No AAA Discount for PBR?

[MastaMind]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a newbie to the whole Universal Studios thing and have been browsing around for answers. When I called Universal directly, they told me they can't give AAA rates and that I would have to contact my AAA travel agent directly.

When I called my AAA travel agent, they said there are no resort discounts, and the benefit of booking through AAA is the perks (a coupon book, souvenir mug, etc.). This appears to contradict what some here are reporting. So, is this correct?

If it helps, we're looking at three 3 day park to park passes and two nights at PBR (standard room).

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mom3girls]

What I did to book a stay at Hard Rock Hotel, which is owned by Loew's (same as your hotel), was I looked hotel up and called Loew's directly. I asked if they had any rooms with a AAA discount available and gave my dates. They only had a few room categories with AAA discount available. Try that and please let us know what happened. Good Luck!!!

 

[damo]

Call Loews, they certainly give the AAA rates if there are any. I haven't heard of any souvenir mugs through AAA.

1-888-464-3617

 

[MastaMind]

What I did to book a stay at Hard Rock Hotel, which is owned by Loew's (same as your hotel), was I looked hotel up and called Loew's directly. I asked if they had any rooms with a AAA discount available and gave my dates. They only had a few room categories with AAA discount available. Try that and please let us know what happened. Good Luck!!!

Call Loews, they certainly give the AAA rates if there are any. I haven't heard of any souvenir mugs through AAA.

1-888-464-3617

Thank you both for the great suggestion. Before I call the hotel directly, do you foresee any issues with booking the hotel room directly and then getting the tickets via AAA? I know with Disney you have to book a "package" to get certain options or perks. Thanks again!

 

[MastaMind]

FYI, I was able to call directly and get a AAA discount on the room. Nothing massive, but it's still very much appreciated!

I do find it a bit strange that I was able to get a AAA reduced rate myself when my AAA agent said they couldn't get me a reduced rate. Commission perhaps? Oh well...

 

[damo]

FYI, I was able to call directly and get a AAA discount on the room. Nothing massive, but it's still very much appreciated!

I do find it a bit strange that I was able to get a AAA reduced rate myself when my AAA agent said they couldn't get me a reduced rate. Commission perhaps? Oh well...

Calling directly often results in lower rates than can be found elsewhere. Glad you were able to find something!

 

[lcubed001]

I had a curious adventure with AAA today, & thought I would share... I called Loews directly & they said thay had no AAA discounts for my dates, so (thinking the AAA were gone) I ended up booking on their site at the regular seasonal rate of 269. per night plus taxes. Then after reading Disboards, decided to sign up for AAA anyway to get the discounts on the train & shops & food while at Universal, it would still be a good deal. So I was playing around on the AAA website & for fun put may dates in to see if ther was anything listed for discounts, and there was! I ended up getting the room for 237 per night INCLUDING taxes! The only catch was that the room had to be prepaid (which luckily I was able to do). So by using AAA site I ended up saving over 300.00. Oddly enough when I call the 800 # on thier site, the agent on the phone could not see that rate & the guy at my local office could not see that rate either. So I called the internet division of AAA to make sure if I booked it, it would be honored & they assured me it would. I just thought I would let you know.

 

[francie57]

There is no problem reserving a room through Loews with a AAA discount and purchasing your tickets from AAA. We do it every trip. Don't forget to take your AAA card with you since you will get a 10% discount at the restaurants and shops in the parks and most of the restaurant at City Walk.

 

[ToyStory]

I had a curious adventure with AAA today, & thought I would share... I called Loews directly & they said thay had no AAA discounts for my dates, so (thinking the AAA were gone) I ended up booking on their site at the regular seasonal rate of 269. per night plus taxes. Then after reading Disboards, decided to sign up for AAA anyway to get the discounts on the train & shops & food while at Universal, it would still be a good deal. So I was playing around on the AAA website & for fun put may dates in to see if ther was anything listed for discounts, and there was! I ended up getting the room for 237 per night INCLUDING taxes! The only catch was that the room had to be prepaid (which luckily I was able to do). So by using AAA site I ended up saving over 300.00. Oddly enough when I call the 800 # on thier site, the agent on the phone could not see that rate & the guy at my local office could not see that rate either. So I called the internet division of AAA to make sure if I booked it, it would be honored & they assured me it would. I just thought I would let you know.

