Universal Hotels - Orlando, Florida

The Universal Resort offers three on-site hotels that truly five-star, world-class destinations, with a price tag to match. So why bother reviewing these hotels if the price is so high? Simply put, Universal’s hotels come with the greatest theme park perk ever. Guests of the hotels get free front-of-the-access to all the major rides and attractions in the park! Can you imagine a sweeter deal?! All you have to do is show your room key to the ride attendents and you can breeze past the lines.

So what, you’re thinking, if the prices are too high for me to afford it? While the rack rates at the three hotels are all over $300 a night, the smart traveler can easily get a room at one of Universal’s hotels for $150-175/night by shopping around.

The first place to look is Priceline. Not only do they seem to have some of the best hotel deals around, but they have the lowest booking fees too. There’s nothing I hate worse than finding a low price for a hotel on Expedia or Orbitz then finding out I’m paying an extra $50 or so in booking fees.

My very favorite thing about Priceline is the name your own price feature. This means you literally type in how much you’re looking to pay and they’ll match you with one of the thousands of Orlando hotels that will accept that price. I was nervous the first time I used it, but Priceline let’s you pick a narrow area, star level, and type of hotel that you are looking for. I use this feature almost every time I travel and it’s never been a disappointment.

If you can’t find a good rate there, you’ll want to try hotwire. Hotwire is a hotel auction site that has rock bottom hotel rates, but you don’t get to know the name of the hotel until after you book it. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to figure out how to book the Universal hotels on this site.

From the Mousesavers website:

• Select the “Universal Orlando and SeaWorld” area.
• Portofino Bay is rated 5 stars, Hard Rock Hotel is 4.5 stars and Royal Pacific is 4 stars.
• On the page that displays star ratings, amenities and prices (before you purchase), all three Universal hotels will have the following distinctive icons under Amenities: Golf Course Nearby, Tennis Court Nearby, Children’s Activities. (Other hotels in that area and in the same category don’t carry those icons.) There will be other icons (i.e. Restaurants) listed as well, but other hotels in that category may also have those.
• Portofino Bay will have the Spa icon in addition to the above.
• Royal Pacific will have the Resort icon (an R in a box) in addition to the above but will NOT list “kitchenette.”

If you find that the on-site hotels are still too rich for your blood, don’t worry. We’ll be reviewing some cheaper options in the next post