Sheraton Princess Kaiulani's resort fees aren't all that bad

I've decided to stay at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani in Honolulu this year. Normally, I stay at the independent Waikiki Sand Villa Hotel. However, ever since Expedia foiled my best rate guarantee trick to get hotels for $50 a night, I opted to stay at my regular chain.

This is clearly an older property. The last time I stayed here in November 2014, it was actually slated to be closed down for good. It appears that this plan was delayed month after month to the point where I was still able to book my six night stay with them for my latest stay.

While it's older, it is definitely more than adequate. As a platinum member, I was upgraded to a "suite" (larger room, not a true suite).

One of the things that made me question whether this was a good deal or not was the fact that there were mandatory resort fees of $26.18 per night. On the website, it states that the resort fee includes:

• Free High Speed Internet Access in guest rooms and lobby (this is included if you've booked on an SPG website anyway)
• Self-parking for one vehicle (only valuable if you rent a vehicle)
• Unlimited local and 1-800 telephone calls, up to 60 minutes of long distance telephone calls per day (possibly useful)
• Two bottles of water in room per day
• Children 5 and under eat free from children’s menu in designated dining outlets with paying adult (if you have children)
• Big Kahuna Beach Service (use of sand chair and fresh towels)
• Whole fruit and water service provided twice daily between 10am and 2pm (when seated in designated area on Waikiki Beach),
• One free portrait session and a 4" x 8” keepsake by a professional photographer
• Collections of Waikiki savings booklet

This is clearly not of value to me given that I would already have internet access, am childless, and don't have a car.

However, upon check in, I was pleased to get the "platinum resort benefits." They had separate cards for gold members and platinum members. Among the goodies that I actually cared about were:

• 250 bonus points per day (value: $5)
• Free full breakfast buffet for two every morning (roughly $25 with the gratuity included is what I would pay for a breakfast for two anywhere else in Waikiki). There's the option of trading two coupons for one seafood dinner buffet. 

This is in addition to the free use of the beach towels and chairs. Therefore, provided that one is a platinum member, the resort fee breaks even.