Home Photo

Travel Blog

An explanation of room categories at a resort

Whenever I speak with clients there is always confusion about room categories and what they actually mean. Resorts like to come up with fancy names for room categories that, when you cut away the fancy words, leave 4 main room categories. To simplify it there are 4 basic room types at a resort regardless of the resort and for the most part the rooms are all the same. The difference has to do with the view from your balcony or patio. Remember at a resort the closer to the beach or ocean the higher the price.

Garden or pool view: This tends to be a resorts lowest room category. Your view from your balcony or patio will be either the pool or a garden. Some people think that because it is the lowest category they will be looking at a parking lot. Not true, even though it is the lowest category you would look over a beautiful garden or the pool.

This next category is the one that confuses most people and that is Ocean View. A resort's definition of ocean view is, if you can see any part of the ocean from any part of your room, it is considered ocean view. My own experience with this is, years ago I booked an ocean view room at a resort in Florida. When I got to my room I went out on my balcony and saw that I was looking at the resort next door not the ocean. I called the front desk and told them my issue. They laughed and told me to go out on my balcony and lean over the railing, look down the side of the building. They then asked me, can you see the ocean. I could, so I was then informed that I had an ocean view room. This leads us to the next category.

Ocean Front or Beach Front. This is the category that most people confuse with ocean view. This category means that when you walk out on your baclony or patio the ocean or beach is right there. If you want a full ocean or beach view, this is the room category you need to book.

The 4th category is Suites. Suites can follow the same categories as rooms at a resort. You can have a garden or pool view suite, an ocean view suite, and a beach front suite.

Hope this helps and when booking use a knowledgeable travel agent who can inform you what the view from your balcony or patio will be for each resort.

Posted by Geoff on March 21, 2011 | Permalink





rsg4np