Do US resorts tend to book up?

[My2CrazyGirls]

We are thinking of a Thanksgiving week trip but cannot commit to it right now. Do the Universal Hotels tend to book up? I am talking about the 3 resorts that allow you to have the Express Pass. Do prices tend to jump up for that week? Thanks!

 

[damo]

They sure do!

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

They sure do!

Do you find they totally sell out only during certain weeks? Do they sell out several months in advance? Thanks!

 

[mjohnson96]

We have seen them sell out months in advance. You can always book the week or weeks you think you will be able to go and then cancel the 5 days out if you are unable to. This way you can at least hold the room and rate. If the rate happens to go down you can always call and get your rate changed to the lower rate.

Two years ago I was checking prices for our stay in June during the WWOHP opening and I checked one day to get prices and then waited until 2 days later to book the room. That 2 day wait cost me $50 more a night for a couple nights of my stay since my rate was now gone.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh yes they book up.

I was booking IN November for February, and already the basic types of rooms at RPR had booked up entirely. So I could only compare the higher-end rooms to the other resorts (who both had normal rooms available).

I'd book something NOW, while room types and good rates are available. If you want to cancel later, you can. Sure it holds a couple/few hundred dollars (depending on what one average night's rate is during your stay), but if you cancel before 5 days you get it back, and if you go, that's money you don't have to pay again. AND given your time of travel, it's going to get more and more expensive, especially as the basic rooms book up. So it will save you money.

(and if, by chance, you see a LOWER rate after you've booked, you can change!)

 

[mlacreta]

So, not to be redundant, but are you saying if I book something now at a special price (for september) then see a better promotion I can cancle and rebook the new better price? With no fees or anything? Just want to be sure. I originally had plans to stay off site at a major discount but my dates changed and i can't get discount now so I am hotel shopping again. I soooo can't afford the onsite hotels but they look so worth the price with all the perks!!! Do they give you discounts on food in the parks as well or is that only the partner hotels? TIA!

 

[pixeegrl]

You wouldn't even have to cancel. All you have to do is call and tell them you want the lower rate. I did that twice on our last trip Christmas of 2008. I have never heard of any of the partner hotels giving you a food discount? It's possible though. Do you have AAA? You can get food discounts that way. I would book the room you want now just to be safe

 

[macraven]

So, not to be redundant, but are you saying if I book something now at a special price (for september) then see a better promotion I can cancle and rebook the new better price? With no fees or anything? Just want to be sure. I originally had plans to stay off site at a major discount but my dates changed and i can't get discount now so I am hotel shopping again. I soooo can't afford the onsite hotels but they look so worth the price with all the perks!!! Do they give you discounts on food in the parks as well or is that only the partner hotels? TIA!

if you book the room at rack rate, it goes down, then you call and have your rate modified to the lower rate.


if you booked with the AAA rate and you see that the APH rate is cheaper, you can not modify if all the aph rooms are booked.


a certain %age of rooms are allocated to the hotel at specific discounted rates.
once the rooms have hit the quota, you wouldn't be able to get it.


last year i used a promo rate.
it was good, at 35% off the room costs.

a few weeks before my trip, the Aph rates dropped to $139 for my dates.
I have the ap and called to switch my room rate.

i couldn't get it as the quota of ap rooms alloted were filled.
kept my discounted promo rate.

if you are staying 3 mights or more, you could use the Stay More Save More promo rate. anyone can book with that promo.


you do not receive discounts in the parks for food by staying onsite.


every once in awhile, Loews hotels do specials.
last month it was a $25 beverage/food credit for each night you stayed at the hotel.

check out the loews website every month to see if any hotel specials will be available for the dates you will stay onsite.

 

[macraven]

So, not to be redundant, but are you saying if I book something now at a special price (for september) then see a better promotion I can cancle and rebook the new better price? With no fees or anything? Just want to be sure. I originally had plans to stay off site at a major discount but my dates changed and i can't get discount now so I am hotel shopping again. I soooo can't afford the onsite hotels but they look so worth the price with all the perks!!! Do they give you discounts on food in the parks as well or is that only the partner hotels? TIA!

i recall reading your thread about finding another hotel.
you posted on it that you and your husband have 5 kids.

if you did stay onsite at universal, you would need to book 2 rooms as 5 is the limit per room.

i know september has lower rates than other months but i'm thinking that you probably would get a better rate for the 7 of you at an offsite hotel.

when i posted above earlier, i wasn't thinking of how many rooms you would need.

Double Tree had a decent sale last year in the fall.
it is close to the parks and walking distance.
hth

 

[VLee]

Really kind of new to dealing with Universal hotels, and did see no rooms online that would sleep 6. However, when I called them they had suites available that would handle 6....don't know about 7, it may depend on kids' ages. The suite cost was exactly the same as 2 rooms would have been.

 

[macraven]

pbh has a suite villa that holds 6.

the other 2 hotels do not have them.


age doesn't matter in the number per room.
it is the number of bodies that will be in the room.

