TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Kakao Beach Club on Orient opening

Kakao Beach Club on Orient opening Monday, Dec. 17th. Drinks only on Sunday December 16th. Good for the beach area.

Yea! Will be there in January!

YAY!!!!!!!

Good to see another one opening. Two chairs and an umbrella at Bikini is now $30. KAKAO will probably go with the same price.

Or with competition prices might come down. $30.00 is quite high for that.

Yes, I think that's more likely, once Kakao opens and then Kontiki, prices will come down. That's way too high a price for SXM, I think. Lack of competition.

I thought the same guy( LUFTMAN) owns bikini kako and kontiki? where the completion?

Well, he owns the concessions there, but the actual restaurants are run by different people.

from the fwiw department... we used to frequent Kon-tiki pre-Irma and happily paid 30 bucks for two chairs and an umbrella - we got to know our server - he saved us chairs every day and the 30 bucks was totally worth it to us...

one change we noted in November when we were there - you can now pay for chairs with credit cards...

Wow, ok, perhaps I'm out of touch, as most places I know charge $20...

Me too. Never would've or will pay 30.

If it's $20 or $30 or $40, doesn't really matter. Almost all of the beach bar chair rentals business is to cruisers - there's very little chair business unless several ships are in. What're cruisers going to do after being dropped off except pay whatever the charge is? Just like the change at Sunset, certain beach bars including all the big five at Orient are focused totally on the cruise business, not the landed vacationers. That's one reason the carbets and their predecessors remained popular - they cared about the vacationer business.

So wrong on many respects. Some cruisers are on an all inclusive ship excursion to orient. If priced out of reach others will just throw a towel out and not rent or just walk the beach. Greed will end up biting them in the butt if they out price the chairs. Many other places to go that are more reasonable.

Nor I. And the food and service is nothing to write home about either. Interesting to see what Kakao will do.

I reserved 5 chairs each day charged me 50$

Thats more reasonable. Wonder if that poster made a mistake posting 30 and meant 20.

Nope. It was $30 the day we went.

Wow. I believe you. Was hoping it was a typo.

Great news. As far as chairs, $15 each seems to be the new normal on Orient.

I know that Kakao used to increase prices around December 15th from the usual $20 for two chairs.

I have no problem paying for chairs everywhere we go...Mullet, Orient, Friars, etc. But $30 is an amount that makes me rethink. I may just eat somewhere and keep walking. Go back "home" to BSV to sit on the beach. Their loss. We spend loads on drinks and bottles of wine. Food service to chairs as well. They are shooting themselves in the foot IMO.
I highly doubt French locals are paying that fee.

That might be your opinion, but I remember a bottle of Coca-Cola costing a dime, too. Regarding beach chairs, let's consider reality and facts. It wasn't that long ago that $15 was a going rate, and it wasn't long ago that people were writing here that if they had to pay for umbrella/chairs when they were buying drinks and eating there, they wouldn't go there. $20 became the new norm over the past few years, didn't it? If you think $30 is unacceptable or non-competitive, look at the facts at other cruise destinations. Grand Cayman - routinely $26-35 on 7 Mile Beach. St John and St Thomas, $30 average. Turks and Caicos - $30-35 average. Bahamas - $10 per item average. Excursion costs are much higher. For example, "jam them in" bare bones Nassau excursions usually cost $60-100 per person.

I don't believe that after paying for taxi to Orient, drinks, and food, that $30 chair rental cost is going to matter to 95% of the cruiser population compared to the perceived allure of Orient Beach. When the taxi drops you off, and $30 is the going rate at the big five where they get dropped off, I believe cruisers are just gonna pay it. For those few that are on paid excursions from the ship, rental rates are irrelevant, those operators are obviously going to negotiate their own rates down from the "rack rates", won't they?

Pre-Irma - we'd spend a couple of weeks in an apartment just behind Kontiki - happily paid the 30 bucks per day for chairs and usually had lunch and a couple of bottles of wine per day... it was the cost of going on vacation... most years, the staff would give us our last day's chairs 'free' which was appreciated but not necessary. To us, the 'extra' ten bucks per day was worth it - we got two nice chairs with cushions - our chosen spot reserved for us - chairs spaced well apart - staff that knew us and knew what we wanted (two rose champagnes to start the morning...) We generally spent a couple hundred bucks per day on Orient - when I compare that to other vacations we've taken, it's really not that bad...

BeachKitten--could be they raise the prices in high season. We almost never go to SXM in high season, so I don't know. Another good reason not to, I guess!

Actually Carol I think the cost of chairs will be adjusted to the $30 as people are having no problem paying that price and filling the chairs. There were no empty chairs at all. Guess time will tell.

Well, effectively there will be at least twice as many chairs available when Kakao opens, then three times as many, when Kontiki opens, which shouldn't be that far away. People are paying $30 now because they have literally NO choice, except for Club O, and many people have no interest in that. I do wonder also whether Roxxy Beach will take away some of those people who stay in Simpson Bay, who normally travel to the French side.

