Grand Floridian RPC=Really Poor Concierge

[Laurie528]

I'm not quite sure what he did, but the instructions were on the back.. I think it consisted of like turning the power off and pressing the down arrow and power button at same time until it beeped and said bypass.... like I said i'm not quite sure what he did, but I know that the instructions for doing it were printed on the backside of the thermostat ( you actually had to pop it off of the wall)

 

[jgates]

Sounds to me like you are both the 'good' sisters because I would have been a royal BI**H (when mother wasn't near-I wouldn't have wanted to stress her out). There is one thing my mom says is that you don't want to make me mad. I may only be 4'11" but I WILL win the argument!!!

You should have heard me at the Renaissance in St Augustine when housekeeping left our room open all day. (Came back and privacy bar was flipped over & door ajar). We did get an apology but no compensation. I called at 3:30 pm when we got back (guess that's not all day but 5 or 6 hours!) and they said they would check right away and see why it was left open (duh!) and I said I would really like to know. They kept insisting housekeeping must be on the floor up there and coming back - well you can see the whole floor the way it is set up and it was DESERTED. At 5 pm when I still hadn't received a response I called again and GUESS WHAT! the one that answered the phone knew nothing about it - the first one had just 'blown me off'. So I blew a fuse. Housekeeping manager actually came up to our room to apologize. By that time I was irate about the room and about being ignored with the incident and I did want some comp but didn't really want to make a scene and ask. I said we were on our way to supper and kind of thought they would offer us a meal discount or something to eat there - but nothing. So I figured they would do something on our room bill but no-it was same the next morning when put under our door. So after we packed up I went to the front and politely explained that I wanted a discount on my room and why. We did get $40 off plus tax which took our bill for 2 nites to $192 (including a pizza). Not enough for the risk of having all your stuff stolen and dug through but enough to shut me up for the day.

 

[Laurie528]

wow jgates sorry to hear that happened to you. My mother just has issues with complaining for example, if she gets the wrong food at a restaurant, she won't send it back or complain.
It really is a big deal for her to complain, or even ask for something which is why I became so upset when she told me(after we were already back home) that she called for an extra bathrobe and never received it. I didn't want to do anything to upset her as this trip really was "for" her.

 

[Pumbaa_]

It appears that the flagstaff Disney hotel is not what it used to be. Maybe the staff now think they are better than their guests?

I never had a strong desire to stay there, and this only confirms it. Sorry to hear you had such a disappointing experience. But glad that you were able to make the trip. Let us know if you hear from the GM

 

[Laurie528]

Just to let you all know, I have e-mailed disney with my complaints and also tried to reach Georgina Sussan, but was only able to speak with her assistant. As for now, I am just waiting for replies

 

[PamOKW]

I'm not asking for what you guys paid, but for anyone out there what is an average or standard rate for GF conc level room? ??$300 nite??.

Rack rate, depending on time of year and whether Deluxe/Honeymoon Concierge or regular Main Building Concierge range from $555-$875 (plus tax).

 

[MJS]

We stayed at the RPC in May for about 2 weeks, and reading your trip report reminded me so much of our vacation. Rude CMs, meager food, problems with the room. etc. We had problems with our thermostat, too. Our room was above 80 degrees at night (a REAL PROBLEM for us with asthma, etc.) and when I went to the RPC CM for help, he told me that if he had engineering come fix it, then I would whine (yes, he said whine) about it being cold. I told him that we are from Minnesota, and that he doesn't know what cold is. We called every 48 hours and spoke directly to engineering, and they came and overrode the thermostat every other day.

We had many other problems, too. The concierge manager and the GM never returned our calls. It finally became a joke. We would not stay there again.

 

[queenofhearts]

Good for you Laurie!!! (about e-mailing Disney with your complaints)

This story broke my heart! I've been planning my vacation for almost a year now, and I could not imagine the feeling of it being less than magical because of rude CMs. There's just no excuse for that!

Please keep pursuing this issue with Disney. They at the VERY least owe you a sincere apology.

I hope that your vacation otherwise was memorable and very magical!!!

