Which universal express hotel?

**Dendycat** · 18 Sep 21, 01:10 PM

So we potentially have a bonus trip in April (2021 flights pushed back).
We are doing 8 nights at universal and then 6 nights DVC resort only stay.
At universal, I have two rooms reserved
1) PBH garden room
2) RPR Club
We’ve stayed RPR club before and loved it. It would be an extra £105 per day over the PBH garden room (family of 4). We’ve never stayed at PBH before and are keen to try it but don’t know whether we might be best staying where we know and love (especially the week before Easter). PBH club is currently not an option as far too expensive.
Anybody done both that could give me their thoughts?

**Claudette** · 19 Sep 21, 08:42 AM

We have stayed in both, although not club level at RPR. There are only two of us and club level was £60 per day which didn’t seem worth it to us as we like to have meals out so would really only go for breakfast.

Portofino Bay is undoubtedly a higher quality hotel. We opted for a king suite at RPR so we had lots of space however if we had a RPR standard room, I believe it would have been much smaller than a Portofino Bay standard room. The bathroom in our suite was the same as found in a standard room and was a fair bit smaller than a Portofino Bay bathroom.

Although I can objectively see that Portofino Bay is a higher quality hotel, we had several service issues there which has put us off a bit. Also whilst it isn’t much further to walk on paper, whilst at RPR we walked to the parks twice a day every day, whereas at Portofino Bay we would not have done that, in fact we usually took the boat. This was admittedly partly due to time of year as it was much hotter when we did the PB trip.

Our choice now that we have done both is definitely RPR, in fact I have planned and replanned trips a few times in the last 18 months and it is our default choice now. Had I not been to Portofino Bay, then I would probably be interested to try it. So in your shoes, I might fall that way.

Jimsdadhalifax · 20 Sep 21, 08:32 PM

We love RPR - it was our favourite hotel that we had stayed at before we stayed at Portofino

The main pool at PBH is better than the one at RPR and you also have the option of the quieter main pool for a change

The rooms are nicer and larger at PBH

The extra distance for walking is a downside in the hot afternoon sun, it still is not that far and not a deal breaker imo - the boat is always the better option anyway

There is nothing wrong with RPR. It is beautiful and everything about it is great. We didn't consider PBH for quite a few years and always stayed at RPR or Hard Rock, but once we stayed at PBH it was the favourite. Even my kids love it.

20 Sep 21, 08:32 PM	#3
	20 Sep 21, 08:32 PM Jimsdadhalifax Very Serious Dibber
Jimsdadhalifax Very Serious Dibber Join Date: Jul 10	We love RPR - it was our favourite hotel that we had stayed at before we stayed at Portofino The main pool at PBH is better than the one at RPR and you also have the option of the quieter main pool for a change The rooms are nicer and larger at PBH The extra distance for walking is a downside in the hot afternoon sun, it still is not that far and not a deal breaker imo - the boat is always the better option anyway There is nothing wrong with RPR. It is beautiful and everything about it is great. We didn't consider PBH for quite a few years and always stayed at RPR or Hard Rock, but once we stayed at PBH it was the favourite. Even my kids love it.