Priceline Hotel: Resort Orlando (Disney Maingate-Celebration) Omni at Championsgate

[lovingmom]

Ok. I have to say I am a little disappointed because I was really trying for the Hyatt Grand Cypress that everyone else has been getting through June & July. I tried bidding 3 different days following the same strategy that someone else had used that got that resort for $62. Each day I used up all the rebids by adding the zones up to my max of $62 but was rejected each time. So, I figured I was going to have to go a little higher and decided I would up my max to $70. I know what I did wrong was probably adding Maingate area but it's a little late for that now! My bid was accepted at $69 for the Omni Resort at Championsgate! I had looked at this resort during my research but not close enough for all the fine print of the resort fees! I knew that the Hyatt had a resort fee of $20 per day, but wasn't prepared for this one ---I will now be paying an extra $30 plus tax per day for self-parking and resort fees that I had not wanted in addition to 3 days of driving from the hotel to Coronado Springs for meetings. On their website, the lowest "special" price I could find for this time frame is $104.30 per night. Just like everyone else I was trying to save money -- we could have stayed at the military resort for less than this! On the bright side, my room that I had reserved at CS was $167/night including tax, so even with gas, I am still saving about $60 per night! Oh well --- it looks like a beautiful hotel and I will absolutely love the lazy river! Plus, I am sure I will take advantage of the complimentary scheduled shuttle to Animal Kingdom on Saturday to avoid another $14 parking charge! The other bright side is that I got my first 3 days of my trip for $25 as I previously posted.

Bottom line is I started bidding today at $53 with LBV zone, rejected.

added Maingate (mistake) $54, rejected.

added Downtown $55, rejected.

added Sea World- jumped to $60, rejected.

kept adding areas with increments of $1 until it was accepted at $69

[yellowdog]

Thank you for sharing your result with the board!

Sorry to see that you don't like the outcome. The additional cost is $30, and the Omni is only a few exits South of Hyatt so that wont add much in fuel comparing to Hyatt. The resort and parking fee is the downside with hotel. But like you say. It's got a great pool area. And it's a very nice hotel.

Enjoy your stay.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links to start future purchases.

Yellowdog.

[Les Claypool Tallahassee]

When did their resort fee go up to $30? It's been a couple of years since I stayed there last, but the resort fee used to $15, and it included parking. In any case, the Omni is 10x the property that the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is, I assure you.

[AaronJB]

From the website: "NOTE: A $16.00 plus tax per-room, per-day resort fee will be added to the daily room rate. This resort fee allows guests to enjoy many resort services and activities without having to incur miscellaneous charges."

The resort fee does not appear to include parking any more (Self parking overnight is $14; Self parking day only rate is $10, from the website)

[lovingmom]

Yes, the resort fee was $16/day with $14/night self-parking. Valet parking is $18/night. The hotel really isn't that far from the parks. It only took 10-12 minutes once I left the parking lot to arrive at Coronado Springs Convention area. That's the same amount of time (or a little less) that it took for me to get there from Downtown Disney area. Maybe you can call me cheap, but I did not see any value in the $16 resort fee other than the wireless internet and one day that we used the Mears shuttle to Animal Kingdom. For Epcot & Hollywood Studios we just drove to Downtown Disney, parked, took a bus to one of the resorts, and then transferred to another one for the parks. Takes more time, but it was better than paying at the park and since we could not go at the time they picked up from the hotel, it was the best thing for us to do. I don't drink coffee, I could care less about the USA Today newspaper or the bathrobes. I really am not a 4-star or resort type person unless it should have the convenience of a fridge and microwave. To get a fridge in your room was another $20 per day and a microwave would have been $10 per day. That, to me, is absolutely outrageous! On the up side, the lazy river was lots of fun and very relaxing except on Sat evening when all the kids were in it -- not even using the innertubes, just either swimming through it or wading or seeing how high they could stack the innertubes and float around! But, that didn't "ruin" my stay! LOL!

Bottom line, even with the resort fee, make sure you have plenty of money! (A 1 ltr bottled water in the hotel room mini bar cost $5!) They will authorize your credit card for $50/day for incidentals unless you tell them you will not be charging anything to the room and pay the resort & parking fees up front. The only places close by at this exit are a 7-11 Market, an AM/PM market, a Publix and a McDonald's (which was always packed!)

So, I didn't save as much money as I could have, but I still saved some. Thank you for this board. I will continue to use it and your links for future travels!