Want to spend the day at a luxury resort without paying for an overnight stay? In this episode you’ll hear why ResortPass is one of our favorite travel hacks. Learn how to book day passes to hotel pools, beaches, spas, and cabanas at resorts around the country, and daycation in luxury for a fraction of the cost of a hotel stay whether you’re at home or on a trip while upgrading your trip in big ways!

We share our experiences using ResortPass at The Don Cesar and Sky Beach Resort in St Pete Beach, FL and at Otopia rooftop pool and the pink and fun Downright Hotel in downtown Austin + many more.

Explore spa and day passes on ResortPass for a staycation at home or on your next trip!

Two of the photos below are from our trip to St Pete Beach, FL – we highlight recommend this destination for a domestic trip! Listen to our “staycationing” in St Pete Beach, FL episode for all the deatails!

Find a great flight deal with Thrifty Traveler Premium’s flight deals. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

Resort Pass Review – Episode Transcript

0:35

Hey squadies, welcome to this week’s Just the Tip. Today you have me Kim to share my little secret to vacationing and that is Resort Pass Resort Pass is a website where you can pay for day passes at hotels.

0:53

These passes let you enjoy luxury hotel and resort amenities without booking an overnight stay.

Which is amazing because some of the hotel passes available on Resort Pass are a tier of like The Four Seasons, Fairmont, the one hotel really, really, really nice places.

1:09

And they they do have a range of different types of places.

They’re not all luxury, but that is one of the best benefits of resort pass.

You know, we love a nice luxury hotel, but sometimes you don’t want to spend the night at that hotel.

The day passes, depending on which one you get, gives you access to resort pools, private beaches, spas, fitness centers, cabanas, day beds, poolside food and drink service.

1:32

Some of them even have day use hotel rooms.

It’s a really cool option when you’re traveling or when in your own city.

There are some passes that are day and pool passes.

There are some passes that are spa passes.

Most of these spa passes also come with a service included, like a facial or massage, and you can choose that.

1:52

When you’re browsing the site, you’ll see those options.

Some of them are for reserved day beds.

Some of them are for VIP cabanas for a group of people.

It’s really cool.

I have also seen some passes come with a bottle or a glass of champagne or free valet parking.

2:08

So there’s some pretty cool options are depending on what you go for.

It is such a good way to vacation.

Vacation is one of my favorite things to do in Austin in my own city.

You know, we always say explore your own backyard and depending on where you live, you probably have a lot of really cool hotels there that you typically wouldn’t go to because you live in this city.

2:28

You don’t need an overnight stay.

Resort pass is fabulous for that.

You can really feel like you’re on vacation at a resort or even have a spa escape without having to travel.

But I do use it when I travel.

I of course use it in Austin all the time, but I definitely use it while I’m vacation.

2:45

And I feel like this is like a secret insider tip.

Of course, a lot of people know about resort pass and if you don’t know about it yet, welcome to this amazing world.

But I usually am not going to spend the money for a night at The Four Seasons, for example.

I am certainly probably not going to spend an entire week at The Four Seasons.

3:04

So you’re able to save money by these nights at these fancy resorts, but you still can use them during the day.

And honestly, if you’re using it for the pool, the day is when you want to be there anyway.

So I like to buy the day passes and enjoy the amenities.

The amenities aren’t just the pool too.

3:19

Sometimes these pool passes include gym access, pool beds, beach beds.

Like I said, the food and drink, it comes with other things sometimes.

So you really can enjoy that resort.

I, I love using resort pass at beach destinations.

I love a beach club.

3:36

I love a beachfront resort.

When I’m in a place like Florida, like Miami or even in California, there’s a lot of really great beach resorts that, you know, maybe you don’t want to stay.

And, and also I like exploring different hotels.

So this gives you the opportunity to explore a couple of different hotels when you’re on a vacation.

3:53

Nothing, nothing, nothing beats a beachfront resort where you’re laying on a day bed under an umbrella in the sand, looking out at the ocean, and food and drink service is there.

Someone comes up to your bed, takes your order, brings you a cocktail, comes back around when it’s empty and asks if you want another one.

4:11

It’s the supreme level of vacationing.

I absolutely love it.

