TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

We visited Universal for four days and chose this resort because we heard it was good for families. For a hotel that has been in business for so long they are cutting corners. Beginning with our arrival, they have a hotel shuttle that picks you up from the airport only to drop you off on the first floor back entrance with all your luggage and no welcome or direction of where to go. We had to follow some other hotel guests that let us in using their keycard. With three kids and five pieces of luggage, we made our way through the first floor asking directions of how to go to the lobby for check-in which was on a different floor. When I mentioned this to the concierge, he told me that they don’t allow buses to their main entrance. This is a resort hotel in which many families are arriving from the airport and don’t have a car. We weren’t the only family arriving that day via shuttle bus as I’m sure many families do. If this is your policy, you should have a little gate hut with a porter at the entrance you are expecting the shuttles to arrive welcoming you with a trolley to take your luggage. It felt as if we were second rate guests sneaking in through the back door, no welcome nothing. After finally finding our way to the elevators and up to the lobby, we find out that we’re in a room on the second floor all the way at the end of the wings… they only have one main elevator bank, and if your room is on the opposite end, you have to lug all of your suitcases there yourself. No one even offered to bring our luggage up for us. As for the food, there is only one main restaurant called “the kitchen“. The service here is good, but the buffet is minimal and could use more variety as it is a resort and the main place for dining and was the same every day…. Possibly add a carving station, lox, salad station. Lastly, for a 5 person room they only give you shampoo and body wash for like half your body let alone 5 people. Then on the last day we rented a car from Avis (located in the lobby of the hotel) to drive to Miami and the car that we reserved was given to another family. When we complained they told us there is nothing they can do as they are not affiliated with the rental car company. VERY DISAPPOINTING STAY!!!

The room came with an express pass for Universal which was very convenient. Pool was nice and had a dj. Restaurants were decent. I was mostly disappointed in the quality of the room. For 800 a night I expected a higher quality room. The couch had tears and just was not taken care of. There were stains on unused towels. It felt unclean. The hotel had its benefits like good restaurants, nice pools, express pass, but it felt disgusting returning to the room.

I am quite dissatisfied with the customer service at the Hard Rock Hotel Orlando. I booked a room for an upcoming stay and I was charged 1 night as a deposit on my credit card - perfectly fine. This deposit was refundable according to their policy, meaning if I cancelled it would be refunded. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the stay, but there is no trace of the deposit so far. The Hard Rock Hotel Orlando or its parent company Loews Hotels has not yet managed to refund my money. What I have tried so far: I have contacted the front desk staff at the Hard Rock Hotel Orlando directly. They told me that there was an error message when they tried to refund the deposit to my credit card. It was really strange that I was not contacted immediately. Do they think that we guests won't notice? I was then told to contact their Accounting Department. This is what I did (btw: weeks ago), whereupon I received the same message. They said they were having difficulties refunding the amount back to my credit card. I was then asked to send my bank details so that they could send me the money back by wire transfer. Which I did. Since then ( I have sent several more emails to the Lows Accounting Department) I have heard nothing from them. They are literally ghosting me. I'm really at my wit's end here. What a frustrating experience.

It may be the biggest Hard Rock but the experience remains very familiar - burgers fries and more with film memorabilia. Great service and sensibly priced. An institution that’s perfect for families. Appreciated the photo taking on entry and got a nice family momento.

The location of the hotel was the best. We took the boat shuttle to Studios just so I could show my kids how short the walk was. We walked back in the rain and walked to islands for early entry the next day. The Express Passes were great. Hated waiting an hour for Hagrids. We got one of the Rock N Roll suites. Couch was old and worn and sprinkler leaked from the ceiling leaving a puddle on the floor. Luggage, valet, and concierge were all great with the later getting me a reservation at Chocolate Emporium when there weren’t showing any on their site. Restaurants were not suitable for my kids. Expensive stay but I guess express passes and location made it worth it despite the issues. They even tried to make it more money by charging me for a water bottle I didn’t take. With a call it was removed however, luckily I checked my credit card charges as it wasn’t on my checkout bill.