Bell Services at SSR...What Service???

[2 princes 1 princess]

We just got back from a 5 night stay at SSR. We left our groceries with them while we went to the parks before our room was ready. When we got into our room a few hours later I called to have the groceries and luggage brought to our room. I called and called and they didn't pick up the phone. (I was alone with 3 kids while my husband was getting the tire fixed on our car) I even called the front desk and the woman tried to call them herself and she couldn't get through. She said she let it ring 16 times and there was nothing else she could do. We were in the room almost an hour by now and I needed to feed dinner to the kids.

I asked her if she could just walk from the front desk to the bell stand, only a few steps away and she said she couldn't do it. I should have insisted to talk to a manager but my husband got back and I drove to the bell stand myself and asked for my things. I told them how I called several times and they said they were busy. I understand that they may have been busy but there was NOBODY there. No people waiting for a bus, nobody waiting for a cab nothing...
I was steaming mad but I was very very polite. I only say this because it was so difficlut to be nice when I was so ticked. I just said "Okay, I need my luggage and groceries please." The man put them into my car and I left. I almost went and got a manager and told my story but I felt so frustrated that I didn't want to go and stand in line and delay dinner even longer.
So I decided to just come on to the DIS and vent.
Thanks!

 

[Chuck S]

It isn't just SSR. I had the same problem at POP when we transferred luggage there from OKW. I had to go to the bell stand at POP after waiting an hour, and no one was there, I waited several mnutes before any bellman returned from delivering luggage.

I think there must've been some airport busses arrive, they check the luggage, get room numbers and deliver into the rooms for Magical Express. Unfortunately it means less service for the non-Magical Express guests.

 

[disneynutz]

We just got back from a 5 night stay at SSR. We left our groceries with them while we went to the parks before our room was ready. When we got into our room a few hours later I called to have the groceries and luggage brought to our room. I called and called and they didn't pick up the phone. (I was alone with 3 kids while my husband was getting the tire fixed on our car) I even called the front desk and the woman tried to call them herself and she couldn't get through. She said she let it ring 16 times and there was nothing else she could do. We were in the room almost an hour by now and I needed to feed dinner to the kids.

I asked her if she could just walk from the front desk to the bell stand, only a few steps away and she said she couldn't do it. I should have insisted to talk to a manager but my husband got back and I drove to the bell stand myself and asked for my things. I told them how I called several times and they said they were busy. I understand that they may have been busy but there was NOBODY there. No people waiting for a bus, nobody waiting for a cab nothing...
I was steaming mad but I was very very polite. I only say this because it was so difficlut to be nice when I was so ticked. I just said "Okay, I need my luggage and groceries please." The man put them into my car and I left. I almost went and got a manager and told my story but I felt so frustrated that I didn't want to go and stand in line and delay dinner even longer.
So I decided to just come on to the DIS and vent.
Thanks!

I got the impression based upon attitude and actions that the SSR Bell CMs are contracted out. Service was slow and sub par. One of the CMs at the Bell Desk smelled of a adult drink and made some off color remarks. We were late for the airport or I would have taken the time to file a complaint. We are back at SSR next month so I will be checking them out.

 

[2 princes 1 princess]

One of the CMs at the Bell Desk smelled of a adult drink and made some off color remarks.

OMG!! I almost mentioned that too but I thought maybe it was just me. It was an older man and he did smell like he had been drinking!!! Gosh I wish I did something now! Well, I hope that this helps other people to be aware of it too.

 

[Entropy]

We got to SSR at 8:00 AM and we had to check our carry-ons so that we could go to one of the parks until our room was ready. One of the four bags was my laptop computer that I was reluctant to check but I didn't have any other good options. When we returned to the Bell desk at 4:00 PM...
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.. we gave them our claim check whereupon they presented us with exactly four bags including my laptop exactly as I had left it.
Just thought that I would add some perspective to another go-round of Contracted Labor Drama!!!.

 

[tjkraz]

I asked her if she could just walk from the front desk to the bell stand, only a few steps away and she said she couldn't do it.

Calls to the "front desk" from all Disney resort rooms go to a call center. The person you were speaking with was probably sitting in another state.

The system is in place for efficiency's sake. Front desk CM's just don't have time to be pick up a phone every few minutes. Most of the time the system works well. We had a mix-up regarding the room number given to us and the person we spoke with from the "house phone" outside our building handled the problem seamlessly. The person you spoke with tried to call bell services. If they had answered, you would have never known the difference.

But in situations where you really need to interact with someone at the front desk (need to speak to a manager, accidentally left something at the front desk, etc.) about the only option is to walk back in person. That's true of any resort.

I don't recall hearing of DVC resort bell services being contracted out. But it's one of those positions that is easily impacted by the volume of arriving guests. The DME busses can drop of dozens of guests all at one time, many of whom may request immediate help with carry-on bags.

 

[Sammie]

Things that are wrong, never improve, unless the people who have the authority to fix it are notified. All you need to do is ask for the on duty manager. It is truly not time consuming.

Bell services are Disney employees. And yes Magical Express affects everything, if a bus pulls in they are going to handle them first, as they don't have a car to take them to their room.

