Room Prices - Do they change and shift much?

[Zombie]

Hello:

We are looking to go down to Universal in the last week of November/first week of December.

We were there the same time last year. We've been looking at prices and starting to prepare to book. We've noticed that the prices last year for the same period, same number of days, same room type, etc. have increased a fair amount. We do understand that this is part of the nature of inflation and exchange rates and just these types of parks price.

However, we're also wondering if Universal tends to shift and change their prices much week-to-week or month-to-month? Or do they pretty much set them for a year or season and that's it?

Last year we booked/reserved our holiday in the first week or so of September. So it was a few weeks later than where we are at now. But we're anxious to book, as we're playing a bit of a 'use points' game and are looking to tally some points to put towards other aspects of the trip. But if Universal has a reputation for shifting and moving prices and the room rates for that period are likely to show as cheaper if we waited a month or so to book -- we might be best off to wait.

If anyone knows if/how/when they set the pricing on their rooms, it'd be appreciated. Right now we're looking at a Courtyard family suite at Cabana Bay again.

Thanks for your help from all your experiences.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We have booked the same week the last two years and this year looks like the resorts are filling up faster. We booked in early Oct for a mid Nov trip last year and got RPR for $255 a night. We booked in May for the same week this year and got it for $230 a night. But right now the SMSM rates are sold out for that week and the seasonal rate is $320 a night. So your experience with it being more expensive jives with what we're seeing for our week. In general, Universal seems to have the lowest rates the farther out you are and they slowly increase as it gets closer. I don't see much variability week to week but there is some month to month, mostly going up. I'm sure they sometimes go down as well (we did see a less expensive view that was not available when we booked become available later, I assume as people cancelled). You can check the AP rates for your week - it may be a better rate. It was not for us.

 

[Mysteryincorp]

We booked the same week. We got a 2Q at RPR under the SMSM rate of $189/night. I’ve been obsessively checking to see if I could get a lower AP rate or an upgrade but it seems like I was extremely lucky to get the rate I did, though I did book very early. I found that the rate stayed stagnant until a month or so ago. Then the 2 Q non club room went up to about $220/night and then about a month ago, only club rooms were available. I’m hoping this doesn’t mean a busy week as we went the first week of December last year and it was great crowd wise. Long story short, it seems that’s booking early is your best bet. RPR has a club rooms available for around $220/night and that seeems to be a fairly average AP rate.

 

[pf226]

I'm looking to go in October and 2 days ago I was getting $190 USD for Cabana Bay Volcano View room and now it's up to $240 USD/day. So I'm super bummed about that.

 

[Monykalyn]

I did keep checking. Sapphire falls didn’t have any availability for days I wanted in September month ago, then only seasonal rate for higher level rooms- now APH rate back for regular rooms!