Universal effectively revealed the plans months ago, when it filed them with local authorities for approval. But today's announcement makes the project official and means that Universal will begin revealing details of the new hotel's amenities before its planned opening in the summer of 2018.
The 16-story hotel will offer 600 rooms, decorated in a modern "affordable-chic" style, according to the resort. On top of the tower, visitors will find Universal's first roof-top bar. The hotel will be located between the Sapphire Falls and Cabana Bay, offering walking access to the new Volcano Bay water park and shuttle service to CityWalk and the theme parks. (Or you can take the longer walking path that connects CityWalk with the Cabana Bay.)
The Aventura Hotel will offer early admission to the Universal theme parks, but will not include Universal Express Unlimited with each reservation. That perk continues to be reserved for Universal Orlando's original three resorts: The Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, and Royal Pacific.
Reservations are not yet available for the hotel, so we don't know its exact price point, though Universal is calling it a "value" hotel, which is the same classification as the Cabana Bay. Unlike the low-slung, expansive Cabana Bay, though, as a tower hotel, all rooms at the Aventura Hotel will open into interior hallways.
This isn't it for Universal's on-site hotel plans. Planning documents filed with the city of Orlando reveal that Universal is planning a seventh on-site hotel. And it is widely expected within the local development community that Universal will use its Wet 'n' Wild water park property for additional hotels.
NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke has told analysts that the company would like to have between 10,000-15,000 hotel rooms on property at Universal Orlando. The addition of the Aventura would bring Universal Orlando's on-property hotel room count to 5,800. *Whoops. It will be 6,200, following the 400-room expansion underway now at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort.
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Although Universal does still have an off-season with some very low crowds, so in those cases a cheaper hotel might work.
They still charge onsite resort guests for parking like Disneyland?
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The hotel design looks very minimalistic, clean and "grown up." I guess it'll cater to young adults and couples, while Cabana Bay caters to families. It certainly fills a gap in UOR's hotel line-up.