Does anyone have experience with AP discounts for hotels at USO. I heard in the past that the discounts can offset the price of an AP. Does this still apply and are the discounts in the summer worth it?
Maybe depending on if the AP discounts are available and how many days your trip is (because Universal has discounts for longer stays). The good thing is that you can actually search for and book the AP rates without having an AP. If you book the rate you can then upgrade or buy an AP beforehand or actually when you get to the hotel. You can check the rates by using the Promo code “APH”. If they are available you will see them. Unfortunately they don’t release them until a few months beforehand and there is no notice - they just start showing up. Most people just keep plugging in the promo code until they see the rates. So even if you want to buy regular tickets now - you can always search for the rates and upgrade to an AP if it makes sense.
Here is a good article:
Your best to book a room as soon as you know you are going as standard rates only increase. Deposit is 1 night and cancelation for full refund of deposit is normally about 7 days out ( check this ). Then play about with seeing if you can get a better rate via AP or other discounted site/offer ( sometimes HRH is cheaper than Royal Pacific) and book that and cancel original booking. You can wait and buy AP when you get there. Last summer AP discounts were very scarce as the 3 hotels that offer exp pass as inclusive are always above 95% capacity.
Not sure about summer but booked HRH end of Feb at $150 discount per room per night. Had to wait until middle of Jan for rate. Had Cabana Bay reserved earlier until AP rate made HRH possible. I checked every day for what seemed like forever. I would at least have a backup.