Avoiding the APH standard-view doghouses.

[NotUrsula]

After encountering the situation twice and having a discussion with a manager over it, we have discovered that RPH and HRH apparently make a practice of placing late-arriving APH-rate standard-view guests in the "pet-friendly" rooms, even if they have no furry friends in the party.

We walked toward our room at RPH after checking in at 9:45 pm, and as we rounded the corner out of the elevators, it was like walking into a scene from Lady and the Tramp. The barking was deafening -- it was obviously the "voice" of several large dogs, and they were in more than one room, barking at the tops of their lungs. Guests were carrying panicky small dogs in from the dog-yard, trying to stop them from barking as well. Chaotic doesn't begin to describe it.

DH is seriously allergic to dogs and this had happened to us once before at HRH. That time there was no barking when we arrived, and we didn't realize we were in the pet wing until DH started having a severe allergic reaction. So at RPH we stopped in our tracks and went back to the desk to ask for another room. The clerk kept telling us that there were no rooms left anywhere else in the hotel, and it wasn't until we got a manager involved that we discovered that it is apparently common practice for Loews in Orlando to put guests paying the APH standard-view rate in those rooms because the whole section is classed as standard view; the largest contiguous sections in the hotels. However, nowhere on the website is it noted that the APH standard-view rate involves possible proximity to pets, and that is a problem. It took a lot of standing our ground and carefully controlling our tempers, but eventually we were reassigned to a lower-floor waterview room in a different tower, which Loews classed as a special upgrade.

Honestly, I have no quarrel with Loews' policy of allowing pets; I think it is nice that they accomodate people who want to travel with their pets. However, I really think that they do a very poor job of making it clear to guests that do NOT have pets with them when the room that they are being assigned to is in the pet wing. There is no mention of it at check-in, and no signage in corridors other than a small one directing owners to the dog-yard. We were not the only guests who turned around in dismay when we got off that elevator. I really don't like having to complain about something like this, and would not have had to do so had we been advised at check-in that our room assignment was in the designated pet area.

So, if you are using an APH standard-view rate and do NOT want to be placed in the pet wing, make sure to put a note on your reservation that you do not want to be in proximity to guests' pets, and reiterate this when you arrive at checkin. This is particularly important if you plan to arrive after about 5 pm. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

[zebsterama]

On a side note, I find the whole practice of pets in a hotel, like these at Universal, a little strange.

I love animals; I have had a dog (and other animals) my entire life. But taking a pet, especially a dog to an environment where:

a) you're likely not going to be around very much (I'm guessing in the parks, by pool, or eating)
b) when you are around, you're likely either getting ready to go out or sleeping
c) the dog sits alone in the room for most of the day - which isn't so bad - but they're on a floor surrounded by other dogs in other rooms (in a strange environment). All you need is one (I would argue understandably) nervous dog and everyone gets set off. They can easily sense alarm, that, in combination with an unfamiliar environment, being alone, promotes more alarm.

Let me say, without question, I am a dog lover. Our dog is part of the family, is always by our sides --- even (do I dare to admit it! ) sleeps at our feet in our bed at night. We truly love him.

When I first heard about the hotels allowing pets, I thought, 'how cool is that' --- when I thought about it more and more, I realized (with very few exceptions) 'this is not in the best interest of the animal'.

Maybe I'm missing something Curious to hear someone who has done this / has a different view.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Bluer101]

Just to let anyone know to avoid this just let the booking person or front desk know at time of booking that you have allergies. This will keep you away from them.

When everyone stays at one of universals hotels you think parks. But you have to remember especially RPR has lots of events and conventions. So they are not visiting the parks, well most of them.

This is why when we first started staying onsite we went eat in the am. This way there are better rooms to place you if there is an issue.

 

[zbsigpi]

As a manager in a hotel I do not believe it was an issue with being an APH at all. For a hotel, the daily ritual of placing guests in rooms is like putting a puzzle together. You have x amount of king rooms and y amount of queen rooms, then you have the specific reservations on top of that with their own length of stays and requests (High floor in building 1) inorder to maximize your revenue you try very desperately to fill every room every night. So as guests check in and you get closer and closer to being at full occupancy the availability to fulfill requests become more and more difficult and sometimes does not happen because after all they are requests NOT guarantees, when you make a reservation you are booking a specific room type (king, queen, ect) and view that is your guarantee, you are not booking floor, distance to elevators or other items.
As a hotel employee we try very hard to fulfill every request but unfortunately we cannot always do so. Trust me we do not want people upset and yelling at us. Please keep this information in mind that it is not the Front Desk Agents, Managers, or Reservations agent fault that you did not get placed in your favorite room (you know the one you had last time).
Sorry to rant!

