Dates for HOJO Super Family/AP Rate Released? Post them here ~

[longtimedisneylurker]

I am worried. I booked the entertainment rate months ago for the family suite for the end of October. Will I have to pay more now?

No. Whatever rate you have already booked is the rate you locked in. These changes are for all bookings since the changes were put into effect.

 

[tanyaewa]

Well, I for one was delighted to get the email today. Thanks to you at the DIS for posting the link to sign up for the emails!!! I got the email today and was able to call and book the family saver rate for. nov 29 and 30. I got a deluxe room at 50% off for $74.50
Thanks so much to everyone for the help.

I am actually really disappointed to see everyone being so hard on HOJO for changing their program. Are you kidding? No other property so close to the parks can be found at this rate. All the people who were such huge fans of HoJo and are now poopooing the loss of 1/2price rooms and dislike it? How fickle.
Did you like it or not?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Well, I for one was delighted to get the email today. Thanks to you at the DIS for posting the link to sign up for the emails!!! I got the email today and was able to call and book the family saver rate for. nov 29 and 30. I got a deluxe room at 50% off for $74.50
Thanks so much to everyone for the help.

Just for comparison's sake, I'd like to point out that $74.50 is cheaper than the recently offered retro rate of $79 for that room type.

I am actually really disappointed to see everyone being so hard on HOJO for changing their program. Are you kidding? No other property so close to the parks can be found at this rate. All the people who were such huge fans of HoJo and are now poopooing the loss of 1/2price rooms and dislike it? How fickle.
Did you like it or not?

Agreed.

 

[chrissiecutie]

Well, I for one was delighted to get the email today. Thanks to you at the DIS for posting the link to sign up for the emails!!! I got the email today and was able to call and book the family saver rate for. nov 29 and 30. I got a deluxe room at 50% off for $74.50
Thanks so much to everyone for the help.

I am actually really disappointed to see everyone being so hard on HOJO for changing their program. Are you kidding? No other property so close to the parks can be found at this rate. All the people who were such huge fans of HoJo and are now poopooing the loss of 1/2price rooms and dislike it? How fickle.
Did you like it or not?

I don't think that it's necessarily that people are fickle- I think there's alot more to it then just that.

I for one, have always loved the HoJo. Still do. It's a great little hotel, I like the history behind it, the beds are comfy, the Keurigs in every room was genius & DS freaks for the kids water park area.

But as a family travelling on a VERY limited budget ($2500 for 10 days in SoCal) we chose to stay at the HoJo with their ET/Retro Rates because of the great prices. Up until a year ago, our preferred room type, the deluxe King in bldg 2 was always $59/night. They very silently raised the price to $79 without any notice on their boards. It wasn't until I called to make a reservation that I was told of this rate. But anyways- $79 was still in our budget, so we stayed.

The Retro Rates were what got me in the door. It was what made me recommend their hotel to ALL my friends & family. Plain and simple.

So without those rates & the steep discounts you have to really look at what the HoJo is...a simple, no frills hotel that needs some remodel & additional amenities in order to function in the higher price bracket they have put themselves in.

By comparison, the other similarly priced hotels along the strip offer free breakfast, some a free shuttle, a welcome gift basket, etc. And really- I don't care how much I like your hotel, if you start charging upwards of $200/night then you're bathrooms had better be immaculate (Hojo's are NOT) and you should probably be feeding me breakfast too.

So I think that's really the issue here...it's not that people don't like the HoJo's. Or that they are so quick to turn their backs on them. But rather, that the price per room no longer matches up with the services & amenities offered.

I think people are just disappointed by all the recent changes to every single promotion. It's confusing & frankly, not even the hotel staff knows exactly what's going on. I personally have rec'd very conflicting information vs. others here on the boards. We all know that HoJo's has the right to make changes. And I don't think anyone has any real issues with that. It's just the way in which they are going about it....

So for this HoJo fan, I will be staying there this Oct. I love the HoJo's. I was able to get the Super Family Rate for part of my stay & that makes me happy. For $75/night, I feel that HoJo's is a great deal! So as long as I can continue to pay a "decent" rate to stay here- then I will. And really, it's all subjective. I would never pay $186/night like I've seen other's are booked at, but for them, it's fine. And I guess there will be those who if they can't get the old $59 rates, then they are gone. Well...I guess that just leaves more room for me!

 

[BayGirl22]

Chrissicutie - I typed a long reply that I lost but you pretty much summed it up for me. I don't have any problem with the Hojo changing their promotions, they have every right to do that. I don't think they "pulled a fast one" as some have said. From all of my interactions so far they have great customer service, and the fact that they even offered those discounts is amazing. And if you stayed there and rated their room as clean, then its still clean, regardless of price.

I'm saying that the change in rates has influenced my decision to stay there in the future. There are options that are the same or better price and closer. (I actually have an excel model of about 10 I am considering.) Hojo's retro rates probably would have swayed me toward staying there. But without that other priorities like walking distance and EE will sway me toward something else. Its not a price only decision for me, price is only one factor, but Hojo is no longer a bargain. That's not blaming Hojo, rather its a statement of my particular priorities and where Hojo at $200/night falls in my list.

I think its one thing to say you stayed at Hojo, loved it, but now decide you don't love it because they dropped the retro rate. Its different to say going forward your choice will be different if the room is $189 instead of $99. Its a competitive hotel market and I just hope Hojo doesn't price their way out of the running for a lot more people

 

[chrissiecutie]

Chrissicutie - I typed a long reply that I lost but you pretty much summed it up for me. I don't have any problem with the Hojo changing their promotions, they have every right to do that. I don't think they "pulled a fast one" as some have said. From all of my interactions so far they have great customer service, and the fact that they even offered those discounts is amazing. And if you stayed there and rated their room as clean, then its still clean, regardless of price.

