Hard Rock at Christmas $269 Ouch!

[pomcoach]

We need Christmas Eve and Christmas 2004 at a Universal Property. I have been checking rates all day. Nothing was showing up on Hotwire, so that was out.
I also checked hotelkingdom.com, Loews site, Travelocity, & Expedia.
All the sites were $309 for Portofino.
All the sites were $269 for Hard Rock.
Royal Pacific was $239 on Loews, $199 on Expedia, $169 on Hotel Kingdom, and not available on Travelocity.

I had to bite the bullet and get the Hard Rock for $269. I know the kids would complain if we stayed at Royal Pacific. I called the 1-800-23-LOEWS. She said $269 was the cheapest they had. I asked about the Annual Pass discount, but she said there were no discounts showing up at all for my dates. She said no Triple AAA, no Hard Rock Access Card, no Entertainment discount.
Geez, is it that my dates are so busy, there just aren't any discounts given ever?? Does even the Annual Pass have blackout dates for the 30% discount that we thought we could get for hotel rates?
If anybody knows if I can swing a deal any other way, or thinks that better rates will show up later, I would love your advice. Didn't expect to get hit with such high rates!
Thanks!
Pomcoach

 

[damo]

Just keep checking back. I guess that if the demand is high, the prices will be high. The Universal hotels are certainly gaining in popularity and at Christmas and Easter, with the enormous crowds, front of the line is a necessity that people are willing to pay the premium. Staying on site will save you hours and hours during the holidays, so I guess you need to think of it that way.