Sending you Pixie Dust!
Angela

 

[WeLoveDisney]

Thanks, MJS
They have not returned our calls, either. In fact, when I called to get the tracking number for the fed ex that supposedly went out containing my wallet, at first they couldnt find any record of a tracking number of my sister even giving me the wallet. They promised to look and call me back within 30 minutes. Well, almost 2 hours went back so I called and asked for the manager and was told the reason they didnt call me back was that they didnt have anything to tell me. (Mind you, they promised to call in 30 minutes and I was iin a rush because I was leaving on another business trip and needed to know if I had to cancel my credit cards). The GM of the GF, Ms Sussan has not returned any of our calls, although I heard from her assistant, a guy named Nelson Placa. He is nice but not really in a position to help us. Interestingly, they will not tell me who Miss Sussan reports to.

 

[Gillian]

i would imagine that she reports (however indirectly) to some of these people:

Mr. Roy E. Disney
Vice Chairman
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Mr. Michael Eisner
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Mr. Paul Pressler
Chairman & President
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Mr. Al Weiss
President
The Walt Disney World Resort
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

The list is over on the Rumors board:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84539

 

[Jen D]

But, and I almost feel bad mentioning this....I am glad it seems to be the same two places that get these reviews

Hey, Rich, just curious, what is the other one that you would say consistently gets the bad reviews?

I'm asking in earnest, am trying to pick resorts for my next trip. I too have noticed that AKL service (concierge or not) gets raves, so I want to try them.
Hoping GF will get its act together soon.

 

[WeLoveDisney]

The 2 that I hear the best things about are AKL and YC. I've stayed at both these resorts (non-concierge) and had a wonderful time. Laurie528 had nothing but rave reviews to tell about the WL concierge after checking out of the GF to move there.

As soon as she checked in to WL, a CM took her son on a "mini-tour" while she did the paperwork. Her room was filled with large towel animals, (she didnt specifically request it, but she did mention when she made her reservation that her son liked them). The concierge buffet was so full of good food that they werent hungry for dinner (they had minestrone soup, ribs, and more). The next day it was raining and the concierge called them to ask if they needed ponchos or help rearranging their schedule.

That is even above and beyond what I expected to get at the GF, and a whole world apart from the way we were treated there.

 

[Jeanny]

Laurie and WeLoveDisney....

I would have flipped out by the end of the trip if I were you. You paid for concierge, you SHOULD have received concierge. I would have been so far down those staff members throats, you would have been able to just see the souls of my shoes.

What they did was completely unacceptable. Did they just expect you to go away quietly, pay for the service and NOT get it? I would want a complete explaination to each and every incident and AN APOLOGY from the conceirge, not just the manager.

They must have a very nice job, just be there at the desk and do nothing??? I would love to have their job. You know how fast I would be fired if I told someone "get here early for the good stuff"? Ohmigod! At least they sent some to your room, but that's NOT the point.

I'm angry for you both and fee so bad for your poor Mom! I hope ol' Roy boy does something and not let those staff members get away with that sort of behavior.

Good luck in getting compensation!!

 

[MJS]

It is frustrating isn't it? By the way, did you see my post about the real reason why the GF concierge is so bad? I jokingly posted that Disney assumes that the guests who stay at the RPC have some financial resources. Their strategy is to treat them so badly in concierge that they flee the resort. Now here is the catch, the guest (like me) is addicted to Disney and need his/her "fix." Concierge service is out, given poor performance, so the guest goes to a DVC resort. The guest falls in love with the DVC concept and buys a membership, thus providing Disney with even more money that the company would have gotten had the guest stayed elsewhere.

If you want REALLY good concierge service, bag Disney and stay at the Four Seasons.

Good luck with Disney management.

 

[A kid at heart]

You are not the first to have this happen to you. I have freinds who were there last jan and had pretty much the exact same problem that you did.

 

[susy]

I have to say that I received outstanding service at the Courtyard Marriott at Downtown Disney, All Star Movies and Caribbean Beach (I paid $25, $49 , and $84, respectively). Everything was always "Yes, Mrs. Brown". Whether I was requesting extra towels, decaf coffee, an iron, asking a general question, or informing them that I needed to check out extra early.

You have every right to be mad!!! I can't believe they didn't acknowledge your mom's b-day, anniversary, or anything! I know of people who have received numerous "goodies" for a single event!

We also had towel animals at ASMo and at CBR!!! Excellent housekeeping! I always request early room make up and got it every time. Never had a complaint!

