TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal is one of the best hotels we’ve ever stayed at, there’s truly nothing negative to say about it. Yes, it’s on the expensive side, but it includes Express Passes for all guests in the room, which is an incredible perk, especially if your party was planning to purchase Express Passes anyway. The boat ride to the parks (with security screening completed before boarding at the hotel) is not only fun, but also a major convenience. It makes entering the parks seamless and far less hectic. I recommend it 100%. If you can afford it, just go for it, you won’t regret it.

Very nice. Food was very expensive and not very good .i found some of the staff were not very knowledgeable.

This hotel has a beautiful setting and really feels like you could be in Italy. We were upgraded to a water view room which was lovely. The room itself was very clean but basic. Would have liked bath robes and slippers and a few other luxuries for the price paid. We did pay for club lounge access on arrival for $150 for 2 adults and 2 children per night . This was definitely worth it for us for a quick breakfast each morning, sometimes taken with us to eat for an early park admission, we had lunch 1 day in the lounge but were generally in the parks, back for afternoon snacks and dinner most nights. On a couple of nights we had Sal’s pizza and ate in the lounge with the free drinks. Nice to be able to help yourself to cans of drinks and bottle water. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate with cookies and cakes between 8-9pm. A relaxing haven after busy park days. The family pool area was lovely and attentive staff taking orders for drinks and food around the pool. The boat transfer to the parks from the hotel made this stay extra special. Used the bus once to get to Epic. The free unlimited express passes were essential as this reduced the ride times by half. Couldn’t imagine having to wait 3+ hours for some rides without them. We secured this hotel on hotels.com a year before visiting. Noticed the price does increase dramatically nearer the time so suggest booking early.

Portofino Bay is a reasonably comfortable hotel and fairly convenient to two of the three non-water Universal parks. However, my stay ultimately warrants only a two-star review. The hotel seems fine when things go smoothly, but when they do not, you get apologies without meaningful help. I would book the Hard Rock Hotel instead. It is significantly closer to the parks, making walking much easier than waiting for the boats, which are pleasant but slow at peak times. Since both Hard Rock and Portofino use buses for Epic, neither has a real location advantage for that park. Problem 1: Noise and “upgrade” On my last night, the hotel hosted a large outdoor event in the bay area with loud music blasting until about 10 p.m., making it impossible for my daughter to sleep. The only reason our room faced the bay was because we were “upgraded” from a garden view; I would have declined had I known. Even with earbuds, the bass was vibrating the bed, and multiple calls to staff produced no clear end time. I was also told the pool often has loud music until around 11 p.m. If you stay here and go to bed early or have young kids, insist on a quiet room away from any music. Problem 2: Billing and credits I booked through Amex FHR, which included free breakfast and a 100-dollar credit, and the hotel’s billing system was a mess. I had two rooms (one for my parents). On day one, both rooms charged a cup of gelato to the room, which we were told would be covered by the 100-dollar credit: one room got no credit, the other had the gelato covered but not the tax. Breakfast had similar issues, including an 85-dollar credit that apparently does not cover gratuities, which no one mentioned. These were just a few of several confusing charges. Worse, staff seemed unable to see or explain how credits were applied. One person said a “VIP coordinator” would fix it on checkout day—nothing happened. Several employees said they could not see the credits at all. A manager initially insisted the bill was correct, but when I asked her to pull the original restaurant checks and show where the 100 dollars went, she admitted she had no idea. After 30 minutes at checkout, I gave up, left a written explanation, and was told it would be fixed. When the final charges hit my card, one room was actually 7 dollars higher, and the other was unchanged. The total discrepancy is about 60 dollars, not enough to justify hours of fighting, but unacceptably disorganized for a hotel at this level. Problem 3: Poor follow-up Service recovery was terrible. The front desk manager argued instead of investigating. My post-stay survey produced a long “We’re sorry, but we won’t be doing anything” response. Two days ago, I emailed to request revised final bills and a breakdown of how credits were applied, and I have received nothing.

This holiday was amazing, the hotel, rooms, choice of restaurants, the opera singers every evening…just amazing.