 

[zebsterama]

As a manager in a hotel I do not believe it was an issue with being an APH at all. For a hotel, the daily ritual of placing guests in rooms is like putting a puzzle together. You have x amount of king rooms and y amount of queen rooms, then you have the specific reservations on top of that with their own length of stays and requests (High floor in building 1) inorder to maximize your revenue you try very desperately to fill every room every night. So as guests check in and you get closer and closer to being at full occupancy the availability to fulfill requests become more and more difficult and sometimes does not happen because after all they are requests NOT guarantees, when you make a reservation you are booking a specific room type (king, queen, ect) and view that is your guarantee, you are not booking floor, distance to elevators or other items.
As a hotel employee we try very hard to fulfill every request but unfortunately we cannot always do so. Trust me we do not want people upset and yelling at us. Please keep this information in mind that it is not the Front Desk Agents, Managers, or Reservations agent fault that you did not get placed in your favorite room (you know the one you had last time).
Sorry to rant!

I can appreciate the difficulty in managing expectations and piecing the puzzle together (as you have stated); I also feel that any customer who makes a reservation, unless explicitly stating that they're bringing a pet with them, should never be put on a floor of a hotel that has a designated pet friendly area.

Personally I think it's insane (and again I love animals/have pets) that someone would pay $180+++ a night in a four or five star hotel and be put on a floor that also houses dogs etc.

When is this acceptable? If I'm a walk-up customer (i.e. I show up without a resi) --- or if I book a resi shortly prior to my arrival (i.e.the hotel is almost full), but none the less I should be explicitly told that there is a REAL likelihood I'm on the pet floor, otherwise I would be very upset.

Just my 2 cents - but I would argue that this has to be the expectation.

On the other hand, as a patron of a hotel (and I can only imagine/empathize with your line of work considering the kinds of idiotic personalities/persons you must deal with), I don't think that you can reasonably expect/ask - for example - that you're not a put on a floor with a young family (for fear of being disturbed by the pitter patter of little feet or crying babies etc.). But when it comes to pets/animals - I think that's really crossing the boundary of the hotel (especially when there is no notice OR you have booked well in advance).

Cheers,
Zebsterama

 

[damo]

If the hotel has space, I agree that people without pets shouldn't be put in the pet area. However, if the hotel is full, everything is fair game.

 

[NotUrsula]

As a manager in a hotel I do not believe it was an issue with being an APH at all. For a hotel, the daily ritual of placing guests in rooms is like putting a puzzle together. You have x amount of king rooms and y amount of queen rooms, then you have the specific reservations on top of that with their own length of stays and requests (High floor in building 1) inorder to maximize your revenue you try very desperately to fill every room every night. So as guests check in and you get closer and closer to being at full occupancy the availability to fulfill requests become more and more difficult and sometimes does not happen because after all they are requests NOT guarantees, when you make a reservation you are booking a specific room type (king, queen, ect) and view that is your guarantee, you are not booking floor, distance to elevators or other items.
As a hotel employee we try very hard to fulfill every request but unfortunately we cannot always do so. Trust me we do not want people upset and yelling at us. Please keep this information in mind that it is not the Front Desk Agents, Managers, or Reservations agent fault that you did not get placed in your favorite room (you know the one you had last time).
Sorry to rant!

We were told that it was; that it was policy not to upgrade view on APH rates, and that we were placed there because it was high-season and that the Standard View rooms elsewhere in the hotel were already full with long-stay guests. My point with this thread was to advise others that Loews does not consider being on the pet floor a disadvantaged location; whereas most travelers without pets would argue that it is. However, unlike being near an ice machine, proximity to animals can cause medical issues for many people, over and above the noise factors that may be present.

Holders of annual passes at theme park locations tend to see themselves as good repeat customers who should be treated better than the average guest. Loews doesn't see it that way; they look at it as a deeply discounted rate that is not profitable, and limit available upgrades accordingly. While I can live with that, I think that full disclosure up front should be a given if a guest without pets in the party is being assigned a room in the pet wing. I would not have minded having to pay a nominal view upgrade fee to avoid it had they been upfront with me; but when I walked all the way down there with luggage and sleepy children and THEN discovered that my room was in that area, I lost that tolerance.

FWIW, the room was booked a month in advance for two weekend nights at the beginning of Spring Break. The rate was $230/nt standard view; about $120/nt less than rack for those dates.

 

[zebsterama]

If the hotel has space, I agree that people without pets shouldn't be put in the pet area. However, if the hotel is full, everything is fair game.

Obviously I would respectfully disagree .... from this perspective.

If the every room of the hotel allowed for pets (please correct me if I'm wrong - I don't believe that is the case) then yes I think your argument has bullet proof merit - since a Loews guest would know, no matter what room you book, all of the suites allow for pets, therefore patrons who are not comfortable with that, can either choose to stay (and take their chances), or book somewhere else.

