One Marriott Charges $500+ To Use "Private" Pool: Absurd Or Creative?

This is not so uncommon, at least not in Europe. When staying in a hotel that offers this, sometimes with my wife we like to book three hours of pampering, just for ourselves. Not always easy to get the booking at a desired time, it's more popular than one may think.
It is not "just a pool", it is a whole spa and sauna experience.
In Japan private onsen isn't cheap either.

Given beach hotels charge $500-$1,000 USD to rent out poolside cabanas for a few hours, a 520 euro charge to rent out this entire space privately seems reasonable. However there should be some other way to gain access to the space, maybe through a reservation system.

"To a hammer, everything looks like a nail", hotelier's version.

The owner sees problems and seeks a solution. Problem: pools and their surroundings cost money. Solution!

Let's see how this works out for them. I hope we can revisit this in 2 years, when the hotel has failed to get their price for the pool's use, it's fallen into disuse, lacked mainenance. Or, they've given up on their silly idea and offered realistic optional pool-included pricing, or some other scheme.

Good point about Japan. these guys should have called in an Onsen

@ Anthony -- I thought about that as well, and you're absolutely right that many luxury beach resorts can charge shocking amounts for tiny cabanas. However, I also think it's a very different crowd (with a different willingness to pay) at what's ostensibly a business hotel in a German city, vs. a beach resort in Hawaii.

I just got back from the Raffles Doha https://www.raffles.com/doha/about/. Each of their spa rooms has either a jacuzzi and sauna, or a private pool https://www.raffles.com/doha/spa/. The suites are included in the price of the treatments, many of which are a lot less expensive than $500USD. Marriott’s reputation for exploitation keeps getting more and more pronounced.

Are they changing out the water in between guests? Bc shits gonna happen in that pool….

Beautiful hotel. I was just at the Accoustic Music Penthouse a few months ago.

Maybe not shit because it's a "private" pool, but perhaps other bodily fluids...

Hotel: “We don’t have room for a full-sized spa, so let’s build a small private one instead. It’s better than nothing.”

As someone had already noted, this is no different from hotels that have pool cabanas for rent. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either inexperienced or begrudged that champagne isn't served in main cabin.

I suspect the target public is from the middle east. Because they would otherwise not go to a public spa in Germany. Therefore we have such private concept popping up in quite a few german cities.

Frankly, I'd much prefer that city hotels go in this direction. Yes, 520 euro for 3 hours is crazy expensive, but also 100% avoidable if you have no desire to use the pool or sauna. Unlike the mandatory, junk "destination fees" that give you "free" pool towels and use of the gym, whether you want to use them or not. But hey, I get free local faxes out of the deal, so there is that.

According to the STARS website page for this property ...

COMPLIMENTARY PRIVATE SPA EXCLUSIVELY FOR STARS BOOKINGS

Complimentary access to the Private Spa upon availability (pre-booking necassary). The Private Spa offers an exclusive luxury experience, featuring a sauna and swimming pool with stunning views of the city.

Or it is for normal Europeans who are tired of public hotel pools and saunas with loud-mouthed, discourteous, half-drunk people who desperately want to show their importance in so many unpleasant ways... I have experienced all sorts of bored businessmen, "I am Titanium member" folks, drunk couples, loud groups...

FS Chicago allows you to book their pool area completely private in the evening when the pool could otherwise be open later for everyone. Though I guess this is the first time I've seen a pool 100% private.

This seems like a great idea, after regular hours.

I also think there is an opportunity for various cultures to use the pool in their own ways which might require privacy.

For it to be closed all the time other than when it's booked feels like it would end with the unfortunate underuse of a great facility.

Nowadays luxury has become synonymous with gouging.

This is yet another example.

Do you realize you're part of the problem.

Your response just gave hotels justification to charge junk "destination fees".

You legitimized their fee by accepting the fee for what it is.
Just like how government spin ESTA equivalent as not a visa. It's a visa.

An Auberge property I came across had private areas st the pool or beach=$1500 for 3 hours for 4 people...++++$$$ if more people

I can’t help wondering if the different expectations of “spa” come into play here.

I have noticed over the years that Ben uses the term “spa” to refer to what I might call “beauty treatments”, ie facials, massage etc. For me (speaking AuE) “spa” has strong connotations of “mineral baths”. Indeed, in AuE “spa” can be used to refer to the AmE “jacuzzi”. If one were to visit a spa one might expect whirlpool baths, a plunge pool, mineral mud baths etc. so the idea of paying a few hundred for exclusive use doesn’t seem all that out of place.

Kempinski Berlin offers "Spa suite" for 360 eur. Bathtub instead of a pool but similar concept.