pstrider85

Anyone able to get free breakfast vouchers (gold status) when booked opaque with third party website (ie. priceline)?

dmarge18

They waived the resort fee (which includes parking) for me last month. They also said if you use points it is waived.

isaifan

How does this work practically? For example, if I book a non-refundable rate, would they charge at check-in, and at that point they remove the fee? Thanks

dmarge18

No idea, since I didn't experience that scenario. I would just call in advance or ask at check-in, tho it probably would just depend on who you get at the desk.

sig05

I'll be staying here this weekend and will update after my stay.

oliver2002

In August 2016 I had booked a Seaworld package for us that included the stay at this property. They didn't charge anything on top and parking was free. HH Gold status was recognised.

sig05

Can confirm resort fee still waived on a points stay.

Edit: Do not book a King Deluxe wet bar room. They have a wood look laminate floor, so the connecting door doesn't reach all the way to the floor. We could hear everything happening in the room next to us. They people were not being unreasonably loud, but anything said by the door is like they were standing in my room. Also, avoid even numbers in Building 9 because it is right by the pool bar.

B767capt

Just finished a 5 night stay. It was awful, I can’t even begin to put a trip report up.

That said, dont stay here. Even as a Diamond it was so awful. There are so many better properties in the area.

dmarge18

Care to elaborate? I had a wonderful stay (minus some early noise from the pool) as a diamond last year.

mikesyr18

I stayed there about a year ago.

Thought I was staying in the tower... Ended up staying in a motel looking room with no fridge. I thought I was paying to stay in a hotel, not a motel, and the fact that I had to pay to park a vehicle is stupid.

The grounds aren't bad, however.

writerguyfl

Sorry, but that's not the hotel's fault. The room descriptions are very good at this property. Those "motel" rooms are all labeled as being accessed via outdoor corridors. Additionally, rooms that include mini-fridges are clearly identified.

Like it or not, paying to park becoming the norm for Orlando-area hotels.

mikesyr18

https://secure3.hilton.com/en_US/dt/...execution=e1s1

Show me "very good descriptions" about how there's a "motel" atmosphere and a regular hotel in another area of the property.

One who has not ever stayed at the property before (myself last year) would not assume the hotel has such a stupid layout of both a tower and motel like rooms together. They would assume they're staying in a tower like a normal hotel. A tiny little pop up window with one little sentence doesn't "clearly" explain the rooms are motel style, especially when one is booking with points and takes the first option, which allows you to bypass that screen completely.

Perhaps Hilton should explain how there's two different types of rooms (hotel and motel-like) on the hotel's main page as well.

Overall, I have loyalty to Hilton and Hyatt - and the grounds were nice at this property so I would consider staying here again, but just in a room within the tower with a mini fridge... 30,000 points/night isn't bad for this property.

writerguyfl

2 Queen Beds-Nonsmoking Room Description (emphasis mine)
"Make yourself at home in this Balinese-inspired two queen beds room, situated in the grounds of our tropical resort along outdoor corridors. Sink into one of two Sweet Dreams® double beds or relax and watch movies on the 32-inch TV. Surf the web with WiFi."

Compared to:
2 Queen Beds-Main Tower-Nonsmoking Room Description (emphasis mine)
" Make yourself at home in this Balinese-inspired room, situated in our 17-story Tower. Sink into one of two queen-sized Sweet Dreams® beds or relax and watch movies on the 42-inch TV. Surf the web with WiFi."

Maybe it's just me, but the terms "outdoor corridors" and "17-story Tower" pretty clearly define the difference.

If you don't feel that's an adequate description, I highly recommend contacting the hotel and providing feedback. I used to work in hotels in a variety of positions, including Reservations. If we had guests who felt as though our marketing text wasn't descriptive enough, I would have wanted to know.

FYI: Standard tower rooms at this hotel do not come with a fridge. To get a fridge, I believe you need to book a room that has a wet bar. Those are only available in the rooms with outdoor corridors or in some of the multi-room suites in the tower.

mikesyr18

That language is out of the way when booking. If someone just wants a room, they might not see the "grounds of our tropical resort along outdoor corridors," language, which I don't believe was there when I booked the hotel anyways. You have to physically click on the room description and read to understand that the room may be outside and not in a tower. Most people who use points will just book the first listed standard room and assume it's in a tower like a normal hotel, since many places only allow standard rooms for point redemption.

Overall, it's not the worst hotel, but doesn't match the Grand Hyatt I stayed in a month ago. The Hyatt I stayed in was a standard room, included a mini-fridge, water, overall better customer service, and a they offered me late checkout... Hilton didn't even ask me if I wanted late checkout despite being Gold, and the room service knocked on my door at 9 am asking if I'm leaving yet.

writerguyfl

I've quite familiar with that hotel. That "outdoor corridors" language has been there for years.

Again this is just my point-of-view, but I'd expect a Grand Hyatt would certainly offer better guest service than a DoubleTree. The Grand Hyatt brand is much higher in the Hyatt branding scheme than DoubleTree is for Hilton.