Is Universal doing away with Pass holder hotels rates?

[Tink3815]

It seems that nothing is available at any time in the summer or fall. Did they always have these rates or is this something they started to fill the hotels during Covid.

 

[Nabas]

It seems that nothing is available at any time in the summer or fall. Did they always have these rates or is this something they started to fill the hotels during Covid.

Universal does seem to be cutting it close to releasing the next set of passholder rates. August 13 seems to be the last date with passholder rates available.

They cut it pretty close the last time too.

The thing is, except for weekends, Universal hotels are almost never full. Late August and early September are a slower period for WDW and Universal. The Universal hotels are not going to be full

In addition, Universal recently raised hotel rates by a lot. (The nights we are watching increased by 15%.) A discount on a 15% increase is still a lot more than Universal's going to collect leaving that room empty.

Although there's no discount for the dates we want in September, we're anticipating Universal releasing the next round of hotel discounts very soon.

 

[georgina]

Still keep checking every day for my dates Aug 14-19. Losing hope for AP rates as Sapphire Falls, Hard Rock, and Portofino Bay didn’t show up with anything available, and RPR only offers the captain’s presidential suite for $1642/nt (savvy traveler rate!)

 

[sheila14]

I will add this: I had a reservation for PBR, bay view with AP for my 3 day weekend no AP club availabl. If I wanted to pay full price I could. I waited and kept looking then bam, I found AP for HRH for my weekend and grabbed that. I still look for PBR almost daily and still nothing and when I check HRH for AP, nothing has been available. I wonder if they are picking and choosing if they want to release dates for us AP or not??? I would hate to “stalk” the AP website for a great rate but you almost have to check everyday and multiple times a day to find something. Keep looking.

 

[Nabas]

It seems that nothing is available at any time in the summer or fall. Did they always have these rates or is this something they started to fill the hotels during Covid.

AP rates have now been released through September 30.

For the Deluxe Resorts, it appears that only the expensive suites have discounts at this time.

 

[lisam70]

I just got standard room at RP for $255 Sept 10-14

 

[tony67]

AP rates for late October seem to also be available - at least for SF, CB and ES - not seeing it for Deluxe or Aventura

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

While I haven't seen them doing away, a lot of chatter on theme park twitter that they cannot nearly get as decent rates as they have prior or it has been very difficult to get reservations OR are only for the hotels with unlimited express pass which even with discounts are still out of some peoples budgets.


I fear they might be doing this until Epic Universe is complete, and if so that is sad i am ngl.

 

[lisam70]

While I haven't seen them doing away, a lot of chatter on theme park twitter that they cannot nearly get as decent rates as they have prior or it has been very difficult to get reservations OR are only for the hotels with unlimited express pass which even with discounts are still out of some peoples budgets.


I fear they might be doing this until Epic Universe is complete, and if so that is sad i am ngl.

Totally agree the $255 I just got is not bad but thats subjective based on I haven't seen much under $300 for a deluxe.
Same room last September was $189

 

[tony67]

Totally agree the $255 I just got is not bad but thats subjective based on I haven't seen much under $300 for a deluxe.
Same room last September was $189

Was just about to say something similar - the rate that I can get for SF is the same as RP was last year. But considering how much more EVERYTHING is to be expected I guess

 

[Mrs.AMC]

No they are not.
I just had them for our stay over July 4th.
I didn't even book the room until June 15th. I know folks seem to think when they don't see them they are gone but that is simply not the case. I see them come and go daily. I'm not sure I've never not found one by checking often. Even at Holiday times.
When I booked, all resorts were available, including all 3 premier resorts.
We booked Portofino.

 

[Nabas]

No they are not.
I just had them for our stay over July 4th.
I didn't even book the room until June 15th. I know folks seem to think when they don't see them they are gone but that is simply not the case. I see them come and go daily. I'm not sure I've never not found one by checking often. Even at Holiday times.
When I booked, all resorts were available, including all 3 premier resorts.
We booked Portofino.

