Check out day in BWV - banging on doors

[adamak]

I never experience this in a 'regular' resort, but only in BWV. On check-out day, room service banged on my door at 7am, and immediately tried to open it (I have the lock on). Then at 8am, they did the same thing. And 9am. I finally left a Privacy sign at 9am to keep them away.

But isn't this kinda rude? Check out time is 11a! What makes them think most people will be ready at 7am?

I know they want to clean the room soon, but other resorts don't need to do so and still have the rooms turn over on time. Plus, why can't they start a system (like Hilton) so guests can check-out / sign out through TV, so room service knows who's gone and who's not.

What is your opinion?

[stlrod]

Well, at least they listened to the members--they stopped calling on check-out day.:jester: It's not rude---it's inexcusable.

[Lew]

We have run into this problem on checkout day at OKW. We now hang the privacy sign on the door knob at all times except when the room is scheduled to be serviced. Since we have been doing that we have had no hangups or knocks on the door.

We stayed at BWV for two weeks in September/October and expereinced a couple of hangups on the first cleaning day. I called housekeeping and told them in no uncertain terms that I would not stand for this tactic. It didn't happen again...

I think the combination of the privacy sign and a call to housekeeping explaining your concerns should do the trick. If they know in advance that you will not vacate your room until just before 11:00 on checkout day, they should leave you alone.

[Beth]

I know for an absolute fact that DVC employees read these boards.

We've been complaining about this for quite some time. Why do you think it's still going on? Do you think that they actually <i>allow</i> this practice of the housekeeping staff?

I've never experienced this at any other hotel chain...

[Lew]

Beth said: Do you think that they actually allow this practice of the housekeeping staff?
I think management allows it by looking the other way when it happens.

The housekeeping staff is under a great deal of pressure to have all rooms available for check-in by 4:00pm. If there are a lot of checkouts on a particular day, housekeeping staff needs to get into those rooms asap.

[Granny]

It sounds like putting a "Do not disturb" sign on the door and informing the front desk of no "inquiring" phone calls seems to minimize the issue for most.

My guess is if we could get a candid response from housekeeping, they would tell you that some significant percentage of the people are gone by the time they knock on the door and they are able to get into a room early that way.

And last but not least, for every complaint I've seen about the "mystery calls" and housekeeping knocks, I've also seen a post saying that someone was able to get right into their room at noon instead of waiting until the 4:00 official check-in time. So there are two sides to this coin (as usual).

Maybe someone who is attending one of the upcoming member meetings might raise this issue? It would be interesting to hear DVD's "official" response.

[Granny]

Originally posted by Lew



The housekeeping staff is under a great deal of pressure to have all rooms available for check-in by 4:00pm. If there are a lot of checkouts on a particular day, housekeeping staff needs to get into those rooms asap.

Great point, Lew.

Imagine Friday mornings at the DVC homes. Massive member check outs who don't want to burn points on those expensive weekend days!

Even worse on Sundays with the massive member check ins for the same reason. And many wanting DVC "early entry". ;)

I don't think there is any malice intended...just some people trying to do their jobs as quickly as possible. I think DVD could come up with a better system of notifying housekeeping that someone has checked out, but as long as they respect the Do Not Disturb signs, I can't see this as a huge issue.

[Beth]

As someone else posted recently - DVC <i>used</i> to instruct people staying in the vacation homes to dial a certain number on their phone before leaving their room for the final time. But apparently that system didn't work - maybe members were neglecting to do it?

I'm all for the staff getting into the rooms as early as possible but I agree - there's got to be a better way.

We often go over for just one night- which gives us a total of 19 hours in the room. We tend to stay until 11:00 "to get our points' worth!" It's frustrating to get those calls...

[adamak]

But, knocking on doors at 7am? How can they assume most people are gone by 7am?

I understand there is great pressure to clean up, but if they don't need to do so in All Star or other big WDW resorts, why do they do that in BWV? Is it because we're already DVC member? I have no problem even if they bump up the check out time.

What about hanging the checkout envelope on the door. So if guests have already left, then they'll know.

They should figure out a system instead of putting pressure on guests to put the privacy sign out. I believe I'm a reasonable person. I don't expect a room prior to 4pm, and I think it'll be reasonable to not be bothered to check out until 10am.

[MiknMinMouse]

We have never had either the phone calls or the banging on doors while there. We do put out the privacy note on the door the night before we leave to insure that we have quiet, but we've never had the phone calls.

[cgcw]

Yes, there are two sides to the coin and it's nice to be able to check in early.....however, if I had a knock on my door at 7 a.m. any day from housekeeping, I would be furious!! If I choose to wake up early on our last day, that's my choice. If I have to scrample out of bed because someones knocking on my door, I will be less than pleased. I can tell you, I would be on the phone complaining to housekeeping and management. That's unacceptable, in my opinion. I'm glad to have the forwarning from here to at least hang the privacy sign.

[wdwnut]

hi: back again from bwv on 11/12-no phone call and no knocks on the door. we had gotten the phone calls on only some of the previous trips. we usually check in and out during the mid week so maybe they aren't as rushed.

[Dennis the WDW Menace]

I am very happy to see that requesting the no phone calls on check out day is working. We will be up there in about 7 weeks. I will use this when we go. Thank you all for posting this idea!!!

