Other Entertainment Book Hotel Rates?

[SunDevilDaddy]

By now we all know about the magical Hojo's Entertainment rates...

But I was flipping through our book this morning looking for deals on some local fun and ended up scanning the hotels section. It seems a lot of the hotels that are discussed regularly on DIS are listed under the best rates category and a couple more are under the hotels at half price promotion.

Has anyone ever used Entertainment Book rates for other area hotels? If so how did they stack up against the likes of Hotels.com, and expedia, etc.?

Here is a list of all the area particpating hotels that are frequently mentioned on the DIS.

Anabella
BWPPI
All other BW's
Carousel Inn
Days Inn
Disney GC
Disney PPH
Disneyland Hotel
HOJO
Park Vue
Raddisson
Tropicana

There are plenty more but these are a few that are commonly discussed.

In addition these are the hotels at half price listings:
Anaheim Quality Inn
BWPPI
Carousel Inn
Castle Inn
Clarion Hotel
Jolly Roger
Park Inn
Sheraton Anaheim

 

[teacups]

Wow, I am so clueless on the entertainment book thing. We have a version of it locally (I supposed it was similar) but ours is full of nothing but BS deals, if you know what I mean. Nothing anyone would want even at half price.

Where does one get it?

 

[SunDevilDaddy]

Ours is local as well. And smack in the middle there is an E section with all the hotel and rental car deals.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ally_DeVille]

Funny you mention this, I was checking mine out this morning looking for a rental car coupon and was surprised at how many Anaheim hotels are part of Entertainment Book rates.

I may call DLH and find out what their Entertainment Book rate is, wonder if it's as much off as HoJo's?

The section on Hotels at Half Price: Annabella and Portofino got my attention

But if you look online, all the hotels SunDevilDaddy listed are listed as 1/2 off rack rate hotels. What I am noticing are the valid from dates, August through June on some, suites at CCI excluded, it might be worth looking into further.

 

[CardinalsFan]

I was looking at the entertainment travel site earlier this week for options in early December, and they have certain "Special Value" rates available, like the Marriott Anaheim (near the Convention Center) for $81.75 per night! While it may not be a "magic" hotel, it probably has decent beds and access to the ART system. Tempting...

 

[Hound 109]

Thanks for the info SDD.

GCH - Entertainment Rate - hmmm. ( )


(somebody needs to check THAT one out.)

 

[teacups]

we called carousel inn to ask about our october trip... and she said they are no longer honoring the ent book prices in october, whatever that means. I wonder if that's the case for a lot of hotels. Most are already booked full on our dates.

 

[GailT]

Using my entertainment book out of Boston I found GC to be more money then what I am going to pay with my AAA. I am going value season and the room I ogt pool view was $406.00. I think I will change that, seems like a lot of $$$$$ to be for value season

 

[SunDevilDaddy]

But if you look online, all the hotels SunDevilDaddy listed are listed as 1/2 off rack rate hotels. What I am noticing are the valid from dates, August through June on some, suites at CCI excluded, it might be worth looking into further.

I've used the hotels at half price program before in San Diego. The hotel we stayed at was the days inn hotel circle. Anyway, when we called them for the rate they notified us that the 1/2 price rate was only available on mini-suites. The rate for their mini-suite was $159/night. The gave us the mini-suite for $79 which was $45 better than hotels.com, or expedia had on their regular room.


I guess it's hit or miss. I've noticed that with a lot of entertainment deals. Some companies go out of their way to give you a great deal and some really do nothing at all.

 

[bumbershoot]

I think the biggest thing with the HoJo rate is that it's almost a supersecret special rate you will only get if you call that hotel directly. If you call the 800#, or if you call the hotel at a busy time and get shunted to the 800#, they'll give you the % off rack rate, and they won't know about the $54 or whatever low rate you can get by calling directly.

Or if you go through entertainment.com's hotel reservation system, you get the same "OK that's a better deal but it's still not the CHEAP rate others are talking about" for HoJo.

So the bigger question for me is...do any of the other hotels have the supersecretspecial call-directly rate like HoJo's?

 

[SunDevilDaddy]

So the bigger question for me is...do any of the other hotels have the supersecretspecial call-directly rate like HoJo's?

The mystery of life..... the answers we all would like to know!

 

[stal]

so, to get this entertainment card deal, do i need the card with me when i book, or just when i check in? how do i get this card? is there a charge??

 

[SunDevilDaddy]

so, to get this entertainment card deal, do i need the card with me when i book, or just when i check in? how do i get this card? is there a charge??

You do need the card number both at booking time and check in. The entertainment book is a coupon book essentially. Our kids sell them as part of a school fundraiser every year so we're stuck buying it whether we use it or not. Just recently we started using ours and found that some of the deals can be really good. And the hotels thing is interesting to me...

If you don't know anyone that is selling them you can order them online from entertainment.com.

 

[DangerMouse]

I have never needed the card when booking with the HoJo. They may ask for it at check-in (however, after 5-6 different stays, we have never been asked for it).

