PORTOFINO BAY HOTEL INFO...FAQ`s and more.......

With a 1 night club level stay -
How does the access to the lounge operate?
Is it available from check in or when room is ready?
Can we utilise on day 2 past breakfast?
 
With a 1 night club level stay -
How does the access to the lounge operate?
Is it available from check in or when room is ready?
Can we utilise on day 2 past breakfast?

As soon as you check in you can use the lounge, the room key will activate the door.

Officially it`s up until checkout on the day you leave, but if you speak to the manager if they`re not busy they may or may not allow you access a little later.

And it`s around 10 to 15 minute walk from the parks depending on you pace of course.....and no, the resort is quite easy to get around, it is fairly well spread out, but easy to navigate (saw your questions on the other board)
 
As soon as you check in you can use the lounge, the room key will activate the door.

Officially it`s up until checkout on the day you leave, but if you speak to the manager if they`re not busy they may or may not allow you access a little later.

And it`s around 10 to 15 minute walk from the parks depending on you pace of course.....and no, the resort is quite easy to get around, it is fairly well spread out, but easy to navigate (saw your questions on the other board)

Thankyou very much & also for the extra info
(My additional lack of navigational skills thoughts!)
 


Has anyone rented a villa pool cabana recently? Did you think it was worth it? We have a late flight home and I'm thinking of renting one for the afternoon. This would be in July.

I'm wondering if they book up completely as I think I'd rather make this a last minute decision. There seem to be a lot of them.
 
Has anyone rented a villa pool cabana recently? Did you think it was worth it? We have a late flight home and I'm thinking of renting one for the afternoon. This would be in July.

I'm wondering if they book up completely as I think I'd rather make this a last minute decision. There seem to be a lot of them.

We rented a main pool cabana (I think there are only 3) a few weeks ahead of time. I was told over the phone that I could cancel day of if I wanted to, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to do it ahead of time and then cancel if you change your mind.

Granted, we went in April, but even the cabanas at the main pool seemed available day of.

We felt the cabana rental was a splurge that was fun and worth it, but not necessary. (Again, this was in April so the pool was probably less crowded)
 
Not sure if this is unusual or not but today the villa pool was completely empty when I was there. It was around noon till 2 pm and I was all alone. It was a very hot day today also. It was wonderful and the pool is absolutely beautiful.
 


I bought one gift card and I'm planning to buy a couple more to pay off the remaining balance for our room once we arrive so a large amount won't get charged to our credit card. I also planned to just charge items back to our room and then pay them off with a gift card. But I thought I read it is difficult to pay off a balance this way. Is this true? Should I contact the hotel and ask and see about paying our room in full before we arrive?
I know it really doesn't matter when and how I pay because the money all comes out of the same account, but I prefer to have my vacations paid for ahead of time so we don't have a huge credit card bill afterwards.
I've done this for our past Disney trips and it's worked out great, but I don't know how it all works for Universal.
 
I bought one gift card and I'm planning to buy a couple more to pay off the remaining balance for our room once we arrive so a large amount won't get charged to our credit card. I also planned to just charge items back to our room and then pay them off with a gift card. But I thought I read it is difficult to pay off a balance this way. Is this true? Should I contact the hotel and ask and see about paying our room in full before we arrive?
I know it really doesn't matter when and how I pay because the money all comes out of the same account, but I prefer to have my vacations paid for ahead of time so we don't have a huge credit card bill afterwards.
I've done this for our past Disney trips and it's worked out great, but I don't know how it all works for Universal.


Call the hotel directly and they will send you over a form. We pay in advance all the time and it’s so easy. You fax the form back with your reservation number and a copy of your drivers license and a copy of the card you want to pay with.
 
Booked two garden view rooms at PBH for later this month, do I have any option for a balcony or patio in this category? If not what room category would have this option (if any)? TIA :)

We’ve had garden view in the past and had a patio facing the bocce ball court. If it’s slow you could ask for an upgrade to bay view. We’ve done this also and have gotten a balcony. It can’t hurt to ask.
 
We’ve had garden view in the past and had a patio facing the bocce ball court. If it’s slow you could ask for an upgrade to bay view. We’ve done this also and have gotten a balcony. It can’t hurt to ask.