[Granny]

Originally posted by cgcw
Yes, there are two sides to the coin and it's nice to be able to check in early.....however, if I had a knock on my door at 7 a.m. any day from housekeeping, I would be furious!! If I choose to wake up early on our last day, that's my choice. If I have to scrample out of bed because someones knocking on my door, I will be less than pleased. I can tell you, I would be on the phone complaining to housekeeping and management. That's unacceptable, in my opinion. I'm glad to have the forwarning from here to at least hang the privacy sign.
Sorry if my "two sides to the coin" comment rubbed some folks the wrong way. I was just trying to point out that there must be some reason they are checking rooms out so early. I don't think they are waking people up so early just for kicks!

I agree wholeheartedly that they need to come up with something better than mystery phone calls and early morning door knocking.

[Peterd]

We were in a GV and had no hang-ups or banging on the door on check out day. In fact we were in the room until about 10:30 and saw no one from housekeeping. We had a family reunion and had 10 other rooms of studios, one bdrm and 2 bdrm. Everyone had a great time and no one recieved any type of hang-ups or door banging.

[geh]

Hanging the 'Please Do Not Disturb' sign on our door has worked very well for us. During our ten stays at BWV we have never had housekeeping, or any other CM, knock on our door on check out day. I think that it is much easier and more efficient to simply hang this little sign on our door than to make a phone call to housekeeping or to the Front Desk; it only takes a second to do.

[DebbieB]

I had the "do not disturb" sign out at BWV last December and still got 2 hang-up calls - 8:00am & 8:30am. We called the bellman around 8:45 to come pickup our bags and he turned the sign over to "service room" as we left. 2 different housekeepers stopped him on the way down the hall asking what room he was coming from. It was a Friday morning, I'm sure a busy day for check-outs and they were very anxious!

[dianeschlicht]

Anxious or not, this is inexcusable behavior! I hope you complained. I have never had this happen at OKW, but then we usually are out by 9 A.M. and don't plan to return to the room.

[jcodespoti]

It happend to me twice while staying at OKW both times on a friday and about at 8:00 in the morning



Joe in CT

[Popovich]

We just returned on Wednesday from a stay at BWV and we received no calls or knocks on the door. We checked out right at 11:00????!! We also spent 3 nights at the GF and housekeeping came to the door 3 times on day of check out!!

[DebbieB]

Diane,

I did send an e-mail to member services after we returned. They responded with an apology and said they would inform the manager.

[ahoff]

We just got back from a week at WDW. There was a knock at the door around 8:30 as we were packing, and as we were leaving the room around 9 I got the impression that the maid was waiting in the hall for us to leave. But we were up and wanted to be out by 9 anyway, as we were just moving to the WL that day (Thanksgiving). Regarding the 'flip side', we arrived to BW around 11, left our bags and went for a walk. When we came back around 1:30 the room was ready for us.
Our move to WL was great, we left the bags with the bellhops at BW, went to Epcot until around 2, came back and got our car and bags, and were into our room at WL by 2:30. All in all, it was a great week.

[adamak]

So, sounds like this happen mainly during weekends / busy times. I think the root of the problem is that housekeeping don't have enough time to clean, and also don't know who has left.

I think either a TV-checkout system, or a simple fill-out survey for me to fill up the day before we check out will be good. I can quickly check off the timeslot I plan to leave, and hang it on my door. Or even ask me during checkin time. If I know what time my flight is, I will sure tell them.

If it's up to you, what would you change to make housekeeping less anxious, and make our stay pleasant?

[CaptainMidnight]

Anxious or not, this is inexcusable behavior!

I have to agree. We have run into the wake up phone calls, and on our last trip left the phone off the hook to avoid them. This isn't consistent with Disney customer service, certainly there is a better approach where members and staff can work together to help each other. There are some good ideas listed above.

[TimB]

My wife and I recently completed a one night stay at the WL. The morning that we left housekeeping slid a door hanger under our door that read "Room Ready for Service." We hung that on the door knob when we left for the final time and we had no door knocks or phone calls before we left. Of course we had our "Do Not Disturb" sign up when every we were in the room. But the "Room Ready for Service" sign seems like a good idea.

[Pluto4President]

we checked out this morning at 9:30. Had a 2br and a 1br. No calls - no knocking.

[DebbieB]

Checked out of BWV this morning. We put the "privacy" sign out last night when we came in. Left about 10:00am, no knocks, no phone calls. The resort was kind of quiet, so maybe there wasn't a rush to get the rooms clean or maybe they finally got the message not to do this. :)

[Halle]

Adamak, we've never experienced the problem at OKW or BWV but did at AS. We had 2 rooms connecting, do not disturb signs on both and housekeeping went in the one room ( husband and I were at food court) and went in where our sons were sleeping. First they were frightened and then they were mad!!!! How rude is that??

[CarolMN]

We checked out of a BWV 2 bedroom unit yesterday (12/08). We didn't leave a "privacy please" doorhanger on our door. We didn't leave the room until about 10:30 AM. We did NOT get a knock on the door or a phone call. Maybe there are less checkouts on Saturdays and thus less pressure on housekeeping to get rooms ready.

We checked in on Sunday, 12/2 and our room was not ready until 4 PM.

We did get a knock on the door at Vero Beach, however. Can't remember what time, though. I think it was around 9:30 or 10. We were up and getting ready to go. The CM just asked if we needed anything before we left or if we had any questions about check out. I just told her that we would be out a few minutes before 11 AM. VB was very quiet (almost empty) during our stay from 11/29 - 12/2. We got into our room right away (around noon) when we checked in.