FLL hotel help, 1st time, family of 4

[cakerbakermom]

This is our first sailing out of PE. We are two adults and two children flying from Midwest likely needing a place to stay Feb 1 and 2, 2018. Tickets not yet purchased, but probably will fly two days in advance to avoid weather problems. Overwhelmed where to begin.

 

@ likely won't have a car

@ price is important!

@ safety even more important

@ prefer near port and airport as we will not have a vehicle

@ inexpensive dining that we can walk to, hearty hotel breakfast a bonus

@ nice pool to entertain kids for day and a half or something very close

@ shopping for drinks, last minute forgotten items, etc. within close walking distance

 

Open to all your wonderful suggestions! Also, are there any small airports nearby that are great to fly into? We will be coming from Des Moines.

[4cats4me]

For the criteria you've listed, Embassy Suites or Hyatt Place would suit your needs. Prices in Feb are usually very pricy. We just booked Hyatt Place using points for 4/2018, but their regular price for that time period is $349. MAny on this board use Value trips

To book Hyatt Place ,valuetrips.com for reduced rate. I think valuetrios has the Hyatt for around $220 vs booking directly with Hyatt.

 

If you can purchase Hyatt points, or if you are a Gold Passport member, you can buy points for $24 per 1,000 and 8,000 points per night are required.

Those properties are near many restaurants, burger joints, stores,

Very close to the port

Rule of thumb, near port will be very, very pricy. If you wish to stay out far away, you will get much better deals but will pay more in transportation

You will get a better feel for accommodations if you go to TripAdvisor. Com

Most properties near the port will command $250-300+ per night for that time period.

 

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Edited May 2, 2017 by 4cats4me

[doone]

I would also recommend the Hyatt Place Convention Center. We just stayed here this past March and booked using Valuetrips.com. Go to the website and fill out the reservation form, submit it and you will be notified within a week with your reservation number. The prices for 2018 will open next month or so. Be aware there are some blackout dates so be sure to pay attention to those.

 

The hotel is in a safe area, provides a shuttle from the airport to the hotel for $2 per room, a shuttle service from the hotel to the pier for $7/person and a free breakfast. It is also within walking distance to many restaurants and stores for last minute cruise items. Highly recommend this hotel and valuetrips, it worked awesome for me and my group of 9.

 

Hope this helps, enjoy your cruise.

[JohninDC]

www.sunny.org has lots of FLL area tourist and hotel info.

 

There are several hotels in the downtown/17th street area that will likely meet your needs, although prices (as mentioned above) will be steep during the prime tourist season you are vacationing in. Uber and taxis are plentiful and cheap for getting around to anything not in walking distance, or to get from the airport to the hotel and hotel to PE.

[royalcruz]

Embassy Suites would be a great hotel for your family. You might get a better rate with a free hhonors account.

[DaveOKC]

Another nod to Hyatt Place - but be sure its the Convention Center/17th location.

 

Lots of dining options, good strip shopping center next door (Publix, Total Wine and other shops/dining). Pool is decent, but nothing special. Good breakfast and nice sized rooms.

 

About a 3/4 mile walk away is the water taxi, which should keep everyone entertained for the better part of a day (check out website, but be sure it is WATER TAXI as there are competitors). Closest stop is under the 17th Street bridge by Hilton Marina.

 

We were just there last week, so information is current.

[elycelynne]

If the heartiness of the breakfast and/or the size of the pool are of great importance, I would choose Embassy Suites over Hyatt Place. Much nicer pool area and their breakfast buffet has a lot more variety. (Not that you'd necessarily starve with Hyatt Place's breakfast.)

[quiltsnh]

For the criteria you've listed, Embassy Suites or Hyatt Place would suit your needs. Prices in Feb are usually very pricy. We just booked Hyatt Place using points for 4/2018, but their regular price for that time period is $349. MAny on this board use Value trips

To book Hyatt Place ,valuetrips.com for reduced rate. I think valuetrios has the Hyatt for around $220 vs booking directly with Hyatt.

 

If you can purchase Hyatt points, or if you are a Gold Passport member, you can buy points for $24 per 1,000 and 8,000 points per night are required.

 

Those properties are near many restaurants, burger joints, stores,

Very close to the port

Rule of thumb, near port will be very, very pricy. If you wish to stay out far away, you will get much better deals but will pay more in transportation

You will get a better feel for accommodations if you go to TripAdvisor. Com

Most properties near the port will command $250-300+ per night for that time period.

 

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Hyatt Place just went down inprice by $100.00 for April 21 2018. Cancelled and rebooked.

[4cats4me]

Hyatt Place just went down inprice by $100.00 for April 21 2018. Cancelled and rebooked.

 

 

 

Excellent [emoji76]

We will be there on 4/8/18,which is a Saturday night, so no reduction there, however. Ours is basically costing $144 due to purchasing Hyatt points and getting a 30% bonus points through May 23, 2017,

Purchased 6,000, received bonus of 1,800, added a few more to bring us to the required 8000 points. Hence, $144

 

 

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[cakerbakermom]

Hyatt Place is $280 per night for Feb 1 and 2. Ouch!!!!

[Bkchero]

The hotels mentioned above are along 17th Street and are close to port. Area is a safe neighborhood but 17th St. is heavy traffic so be careful crossing. I've never stayed at any of the hotels so I can't really comment on them. Lots of restaurants in the area, from Chiplote to Outback, as well as local places.

 

As for airports. . . When I look for flights out of South Fla. I always check Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Sometimes you can find significant differences in the prices. Example, last week a direct flight to Minneapolis in the middle of June from Miami was $267 from Lauderdale it was $372. The issue for you will be the cost of transport to/from a far away airport. But if you can save $400 on plane tixs in exchange for $100 more for transport it might be worth it. You may also find flights to/from different airports for cheaper. Just some ideas, good luck.

Edited May 5, 2017 by Bkchero

[4cats4me]

Hyatt Place is $280 per night for Feb 1 and 2. Ouch!!!!

 

 

 

That's actually more reasonable than usual, because that property runs around $300-350 all high season. Cheapest I found was $314 for our date next April but then I purchased Hyatt points and now have it for $144. Also, you can book it through valuetrips.com most likely cheaper than $280. Many have reported getting it for around $220 through valuetrips, as they buy up blocks of rooms at that property.

 

For the last four years, the average price of a hotel room in that region has been an average of $300 though.

 

See, we got a last minute cruise two years ago for around $899 pp and ended up paying an additional $700 for two nights at Hyatt Place

Since it was high season, in March.

My only other suggestion would be to bid for rooms on Priceline, but you are only guaranteed one bed and there are four of you

 

Priceline Express is better, because you can sometimes choose your bed type and Crowne Plaza comes up a lot and is nice, but it isn't near much, and you'd still have to hail a cab or Uber to get everywhere.

The pool is boring, no good onsite place to eat, No free breakfast, either. But you might be able to get a room for as low as $170-200 on PL Express.

We booked last May for this April and paid $170, when going rates everywhere were $250-350 at the time we booked and also when we checkcked in 11 months later.

 

Pull up Expedia or hotels.com for that time period and see what rates are.

 

http://www.valuetrips.com/AMS/FL/F17.htm#Today's%20Super%20Value%20rates

 

2018 rates aren't listed yet, but this will give you an idea of the cost.

Much better.

 

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Edited May 5, 2017 by 4cats4me

[TimeToGetNauti]

Thank you for asking this. I am needing a room in the middle of April 2018. I just started looking around to get an idea of what would be good.