Thanks so much - we are not particular about the view but a place to sit outside would be great! Going to call today :)
 
I bought one gift card and I'm planning to buy a couple more to pay off the remaining balance for our room once we arrive so a large amount won't get charged to our credit card. I also planned to just charge items back to our room and then pay them off with a gift card. But I thought I read it is difficult to pay off a balance this way. Is this true? Should I contact the hotel and ask and see about paying our room in full before we arrive?
I know it really doesn't matter when and how I pay because the money all comes out of the same account, but I prefer to have my vacations paid for ahead of time so we don't have a huge credit card bill afterwards.
I've done this for our past Disney trips and it's worked out great, but I don't know how it all works for Universal.
I had my gift cards upon check-in and also tried to go mid-trip and the desk person pretty much wouldn't take them. Now, I didn't press or make a fuss and just figured I would do it at check out.
Unfortunately, we had 9 Universal gift cards (3 kids, each had two gift cards, I bought 2, family friend gave us 1). The guy at the desk had to run them through one of those dial up credit card machines individually and then do something else on the computer to apply it to the room bill. It took some time. He was friendly, but he did seem a little annoyed (although he was trying not to be annoyed at me). I would not do it again.
 
I bought one gift card and I'm planning to buy a couple more to pay off the remaining balance for our room once we arrive so a large amount won't get charged to our credit card. I also planned to just charge items back to our room and then pay them off with a gift card. But I thought I read it is difficult to pay off a balance this way. Is this true? Should I contact the hotel and ask and see about paying our room in full before we arrive?
I know it really doesn't matter when and how I pay because the money all comes out of the same account, but I prefer to have my vacations paid for ahead of time so we don't have a huge credit card bill afterwards.
I've done this for our past Disney trips and it's worked out great, but I don't know how it all works for Universal.

If you want to use your GC I think you can't do it ahead. I always use them, I just find a time when it is not busy to go to the desk and apply them to my charges. I have not been able to preload them at checkin, I have had to wait until later in the trip to apply them. It does take some time, so I usually just use the GC in the parks at restaurants etc rather than charge back to the room (so fewer GC to run at the front desk that way).
 
Call the hotel directly and they will send you over a form. We pay in advance all the time and it’s so easy. You fax the form back with your reservation number and a copy of your drivers license and a copy of the card you want to pay with.

They emailed me the information and I filled it out and submitted it. On Saturday my charge card had a pending charge from the hotel for $1, but now it's not showing anything. How long does it normally take for the charge to go through? I did it on Saturday afternoon.

I had my gift cards upon check-in and also tried to go mid-trip and the desk person pretty much wouldn't take them. Now, I didn't press or make a fuss and just figured I would do it at check out.
Unfortunately, we had 9 Universal gift cards (3 kids, each had two gift cards, I bought 2, family friend gave us 1). The guy at the desk had to run them through one of those dial up credit card machines individually and then do something else on the computer to apply it to the room bill. It took some time. He was friendly, but he did seem a little annoyed (although he was trying not to be annoyed at me). I would not do it again.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I decided to go ahead and try to use my credit card to pay 1/2 of what we owe and then pay off the remaining balance with a gift card before we check out. We'll just use gift cards in the parks instead of charging back to the room.

If you want to use your GC I think you can't do it ahead. I always use them, I just find a time when it is not busy to go to the desk and apply them to my charges. I have not been able to preload them at checkin, I have had to wait until later in the trip to apply them. It does take some time, so I usually just use the GC in the parks at restaurants etc rather than charge back to the room (so fewer GC to run at the front desk that way).

Thank you, I think we'll use one of the gift cards to buy stuff in the parks instead of charging it to our room so I'll only have 1 gift card to run at the front desk to pay off the balance on the room. And I will make sure to visit the front desk when it's not busy so that I'm not taking up a lot of time for other visitors.
 
rocky41102 said:
Anyone know the approximate cost to add club level to a room at checkin if it is available?

We have been charged between fifty and one hundred dollars per day.
We have been going the past ten years to PB and have never been told it was sold out.

fwiw, we were at PB last week and the entire hotel was sold out so there were no upgrades available to club level. I guess it just depends on when your stay is.
 
rocky41102 said:
Anyone know the approximate cost to add club level to a room at checkin if it is available?



fwiw, we were at PB last week and the entire hotel was sold out so there were no upgrades available to club level. I guess it just depends on when your stay is.

Yep, that’s why we always tell people if they want Club Level, book it at the time........

We do hear of people wanting to upgrade on check in but there is no availability.......people shouldn’t rely on it being available.......
 
has anyone heard if PBH is scheduled for any room refresh / refurb this year? We met a nice family last week who are frequent visitors to this resort and they indicated this was the case, but other than that, have not heard elsewhere. I did notice the hallway carpet looked sort of "tired" and bubbled as compared to our last trip a number of years ago, so just wondering ...
 
has anyone heard if PBH is scheduled for any room refresh / refurb this year? We met a nice family last week who are frequent visitors to this resort and they indicated this was the case, but other than that, have not heard elsewhere. I did notice the hallway carpet looked sort of "tired" and bubbled as compared to our last trip a number of years ago, so just wondering ...

I didn’t hear it was this year, but it is due for an update.
 

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