Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando

Sapphire Falls — we have stayed here several times and all have been five-star experiences except for this last visit. Upon arrival, the gentleman at the front counter seemed a little off-key. I asked about late checkout and was informed we would have a 2:00 PM checkout. However, on our last night, it was changed to 1:00 PM with really no explanation other than a generic response. Then, despite having a 1:00 PM checkout and a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, room service knocked at 12:40 PM. That was disappointing and unexpected. Other than that, I absolutely loved the room — it was fantastic as always. But between check-in, the late checkout confusion, and room service not being coordinated with the updated checkout time, it brought this stay down to a four-star experience. That said, we will absolutely continue coming back because it truly is a fantastic resort overall.

Started badly with check in. We were given the opportunity to express a preference of a high or low floor. We asked for a high floor as that’s what our girls wanted. Rooms weren’t ready so when we got the notification that they were ready they hadn’t noted the request for a high floor and didn’t have any available to give us. Didn’t set things off on the right tone.

The positives: the water taxi was cool, and a nice way to access the parks. The restaurants and bar here looked quite nice. The negatives: the room was the same size if not slightly smaller than a room at another hotel we recently stayed in (Cabana Bay), and with worse features, including poor connection wifi, a smaller TV and also an ok but a little less comfortable bed. The other major negative was some of the staff (some were nice but a couple were rude so much it was noticeable). Firstly, the lady at the express pass counter (team leader I believe, a blonde older lady)- we had accidentally assumed that express passes were included in our hotel booking (our mistake)- the lady had a very stern/matter of fact attitude about the error and responded with ‘well if you want express passes you’re going to have to pay $X’- a bit more niceness about this situation would have gone a long way, as her response made us feel even more silly and uncomfortable with the mistake we made (I’m sure someone else before has made this mistake). Also, we appreciated the hotel holding our luggage and provided a generous tip to a man at the luggage counter- he didn’t say thank you and snatched out of our hands which we didn’t appreciate. Better customer service training for these additional kinds of staff would be appreciated (the standard check in staff were nice though, we must say, they were great to speak to).

We stayed here for part one of our honeymoon and were there for 10 nights. We originally were going to stay at Cabana Bay and a month before we left we asked our agent to swap to Sapphire Falls for the added benefit of the pool within an overall smaller populated hotel, water taxis to the parks and City Walk and also heard bad things about the comfort and noise level at Cabana Bay. We wanted a honeymoon where we could pass out in comfort after a day at the parks and this hotel met our wants exactly. I still dream of the comfortable mattress at this hotel. We managed our 2 suitcases each with storage in this room which we didn’t expect to which was great. The overhead shower was brilliant and the room was cleaned daily which was great for coming back after a day out. The coffee shop in the lobby was very useful. Nice hot chocolate to take to bed or snack to have on the go and not that expensive for a hotel based shop. The pool is quite shallow to other pools I’ve been in so I can walk at 5ft 5 across it all or crawl in parts. Drink and food service around the pool was good. I do think portion sizes are massive but that may just be an Orlando thing. We’re from the UK. We did Disney for the first week catching Ubers which was more cost-effective than hiring a car. So by the time we got to do the Universal parks it was so lovely to be on site and use water taxis and come and go and made it more relaxing to get out of the hot afternoon sun. The Avis on site is helpful and we hired a car for a day to go to the Kennedy Space Center. We used the washing machine and tumble dryers on site to help during our stay and this was a god send. Overall excellent customer service and comfort. Do not pay 8 dollars for water bottles in the room though; absolutely a waste of money when you can get the same brand in Walmart for 2 dollars. The fact this was the only downside to our holiday is impressive as we usually have a holiday curse following us around. We would come to this hotel again.

My wife and I visited for the fourth time at this resort and we both said this has been the best stay ever. From the moment we were checked in by Erick until we finally said goodbye and helped with our bags, we felt utterly pampered. Erick was extremely helpful during the check-in process as we arrived just after lunchtime after a flight from Europe. He went out of his way to get a room on a high floor and it was worth the wait as the view was incredible The room had everything we needed for a 4 night stay and was in very good order indeed. We were not disturbed by external noise and the beds were extremely comfortable. The walk in shower was ideal for our needs and had good water pressure. All the staff we encountered, whether it was housekeeping, New Dutch Trading, the pool staff or indeed Bell Services, were helpful, friendly and truly engaged with us, making us feel special. The hotel location, with water taxi access to the theme parks just added that pampered feel. At the price point, this hotel met all our needs and we will definitely visit again, over and above other Universal Signature Resorts