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Universal Endless Summer Resort - Surfside and Dockside Inn & Suites

So stayed a night here on Sunday. Will say that I was very impressed with the value for the price. The room details and theming was great. Stayed in a two bedroom with a view of Dockside for $109. Loved all the chairs, fixtures, and colors (and I am not a beach person at all). Honestly, my fave detail was the granite at the sink and bar looked like sand and seashells. Lobby wasn’t anything amazing, but pool area was cute. Froze’ drink at the pool beer was on point (only 9.50!) and the shuttles were the quickest I’ve ever experienced at Universal. I’ve stayed at all the hotels at Universal, and this is a solid addition. Currently booked at Dockside for $79 a night for HHN but may change to Sapphire for boat access. Would definitely recommend Surfside for room alone.
 
Is there a date for when Dockside will open? We have our August trip booked for there, and was wondering if it would be open by then. I'm thinking if not, they'll move us to Surfside with the same kind of room?
 
What’s peoples general thoughts on Dockside opening?

Could we see this potentially not open until next summer?

I ask because I’m meant to be staying here in September (which is quite clearly not happening).
 
What’s peoples general thoughts on Dockside opening?

Could we see this potentially not open until next summer?

I ask because I’m meant to be staying here in September (which is quite clearly not happening).
I’m still working to verify it with some other people, but a report I was given put Surfside being very popular at the moment, especially compared to other UOR hotels. If that’s actually the case, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them open Dockside before Portofino (by comparison, some of the more expensive ones like HRH have been having a little bit of a harder time drawing people in).
 
So.... with the indefinite pause of EU and a significant downturn in tourism for the next year or two, what will Uni do with these properties? The shame is that they are complete and really nice, but they are really remote to the main resort.
I can’t see them running these both with any significant occupancy. Will they shutter them for now? I can’t see them being operated at a loss for too long.
 
So.... with the indefinite pause of EU and a significant downturn in tourism for the next year or two, what will Uni do with these properties? The shame is that they are complete and really nice, but they are really remote to the main resort.
I can’t see them running these both with any significant occupancy. Will they shutter them for now? I can’t see them being operated at a loss for too long.
Isn't that really up to Loews though?
 
They can probably fill those rooms faster than most hotels in the area with package deals. They are a great value and brand new, so there will be a market even in a diminished marketplace.
 
I think the timing of this hotel might be interesting.

Plenty of people have postponed their trips and plenty will be prepared to splurge a bit more than normal to make up for lost time. We've always thought that this resort is good way for people to dip their toes into the Universal experience and if tourism really comes back with a boom, this resort is perfectly placed in terms of price and capacity.
 
Yes, so what do you think their strategy will be? The fact is that while Loews runs the properties, Uni provides the transport and vacation packages. Without demand, what will they do?
Keeping them both open could be a strategy to kill the completion around them because they are a great value. Potentially they could snap the hotels up when they go bankrupt and extend their presents along that route.
 
They can do wings with these like RPR so they may operate at bargain pricing to get bodies in the parks. Sorry for the 2/3 people laid off but they might try to limp along
 
Especially with Sapphire and Aventura closed. All 4 of Universal’s newest hotels seem to have some kind of convention connection...and conventions aren’t coming back for a while.
I'd say that Endless Summer is more about doing high volume business than conventions.

I expect they keep Surfside open as a budget option and leave Dockside closed until the mask and social distancing restrictions within the parks can be relaxed.
 
I could see Dockside opening before Sapphire reopens. From what I hear, Surfside has the highest occupancy rate of all the hotels.
I’m thinking you’re right on this one. I don’t think Universal can reopen Sapphire until conventions happen again. Dockside is sitting there ready to open. There might be some training issues (Dockside hasn’t really been open for any period of time), but that’s nothing Universal can’t work past.

I could see Universal moving the HP Celebration to Sapphire to drive some traffic.
 
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