Hard Rock Hotel...great location...but

[Mad4Dizne]

We are just back from a stay on the Club level at the Hard Rock Hotel...We loved the convenience of the location and the Kitchen, the service and food at the Kitchen were great!!!!!!!!!!!! Were however very, very disappointed with the Club Level. The room was well worn. In fact others in our group who were not on the club level had a nicer room!!!!!! One night the night time snack was a gallon of ice cream that was half full and had ice crystals on it.... It was not worth the extra money, at all. We wished we had just gotten a standard room.

Anyone else experience this??????

Flo

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

Same expeirence for me. We stayed club level at HRH last August. For our upcoming trip, we chose Hard Rock because we love the hotel, but we won't be staying club level. The food was pretty bad, I thought the staff had a real attitude problem - there were a couple wonderful exceptions though. Our rooms were fine though, one reeked of smoked and we had to be moved the next day. What I really couldn't stand were people lining up at 5:20 to get this truly awful food. And they were rude about it too! Cme on guys - it is meatballs and cheese cubes and mini coke cans.

We did enjoy the breakfast offerings though, my kids never get doughnuts at home and they were thrilled to have one every morning with their fruit. Which we took back to our room, so we didn't have to see the food mongers in their bathrobes, shoving "free" food into their mouths. YUCK!!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I also did not think the club level was worth it. The is one thing that WDW does SO much better. There is really no comparison.

T&B

 

[magicmouse2]

I knew it. I wasnt impressed by the photos I have seen of the rooms, and if the club level food is not up to much its just not worth it. I have cancelled my ressie for the HRH club and changed to standard at RPR. I realy wanted RPR but there was no AP rates. I still got a good rate at expedia, and will save $540 by staying at RPR. Guess that will buy us nice meals instead and I get the South Pacific theming I have been dreaming of.
Thanks for sharing that review. Sorry it didnt live up to the hype.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Originally posted by magicmouse2
I knew it. I wasnt impressed by the photos I have seen of the rooms, and if the club level food is not up to much its just not worth it. I have cancelled my ressie for the HRH club and changed to standard at RPR. I realy wanted RPR but there was no AP rates. I still got a good rate at expedia, and will save $540 by staying at RPR. Guess that will buy us nice meals instead and I get the South Pacific theming I have been dreaming of.
Thanks for sharing that review. Sorry it didnt live up to the hype.

I think that I've read that the RPR club level is better than the HRH. Can you get a discount on RPR club?

T&B

 

[Nan]

Hi,

Several people have mentioned that WDW does club/concierge level much better than UO. I was just curious about the comparison in price. Are they about the same or is one more expensive than the other?

Thanks,

Nan

 

[Paige3]

We've stayed at both club levels at HRH and RPH. I felt that for a family of 5 with 3 hungry teens, that we definitely got our moneys worth. Although I liked the club level at RPH better, we would probably go back to the HRH again because of the room size. The rooms at RPH are pretty small. The pluses for RPH club level are the lounge itself- much bigger and nicely decorated. The staff was nicer and much more helpful. The food offerings were a little different. Breakfast was similar but had better fresh tropical fruit, great mango cream cheese and hot cinnamon rolls. The evening snacks were always a selection of cheeses and crackers. A veggie tray and dips. Chips, salsa and guacomole. Also they had one large selection- like a cold asparagus/chiken salad, small lamb chops with grilled sweet potatoes, ect. My husband and I liked the evening foods, but the kids did not. They preferred the little hot dogs and mini meatball type foods at the HRH. Snack time at night at the RPH was better with fresh baked cookies and a large dessert selection like cheesecake, as opposed to store bought cookies at the HRH. I have also heard that the club level at WDW was much better. It also seems much more expensive. At least with the Universal hotels, there are bargains out there.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

I cannot wait to stay at the HRH, but based on reviews will only stay in a standard room, not club. I am also staying at PBH, but am considering club level as it was really appealing on our last trip.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Originally posted by Nan
Hi,

Several people have mentioned that WDW does club/concierge level much better than UO. I was just curious about the comparison in price. Are they about the same or is one more expensive than the other?

Thanks,

Nan

I'm not sure now how much more a concierge room at WDW is vs a regular room, but when we stayed concierge at Poly about 3 years ago it was $53/night more than a regular room. We had 6 people in the room (our baby was a year old) so we really got our monies worth. We've also stayed concierge at WL and AKL. The staff was all wonderful at all of the resorts. At the time the WL concierge area was nothing great to speak of since it hadn't been built as a concierge area, but they may have redone it by now. The food was wonderful, though. At the AKL I asked before coming if they had Krispy Kreme donuts at the hotel and they brought our family a dozen donuts, even though they didn't normally have them there. They really bent over backwards to make the stay special.

Now that we have to stay in 2 rooms at these hotels (WDW and Univ) we can't afford concierge/club. Maybe we can go back to that, though, when our kids start flying the coop (soon--my daughter will be a senior next year).

T&B

 

[YCFAN]

I've stayed HRH Club Level on three different occasions and each time it gets worse. The first time they actually had decent food including mid-day snacks which I was told on the next trip that they had never had. I know I wasn't dreaming before. Then on the last trip they had resorted to Oreo cookies at night. Definitely not worth the extra bucks. The rooms had already started to show wear and tear also. I love the theme, pool area, and location of HRH but I'm not sure Club Level is worth it anymore. By the way, two of those trips we had King Suites with an additional adjoining room. The service was awful and the bellman actually broke something of ours as he pulled the bell cart down the hall while our possessions were falling in the floor. After much complaining we received two chocolate CD's on our table when we got back to the room that night. I still like HRH for the location, but we won't be doing Club Level anymore.

