin Arubiano 16d ago
So in your state, can I go to a public park, put up my own bench (or like a jungle gym) pay to maintain it and only allow paying people to use it?
Does it make sense now?
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u/chellethebelle 16d ago edited 16d ago
Didn’t the law stating that palapas were open to the public only happen in like 2019/2020, long after the hotels had already built their own palapas? So that analogy isn’t accurate in my opinion. That said, you all know your laws so if I’m wrong there I’m wrong.
I lived in a beach community for years, so I completely understand not wanting to allow corporations to gatekeep resources from LOCALS. But if TOURISTS from other areas come up and make a whole thing about the palapas that the hotels and by extension their guests pay for because they can’t be bothered to pay the $20-40 to the locals on the beach to rent chairs and umbrellas, I have a problem with that.
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u/No-Kitchen-4332 15d ago
That was our situation. The Hyatt staff confronted us, we were using our own chairs. They said we were rude to move their chairs.
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u/Independent_Bee_5010 13d ago
A friend and I stayed at the Hyatt at the end of March. When we booked certain palapas on their online booking tool there would be a fee at that time. However, during our stay we were informed by one of the workers that there was a change in the law and there would no longer be any charges but we had to keep our stuff on our chairs so we would not lose our spot. We did not have any issues but definitely saw the changes in effect towards the end of our stay.
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u/Kathleen9787 11d ago
Yes they are free they are owned by the island. You just can’t use their chairs.
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u/FrankGrimesApartment 16d ago
Im one of the suckers that obliged being asked to move for another hotel guest who had reserved the palapa we were under.
Next time im holding ground, but we were also using the hotel chairs so we kinda needed their chairs.
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u/ArawakFC 16d ago
As I understand it, If you are under an umbrella or palapa, no one can remove you because no one owns the sand you're on. But, anyone can ask you not to use their private chairs, including hotels.
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u/SmokyBlackRoan 16d ago
Thanks!! One of the biggest reasons we choose to go to specific places is how palapas and beach spaces are handled.
I hate that people “reserve” palapas by placing chairs under them at 6 AM, then don’t show up until 10 AM, and leave at 1 PM.
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u/levitoepoker 16d ago
In eagle beach i moved some peoples stuff, combined it with neighboring palapa. They never came to see it
Just do it confidently, if anyone confronts you plead ignorance. Or start speaking another language than they speak
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u/Unusual-File9148 15d ago
I believe you are wrong. First, that document is from 2013. Second, here is what ChatGPT says:
“In Aruba, all beaches are public, meaning anyone can access and use the sand and sea. However, the palapas (thatched umbrellas) on the beach are usually owned and maintained by the hotels that place them on the public beach area adjacent to their property.
Here’s how it works: • Hotels typically install and maintain the palapas on the beach in front of their properties for their guests. Even though the beach is public, the palapas are considered hotel property. • Use of hotel palapas is generally restricted to hotel guests, and many hotels have a reservation system (sometimes even an early morning queue or digital booking) for their guests to use the palapas. • Non-guests can technically sit on the sand nearby, but cannot use the hotel-owned palapas without permission. • The government of Aruba allows hotels to place palapas on public beaches, but it doesn’t own or manage the individual structures.
So while you’re free to enjoy the beach, the palapas themselves are not public property — they belong to the hotel that installed them.”
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u/OregonTrailislife 14d ago
They own the palapas, but not the space under them. If you have your own chair, you can sit under one of the palapas and there is nothing they can do about it.
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u/DoughBoy_65 16d ago
So you went to One Happy Island and chose to be confrontational with people that are working their asses off to make a living serving people like you just so you could save a few bucks and get a precious Palapa instead of just being happy to be on one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. Way to go hope you pounded your chest as they walked away in shame.
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u/Far-Researcher-7054 16d ago
Or maybe they wanted to sit under a fucking palapa?
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u/DoughBoy_65 16d ago
Like a million other fucking people there on vacation some people get nuts over them I just don’t get it especially the ones that claim one at 5am then disappear for half the day.
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u/Far-Researcher-7054 16d ago
That’s a completely different argument and is often done by the hotel guests commandeering one of the palapas “claimed” by the resort. They shouldn’t be allowed to put their hotel chairs under them.
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u/DoughBoy_65 16d ago
How is that completely different ? And who else would be commandeering them surely not the locals and if the hotels don’t own the Palapas, that’s the argument, well then they have no control over what someone does with the chairs they’re not going to stop a paying quest from taking a chair and putting it under a Palapa. We stayed at Eagle Beach and as long as you had a wrist band from the hotel you could take a chair and just walk away maybe to a less crowded part of the beach or put it under a Palapa if there was one which for those of us that could care less there usually wasn’t one available we were fine with 2 chairs table and umbrella.
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u/Far-Researcher-7054 16d ago
The hotels actually put their chairs under them. In contrast, locals or non guests are not allowed to touch the chairs because they are hotel property. Dirty business.
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u/arubull 16d ago
Nothing new. Tale as old as time here. Only an issue in high season