And you know, that’s a day activity.

It’s not an overnight activity.

So the day passes are perfect for that.

And once you’ve done one right, it can get old.

A lot of people say, oh, I don’t want to stay at a resort because I don’t want to spend all my time at a resort.

4:28

I want to go out and explore.

The day passes with resort pass are perfect for that because you can go to a different resort every day.

You can take a day off from a resort living and explore other things.

And that truly is amazing.

I actually just recently did that.

I’ll talk about that in just a second.

4:45

I do want to mention price though.

You’re probably asking yourself how much does it cost?

The cost of the day passes do vary by property.

I’ve seen some for as low as 2025 bucks for a day pool pass.

Some go upwards of $150.00 or more depending on the resort that you’re getting the pass with.

5:01

I have mostly taken advantage of the day pool passes.

I have seen a lot of spa passes and I’m starting to see more of that on there.

I haven’t actually taken advantage of it just yet, but I know Miraval for example.

Miraval in Austin is one of the day passes that’s available on resort pass.

5:17

It comes with $150.00 credit to use towards services or classes when you’re there as well.

There are passes also for cabanas.

I have used the cabana passes from Resort pass before.

It’s cool because on there you can see all the details.

Some of them are half day reservation, some are full day.

5:34

And then the pass is good for a certain number of people.

So four people, five people, whatever.

There might be a food and beverage limit requirement or a food and beverage credit included with your spa pass.

So that’s really nice.

The spa passes themselves, they actually often do come with a service.

5:51

So you’ll see massages and facials in there.

Some of my my favorite places that I have used resort Pass most recently when I went to Florida and spent some time in Saint Petersburg, I used it at the Don CeSar in Saint Pete Beach.

Oh my God, this is a giant historic pastel pink oceanfront resort.

6:09

It has two massive resort pools that are they have beach beds all around them.

They have their own private beach with beds and umbrellas dotting that white soft sand drink service food service at your bedside.

It was amazing and that one was probably the most expensive pass I’ve ever gotten and that was around 150 bucks or 140 maybe.

6:28

Was it worth it?

Hell to the yes.

I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Also in Saint Pete beach I went to sky beach, very cool big resort.

It was a little bit more family friendly, had a few pools, two-story restaurant there, the beach beds on the sand.

Of course I was working remotely that day so I had my laptop out on the beach bed under the shade.

6:48

It was amazing and there was hardly anybody there either.

I think I’d gone on a Wednesday.

There was almost nobody there and that pass was only $40 in Austin.

I’ve used it a ton of times as well.

Autopia rooftop pool.

It’s a downtown hotel here.

Beautiful views of downtown, great rooftop drink side service.

7:07

Of course I went here just by myself one day.

I just wanted to have a little relaxing day and read by the pool.

There was hardly anyone here and it was a Sunday afternoon.

I have gone in a cabana with friends at the W Hotel.

We did this one Memorial Day so the five of us split a cabana.

7:22

The vibes were Immaculate for this holiday weekend.

It was super fun there.

I went to the Downright Hotel in Austin that was only a $20 reservation fee for the day pass, which it’s such a cute pink fun hotel.

They have like a lot of Instagrammable photo moments around the hotel so that’s a really good one too.

7:41

I just love resort pass Honestly.

I’m getting so excited whenever I go on a new trip or I’m planning a trip, I’ll always look at the resort pass website just to see what is on there, what I could do, where it could work, you know?

Working remotely is really cool.

I love just posting up by a pool and working for a few hours.

7:57

Most recently I was looking in Toronto and I was a little disappointed.

Though I must say Toronto had little to no options so it’s definitely AUS asset.

As far as the availability outside of the US, it might be a little bit hit or miss.

Squaties, check it out in your hometown for a vacation or for your next trip.

8:16

You will not be disappointed.

Let me know what you find.

Like I said, I’m always open to getting a day pass somewhere where I’m going on a trip.

And I linked resortpass.com in the show notes.

It’s just resortpass.com, but you can access it easily in the show notes.

So let me know what you find, explore and get inspired.

8:33

And thank you so much for tuning in to just the tip this week.

Make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and follow us on all the socials at Travel Squad Podcast and have fun traveling this weekend.