WTM 2017 NEWS YOU CAN USE


Universal plans two ‘value’ hotels


Ben Ireland ben.ireland@travelweekly.co.uk


Universal Orlando Resort is to open two hotels, both of which will have rooms available for no more than $100 per night.


The yet-to-be-named hotels


will be situated in the former Wet n’ Wild Orlando area of the park, near Universal Boulevard, and offer 2,800 rooms between them. The first, 750-room, property


will open in summer 2019, to be followed by a 2,050-room hotel by the end of 2020. At least half of the “value-driven”


rooms will be two-bed family suites, able to accommodate up


ORLANDO: Artist’s impression of Universal’s two-hotel complex


to six people. The hotels will offer free shuttles to Universal’s parks and guests will be able to enter an hour earlier than visitors who are not staying on site. Once both hotels are fully open, Universal Orlando Resort will have


9,000 on-site rooms. Reservations will be accepted from early 2018. Frank Belzer, the resort’s senior sales vice-president, said the hotels were likely to be themed. He told Travel Weekly: “Our


customers have asked for a certain


price point and that is what we’re building the hotels towards. This is all based on our research, which shows us that we need to provide a hotel for a segment of the market that is more price-conscious.” Belzer said the new hotels would be appealing to UK customers, given the pound’s recent drop in value against the US dollar. And he said Universal Orlando


was striving to increase the average length of stay, adding: “It’s a full week’s vacation.” Universal also plans to open


600-room hotel Aventura at the Orlando park next August, while water theme park Volcano Bay


opened earlier this year. universaltravelagents.com


16 November 2017 travelweekly.co.uk 27


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