I will be at AKL in a few days (at $119) and I all I expect is to be treated like a guest of Disney!

I hope you receive letters of apology and some type of compensation. It doesn't seem like you got what you paid for at all!!!

 

[Richyams]

I have read bad reviews of the Poly. I have read the greatest number of problems at the GF.

I know that starting next month, we will start hearing horror staries about AKL. I hear that they rotate staff and it just my luck to have h i m b e h i n d the counter.

 

[Janet2k]

My last GF stay was in a two-bedroom suite. In fairness, please let me start off my post by stating that I had a wonderful vacation in spite of the GF concierge and their mistakes. Now that that has been stated, I should note that my stay was marred by sub-standard service throughout the entire vacation. Sad to say, your post really brought back memories of that stay.

I thought I would post something here that will (hopefully) bring a smile to your face. It has got to be my FAVORITE GF concierge memory (at least it’s one that I will never forget, hee hee!).

During that vacation, our birthday/fireworks cruise was *mysteriously* cancelled. That cruise was to celebrate three of the children’s birthdays and also to begin our glorious WDW vacation. I had pre-ordered a birthday cake, chocolate-covered strawberries, soft drinks, and champagne for us to munch on during our cruise as we celebrated being alive in the Happiest Place On Earth. On the day of our cruise, we received a phone message from the GF Marina stating that our cruise was canceled. No explanation was stated. I asked my husband to contact the concierge to see if they could find out who had cancelled it and why. The concierge promised my husband that they would look into it and get back to him the next day since the Marina was closed at that time. We didn’t hear from the concierge for the next few days, so my husband eventually called them to see what was up. Once again they stated that they would look into things. Another day came and went, and now my sister was phoning them, too, in hopes of finding out what had happened to our cruise. After several days of this, we returned to our suite one evening to find a bottle of champagne in the parlor room. Our assumption was that the champagne was from the concierge and it was their way of apologizing to us for their complete lack of follow-through regarding our cruise (and a few other issues). I thought it was a lovely gesture on their part, until I noticed the Room Service bill sitting alongside the bottle of champagne. And then I noticed that a hefty Room Service delivery fee had been added to the bill, along with a hefty tip. I was flabbergasted when I saw that. My husband picked up the telephone and immediately called the concierge desk. He told them, yes, we got the bottle of champagne, but we found it utterly insulting to receive a bill for it that also included a Room Service delivery fee plus a tip. Of course the concierge promised to immediately get that bill removed from our tab.

Believe it or not, after the initial shock of the situation wore off, I actually found that bottle of champagne and its bill quite poetic. It was the icing on the cake regarding our entire GF stay. The concierge couldn’t even apologize correctly. By the way, I have a photo of the infamous bottle of champagne posted here: click here to view it. As you will see in the picture, the champagne bottle was in a small container of ice that was located to the right of the lovely balloon bouquet that the staff had delivered to our suite earlier that day in honor of my son’s birthday. I am happy to say that the staff did do a few things right.

Oh, yes, I had a wonderful vacation that year in spite of the problems with the concierge staff. The GF is a gorgeous resort, and for some strange reason it is still my husband’s favorite resort (to this day I cannot figure that one out, but it probably has something to do with the fact that our first few GF stays were glorious, even though the last few stays were marred by problems). Of course we have not stayed there since. Will we ever again? That's a tough one to answer, especially after reading threads like this one.

 

[Laurie528]

Sorry to hear about your vacation janet2k. As with you we also did not let these things ruin our vacation. We had a wonderful time aside from all the frustration with trying to get things right and the horrible service we received. We also had a couple problems with our bill not being correct also. As for us I do believe we would certainly go back to Disney, and even stay concierge again just not at the GF.

 

[WeLoveDisney]

Hi Janet
I understand your husband continuing to want to stay there. It is a gorgeous resort. And, like me, he probably wants to believe it will be better the next time......

There's no excuse for the poor service we all received and hopefully Disney will get the message soon (I'll certainly do my part in giving it to them!)

The GF RPC must be soooo poorly managed. I dont know if these problems extend to the rest of the resort or not. Any CM's outside of concierge were all very friendly (the greeter, security guard, life guard, etc.). My DH and I also stayed one night in a lagoon view room and had no problems. And each time we go to Disney we eat in Narcoosee's or Citricos always with great service.