Beach club pricing: how to set sunbed price tiers

Updated 21 October 2026

Most beach clubs do not need a price for every set. They need a few clear tiers that guests understand at a glance, and a map that shows them.

Price the place, not the sunbed

Guests do not pay for a sunbed. They pay for a place on the beach: a view of the water, shade, a little privacy, a short walk to the bar. Two identical sunbeds can be worth very different amounts depending on where they stand. Good pricing starts from that and puts every set into one of a few groups that share a price.

This guide is about pricing. How to lay out the beach in the first place, with rows, walkways and facilities, is covered in how to plan a beach club layout that sells.

Tiers by row and distance to the sea

Distance to the water is the factor guests notice first, so it is the natural base for tiers. A common structure ties tiers to whole rows:

Front row: the first row, with nothing between the guest and the sea.
Middle rows: a clear view over the front row, still close to the water.
Back rows: further from the water, often closer to the bar and showers.

Three or four tiers are usually enough. More than that and guests stop understanding the difference, and staff spend the day explaining it. Tie tiers to rows rather than to individual sets, so the rule is easy to say: "rows A and B are premium".

Distance is not the only thing that matters. A set next to the walkway is easy to reach but busy. A set at the end of a row has a neighbour on one side only. A set beside the bar, the kids' area or the jet ski launch can be worth more to some guests and less to others. If a few sets clearly differ from their row, move them to a neighbouring tier or give them their own price, but keep the exceptions few.

Tiers by set type

The second factor is what the guest gets. A beach club often rents several kinds of set:

Set type	What it offers	How it is usually priced
Single sunbed	One bed, often without shade	The entry price, often in back rows or on the edges
Umbrella set	An umbrella with a number of beds	The standard product, priced by row
Baldachin	A larger canopy with more shade and comfort	Above an umbrella set in the same row
Daybed	One large bed for two	A premium product, often in a prime spot
Cabana	A covered, partly private space with beds	The top of the range, often with service included

The number of beds matters too. An umbrella with two beds and one with four are different products, even in the same row. You can price per set and state how many guests it includes, or price per bed, but say clearly which one the price means.

Row and type combine. The simplest way to keep this manageable is to let the layout do part of the work: put baldachins, daybeds and cabanas in the front rows or prime spots, umbrellas behind them, and single sunbeds at the back. Then each row tends to hold one kind of set, and a tier can cover both the row and the type.

Season, peak days and time of day

The same set is not worth the same amount all summer. Many beach clubs price differently across the season:

Low, mid and high season, with dates fixed before the season opens.
Weekends and public holidays, when demand is highest.
Events, such as a DJ afternoon or a local festival.
Half days, an afternoon price for guests who arrive after lunch.
Weekly or season passes for regulars who want the same set every day.

Keep the structure stable and change the amounts. If the tiers stay the same all season and only their prices move, guests and staff learn the map once. A guest who knows "the front row is the premium tier" does not need to relearn the beach in August.

Showing price tiers on the map

A guest choosing a set on a map should see the price structure without clicking every set. Give each tier its own colour, use the same colours on the printed plan at the entrance, on the booking page and on any sign by the rows, and add a legend with the tier name and price. Put the set number and its price next to each other where there is room, so a guest who picks "C7" knows what it costs before they ask.

Use colour for tiers and something else for availability. If tiers are colours, show booked sets differently, for example faded or crossed, so the two do not compete. Do not rely on colour alone: the legend and the tier name should also be readable for guests who cannot tell the colours apart.

Mistakes to avoid

A price for every set. It looks precise, but nobody can remember it, staff quote it wrong, and every change takes an afternoon.
Tiers that cut across rows. If half of row C is premium and half is standard for no visible reason, guests will ask for the cheaper half and sit in the more expensive one.
Prices that the map does not show. If the booking page shows a price that differs from the board at the entrance, guests trust neither.
Changing the tier structure mid-season. Changing amounts is normal. Changing which rows belong to which tier makes regulars feel they are paying more for the same place.
Ignoring what is around the set. A front-row set beside a busy walkway or a noisy bar may not be worth a full front-row price. Walk the beach at different times of day before you fix the tiers.
Hiding what the price includes. Say whether towels, a safe, drinks service or a fixed number of guests are included. Guests compare clubs by what they get, not only by the price.

A worked example

A beach club has five rows of sets lettered A to E from the sea. Rows A and B hold baldachins and are the VIP tier. Rows C and D hold umbrella sets with two beds and are the premium tier. Row E holds single sunbeds and is the standard tier. Two cabanas on the edge of row A are priced individually. On the map, each tier has its own colour and the legend shows its name and price. Before the high season starts, the club changes the three tier prices; the tiers, colours and rows stay as they were. Guests who booked "a premium umbrella in row C" in June find the same row and colour in August.

Checklist

Three or four tiers, each tied to whole rows.
Set types placed so each row mostly holds one kind of set.
Clear statement of what the price includes: per set or per bed, how many guests.
A short list of exceptions with their own price.
Season, weekend and event prices decided before the season, with the tiers unchanged.
One colour per tier, the same on the map, the booking page and the signs.
A legend with tier names and prices, and availability shown separately from tier colour.

How seatorio helps

In seatorio's Beaches theme each set is one bookable place: an umbrella or baldachin with one to eight beds, a cabana, a daybed or a single sunbed. In the Tiers and pricing panel you create your own tiers, each with a name, a colour and a price, and set the currency. You assign a tier to selected sets, and any set can have its own price that overrides its tier. The plan shows each set's tier and price, and a legend lists the tiers with their prices.

Every set also has a status (free, reserved, occupied or out of service) with its own colour, separate from the tier colour. The plan exports as an SVG for your booking page and as a JSON file that holds the tiers, the currency and each set's type, beds, tier and price. seatorio stores one price per tier: season, weekend and event prices belong in your booking system, which can use the tier from the JSON as its key. seatorio does not take bookings or payments. Start from the beach club layout template, or see seatorio for beach clubs.

Planning for beach clubs? See seatorio for beach clubs and the beach club layout template.