 

[mlacreta]

Thanks for all the info everyone! We will actually have 8 in the party (3 adults and 5 kids) so we will have to get 2 rooms pretty much anywhere. I did see on the RPR website under accomodations 2 bedroom suites. I have emailed to ask about those rates. Not sure if they just generically put all room types on all hotel sites even if they don't have them but we will see. I know it would be cheaper off site but I would want to be in walking distance which would limit us to 3 offsite hotels from what I am told and all of them requiring us to cross 8 lanes of traffic? With no mention of a crosswalk or lights...not sure that is terribly safe. Also it seems the price difference right now between those hotels and the onsites is worth it for the unlimited express pass....atleast that is what the generl board population seems to think!!! This is our first (and likely only) trip to universal so I want it to be the best it can be!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

every once in awhile, Loews hotels do specials.
last month it was a $25 beverage/food credit for each night you stayed at the hotel.

I thought that was limited to the hotels that were NOT in Orlando.




OP, do you have this website to look at? It's quite nice.

 

[mlacreta]

Well, I did it. Just booked RPR for 5 nights in september. Will cost 3 times what was originally budgeted with the offsite deal I had but oh well. With that deal falling thru it just didn't makes sense to me to not pay a bit more for the perks that the onsites give.
macraven - yep..i am all over the boards right now..lol...always am on a disney year...we only go every three years. i did call and all the hotels have other suites that do accomodate up to 8 people but the lesser costly ones are booked and i deff am not paying $900/n just to get club level!!! so i got 2 standard rooms but the nice thing is they do guarentee that they will be ajoining...which is better than i can say for the 2 studios we will have at AKV a week prior!
I am going to cross my fingers that maybe a better available AP rate will come out before the trip. Although the reservation specialist told me the ap rates are usually 30% off so that wouldn't be alot more than the 25% i just got on this promo. was hoping they might be higher than that on the off season.

 

[macraven]

Well, I did it. Just booked RPR for 5 nights in september. Will cost 3 times what was originally budgeted with the offsite deal I had but oh well. With that deal falling thru it just didn't makes sense to me to not pay a bit more for the perks that the onsites give.
macraven - yep..i am all over the boards right now..lol...always am on a disney year...we only go every three years. i did call and all the hotels have other suites that do accomodate up to 8 people but the lesser costly ones are booked and i deff am not paying $900/n just to get club level!!! so i got 2 standard rooms but the nice thing is they do guarentee that they will be ajoining...which is better than i can say for the 2 studios we will have at AKV a week prior!
I am going to cross my fingers that maybe a better available AP rate will come out before the trip. Although the reservation specialist told me the ap rates are usually 30% off so that wouldn't be alot more than the 25% i just got on this promo. was hoping they might be higher than that on the off season.

did you request adjoining or connecting?
do you want to be able to walk into the other room without having to go out your door to the hallway for the next door room?

they do have connecting rooms at the hotel.

call a couple of times a week to see if any cancellations have happened.
that is one way you could get the rooms that allow the extra peeps if you want to go that way. (the cheaper rooms that were booked already)

i went with the promo rate for my 9 nights.
i don't know if i want to gamble the risk of going the route of the ap booking for my suite. haven't fully decided yet but my priority was booking the suite for the dates i needed.

 

[macraven]

I thought that was limited to the hotels that were NOT in Orlando.




OP, do you have this website to look at? It's quite nice.

i received emails from Loews at least monthly.
yes, the $25 credit was for the rph and pbh.

but, that promo is off now.

 

[mlacreta]

did you request adjoining or connecting?
do you want to be able to walk into the other room without having to go out your door to the hallway for the next door room?

they do have connecting rooms at the hotel.

call a couple of times a week to see if any cancellations have happened.
that is one way you could get the rooms that allow the extra peeps if you want to go that way. (the cheaper rooms that were booked already)

i went with the promo rate for my 9 nights.
i don't know if i want to gamble the risk of going the route of the ap booking for my suite. haven't fully decided yet but my priority was booking the suite for the dates i needed.

i did get connecting. just had to check my notes to see what the exact wording was!

what do you mean by gamble the risk of the ap rate? from what i understand you can book this promo rate and then watch for the ap rate and see if it is better and available...and if so you can just change to that rate. that is what i understood from the boards and the reservations specialist. did i miss something?

 

[macraven]

i did get connecting. just had to check my notes to see what the exact wording was!

what do you mean by gamble the risk of the ap rate? from what i understand you can book this promo rate and then watch for the ap rate and see if it is better and available...and if so you can just change to that rate. that is what i understood from the boards and the reservations specialist. did i miss something?

if you book with the ap rate and the rate drops, you call and have your rate modified.
very easy procedure.


if you booked under a different rate promo, you can change the type of rate you are using for booking your room.
just call to have it done.


only a certain %age of rooms are set aside for different rates.
the SMSM rate allows so many rooms, ap ditto, aaa ditto, etc.


if you see the ap rate lower than the SMSM promo rate, call immediately and switch to that booking.


i'll tell you what happened to me last year.
i booked with a promo rate and locked in 11 months out.
the ap rates were not available for my dates at that time.

my priority was booking the king suite for a busy time period at the hotels.
(hhn period w/ weekends. hotels have high occupancy during these time periods.)

the ap rate came out in the summer.
the promo rate was better for me than the ap rate, so i stayed with my orignal booking.

about the 3rd week in september, the ap rate dropped to $129 and $139 for my october dates.

by the time i realized it, it was too late for me to switch.
the ap rooms were filled.

but, i had a great room and view with the king suite so it still was a fantastic stay at the hotel.

everyone loves a bargain, i'm no different.

i don't want to take a chance that the ap rate will drop below the promo one i have already booked.
there is no guarantee that the ap rates would drop this fall like it did last time so i won't be switching to the ap rate when it comes out.