Universal Orlando Resort is to open two new hotels – which will both 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 area of the park, near Universal Boulevard, and offer 2,800 rooms between them.
In staggered openings, one 750-room property will be open in summer 2019 and the accompanying 2,050-bed hotel will be complete by the end of 2020.
At least half of the “value-driven” rooms will be two-bed family suites, which can host up to six people. They will include complementary shuttles to the park and entry an hour earlier than guests who are not staying on site.
Once both are fully open, Universal Orlando Resort will have 9,000 on-site hotel rooms. Reservations will be accepted from early 2018.
Frank Belzer, senior vice president, sales, at Universal Orlando Resort, said the hotels were likely to be themed but the theme has not been chosen yet.
At World Travel Market in London, 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 also said Universal Orlando was well-placed in its long-term aim of increasing the average length of a customer’s stay, adding: “It’s a full week’s vacation.”
He said the new hotels would be appealing to UK customers, given the pound’s recent drop in value against the US dollar.
The new hotels were announced at World Travel Market in London, a year after Universal announced its 600-room Aventura hotel at its Orlando park – which is slated to open August next year.
Its water theme park Volcano Bay, also opened earlier this year.