On the other hand, if Loews has specifically designated a certain space as a pet friendly floor (which I'm also guessing costs those guests a premium) then the onus (IMO) should be on the hotel to ensure that they have enough vacancy to separate non-pet friendly suites with pet friendly suites - not withstanding the two conditions I listed in my original post.

In fairness (let's be honest/I think that you would agree), it's highly unlikely that a non-pet guest would ever go out of their way to specifically ask to be put on the 'pet friendly' floor. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's certainly not desirable.

Loews needs to tell people what their signing up for at the time that they book - I don't think a pet friendly floor possibility is the norm (but then again I'm not a hospitality industry aficionado ).

Cheers,
Zebsterama

 

[zbsigpi]

"We were told that it was; that it was policy not to upgrade view on APH rates"

Please know I am in no way bashing you, I truly fee bad for your experience. Just shedding some light on the situation.
The above statement is interesting however as I am a APH. I am surprised that Uni allows pets in the rooms unlike Disney where they have to be at their own resort (added revenue, Disney is smart there). I love pets and personally do not understand the whole bring your pet on vacation thing but to each their own.

As for some of the other comments, unfortunately a hotel cannot set aside specific rooms only for guests with pets, it is just not an economically sound policy. Today we have 30 guest rooms with dogs but tomorrow we have none, so we let 30 rooms sit vacant? As for the cleanliness, the rooms get cleaned very well and most Housekeeping Room Attendants take pride in the cleanliness of their rooms and are actually graded on it monthly by their supervisors, I understand medical issues can hinder guests where pets have stayed and thus the benefits of putting in a Request. Again, hoteliers will do everything they can to fulfill a request.

I have to laugh all the time when we inform guests (we call their cell phones, when not in their rooms) to tell them the Fido is disturbing other guests with its constant barking, and their reply is normally Fido dosen't bark! - How would you know that Fido doesn't bark when you are not around?

 

[zebsterama]

As for some of the other comments, unfortunately a hotel cannot set aside specific rooms only for guests with pets, it is just not an economically sound policy. Today we have 30 guest rooms with dogs but tomorrow we have none, so we let 30 rooms sit vacant?

If this scenario truly plays out, then Loews sales and marketing org needs to give their heads a serious shake, because clearly their business model is flawed.

I would ask this of the hotel manager posting. What do you do if there really isn't another room available other than a pet friendly room and a family has booked their room months in advance, and the patrons in question are truly allergic to cat or dog hair? How do you respond when the patron states that nowhere in the reservation does it state, nor did the person booking the reservation state that they might end up in a room regularly occupied by animals. Seriously what do you do?

 

[RAPstar]

How long ago was it? Reading the aph discount page this year when I booked, it says both preferred and the platinum get an automatic upgrade based on availability. Power pass just gets a discount.

 

[zbsigpi]

If this scenario truly plays out, then Loews sales and marketing org needs to give their heads a serious shake, because clearly their business model is flawed.

I would ask this of the hotel manager posting. What do you do if there really isn't another room available other than a pet friendly room and a family has booked their room months in advance, and the patrons in question are truly allergic to cat or dog hair? How do you respond when the patron states that nowhere in the reservation does it state, nor did the person booking the reservation state that they might end up in a room regularly occupied by animals. Seriously what do you do?

As for the economic policy of these rooms they are regular rooms that pets are allowed to stay in, not only if you have a pet can you stay in these rooms. So I assure you if you make a reservation you could very well be placed into one of these rooms as they are a standard view guest room, the fact that it is a pet friendly room is secondary.

Our hotel does not set aside specific animal rooms, so any of our rooms could of had an animal in it at one time or another. Most of the time when we know there is an allergy we go into the room and deep clean it (the same services that we perform roughly 2-3 times per year in each room) prior to the guests arrival. We also let the guest know that a pet may of been in that room. To date I have not heard any negative feed back from guests who said they had allergies. The biggest complaint we receive are noise complaints from barking. If it comes down to it and the customer still has a terrible experience due to their allergies then we handle it on a case by case basis.

You would also be amazed at how many people do not divulge that they are traveling with a pet.

 

[zbsigpi]

Regarding the subject of Requests. Each day or even several days prior a list of all reservations and requests are printed and gone through. Requests normally get prioritized, with connecting first as these can sometimes be difficult to fill with the booked room types, medical requests and on down the line. Requests that are normally low on the priority list are bed size requests (booked doubles but want a king), being that if a king was not available at time of booking then it probably is not available now.
We often joke about the guests (fictional) that want high floor, king bed, smoking room that faces east when the sun rises and then west when the sun is setting and wants to be connecting to Aunt Sally's room that was booked in the lowest rate category possible.

On a side note. We are going away this weekend and initially made reservations for a room with 2 queens but requested a change due to our youngest not coming with us now. If my request is granted great if not no big deal.

