I was told I had guaranteed connecting rooms...

[LovePug]

I already made my ressies at HRH for November for 2 connecting, pet friendly rooms. I talked to two different people, at two different times, about the reservations and both told me that I had guaranteed connecting rooms. My rooms have to be connecting because the whole point of me getting two rooms was so I can put the baby down in his crib at night and the rest of us can stay up in a lit room ;) . I certainly can't do that if the rooms aren't connecting (as if that needs to be said :rolleyes: ).

On a whim last night I emailed a travel agent to see if I'm missing any possible discounts and she emailed back saying that connecting rooms are not guaranteed!:scared1:

If this is true, this could really change my plans....:confused:

Anyone know what's correct?

[macraven]

call the hotel directly and explain your issue.
ask them what is their policy.

you will have to work with your TA since you booked thru them for your stay.

find out the policy from the hotel and let your TA know so you can have the 2 rooms as needed

[LovePug]

call the hotel directly and explain your issue.
ask them what is their policy.

you will have to work with your TA since you booked thru them for your stay.

find out the policy from the hotel and let your TA know so you can have the 2 rooms as needed

Thanks! I didn't book with the TA, though. I booked myself and when I did, the reservation people told me it was guaranteed...:confused3

I guess I'll go with what they told me directly rather than what the TA said. She just made me nervous that I'll get there and the other room won't be connecting. I panicked. :eek:

[macraven]

when it comes to a family with young children, it is the policy at hrh to have connecting rooms but it needs to be on the ressie when made.
if your request is not on your ressie, call them back and add it. they can block the room numbers out and have it held for your dates.


families with littles or 4 kids who need 2 rooms have priority over the group that just want to be near each other.

adults can easily walk out the door to the hallway and go to another room.
with children you need the connecting rooms.

[Catrinabeach]

We stayed in Dec and requested connecting rooms. We had 2 adults and 4 kids and it wasn't a problem at all. When we got there the rooms they had held for us weren't ready so I asked if there was a fridge that our milk and stuff could be kept in until the room was ready, and she went to ask someone and told them we brought milk for the "baby" (She was 3) and they decided to change our rooms to ones that were ready that were still connecting and then brought us a fridge free of charge for the baby's milk lol

[01Sweetpea]

I just booked today for April.

I was told I have GUARANTEED connecting garden view rooms.

I wouldn't worry to much about it.

[macraven]

if you request connecting rooms and told you will have it, don't worry.

you have it on the ressie and it will be honored.


if you are nervous about getting your requests honored, call the hotel about a week before your arrival and ask if the notes on your file state connecting rooms.

[goofy!]

if you request connecting rooms and told you will have it, don't worry.

you have it on the ressie and it will be honored.


if you are nervous about getting your requests honored, call the hotel about a week before your arrival and ask if the notes on your file state connecting rooms.

Mac is right. Just call the hotel directly, not the reservations line, and ask for the rooms manager. Then just confirm with the manager that your reservation is in place and that he is blocking out connecting rooms for you.

[rie'smom]

I've never had a problem getting connecting rooms. Just do like other posters suggested and call to make sure that it's noted on the reservation.

[LovePug]

Thanks, everyone! You've put my mind at ease.:goodvibes

[callahanjulie10]

For the last 3 years when I have booked with 2 adults and 4 teens they have always guaranteed me connecting rooms and we have always gotten them. I wouldn't worry about it. The things they don't guarantee are usually things like balcony, in certain areas, etc.

[D&D's Mom]

I DO hope you get your connecting rooms, but just wanted to share our experience from the last time we stayed onsite at Universal. I had credit card guaranteed reservations for non-smoking room with 2 queens - confirmed at time of reservation, 1 week before arrival and morning of arrival. Upon arrival, around 11 PM due to late flight - but that's another story, we were told there were no rooms available at all, but they would be glad to shuttle us to the Sheraton. After "discussing" with the manager for nearly an hour, they found a smoking room with a king bed. They provided one roll a way bed and my other son slept in a chair with feet in another chair. It was DH, me & two teenage sons. It was after 1 AM when we got settled & they did move our luggage the next day to a suitable room while we were at the parks. However, we did not originally receive what we had been promised and had reserved so beware! I hope it all works out for you.

[rie'smom]

I DO hope you get your connecting rooms, but just wanted to share our experience from the last time we stayed onsite at Universal. I had credit card guaranteed reservations for non-smoking room with 2 queens - confirmed at time of reservation, 1 week before arrival and morning of arrival. Upon arrival, around 11 PM due to late flight - but that's another story, we were told there were no rooms available at all, but they would be glad to shuttle us to the Sheraton. After "discussing" with the manager for nearly an hour, they found a smoking room with a king bed. They provided one roll a way bed and my other son slept in a chair with feet in another chair. It was DH, me & two teenage sons. It was after 1 AM when we got settled & they did move our luggage the next day to a suitable room while we were at the parks. However, we did not originally receive what we had been promised and had reserved so beware! I hope it all works out for you.