We were lucky that day and the beach boy missed us. Never again!

My opinion....... I am NOT surprised .chair prices are being raised on any beach on SXM. These poor folks were put out of business for well over a year now, and now are finally getting back to work. Supply and demand now is still low......and now that the island is making headway, things will continue to get better for them. In the meanwhile....we, the tourists are there on vacation!!!! These people, have been living for well over a year without any income!!! Do you really think they will feel sorry for the tourists that are coming back to spend their money on the island???? Will the ten dollars a day for chairs really break any of us financially? This time last year, the buzz on this forum, and every other forum connected to sxm was how can we help these poor people during their time of need!!!! Now the answer is quite clear......go to the beaches......rent the chairs for a couple of dollars more than two years ago. 10 bucks.....broken down...is less than two freakin' mixed drinks. I am not made of money....but certainly will not think twice spending 30...instead of 20 for a day of fun filled relaxation on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world!!! Come on guys.....think about how trite some of you are making it. My two cents.

Not me. 30 is over the top. Plenty of other beaches to go to like mullet where 15 is the going rate for 2 chairs and umbrella and 20 on pinel for the same on a very beautiful beach. That was last May when there was an even greater shortage of beaches with chairs. Sorry Ed but I don't need to go to Orient to get my beach fix at 30.

I am going to the island in April and understand both sides of the discussion, however would it not be just as beneficial to purchase a chair/umbrella from a local merchant or if the guy that still rents by the week. I would just leave the items for the next renter/tenant. I thought there was a local that rented chairs/umbrellas and you just picked them up and returned at your departure?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the French side (Orient) employees have a social system that pays unemployment?

Beach Kitten...not sure if that is true or not...but I can pretty much guarantee that if they do provide help....that it would be no where near what the usual pay is!!! Also...if true....the French government would be working extra hard to get things back to ''normal''....instead of dragging their feet like they have for the Post Irma time. One has to remember that these folks didn't just lose their income.....they lost their homes...and most of their posessions. Even the ''better constructed" homes took tremendous damage....and all that we have heard here and other boards have been how slow the insurance companies have been to pay out claims...if any. I will NOT let a ten dollar bill ruin my vacation, or change my mind to not visit one of my favorite places to go on the planet!!! For the same reason, i refuse to keep ''shlepping'' chairs and umbrellas from beach to beach..and from condo to car to beach to beach every day. Folks....this is VACATION......and refuse to ''sweat the small stuff"...and a ten dollar bill is small stuff. Twenty...Thirty....Forty or more may make one think twice.....but five or ten.....will not give a second thought.

Craig from Packlight rents chairs and umbrellas, yes. (And Coolers and phones). The chairs are mostly 'sand' chairs, low to the ground, and not suitable for me. And frankly I have no interest in lugging chairs and umbrellas around to different beaches. I will pay to rent chairs, rather than lug them and I would pay $30 if necessary, but frankly, I think that price will come down, once more places are open. Not that it matters, but Craig is not a 'local' in the sense of 'born there', although he is a permanent resident of SXM..

This is, in my opinion, simply a matter of choice. You can choose to load up your car with coolers filled with ice and libations and sammiches and then 2 chairs and an umbrella along with your beach bag with towels and books and sun hats. Once at the beach you can either bog yourself down with all of the supplies and trudge through the sand until you find your patch of sand and then drop everything on the ground. Once it's on the ground you can fight the breeze to set up the umbrella and then open up the chairs. After that you can find a place to put the cooler where you can "easily" get to it and then relax on those chairs. Or you can just walk to the beach with your bag, pay an extra 10 dollars and plop down on a chair.

Yep it may be cheaper to bring your own stuff but there's a certain value to convenience. There's also the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping others who truly have shown their appreciation to us tourists. I can only tell you that when we were there in September, every server we met made sure they said thanks for coming to the island.

My wife and I met a person who said that in 1 day he lost his job, his car and his house. I think I can afford an extra hundred bucks or so for the week. When we go back in June, it'll be our CHOICE to do the same thing and share our good fortune with those less fortunate.

Just giving my .02

We are going for 10 days with 5 adults. That would be $675 for chairs and no food/drinks. Our villa is usually only $250 a night. This would definitely make us visit Orient less frequently during our trip.

Yes. That is my understanding to.

That's quite a hit.

And $30 vs $20 is a 50% increase.

How do you get to $67.50 a day?

Looks like they are figuring 13.50 apiece for a set of chairs and umbrellas for 5 people. Probably 5 chairs and 2 umbrellas is my guess. Or maybe just 1 umbrella if they are like me. I don't use an umbrella but need one for wife.

We also don't make it every day so it would probably average down. We usually do a day in Phillipsburg to get a break from the sun.

Ok that makes some sense. I would find the concession guys and tell them your plans and negotiate a price. I am not thinking for them but if someone gave me 300 and said, I want 5 chairs when I show up within the next 10 days, I might bite.