 

[zebsterama]

As for the economic policy of these rooms they are regular rooms that pets are allowed to stay in, not only if you have a pet can you stay in these rooms. So I assure you if you make a reservation you could very well be placed into one of these rooms as they are a standard view guest room, the fact that it is a pet friendly room is secondary.

Our hotel does not set aside specific animal rooms, so any of our rooms could of had an animal in it at one time or another. Most of the time when we know there is an allergy we go into the room and deep clean it (the same services that we perform roughly 2-3 times per year in each room) prior to the guests arrival. We also let the guest know that a pet may of been in that room. To date I have not heard any negative feed back from guests who said they had allergies. The biggest complaint we receive are noise complaints from barking. If it comes down to it and the customer still has a terrible experience due to their allergies then we handle it on a case by case basis.

You would also be amazed at how many people do not divulge that they are traveling with a pet.

Thanks for replying/sharing .

 

[macraven]

How long ago was it? Reading the aph discount page this year when I booked, it says both preferred and the platinum get an automatic upgrade based on availability. Power pass just gets a discount.

that loews upgrade is new this year.
i read about it in a recent loews email newsletter.

you should request the free upgrade at the time of booking and not wait until you reach the hotel if it is important for you.

if you wait, the hotel might not have availability for the upgrade request.

i check the rates online but then book by phone and request my room upgrade.
i'm not chancing it to wait until i am at the hotel for it.

up to now, the platinum youfirst members could do the upgrade request in advance.
now it covers other levels of youfirst members.

 

[Bluer101]

that loews upgrade is new this year. i read about it in a recent loews email newsletter. you should request the free upgrade at the time of booking and not wait until you reach the hotel if it is important for you. if you wait, the hotel might not have availability for the upgrade request. i check the rates online but then book by phone and request my room upgrade. i'm not chancing it to wait until i am at the hotel for it. up to now, the platinum youfirst members could do the upgrade request in advance. now it covers other levels of youfirst members.

Rapstar is referring to gold and platinum. When you book you are automatically upgraded at time if booking. Gold gets garden to water or garden to bay view. Gold can get a suite at checkin if available for $50 per night or upgrade to water view if it was not available at time of booking.

Now platinum is at time of booking to premium room or suite at time of booking if available. If not available then when checking in you are upgraded.

 

[marylandteachergirl]

Rapstar is referring to gold and platinum. When you book you are automatically upgraded at time if booking. Gold gets garden to water or garden to bay view. Gold can get a suite at checkin if available for $50 per night or upgrade to water view if it was not available at time of booking.

Now platinum is at time of booking to premium room or suite at time of booking if available. If not available then when checking in you are upgraded.

I am an APH and a Loews You First member - but no credited stays yet, so no upgrade for me even if available. I'm sad.

I am just hoping for Tower 1 or 3. I realize pets can be anywhere,but it seems the larger concentration of them is in Tower 2.

 

[Bluer101]

I am an APH and a Loews You First member - but no credited stays yet, so no upgrade for me even if available. I'm sad.

I am just hoping for Tower 1 or 3. I realize pets can be anywhere,but it seems the larger concentration of them is in Tower 2.

Tower 2 floors 1, 2 are normally used for pets. If you call and let them know you are allergic they will make sure you are away.

Upgrades start at blue member, 2-4 stays, only if available at checkin. It's only from garden to water view if available.

Don't worry, we all have to start somewhere.

 

[mapmakerj]

RAPstar IS talking about free upgrades for passholders. It has nothing to do with You First memberships. I just bought my family preferred annual passes two weeks ago and they gave me a list of discounts. Right in the paperwork it says "Complimentary room upgrade upon arrival applies from standard garden view category to bay water view rooms based on 2014 seasonal availability January 5th thru 16th, January 20th thru February 13th, April 25th thru June 5th, August 17th thru October 2nd, November 30th through December 18th 2014. Upgrade not guaranteed and subject to change without notice.

 

[marylandteachergirl]

RAPstar IS talking about free upgrades for passholders. It has nothing to do with You First memberships. I just bought my family preferred annual passes two weeks ago and they gave me a list of discounts. Right in the paperwork it says "Complimentary room upgrade upon arrival applies from standard garden view category to bay water view rooms based on 2014 seasonal availability January 5th thru 16th, January 20th thru February 13th, April 25th thru June 5th, August 17th thru October 2nd, November 30th through December 18th 2014. Upgrade not guaranteed and subject to change without notice.

Interesting! I did not see that listed on the website where passholder benefits are broken down by category. I am an AP holder - but have 1 night in a water view and the remaining 6 in a standard view. Oh well. I will have blue status after this stay, so I will have to come back! I bought my pass online, so no paperwork yet. I am just happy to be going.

Does your status (I know Loews YouFirst -diiferent topic) stay with you - or is only good for one year like Marriott?