If you're arriving late for whatever reason, always call a couple of days ahead. This alerts the room assigners.
If it's because of a plane delay the day of arrival, use your cell and call the hotel to let the check in people know. Before you leave home, save the hotel's direct number to your phone.

ETA: We've requested connecting rooms for years and have never had a problem!

[goofy!]

If you're arriving late for whatever reason, always call a couple of days ahead. This alerts the room assigners.
If it's because of a plane delay the day of arrival, use your cell and call the hotel to let the check in people know. Before you leave home, save the hotel's direct number to your phone.

ETA: We've requested connecting rooms for years and have never had a problem!
:thumbsup2

If you are checking in late, you should always let them know.

I can't remember the specific time, but there is a time most hotels use that if you are not checked in by and they do not have any record of a late check-in request that they can release your room.

We have checked in as late as 1am and never had a problem.

FWIW - I noticed that on your YouFirst profile, you can now check late check-in as a standard request if you normally check in late in the evenings/nights.

[D&D's Mom]

:thumbsup2

If you are checking in late, you should always let them know.

I can't remember the specific time, but there is a time most hotels use that if you are not checked in by and they do not have any record of a late check-in request that they can release your room.

We have checked in as late as 1am and never had a problem.

FWIW - I noticed that on your YouFirst profile, you can now check late check-in as a standard request if you normally check in late in the evenings/nights.

Not sure if this was directed to me or just in general, but I did notify them I'd be checking in late : 3 times, when reservation made, 1 week before & the morning of arrival. I KNEW my flight would not get me there before 7 PM so I had guaranteed my late arrival by pre-paying with my credit card. Despite this, there was no room held. My point is that despite doing everything you are supposed to & being told your requests are going to be honored, you can never be sure until you arrive & see what you get. For what it's worth, this was our 3rd stay on site & the first two were better than anticipated, but the 3rd got off to a bad start which seemed to flavor the whole trip as we had other issues with on-site restaurants and service in the hotel. But enough about me.......Good luck to the OP!

[macraven]

Not sure if this was directed to me or just in general, but I did notify them I'd be checking in late : 3 times, when reservation made, 1 week before & the morning of arrival. I KNEW my flight would not get me there before 7 PM so I had guaranteed my late arrival by pre-paying with my credit card. Despite this, there was no room held. My point is that despite doing everything you are supposed to & being told your requests are going to be honored, you can never be sure until you arrive & see what you get. For what it's worth, this was our 3rd stay on site & the first two were better than anticipated, but the 3rd got off to a bad start which seemed to flavor the whole trip as we had other issues with on-site restaurants and service in the hotel. But enough about me.......Good luck to the OP!

i hope they didn't charge you for a room that night then.
i would be quite aggravated if that happened to me and still had to cough up over $250 for that first night.

i'm glad you shared with us.
i prefer to read about the total picture on what could happen to me if i arrived late and had a cc on file for the room.

[LovePug]

OK....so say worst case scenario and I don't get the connecting rooms for some reason (I am the queen of Murphy's Law here). Obviously there would be no point of having a second room that is not connecting considering the reason I'm getting the 2nd room. Can I cancel my ressie for the 2nd room when I arrive? What would I have to pay? One night?

[macraven]

OK....so say worst case scenario and I don't get the connecting rooms for some reason (I am the queen of Murphy's Law here). Obviously there would be no point of having a second room that is not connecting considering the reason I'm getting the 2nd room. Can I cancel my ressie for the 2nd room when I arrive? What would I have to pay? One night?

i think this is a question that would best be dealt privately with the manager of the hotel. if not the manager, then the front desk manager who would be handling the room situation for you.

obviously if the rooms were not available you would not have the 5 days advanced notice of canceling without penalty.
you arrive and the situation has changed beyond your control at that point.

talk with the manager if that would happen. i'm sure something would be worked out that you would be very satisfied with.

i can not speak in behalf of what hotel would do but can't imagine any 4 star hotel would penalize a guest over a situation the hotel imposed on them.
kwim?? i would assume if changes had to be made, it would be in your advantage for the new room assignment.

i have had very few situations where i did talk to a manager regarding the room not being the one i was expecting based on what priorities were listed on my file when i made the ressie.

i was not penalized over the switch the hotel made even though it was at the last minute.

each case is handled individually.

[goofy!]