I'm saying that the change in rates has influenced my decision to stay there in the future. There are options that are the same or better price and closer. (I actually have an excel model of about 10 I am considering.) Hojo's retro rates probably would have swayed me toward staying there. But without that other priorities like walking distance and EE will sway me toward something else. Its not a price only decision for me, price is only one factor, but Hojo is no longer a bargain. That's not blaming Hojo, rather its a statement of my particular priorities and where Hojo at $200/night falls in my list.

I think its one thing to say you stayed at Hojo, loved it, but now decide you don't love it because they dropped the retro rate. Its different to say going forward your choice will be different if the room is $189 instead of $99. Its a competitive hotel market and I just hope Hojo doesn't price their way out of the running for a lot more people

Exactly!

My point all along has simply been that at the higher prices, HoJo is no longer a bargain. The price simply doesn't match up to the services & amenities at that rate.

I think many families are being forced to look elsewhere because of the higher prices. So HoJo's is indeed pricing themselves OUT of the market. Which BTW- these same folks who can no longer afford to stay here were once the folks that FILLED their hotel. They stayed & they recommended HoJo's to all their friends & family. These folks will no longer be doing this- so time will tell if HoJo's can indeed fill their rooms at the higher prices.

People are understandably upset by all the changes. But I don't think they are truely angry at HoJo's. We are all grown ups here. We know that we had a good thing going with those $59, 69 & 79 rates. But I think for most people, we were comfortable overlooking what HoJo's was lacking because we were getting such good rates. Now- I'm not so comfortable overlooking the gross bathrooms, lack of free breakfast, further location, etc at a higher price. Thats all...

Like I said, if I can get a "decent" rate, then I will continue to stay here. But if all that's avail is $189/night (no matter the season) then I will look elsewhere. This has NEVER been the case with HoJo's as they've always been OUR Disney hotel. So in that, I'm dissapointed & I think alot of others are too!

 

[tanyaewa]

Well then I hope you find something along the "strip" that matches your expectations.
It's not easy to find one that has it all. For me, this trip, the Hojo, has the great pricing. If it is nearly as great as you all have said for YEARS it is a bargain!

 

[tanyaewa]

Op ( and others in agreement) I look forward to hearing whether you find ANY of the "strip" hotels worth it? Ie would BWPPI be wothr $179 a night ?

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Op ( and others in agreement) I look forward to hearing whether you find ANY of the "strip" hotels worth it? Ie would BWPPI be wothr $179 a night ?

We just stayed at Desert Inn and Suites which is a LOT closer to the cross walk than Hojos. We had not stayed there since around 1997 - no joke - because I didn't like the parking situation, didn't like the open corridors, etc. But we had 6 people traveling together 5 adults and a child, and it would have cost us $1200 for 2 rooms at Hojos for 3 nights. We paid $143 a night for a 2 queen room with queen sized sofa sleeper and in room jacuzzi tub. Was it a dump? No, it was decent. Beds were comfortable, pillows decent. Enough room for all of us and our junk. Parking has improved due to the 24 hour valet. We paid under $600 for 3 nights and were a much closer walking distance. It had a mediocre continental breakfast, which was good enough for coffee and a pastry. We always stayed at Hojo & Fairfield, but I wasn't about to pay $1200 for a 3 night stay at either property. That's crazy! Btw, the bathroom was very clean and the jacuzzi tub was huge! It was much nicer soaking in that than in the little jacuzzi by the pool area.

 

[tanyaewa]

well then clearly it was worth it to you to stay there this time. I say that's great! I am just still very, blown away byhow many propel jumped off the HoJo bandwagon when the prices were no ,longer 1/2 what it costs to run a hotel!

 

[larina]

The whole reason Hojos switched to e-mails was that they kept finding their rates posted all over the internet. It seems that you have to have the e-mail at check in, so posting dates here is useless. Everyone needs to sign up for themselves, and check the right boxes to get the right e-mails.

 

[larina]

Here is more info regarding policies, etc:
Notes and Restrictions:

*There is a 2 room limit per family
*Rooms booked at the SUPER Family Rate have a 30-day cancellation restriction. This means you must cancel before 30-days of your arrival date to avoid paying a one-night's room and tax cancellation penalty.
*Rooms booked for "Last Minute" arrivals are NON CANCELABLE! This means if you book a room within 30-days of the arrival date, there will be a one-night's room and tax cancellation penalty.
*Limited amount of rooms open on each day
*First come, first served
*Not available on suites
*Once the rooms are sold, the SUPER Family Rate will close for that date
*Rates are only announced via email to those on our email list
*Rooms must be booked by calling in, there is no booking code

Bolded the part regarding how Hojos wants this information to be given. It isn't through word of mouth or by posting dates on random sites (I know we don't feel like a random site, but we really are) all over the internet. They want control over it (and that's reasonable really) and they're taking it by sending e-mails. I'd be careful reserving through someone else's, as my name appears in bold type on my e-mail (I just checked).

Any guesses why the first week in Dec. isn't included? Are there higher than usual crowds expected that week? Also surprised to see all the way up to Dec. 24th included. We have a kids suite for that first week in Dec.- I'm guessing they don't need to fill the rooms that week, but just curious why that might be.

Isn't the candlelight processional usually that week (I could be wrong!!)? Maybe that's it?