The Lodge at Torrey Pines, part of the Evans Hotels chain, recently obtained a permit to rent cabaãas and beach chairs at the hotel’s namesake state beach for $100 each per day.
The service, touted by resort officials as “five-star” level, will loan out nine covered lounge chairs and 20 uncovered chairs on a first-come, first-served basis, said Steve Pelzer, Evans Hotels’ vice president of sales and marketing.
“Because it is a public beach and we’re respectful of that, the service will also be open to the public,” Pelzer said. “It is a really nice service for the public, people visiting and our hotel guests.”
The permit was obtained from the California State Parks concession department and allows the Lodge to provide the service through Sept. 3 of this year, according to Julia Johnson, publicist for The Lodge at Torrey Pines.
Phone calls to Donna Renner, of the California State Parks concession department, were not immediately returned. However, according to University City resident Charles Pratt, the permit is renewable.
Pratt, a retired pro-bono San Diego attorney and avid environmental activist, also said he believes The Lodge at Torrey Pines has created a sense of class warfare at the beach by obtaining the permit.
“The thought of being at a public beach with Caribbean-style cabaãas and people being waited on and doted on and having that presence there feels like this asset to the public is being taken away by those with political and economic power,” Pratt said. “My right as a public person is being diminished by their economic powers and I resent it.”
Services at the beach will include a personal attendant for each cabaãa, complete with lounge chairs, side tables and cold towels.
Individual wait staff will continue to deliver refreshments upon request throughout the day, according to a press release about the service from The Lodge at Torrey Pines.
Although the service will be offered to all ” hotel guest or not ” Pratt said he believes the cabaãas will violate residents’ right to public access and emphasize the divide between social and economic classes.
“I want people to think about their rights being eroded by the federal government because this is just another example of that, and I think we have to zealously guard our rights,” Pratt said. “It feels like an invasion of the beach by commercial interests. We have a Petco Park; will there be an Evans Beach? Where do we stop?”
For more information about the cabaãa service, contact The Lodge at Torrey Pines, 11480 N. Torrey Pines Road, (858) 453-4420.