What's the deal?

[Shelton]

My family travels to Orlando twice a year. We have stayed at all three Universal resorts. We enjoy each hotel for different reasons. They are all very nice. My wife and I spent our 10th anniversary at the new RP last summer. We planned to take our 4 year old back last October for her birthday.

We had booked 3 nights at the HRH and we found an All-star resort for $59.00 per night. We still wanted to stay still one night at the RP and we were told that they coud not do that. I replied that we had already had the reservation,but NO DEAL. Needless to say Disney got the extra night.

This year we planned our summer trip to Orlando. I have a 2 year Universal pass, entertainment card, Lowes card and Fan club card. I called Lowes and the cheapest $ amount for any hotel in late May,all of June and July with these cards was $146.00 per night. This was alot more than I have EVER paid. I was told rooms were going fast.

In the mean while Disney came out with a resort code for their moderates at $89.00 per night. I know that the Lowes hotels are newer and have FOTL but $60.00 per night nicer? Why has Lowes increased their prices so much?

As a family we have only so much $ to spend. We booked 5 nights at a Disney moderate and in the money we saved we were able to get an nice hotel at the beach. MAYBE NEXT YEAR UNIVERSAL.

 

[damo]

I guess it is different for every family. To me, HRH is a bargain at $149 with FOTL. I also take into consideration that I got annual passes for $99 where they would cost me at least $350 at Disney. Disney may have cheaper hotels, but they will gouge you in other areas. My time is valuable and if I can spend $50 per night more at Universal and save 5 hours that my whole family would have been waiting in line at Disney, and get a nicer hotel, then I'm doing Universal every time.

In fact, simply because of this and because we much prefer Universal rides over Disney, we haven't been to Disney since 1999.

RPR and HRH are two different hotels. RPR cannot honour a reservation that you made at HRH.

 

[highlander447]

I think u also need to remember that universal are not moderate resorts they are 4 star plus therfore not comparable to a 3 star plus still if u saved money it will add to a great vacation also remember the hotels are not part of universal its just a partnership for them with lowes

 

[Shelton]

I think you are missing the boat here. Yes the hotels are better but the main concern is the increase in their price. When you are quoted a $50.00 increase from the past 4 years that seems a little moch for me.

 

[damo]

I paid $169 for a deluxe at HRH 4 years ago and I paid $169 for a deluxe last year and this year I paid $139 for a standard and got upgraded to a deluxe (we could have gotten RPR for $99). I really think that the price increases have occured during the busy times. Seems like smart business to me. You charge less when times are slow and more when the parks are busy. If you got a room for $96 at one of the Loews hotels I think that you should be thanking your lucky stars for the bargain instead of complaining that the prices are too high now.

If you look at the price of the Wilderness Lodge and compare it to the price of the RPR I think you will see that Universal still offers a way better deal. If you compare the price of the PBH to the Grand Floridian you will find the same thing. I would also compare HRH to Yacht Club. In all cases, the Loews hotels are cheaper and give benefits not available at Disney.

If you compare the price of the Carribean Beach to one of the offsite Universal Hotels, you would get a better comparison since you are getting the same benefits at each.

Loews needed to offer rock bottom prices when their hotels opened in order to draw the customers. Well, now the hotels are not having any trouble being booked and prices can be put up to par with other resort hotels.

Disney is having a hard time filling their hotels and are offering some better deals. Supply and demand.

 

[zaxmom]

Shelton,
I know what you are saying. We paid $125 ENT at the HRH last year and this year the best I can do is $153 APH (which I don't even have) at the RP. At this rate we are staying the minimum number of nights and switching hotels for relaxing days and Sea World.

 

[Shelton]

Don't get me wrong,I love the Universal experience but not a any price. We stayed there 3 weeks after 9/11 and have enjoyed all three hotels. I just think that Universal may be getting some of the Disney attitude that Disney had in the past. My kids want to go to Disney and we found the Universal hotels a great choice and value.

Yes, it is the law of supply and demand but I feel that Universal may be going the wrong way.

 

[highlander447]

Are the hotels actually Universal though or is it just a partnership with Lowes?therefore Universal may have subsidised in the early days of start up for the hotels just a thought Universal might not actually decide the prices at the hotels

 

[SpideyHulk24]

And based on the way the economy is going, I am afraid we won't see deep discounting anytime soon!

 

[polkadotminnie]

I think they may have raised their prices since they offered the 2 for 1 price on the ap last year. This is their way of making up that lost revenue. Keep calling back. I finally got a $119 ap rate for late March.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

$119? What resort?

 

[Letsbgoofy]

The only problem I have with Universal resort pricing is that they don't have any moderate resorts. The HRH with an Entertainment rate is a good deal for a 4 star hotel, but I would rather stay in a three star and save the money!

Universal hotel rates are comparable to Disney rates with a discount, but Disney has lower priced resorts to choose from. As the previous poster mentioned, they have a $89 rate at the moderates this spring and early summer. We are staying at the ASMu with my sons band and paying $69/night. We got a $90 rate at the Dolphin for a few nights as well.

I love deluxe resorts, but would like a choice. We would have planned to stay more than 2 nights at Universal if we could have gotten a less expensive room.

 

[No11's Mom]

Two years ago we stayed 5 nights at the All-Stars and I think we paid $110 a night. Then we moved to HRH and paid about $149 a night. These difference in the dollar value was huge. We definitely got our money's worth at HRH, and no way was All-Stars worth what we paid.

But at that time Disney didn't have to discount their rooms, and the Universal resorts were still building their fan base. Now, Disney is obviously having to offer great discounts to get people in their resorts. And there are many people, including me, that still believe the USO resorts are the better value, when you consider what you get for your money.

Just my .02.

 

[damo]

I would imagine that if Universal built a moderate resort with rooms for $79 they wouldn't be able to offer FOTL for these rooms. Since, to buy an express pass, it is $25 per person, they would basically be giving the hotel rooms away for nothing.

I would like to see the RPR be used less for conferences so that there are more value priced rooms available to the average park goer. Perhaps this will change as Universal continues to increase their attendance. I don't think their prices will be much below $120/night though if that happens since I would bet that conference goers don't get the same discount rates that we are getting but pay rack rate.

 

[Shelton]

It is a catch 22. With FOTL you can do both parks in two days max. The parks are great for adults but are lacking for kids. We stayed at the Lowes hotels for the price. After more than 2 days you are paying alot of $ and not much to do.

We have 2 small kids that are under 10. About all they care about is the food court and the pool. The Universal resorts are GREAT but to me the value is less now. Disney still has the magic for kids. I would like to see more for kids at Universal.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

To each his own, but I have to disagree. My three year old loves Disney and loves Universal just as much. He loves Shrek, Jimmy Neutron, Jaws, Spiderman, Dr. Seuss and more! Also he loves the hotels pools, etc.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

My 4yo likes Universal a lot--he's now tall enough that he can do almost all the rides. I just brought him to WDW and he enjoyed that, also, but not instead of Universal. We rode on Popeye's 7 times in a row, his favorite ride in all of the parks.

We're only staying at HRH for 2 nights next month because the hotel is just too expensive for us for very many nights (4 have kids so need two rooms). We'll still get three days of FOTL, though. We will not be going to WDW during that week since the crowds are too great and I don't care to spend most of my day waiting in line.

T&B