Thanks for posting this. This trip planning has been very stressful. I currently have two reservations at RPR. One night at rack rate of $269.00 (Wednesday) and one with AAA at 242.40 (Thursday) and 260.10 (Friday) taxes of 12.5% are not included.

Due to flight changes we decided yesterday that Friday we should check out and stay at another hotel Friday night since we won't be able to go to the parks for a reasonable amount of time on Saturday. No sense for paying $300 if we aren't going to the parks on Saturday and use FOTL. I read that you can't cancel a day without having to redo your entire reservation, therefore I would have lost my AAA rate for Thursday night. I haven't tried yet to see if that was true, but when I went to add on Wednesday the other week (after receiving a phone call saying our flight home is earlier) they were going to revised my Thursday and Friday AAA rates to rack rate. I said lets do another reservation for Wednesday only at rack rate.

Seeing your post I went on to AAA's website. It was showing no AAA rates for our dates doing hotel only. I decided to do a package and a AAA rate of $242.40 came up for Wednesday and Thursday nights. So the hotel came to $547 with tax and I added a three day base ticket (3 adults, 1 child) which came to $537. Undercover Tourist ticket price would have been $532, but we get two free refillable mugs (savings of about $16.00 I think) so we came out ahead.

The entire package came to $1084. Our hotel fo Friday night (Holiday Inn by DTD) was a special AllEars rate of $59.00 two queens plus parking of $8.95. Planning on going to DTD prior to going to the airport since out last trip we didn't make it there. Having a hotel close to DTD won't give DH and excuse why we shouldn't go. Plus I told him he can get a or a Rice Krispy treat.

Hopefully I did my math right. I think I am coming ahead, but will check again tomorrow before I cancel by two room only reservations. I didn't get a deal like you did, but it saved me some money.

 

[mott]

Thanks for posting this. This trip planning has been very stressful. I currently have two reservations at RPR. One night at rack rate of $269.00 (Wednesday) and one with AAA at 242.40 (Thursday) and 260.10 (Friday) taxes of 12.5% are not included.

Due to flight changes we decided yesterday that Friday we should check out and stay at another hotel Friday night since we won't be able to go to the parks for a reasonable amount of time on Saturday. No sense for paying $300 if we aren't going to the parks on Saturday and use FOTL. I read that you can't cancel a day without having to redo your entire reservation, therefore I would have lost my AAA rate for Thursday night. I haven't tried yet to see if that was true, but when I went to add on Wednesday the other week (after receiving a phone call saying our flight home is earlier) they were going to revised my Thursday and Friday AAA rates to rack rate. I said lets do another reservation for Wednesday only at rack rate.

Seeing your post I went on to AAA's website. It was showing no AAA rates for our dates doing hotel only. I decided to do a package and a AAA rate of $242.40 came up for Wednesday and Thursday nights. So the hotel came to $547 with tax and I added a three day base ticket (3 adults, 1 child) which came to $537. Undercover Tourist ticket price would have been $532, but we get two free refillable mugs (savings of about $16.00 I think) so we came out ahead.

The entire package came to $1084. Our hotel fo Friday night (Holiday Inn by DTD) was a special AllEars rate of $59.00 two queens plus parking of $8.95. Planning on going to DTD prior to going to the airport since out last trip we didn't make it there. Having a hotel close to DTD won't give DH and excuse why we shouldn't go. Plus I told him he can get a or a Rice Krispy treat.

Hopefully I did my math right. I think I am coming ahead, but will check again tomorrow before I cancel by two room only reservations. I didn't get a deal like you did, but it saved me some money.

Which Holiday Inn exactly are you staying at? And how did you get the AllEars rate?

 

[ToyStory]

Holiday Inn Maingate Lake Buena Vista by DTD. It was from an email I received from AllEars.