Portofino or Hard Rock...Opinions please!

[meesie]

As the obvious room expert I have a simple question, is the west wing is closest to the beach pool? Are there all types of rooms available in the west wing (the only one we stayed in was a non-smoking Bay View Kids Suite with a balcony)? Also are all the rooms non-smoking or just some areas? Finally, I have requested a king bed for next week, should I call down ahead to improve my chances of getting it?

I'm hoping I will get someone at check-in who gets a kick out of the fact that we are flying down from the Northeast 3 times during three months (September, November and New Year's week) just to visit their hotel! Will they automatically see that in my "profile" or my Loew's Card or should I just gush and tell them how much I love the hotel?

 

[cyndisue]

Hey everyone:

Thanks for all the advice. I was leaning towards the Hard Rock, because it seemed closer to the parks, but after reading this thread I am definitely going with the PBH. I was captivated by it the first time I saw photos of it a few years ago.

I am a Loew's first member. If I have a deluxe pool view booked, will they upgrade to a kid's suite? Are there other suites available?

I am all for requesting a specific room (as Party of Six suggested), but I wonder if the room assigners get hacked off by that. Has anyone ever had a bad experience when requesting a specific room?

Thanks a million for all the advice,

Cyndisue

 

[sha_lyn]

on the outside .....HRH is a beautiful resort and I love the theming.The walk to the parks is wonderful and the pool is great.

However, fool me once same on you, fool me twice shame on me.HRH seems to have a lot of customer service issues. We had a horrible experience the first trip so we were give a free return night. After speaking with the main office this was changed to 2 free nights. We booked 3 nights. Well I should have know the second trip would be a disaster when it took almost 2 hours for us to get into a room (keys would not work, front desk insisted on reissuing keys 3X and it finally took security getting nasty with them to get us into another room. We were offered that night for free in addition and then were billed for 2 nights about 3 months later. We never could get the 2 nights taken of my sisters credit card. Well actually they took it off and then the HRH recharged the next month and the credit card company was convinced by the HRH that we were lying and that the only reason we had a bill that stated "paid in full" was that the computer was down the day we left. If it were down how did we get the bill with all our room key charges made the night before? It was a real nightmare.

 

[PartyofSix]

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[corvair]

I was also going to go with HRH. But after all the great posts and info from partyofsix and the others, i booked PBH with deluxe room over looking the beach pool...I am really lookking forward to PHB.. thanks. partyofsix and to everyone else for the great info..amy

 

[SC Minnie]

We stayed at HRH last year for the first time and really enjoyed it. We only stayed one night and the afternoon we were there it rained so we didn't get to use the pool that much.

We wanted to stay at HRH again this March but can't get an entertainment rate for the weekend we will be there and have booked at PBH. I was kind of nervous about this until I read these post. Thanks.

One question- Does PBH give the kids a welcome pack like at HRH? No big deal if not but my daughter (8) really liked getting some 'cool' stuff just for her.

 

[Tigger Woods]

I've also switched from HRH to PBH in Dec. The deal on Expedia was too hard to pass up. (Bay View, 4th night free) I've really enjoyed reading the posts from PartyOfSix and others. I was wondering if anyone has used the babysitting service at PBH? I know they have Camp Portofino for 4 yo's and up, but I have a 4 and a 2 yo. By the way, if you missed the PBH segment on the Travel Channel's Great Hotel series, its airing again Nov. 25.

 

[PartyofSix]

Tigger I have never used a babysitting service but I am considering this one as it came from a local and highly recommend. They seem to be very resonable. You can get them for the whole weekend two overnight stays for 200.00! www.sunshinebabysitting.com . I may use them on our new years trip that's a lot less than having to pay my nanny and get her a room. If you check into it before I do let me know what you learn.

Minnie I dont know of any gift package for kids at PBH. If you are a lowes member you can get them milk and cookies. There huge chocolate chip cookies and a big glass picture of milk. YUMMY!

 

[SC Minnie]

PartyofSix- We are Loews members and opted for the fruit last time. It was good too. We might try the cookies and milk this time.

 

[PartyofSix]

The fruit bowl did'nt impress me that much but those cookies and milk did. Who could resist that big cold pitcher of milk and gooy cookies.

 

[crazyme5kids]

We had the cookies put in one room and got the wine in the other. It was a decent bottle and a regular size one (not 1/2 size). It was nice to have after afull day at the parks.

 

[sha_lyn]

I've had the wine selection and the milk and cookies. All are very good. I agree the wine was pretty good

 

[nhrenee]

I have to agree about the milk/cookies. The red wine was an Italian Chianti, verrrry nice. Our fruit bowl wasn't very ripe but came with some delicious italian water.