If I might ask, if you had a car why did they have your luggage?

 

[mathgeek]

Our experience with bell services a few weeks ago at SSR was the worst we have ever seen. We checked our luggage with them after getting off the DCL bus at 9:30 in the morning, and when we got in our room later in the afternoon and called for it to be delivered they could not find it. It took well over an hour for them to find and deliver the luggage - apparently the bellman who took our luggage did not bother to tag it and then put it in a back room. They had to call us back a number of times to ask what our luggage looked like.

In addition, when we called them later for our groceries it did take a while for them to pick up and then a long time to deliver.

The best though was the night we came back from Epcot after Illuminations to find someone else's luggage in our room.

 

[Debby7]

Last December we had a conversation with a bellman at OKW. We remembered this cm as being there for many years. He told us that Disney was soon to be contracting bell services out and he did not know what would happen to all the familiar faces we had come to know and trust over the years. Sounds like one more of Disney's cost cutting measures going bad.

 

[tjkraz]

At one time there were rumors that both valet and bell services positions were being outsourced by Disney. Ultimately it was concluded that bell services was not being outsourced:

From: http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=wd061127mg

"Since posting last week's story about the contracting out of bell, valet and baggage services positions at the Grand Floridian and value resorts, we've gotten further information that helps clarify exactly what's going to happen. To start, the valet positions only at the Deluxe resorts and luggage assistance at Value resorts will be outsourced. The luggage assistance positions will be contracted to Baggage Airlines Guest Services (BAGS), the company that runs the baggage portion of the Disney's Magical Express service, while the valet service at the Deluxes will be contracted to a different firm.

Bell services at Deluxe, Moderate and Disney Vacation Club (DVC resorts will continue to be handled by Disney cast members. Valet employees at the Deluxes will be offered positions in bell services, and Value resort cast members will just drop the luggage half of the luggage/front desk assignments."

That's the last I have personally read on the matter.

But regardless of who employes them, Sammie's comment is the most relevant. While we would all like things to be perfect, when we encounter problems, they aren't going to be fixed if the resort doesn't even know about them. We'll never know what sort of circumstances lead to there being nobody at the bell services desk, but Disney needs to know that it is happening so that corrective action can be taken. Perhaps the calls can be routed somewhere else at times like that.

I'm personally torn as to how things should be handled when they do get very busy. If I arrived at the desk with an armload of bags and the only person there said to me "I'm sorry you'll have to wait because I cannot leave the desk", I think I'd be pretty put-off by that as well. So which is the lesser of two evils: nobody at the desk for a few minutes or inability to assist guests due to mandate of remaining by the phone?

Best thing to do is to communicate it to management so that they can investigate the circumstances (short staffed, large volume of inbound guests, other emergency, CM who needed to use the bathroom in a hurry), determine if procedures were violated, and consider if procedures need to be revised.

 

[jemiaule]

I'm personally torn as to how things should be handled when they do get very busy. If I arrived at the desk with an armload of bags and the only person there said to me "I'm sorry you'll have to wait because I cannot leave the desk", I think I'd be pretty put-off by that as well. So which is the lesser of two evils: nobody at the desk for a few minutes or inability to assist guests due to mandate of remaining by the phone?

One of my first jobs when I was in school required helping people both on the phone and who came in. We were told that you had to answer the phone promptly. If you had customers in the lobby you would politely let them know you had to put the call on hold and then could continue assisting them.

The reason?

A person in front of you can see that you are there and, most of the time, is very understanding to wait 3 seconds while you put a phone call on hold.

A person on the phone cannot see that you or anyone else is there. Answering the phone and politely putting them on hold at least let them know that someone is there and will be able to help them in a few minutes.

So using your scenario I think having the bellperson say "I am sorry, I am the only one at the station at the moment and cannot leave. I will get the very next bellperson that returns to help you with your luggage" would be the best way to handle the situation.

I believe (or at least hope) that most reasonable people would understand that the bellstation must be manned at all times and sometimes that means having to wait a few minutes.

 

[tjkraz]

One of my first jobs when I was in school required helping people both on the phone and who came in. We were told that you had to answer the phone promptly. If you had customers in the lobby you would politely let them know you had to put the call on hold and then could continue assisting them.

The reason?

A person in front of you can see that you are there and, most of the time, is very understanding to wait 3 seconds while you put a phone call on hold.

A person on the phone cannot see that you or anyone else is there. Answering the phone and politely putting them on hold at least let them know that someone is there and will be able to help them in a few minutes.

I agree in the situation you described, but I don't see the bell services desk as having a steady stream of calls to be answered. Would an arriving family expecting the utmost in "Disney magic" be as understanding while the desk-bound CM tries to look busy for 10 minutes awaiting the return of another CM?

But we're just splitting hairs. If OP tried calling for an hour with no response, there is no excuse. The best course of action is to notify those who can correct the situation.

 

[2 princes 1 princess]

If I might ask, if you had a car why did they have your luggage?

We had groceries that needed to stay cold so we left our luggage there too. We had to dig out the strollers and they were under all the baggage so we decided to leave it at the resort instead of in a parking lot at a park.