Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando

The theme of this vacation was Inconvenience after inconvenience. We checked in for a 6 night stay on a Saturday. No issues with check-in but they did make us aware there was construction happening on the floor below us from "9-3". This information was not provided at booking obviously. Mind you we paid for a club level room which supposedly came with additional amenities, but I'll get to those "special perks" later. The construction was not from 9am to 3pm. Drills and hammers started before 9am on a couple days and well after 5pm on others. They also seem to consistently set off fire alarms in the middle of the day that last for an hour in case you planned on staying in for a day. Our reservation also clearly stated shuttle service to SeaWorld. When we checked in the front desk attendant said to just coordinate it with the concierge when we wanted to go. But after we talk with the concierge, "sorry we don't offer that". Great, why include outdated information on your reservation then? Although we truly believe she just lied because SeaWorld definitely had shuttle buses running through. The "Rock Royalty Perks" were the most underwhelming, poorly timed, perks we've ever seen at a resort and we're consistently club level vacationers. The complimentary breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, deli ham and cheese, 3 tiny bowls of the least popular fruit you can think of, and carbs on top of carbs. No meat, no cooked potatoes, not even a waffle maker which you can find at any holiday inn in the U.S. it also only lasts from 8-10am so if you want to beat the unsupervised screaming children who overload their plates to take one bite of everything and then waste the rest... Get there early. The rest of the lounge hours are 1 to 2 hours and even worse with selection. Snack hour consists of bagged chips. Literally that's it. My favorite is the late night desserts that last for 1 hour with chocolate chip, m&m stale cookies, a 9x9 pan of brownies, and mini cupcakes that again, the kids ransack before 8:15. Like many other reviews have said, club level is not worth the extra money. It's almost laughable. The worst part of this stay thus far is they put us in an adjoining room. I don't know if all the rooms are adjoining on the club level but if they're not or not fully booked, why you would put a couple next to 2 different families that use screaming as their inside voices is beyond me. We actually had to call security one night because the parents very obviously left their kids in the room alone, probably went to the bar, and their kids were fighting and screaming at each other at the top of their lungs, slamming doors at 12:30am. It went on for 45 minutes. We never heard security actually come up like they said they would. It's Saturday at 7am as I write this and the mother has been screaming about the shower for the past 45 minutes. Thank God we check out today and I truly feel sorry for whoever gets this room. It has far surpassed annoying and became intolerable. The only positives I can note about this stay that were unfortunately overshadowed by the above comments is the housekeeping team is great, they're timely and kind. The room service although incredibly expensive is also quick, convenient and food was well made. It was convenient to be so close to walk to the parks and the water taxi was super convenient but all of the universal hotels have one. One last thing to mention is we had experienced extremely cold weather this week. I cannot say the hotel was prepared to deal with that. I'm pretty sure the air conditioning was still on in all the common areas instead of the heat and it was freezing inside as well as outside. We'll be back to universal in the future but we'll definitely be staying elsewhere for the reasons stated above. The inconveniences we've experienced are not in line with the money we paid to stay here. Read less

This review is for visiting Jan. 25 and it was a mixed bag experience. This is a nice looking hotel as it has a beautiful pool, terrace, and a big pool bar eating area under cover. However, beware there is construction going on the 6th floor! I have no Idea how long it will last. We were put on the 5th floor so, I think we got the brunt of the noise. The first day we stayed it was tolerable, it sounded like they were working by hand on removing bathroom tile. However, the next two days were much much worse. Loud Jack hammering and drilling. One person in our group had to work on thier computer and be on calls through all that banging (it was nearly impossible to hear). Also, at various times the water was shut off. My son couldn't take a shower. This morning an alarm woke everyone up around 8:00 am with a repeat recording saying "Warning, we are investigating a potential emergency and to stay by the intercom for further notice." That message ran for about ten to fifteen minutes and all I wanted to do do was put a pillow over my head to drown out the noise. They did offer everyone in our party a free breakfast buffet at the Kitchen and they took off our parking fee. But, gee there was no mention of this "construction" on their website when booking. We only were told about it when we arrived. So, be forwarded!! As a side note: the food was good at the Velvet Lounge and the Kitchen (a bit pricey though, we ate breakfast and supper there). We are all looking forward to going home and being able to get some rest (it has definitely been a "vacation" that turned out differently than we expected). As a side note for anyone that has to do a working vacation. The noise at times can even be heard in the lobby. I wish they had sockets to plug into on the terrace (for computer use) (but they don't). On the day we checked out she still needed to work all that day. So, on her break we traveled over to Royal Pacific, thinking it would be quieter. It was, however, all the hotels lobby's internet is really lousy! We did not know that you receive a better internet quality with a room number. So, that day we should have stayed at the Hard Rock and tried working in the area entering the gym (as it is quieter there. The internet at the Royal kept cutting out on her and it ended up being very stressful workday. Read less

My family spent the whole day at Universal Studios, and around 8 PM, we returned to the hotel to rest. The toilet was broken, and the dog in the next room kept barking nonstop. I called the front desk to request a room change, but they said there were no available rooms. The plumber couldn’t fix the toilet and said he would bring parts but never returned. I called the front desk multiple times, but every time a different person answered, so I had to explain the situation again and again. I couldn’t use the bathroom while waiting for the plumber, and I couldn’t rest either. I was so exhausted that I thought it would be better to find another hotel, so I asked for a refund. Only then did they finally offer to change my room. Even then, the dog in the neighboring room continued barking without stopping. I was moved to a new room at 11 PM. Is it reasonable to wait for the toilet to be fixed for three hours? The customer service at this high-end hotel, which costs nearly $900 a night, was awful Read less

I’m writing this review whilst still staying at this hotel. First off, the positivity, superb location for the parks. Literally 5 minute walk from the back gate to universal studios. Hotel is very clean. Rooms are also very clean. Housekeeping is very accommodating if you wish to have a lay in bed later they will clean the room later on. We are staying in room 7089 which is a club room. I don’t think the club room is worth the extra cost. The food you receive is ok. Nothing special. That’s if you can fight your way through the crowds of children surrounding the buffet area. The negative……we were told upon check in that there are building works happening between 9-5pm daily on the floor below. This wasn’t advertised when booking our stay. The noise is absolutely dreadful. Major drilling for hours on end. Came home from the parks one afternoon to find there was no running water for 4 hours. We asked reception why we weren’t told and we were just told that the receptionist at check in should have given us a piece of paper to explain the times when the water is off. This is really poor for a hotel chain like this. We’ve paid just over $4000 for this stay and the only benefit of this hotel is having the express pass. Otherwise, it’s probably more worth while to stay on Idrive and say 50% on your costs. Read less

We stayed at hard rock hotel New Year’s Eve. It was a special family treat for one nigh as over £920 for on night. The room was quite dated but a reasonable size and clean. The good thing is this allowed the family fast passes for the rides at universal. We had to purchase the universal pass first but this saved us hours queuing for the rides. We considered spending New Year’s Eve at the hotel but they wanted over $110 per person for a party in the foyer. Obviously everyone else felt this was overpriced too for the location so no one appeared to turn up, only DJ. After midnight it was full (think they opened it FOC eventually?) We had been offered breakfast at “the kitchen” when checked in for $32 each which we considered but unsure if we’d be up in time. The lady said we could pay the following day should we prefer to do that. At 10am we went to the kitchen, happy to pay the $32 each for breakfast buffet. We were now informed $65 each!! More than doubled overnight!! Needless to stay if it hadn’t been for the fast passes we would have been most upset with the experience. Not likely we’d stay or recommend this hotel again. Read less