TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Good Points * Diego at check in was helpful & friendly * The hotel was beautiful, quite remarkable with stunning grounds * Spacious rooms overlooking the bay with balconies (very lucky to get balconies!) * Complimentary tea tray with a kettle, fresh milk & a packet of chocolate Hob Nobs, yummy! * Good housekeeping & turn down service with 2 small bottles of water daily * Excellent boat transportation to the parks * Lovely walk into the parks (call into the market place Emack & Bolio’s in the Hard Rock Hotel for better pastries & snacks) * Free orange juice & chilled water dispensers just off the lobby were much appreciated * The free sun cream, after sun lotion & iced water dispensers by the beach pool were fantastic * The pool loungers were super comfortable * Excellent lifeguards at the beach pool, very vigilant * The air of excitement in the hotel was palpable, very exciting! * The gelateria was great, lovely to enjoy an evening ice cream in the piazza * The evening opera performance from the balcony in the piazza was wonderful * The TV channels were excellent, every night there were at least 4/5 movies to choose from on the regular channels * Alexa Perez, the VIP coordinator was super attentive & checked in on us during our stay Points to improve * Our room wasn’t ready until 4.45pm, 4pm is already too late without the added extra time * The young lady working in the Universal ticket booth just off the lobby was extremely sullen and unhelpful, very unusual in Orlando * The toilet would be much better separated in the bathroom * The pool areas could do with an upgrade, particularly the paving, it felt slightly grubby * There were only a few umbrellas available at each of the 3 pools, nowhere near enough in the baking hot sunshine - this was probably the thing that was most annoying! In summary we really enjoyed our stay at the Portofino bay & would 100% return. The good points definitely outweigh the not so good points. I would give the hotel 4.5 stars, we preferred it to the Hard Rock hotel & are already looking forward to visiting again!

We came down to celebrate my daughter’s 28th birthday and law school acceptance by staying at her favorite UOR hotel. The VIP team at Portofino totally went the extra mile and make my daughter’s birthday extra special! When we got to the room, the VIP team had left us some snacks and wine. If that weren’t enough, they also surprised us with a birthday and law school celebration cake which was absolutely delicious! We love Portofino and are already making plans to head back! Thank you SO much to the entire VIP team!

The hotel looks nice, but I had two terrible experiences. First, the check-in instructions were completely off; they sent an SMS saying the room was in the West Wing near Bice restaurant, but room 1337 is actually in the East Wing, which left us wandering around for a while. Second, when we went to shower, there was a clump of hair on the tile. Absolutely disgusting.

My name is Guilherme Vargas, and I am writing this review to report a very upsetting experience my family and I had at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, at Universal Orlando Resort, on the day of our checkout. We were staying at the hotel with our two young children, ages six and three. Our room charges had already been paid in advance before our stay. On checkout day, the only remaining charges were for breakfast at the hotel buffet and one bottle of water consumed in the room. What should have been a simple checkout process turned into one of the most stressful and humiliating experiences we have ever had in a hotel. After breakfast, I tried to return to our room but could not open the door. A housekeeping employee was passing through the hallway, and I explained the situation. She contacted security and told me someone would come to assist me. I waited for approximately 30 minutes, but nobody arrived. Since no one came, I went to meet my wife and children at the hotel pool. After I explained what had happened, my wife decided to go to the front desk to check out and resolve the issue while I stayed with our children. We remained at the pool for about an hour and a half. When we later returned to the room to shower, pack up, and leave the hotel, we found my wife sitting on the floor in the hallway, still unable to enter the room. She explained that she had gone to the front desk and was told that there was nothing wrong with the room keys. She was also informed that the final charges would be processed on the card registered at check-in and that she did not need to worry. However, when she returned to the room, the key still did not work. She called the front desk from her cell phone and was told that security was on the way to help her open the door. Again, no one arrived for a long time. Eventually, another housekeeping employee noticed the situation and stopped to ask whether she needed help. After hearing what had happened, he contacted the hotel internally and discovered that there had been a problem with the card on file. My wife then went back to the front desk and questioned why this had not been checked the first time she went there. If it had been handled properly from the beginning, she would not have been left waiting in the hallway for so long. She then provided another card, confirmed that all outstanding charges related to our room had been paid, and was given a new key. Unfortunately, when she returned to the room, the new key still did not work. By the time I came back from the pool with our children, my wife was still sitting on the hallway floor waiting for security. From the moment I first requested assistance after breakfast until that point, we had spent approximately two hours in total waiting for someone from security to help us access our room. I went to the concierge and explained that we urgently needed to enter the room. I also explained that, because of the hotel’s delay and lack of coordination, we needed at least one extra hour before leaving the room so we could shower, bathe our children, and get ready to continue our trip. The concierge granted us the extra hour and said that the head of security was on his way. When I returned to the room, I found the head of security arguing with my wife while the door was still closed. My wife was with our two small children, who witnessed the entire situation without understanding what was happening, as the conversation was in English and they only speak Portuguese. They were visibly anxious and upset. According to my wife, the head of security arrived with a very aggressive attitude. He repeatedly demanded that she confirm there had been a payment problem and insisted on confirming her identity. She explained several times that our documents were inside the room and that she needed to enter the room to retrieve them. A housekeeping supervisor, who had previously tried to help my wife, told the security manager that my wife’s identity had already been confirmed. Instead of helping, the security manager questioned his own colleague about how she had confirmed it and continued acting in an intimidating and unhelpful manner. When I arrived with the key that had been provided by the front desk, I was finally able to open the room door. My wife was extremely upset after waiting for so long and after being treated in such a distressing way. She expressed her frustration firmly, but she did not insult or physically threaten the security manager. Even so, he told her that she had been rude and warned her that if it happened again, she would be removed from the building. We have traveled to Orlando many times and have visited many places around the world, but we have never been treated this way. We felt as if we were being treated like criminals. My wife was left shaken and in tears, and our children were also deeply affected. They kept saying that they never wanted to return to that hotel again. Before leaving, we decided to report everything to a hotel supervisor, not because we wanted any compensation, but because we sincerely wanted the hotel to be aware of what happened and to prevent the same thing from happening to other families. Shockingly, after all the discomfort we had already experienced, we were told we would need to wait in line just to provide feedback. My wife eventually spoke with someone in a supervisory role and made it clear that we were not asking for anything from the hotel. We only wanted the situation to be formally acknowledged. The response was simply an apology. No notes appeared to be taken, and there was no indication that the incident would be properly documented or addressed. This was, without question, the worst treatment we have ever received at a hotel. What should have been a beautiful family trip to Orlando became a traumatic experience for our children, who now associate that hotel with fear, stress, and humiliation. I sincerely hope hotel management takes this kind of situation seriously, because no guest, especially a family with young children, should ever be treated this way.

This resort has gone downhill. We have stayed here maybe 6-7 times. Life guards swearing at the pool; dirty pools; hard mattresses. Today we waited nearly 40 minutes for the bus service back from epic universe. Other resorts had multiple buses come through in that period of time and nothing for the Portofino. Surfside resort, for example, had no less than seven buses. Buses only showed up for us once we texted the hotel as a group to complain. And the bus driver they sent was surly when we told him we’ve been waiting a long time, he just made a grunting sound and looked away. Get your act together Portofino and Universal. People pay a lot of money to stay at this supposed “luxury” resort, so start acting like one. Do I feel this resort is worth the premium to stay here? Not any more. Not after this trip.