Portofino Bay Club Level or Hard Rock Hotel Deluxe Room?

mommy2mygirls

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
We're heading to Universal soon and I can't decide which option to go with - a club level room at Portofino Bay or a Deluxe Room at Hard Rock. We are a family of 5, so having the sofa sleeper in the Deluxe Room is appealing instead of the rollaway - has anyone had any experience with Universal rollaways? Are they comfortable? The proximity to the parks and CityWalk is also a huge plus for Hard Rock. I guess really the only reason to stay at Portofino would be the food in the club lounge. What do you think? Which would you choose?
 
We're heading to Universal soon and I can't decide which option to go with - a club level room at Portofino Bay or a Deluxe Room at Hard Rock. We are a family of 5, so having the sofa sleeper in the Deluxe Room is appealing instead of the rollaway - has anyone had any experience with Universal rollaways? Are they comfortable? The proximity to the parks and CityWalk is also a huge plus for Hard Rock. I guess really the only reason to stay at Portofino would be the food in the club lounge. What do you think? Which would you choose?

For comparison the Club rooms at PB are 490 square feet at HR a deluxe is 500 square feet.

Closer proximity to the parks is a plus, although PB is not a lot further on the walking path.

If you were maximizing the lounge for food that might be one reason to stay PB, they do have substantial offerings compared to HR CL, if you plan on going to many of the wonderful onsite restaurants at the parks, Citywalk or even the hotels I’d probably go with the deluxe at HR even being non CL.

We like both places and really like the Deluxe rooms at HR.

Also the CL is likely not going to be super close at PB and possibly not even on the same floor, the lounge is adjacent the lobby if you didn’t know.

We have used a rollaway several times although not as comfortable as the beds they are still decent enough to sleep on.
 
Portofino is pretty close. We regularly walked and had no problems with the boats. (Maybe because we are so used to Disney, I don't understand the complaints about how far Portofino is). The Deluxe ( club level rooms) at Portofino are pretty large, we fit an air mattress easily (that was cheaper than the cot rental for us even if we threw away the air mattress later).

Never stayed club level at Portofino. @lebeau has a good trip report with club level at Portofino.

We have chosen Portofino twice now (not club level, though) as we prefer the theme over HRH. We like the bigger rooms for our family of 5 (compared to HRH and RP standard).
 
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I've slept on a roll-away bed at PBR and didn't' have any issues at all. I'd have no issues doing so again in the future.

Personally, if the price is the same, I'd go for the lounge access at PBR over a non-lounge deluxe room at HRH every time. Having access to the lounge in the morning before everyone else woke up was priceless. And having a fairly calm lounge area outside the room to sit at and get waters/colas/snacks throughout the day was nice as well.
 


Never stayed club level at Portofino. @lebeau has a good trip report with club level at Portofino.

Thanks!

I get frustrated sometimes with the lack of info out there for things like club level. So when I do my trip reports, I try to include information I would have considered helpful.

If anyone is interested, this is my 2019 TR in which we stayed at Portofino Club Level.
 
We're heading to Universal soon and I can't decide which option to go with - a club level room at Portofino Bay or a Deluxe Room at Hard Rock. We are a family of 5, so having the sofa sleeper in the Deluxe Room is appealing instead of the rollaway - has anyone had any experience with Universal rollaways? Are they comfortable? The proximity to the parks and CityWalk is also a huge plus for Hard Rock. I guess really the only reason to stay at Portofino would be the food in the club lounge. What do you think? Which would you choose?

We have never stayed at HRH, but that's because we fell in love with PB. Both are close to the parks, but HRH is indeed super close. PB is about a 10 minute walk from the parks at a slow pace. More often than not, we take the water taxis because we're not in a hurry and we know we will be walking a lot once we get there. But having the option to walk is a plus for both hotels.

I linked my TR from last year up above. It includes a lot of pics and tips as relates to PB and the club if you feel like reading that sort of thing.

For our family, the club worked out to be a great deal. We tend to spend more time at the hotel than your typical Orlando commandos. In order for the upgrade to be worth it, at a minimum I figure you should eat breakfast at the club every day. If you can get in desserts, so much the better. You can also use the club for sodas, prepackaged snacks and bottled waters. If you use it enough, it can more than pay for itself. We tried to eat dinner there whenever possible, but sometimes we did other things. If you go to the parks at open and stay till close, the club will be less of a value.

PB is different from the other two deluxes in that they do not have dedicated rooms for the club. Your room could end up being a bit of a hike from the lounge. We were on a completely different floor which initially annoyed my wife. Once we figured out the lay of the land, we were actually only a five minute walk from the club, but it's possible to be further away. On the upside, the food is typically a little better at the PB lounge (breakfast includes scrambled eggs and some form of breakfast meat and potato dishes) and it's a little more roomy than the other two.
 
What's the price difference? That may sway my decision. But I almost always lean towards HRH over PBH. As mentioned, its a closer walk - you have to walk the length of HRH on the path and around the bend just to get to PBH. We also enjoy the laidback, casual-cool vibe of HRH. The employees are professional yet talk to you like a friend might. Its just unique for a hotel, and we like it. We also love the Kitchen at HRH for breakfast.
 


What's the price difference? That may sway my decision. But I almost always lean towards HRH over PBH. As mentioned, its a closer walk - you have to walk the length of HRH on the path and around the bend just to get to PBH. We also enjoy the laidback, casual-cool vibe of HRH. The employees are professional yet talk to you like a friend might. Its just unique for a hotel, and we like it. We also love the Kitchen at HRH for breakfast.
The price is about $50 less a night for HRH, but on top of that we wouldn't need the rollaway which would save another $25 per night on top of that.
 
The price is about $50 less a night for HRH, but on top of that we wouldn't need the rollaway which would save another $25 per night on top of that.
How many nights? Seems like its pretty much break-even if you stay at HRH and have to pay for breakfast/snacks versus paying more at PBH where those things are included. I'd still vote for HRH, and then you have more freedom to enjoy in-park breakfasts and snacks without feeling like you need to go back and take advantage of the club level offerings at your hotel.
 
For a family of 5 club level is a good value. We have brought our own inflatable mattress for a 5th person, avoiding the rollaway fee. It would depend on how you think you would use the club level, besides breakfast, they have drinks (beer, wine) and heavy appetizers in the evening. I love Portofino and we had no issues taking boats from there. With the included express pass, you may have more time to enjoy the resort.
 

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