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

I have heard so many similar stories! I wish the Hard Rock Hotel knew how unhappy people are with club level. Maybe they would change it for the better. I would love to do club level for our upcoming trip, just for breakfast offerings for the kids, but won't because of our previous bad experience. It really is too bad they can't make any improvements.

 

[Mad4Dizne]

I sent a letter to Lowes/HRH detailing my experience, especially after hearing all the similar complaints!!!!!!!! Thank-you all for your thoughts on the matter. Hopefully if enough of us voice our displeasure over the Club Level, they will make the much needed improvements!!!!!!!! (It should be representative of what a beautiful-1st rate hotel it truely is!!!!!!!--can you beat the location????--no way!!!!!!)

Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flo

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

Let us know what you hear back from them. I'm very interested in the response.

 

[ShannonP]

Boy, y'all have got me bummed...we're staying HRH Club level in a few weeks and I was all excited about it until reading your comments...

I'll try to keep a positive attitude and let you know how it was when we return. In the meantime, I won't expect too much.

 

[bjakmom]

We just stayed HRH club on 1/16 for 3 nights - we had 3 club rooms and 10 people plus an infant, plus 5 more staying GV. Either they are listening and making changes, or we lucked out with a wonderful holiday weekend. I have never stayed concierge/club level at a hotel before, but wanted a treat for my family and was able to get a great rate with both AAA (245.-) and HK (216.-). We found the staff on club level (and through the entire hotel) - to be wonderful!! Any time we entered the club room we were greeted with a smile - they jumped up to warm baby bottles for us all through the day and would always say "no problem!" - one day my room key demagnatized and Vinnie came right to the room for me, and when his key wouldn't work he called security - I was in the room within 5 min. - then he insisted on taking my keys to fix them and brought new ones right back to the room. Another afternoon my son needed to get something he had left in his sister's room and (after checking out ID) one of the club girls walked he and my DH to the room and let them in - all very graciously - they also kept asking us if we were having a great time or needed anything - we made sure to go to the club room when we left and leave a tip to cover all these great kids.

Now I have no 'food' comparison because I haven't stayed at WDW concierge before (or any for that matter!), but we found the food offerings to be all we needed and expected. All day long there was cold lemonade, apple juice, mini-soda cans(I actually prefer the mini cans for the kids, but I'm not a big soda drinker), water bottles, coffee and hot water for tea. Breakfast included a huge assortment of KK donuts, bagles, cereals, fresh fruit, a huge fruit salad, muffins, grain breads. There was always an attendant there making sure things were neat and clean and to help people. We never met or saw anyone rude or pushy (slow time of year, but a holiday weekend, MLK)- in fact we had people who would help make room for our stroller when we had the baby with us (it is crowded at breakfast time). There were a few younger kids in their HRH robes, but I think they were having fun wearing them. The happy hour offerings were mostly cold beer and wine (of course!) cheese/crackers, pasta salad, veggie tray, etc. I didn't make it to any of these, but my big kids and friends did and they were very happy with it. Each night the cookies and milk selection consisted of the big, warm choc chip, choc-choc chip, white chip/macadamia nut, and the notorious chips ahoy and oreos. If I had gotten there after the big yummy cookies were gone and there were only chips ahoy and oreos I would probably have been disappointed in that!

Our rooms were all lovely, room service did an excellent job each day with clean up, and turn down service was always well done, with a little treat (bracelet, stickers, pens) left for everyone each night. My son loved 'borrowing' CDs - he's a musician - and taking them to his room or the pool. We rented a cabana each day, so the $40 club level fee was a factor for us also.

Please don't think I am negating anyone else's unhappy experiences!! I don't doubt them for a minute - just wanted to post that, hopefully, things are improving for those of you looking forward to your trips. We were a large group (16 in all) with 5 rooms in the hotel and every single one of us is still raving about the hotel, the food service, and the customer service of every single person we met - these are young, 'cool', kids who are trained to say "take it easy!" to you (the first time one did I said "I'm not upset, honey!" and she explained to me that they say that to everyone- duh!), but not once did we encounter any 'attitude'. We can't wait to go back next year !!

 

[YCFAN]

I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that! As I said, all three of my trips to HRH have been club level and really didn't think I'd do it again. Maybe they are listening. My first visit there was wonderful and of couse the reason why we kept returning. Maybe I'll give it one more shot. Maybe constructive criticism really does work.

 

[ShannonP]

bjakmom, thanks so much for posting your positive experience. I was really starting to get disheartened after reading all of the negative comments.

Hopefully, we'll have as positive an experience at HRH as you and your family did.

Thanks again.

 

[silverspark]

positives are always good to hear!! sorry that so many of you had rotten experiences...

 

[Mad4Dizne]

I got a really nice letter in the mail from The Hard Rock Hotel, I was impressed--as usually the stock...we're sorry to hear that letter wasn't really going to address my concerns-- This letter was a personalized letter and they stated they are going to work on the points I mentioned in the letter and as a token of appreciation they included a certificate for half off a room, on my next trip. I thought that was a very nice jesture.

I know that if my budget allows I would definately stay there again, the hotel was beautiful...but I still think I might stick to a standard room--after all who is in their room all that much there!!!!

Thought everyone might be interested in what happened with my letter. It is very nice to know that someone out there was listening to my suggestions!!!!!
Flo

 

[silverspark]

good for you!! i love to hear it when people speak up!!