Not sure if this was directed to me or just in general, but I did notify them I'd be checking in late : 3 times, when reservation made, 1 week before & the morning of arrival. I KNEW my flight would not get me there before 7 PM so I had guaranteed my late arrival by pre-paying with my credit card. Despite this, there was no room held. My point is that despite doing everything you are supposed to & being told your requests are going to be honored, you can never be sure until you arrive & see what you get. For what it's worth, this was our 3rd stay on site & the first two were better than anticipated, but the 3rd got off to a bad start which seemed to flavor the whole trip as we had other issues with on-site restaurants and service in the hotel. But enough about me.......Good luck to the OP!

Nope, not directed at you, just a general advisement.

And that is just wrong (how they treated you.) If they knew about your late check-in, they should not have oversold the hotel!

Also, I cannot understand why they always offer off-site hotels rather than another onsite. The Portofino is rarely completely sold out so they should have moved you there.

I hope they compensated you well for the inconvenience they caused you. And I hope you wrote a note to management after your stay expressing your disappointment.

[goofy!]

OK....so say worst case scenario and I don't get the connecting rooms for some reason (I am the queen of Murphy's Law here). Obviously there would be no point of having a second room that is not connecting considering the reason I'm getting the 2nd room. Can I cancel my ressie for the 2nd room when I arrive? What would I have to pay? One night?

I would just call the hotel directly and ask to speak to the rooms manager. You can do it now or closer to your stay.

Yesterday, I had to make a change to my Thanksgiving ressie and discovered that my room was not connected to my parlor. It would have been a bit weird to have the parlor of the suite in one part of the hotel and the bedroom in another :rotfl2:

So, a quick call (actually transferred from reservations) to the rooms manager to make sure the two reservation numbers are noted as linked so that when he blocks the rooms for that week, there is a note that they have to be connected.

Good luck. They are usually very, very conscientious on having rooms connected when it involves a family with young children.

[macraven]

the only time i know of honoring requests that are never denied are the handicap rooms. there are some guests that require the roll in showers and hand rails for the rooms.

if you know you will arrive late, after 10pm, call the hotel directly.
your room will be held if you make that contact and not sold to another late arrival.

if you do that and have your cc on file, you will be charged for the night even if you arrive soon after midnight.

i did encounter a late arrival one time only.
weather conditions delayed everything on my trip.

last year at hrh, i called while i was still at a disney resort to remind them i was checking in at 7:30 am the next day and hoped my room to be was on the list for early release to me. i know it wouldn't be at 7:30 in the morning but wanted the room before 3 that afternoon.

good thing i called as the front desk said they had me down for a late arrival for coming in around 11pm that night.....

which meant my room would be at the bottom of the pile in getting cleaned and released during the regular hours for check in.

knowing that, some people make requests of rooms being held even if they are planning to arrive before midnight.


i find it best to call twice to the hotel to inquire about check in.
if both answers are the same, then no worries.....

[francie57]

We were at the HRH about a week ago and had no problem with getting connecting rooms. We made our reservations last Oct. and forgot to ask the AAA agent to request connecting rooms. Our request for connecting rooms was not put in by the agent until Feb. of this year. As I said, we had no problems and we didn't even have younger kids in our party (we were traveling with our 20 somethings and a friend of theirs). I wouldn't worry but as our TA said, call to confirm things a few days in advance. I actually never did and still got everything requested. One word of caution, make sure you check all credit card charges after your stay. We just received our credit card statement today for the card given to the HRH and had a large charge on it for the mini-bar. When I called the HRH they said they would have to call back after checking this out since we never opened the mini-bar and the plastic ties they use on them to check that were still intact when we checked out. They called back to say that the charge was for another room and we would be credited. Mentioning this because it also happened three years ago. Think they are hoping people won't notice!

[LovePug]

We were at the HRH about a week ago and had no problem with getting connecting rooms. We made our reservations last Oct. and forgot to ask the AAA agent to request connecting rooms. Our request for connecting rooms was not put in by the agent until Feb. of this year. As I said, we had no problems and we didn't even have younger kids in our party (we were traveling with our 20 somethings and a friend of theirs). I wouldn't worry but as our TA said, call to confirm things a few days in advance. I actually never did and still got everything requested. One word of caution, make sure you check all credit card charges after your stay. We just received our credit card statement today for the card given to the HRH and had a large charge on it for the mini-bar. When I called the HRH they said they would have to call back after checking this out since we never opened the mini-bar and the plastic ties they use on them to check that were still intact when we checked out. They called back to say that the charge was for another room and we would be credited. Mentioning this because it also happened three years ago. Think they are hoping people won't notice!

Thanks for the heads up!