I hope others will report if they find any ent. book rates at other hotels. I have never heard of any ent. rates as good as the one HoJo offers.

 

[CardinalsFan]

I was looking at the entertainment travel site earlier this week for options in early December, and they have certain "Special Value" rates available, like the Marriott Anaheim (near the Convention Center) for $81.75 per night! While it may not be a "magic" hotel, it probably has decent beds and access to the ART system. Tempting...

Here's what I did to find the above rate:

First, I went to the entertainment.com website.
I then clicked on the Travel and Hotels link.
I then clicked on the View All Books link.
I then clicked on the Orange County (2008) link.
I then clicked the Travel link in the header near the top of the page.
I entered Anaheim in the city field, 12/8/2007 in the check-in field, 12/13/2007 in the check-out field, and four in the guests field. I clicked the Find Hotels button. This opened a new window with my search results. It is initially sorted by best-value, probably based on the discount percentage they are offering.

In the Refine Your Search section on the left-hand of the results, you can select "Disneyland" in the Show Properties Near / Landmark field, and re-execute your search to find the close-to-the-resort hotels first.

I don't know if this will list all hotels that have entertainment discounts.

The best deal I saw using this method was the Marriott - which has a four-star rating (out of five) and a 25% discount if you stay five nights, which knocks the price from 109 per night to 81.75 per night (does not include tax recovery charges and service fees).

Has anyone reserved hotels using this method before? Reading the fine print, I see that to get this special rate, they require up-front payment with a credit card. If I cancel up to the day before arrival, there's a $25 fee. If I cancel the day before arrival, there's a one night room + tax penalty.

Fear of the unknown is preventing me from jumping on this rate at the Marriott. Anybody know more about using this site for hotel reservations?

 

[SunDevilDaddy]

Here's what I did to find the above rate:

First, I went to the entertainment.com website.
I then clicked on the Travel and Hotels link.
I then clicked on the View All Books link.
I then clicked on the Orange County (2008) link.
I then clicked the Travel link in the header near the top of the page.
I entered Anaheim in the city field, 12/8/2007 in the check-in field, 12/13/2007 in the check-out field, and four in the guests field. I clicked the Find Hotels button. This opened a new window with my search results. It is initially sorted by best-value, probably based on the discount percentage they are offering.

In the Refine Your Search section on the left-hand of the results, you can select "Disneyland" in the Show Properties Near / Landmark field, and re-execute your search to find the close-to-the-resort hotels first.

I don't know if this will list all hotels that have entertainment discounts.

The best deal I saw using this method was the Marriott - which has a four-star rating (out of five) and a 25% discount if you stay five nights, which knocks the price from 109 per night to 81.75 per night (does not include tax recovery charges and service fees).

Has anyone reserved hotels using this method before? Reading the fine print, I see that to get this special rate, they require up-front payment with a credit card. If I cancel up to the day before arrival, there's a $25 fee. If I cancel the day before arrival, there's a one night room + tax penalty.

Fear of the unknown is preventing me from jumping on this rate at the Marriott. Anybody know more about using this site for hotel reservations?

Try calling the hotel directly and bypassing the entertainment booking website. The reason being is that I'm sure entertainment operates much like hotels.com, travelworm, expedia, and others. Once they book for you they are committed and therefore so are you. If you call the hotel directly you can request the entertainment card rate and see what they say. Worst case scenerio is they direct you back to where you originally were. I know that everyone I've heard from says in regards to HOJO to call directly. When we booked in Sand Diego using the entertainment rate we also went directly through the hotel and bypassed the website. If I were you, I would call the Marriott first.

 

[CardinalsFan]

Is it common knowledge on the forum that there's a coupon for SuperShuttle in this year's Entertainment book?

$2 off per person per direction (up to $28 value).

So, my family of four saves $16 ($8 each way). Almost pays for the Entertainment book itself.

Coupon is valid through 12/31/2007.

On the back, it says you can book online at www dot supershuttle dot com and use discount code PGESC or call 1-800-BLUE-VAN and present this coupon to the driver when you are picked up.

Just thought I'd pass that along in case it wasn't already common knowledge.

 

[Blueberrystamps]

Ok so do I need the entertainment book for the LA area ?

DO you think there is any chance I can get this rate in October this year ?



Amanda

 

[DangerMouse]

Ok so do I need the entertainment book for the LA area ?

DO you think there is any chance I can get this rate in October this year ?



Amanda

No, you don't need the Orange County book, you should purchase one for where you live so you can use it locally.

The best thing to do is call the hotel and ask if they are offering ent. rates for your dates of stay. Then, if needed, you can purchase the book.

 

[Blueberrystamps]

Thanks for the info Dangermouse
I have one more question I have noticed in searching the boards that some people will only get the rate for a few days of there stay.
we are looking at staying 5 to 7 days will I only get the rate for part of it if they have any?

Amanda