I suspect that as AP holders cancel stays, those rooms are then made available to other AP holders at AP rates.

I think this is why AP rates sometimes appear come and go several times a day.

 

[Beeble]

Yes! I was able to get a great rate for my HHN trip in September. The Cabana Bay rate is as good as it's been the past few years, so no complaints from me.

 

[AJA]

The AP percentage off rate for the value hotels seems to be shrinking,

The AP is available for our dates (Oct 29th-Nov5th) but it is less than $3 difference from the Savvy Traveler rate I made a few months ago.

Our daughter is 18 now so 3 adults in the room at Dockside:
Family Suite Savvy rate $1207.24
Family Suite AP rate $1204.60

Just a reminder for those booking 5+ nights. Get the hotel and room you want early with the Savvy Traveler rate. If the AP is released/is better, you can always cancel and rebook but check the math first.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I suspect that as AP holders cancel stays, those rooms are then made available to other AP holders at AP rates.

I think this is why AP rates sometimes appear come and go several times a day.

They do. As they do with Disney, and any other promo
For some reason, AP seem to panic and see no promo for their dates and think "on no, I can't get a room or there are no more AP promos" because they don't see them on a given day
The moral is, never assume you can't get them just because you don't see them today. You may well see them tomorrow or even later on today.
Never stop checking, till it's simply past your trip, or too late to plan a trip. Rooms always seem to appear.
When we were at the pool at Portofino the staff member told us that they were at 30% occupancy the following week
Discussed it a bit and they are thinking that with the dropping of testing requirements for international travel some folks are cancelling domestic trips and booking international trips. Just a theory at least.

 

[Nabas]

When we were at the pool at Portofino the staff member told us that they were at 30% occupancy the following week

When we were you last at Portofino?

 

[cfoxga]

We have kids in school, so we are limited to Spring Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 4-day school breaks (summer is to hot for us to consider going to FL). For the prior 5 years leading up the Thanksgiving 2021, we never had a problem getting an APH rate for the deluxe hotel we wanted (several weeks in advance). Typically paid $250-300 per night for a regular room.

This year, we've gone over President's Day weekend and Spring Break. I average checking once per day starting at least 3 months prior to the trip, and did not see a single APH rate for a regular room. In one case, I saw a message on the forum about rates opening up for our dates about 6 hours before I checked that day, and they were all gone.

We're going one last time on our APs over Columbus Day and are in the same boat. Booked at PBH at over $500 per night several months ago so we have something. I'm checking every day, but don't have much expectation of getting APH. There are only a couple of days where the deluxe resorts show a room available, so there isn't much incentive for them to offer APH rates then.

 

[Nabas]

We have kids in school, so we are limited to Spring Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 4-day school breaks (summer is to hot for us to consider going to FL). For the prior 5 years leading up the Thanksgiving 2021, we never had a problem getting an APH rate for the deluxe hotel we wanted (several weeks in advance). Typically paid $250-300 per night for a regular room.

This year, we've gone over President's Day weekend and Spring Break. I average checking once per day starting at least 3 months prior to the trip, and did not see a single APH rate for a regular room. In one case, I saw a message on the forum about rates opening up for our dates about 6 hours before I checked that day, and they were all gone.

We're going one last time on our APs over Columbus Day and are in the same boat. Booked at PBH at over $500 per night several months ago so we have something. I'm checking every day, but don't have much expectation of getting APH. There are only a couple of days where the deluxe resorts show a room available, so there isn't much incentive for them to offer APH rates then.

It really does seem that Universal has cut back on AP rates for the Deluxe resorts.

Meanwhile, rack rates for the nights we are planning to book in September went up by 15%!

We've already decided not to renew our Universal AP because of it.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

When we were you last at Portofino?

July 7-10

 

[Nabas]

July 7-10

Based on AP hotel discounts offered at WDW and Universal, it appears as if hotel occupancy might have peaked in June and then started to pullback in July.

Your information that July 7-10 occupancy at Portofino was at 30% is consistent with that.