calismic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2007
I have been holding off on writing this, however after giving Disney several months to do the right thing, and being repeatedly ignored, I have decided to share my story with the wonderful folks here at DIS. First let me state, I love the resort, I love Disney, I am just very unhappy with their response to the safety of their guests and I want to warn others to be cautious in their rooms.
My husband and I journeyed to the World' April 17th of this year with our 5 year old daughter and 4 month old son. We stayed 3 nights at the Polynesian and for the bulk of our trip the hotel was incredible. We had a great room, great view, and were well attended. Our 3rd night, we arrived at the hotel roughly around 8PM to change clothes and head to Magic Kingdom to enjoy the Fireworks and Parade. My daughter went into the restroom and my husband walked in behind her. Both had taken off their shoes when walking into the room. As my daughter sat down on the toilet, my husband yelled for her not to move. Sensing something was wrong, I ran over to the restroom. My husband had stepped on something quite sharp and his foot was bleeding heavily. He remained calm, grabbed a number of towels and was able to get the bleeding under control.
I headed to the phone and called the front desk. I explained what happened and that we needed medical attention. They offered to send an ambulance but my husband felt antiseptic and a bandage would be sufficient. He sat down to look at this foot and found a small shard of glass had gone straight into his heel. (There was a LOT of blood for such a tiny puncture) He was able to pull it out but that of course caused more bleeding. Within 5 minutes one of the front desk staff had come up with a first aid kit and we got his foot situated. The front desk attendant left with nothing other than a sorry.
When everything was calmed down, I grabbed a flash light and started looking at the floor. There were small glittering shards of glass scattered on the bathroom floor and front entrance carpet. We did not, I repeat did NOT break anything our entire stay. We had not been in our room from early morning until we returned at 8PM. I called the front desk again and asked to speak with management. I relayed the story and explained there was glass all over. The manager was quite nice, but other than multiple apologies they offered to do NOTHING. After spending 15 minutes on my hands and knees cleaning up glass, I finally had enough.
This time I marched down to the front desk and asked that they PLEASE send up someone to clean up the glass. He said he would have housekeeping up immediately. The woman who arrived was appalled. She kept repeating how there was glass everywhere and how embarrassing it was that this could happen. After she vacuumed the room several times, she scooped up the towels that had been quite blood stained by my husbands foot and stated she was taking them to her manager. She was about as angry as we were! Her belief was that one of the house keepers dropped a glass, and instead of cleaning it up properly, simply used a dust pan and then proceeded to walk over the remaining shards, crushing them further and scattering them to the carpet.
By the time our room was finally cleaned, we had missed the parade and fireworks. My daughter was very upset by her daddy getting hurt and just wanted to go home. We got her situated and in bed (thankfully my 4 month old slept through everything) when I received a call from yet another manager, again apologizing for what happened, but offering nothing else. I asked the manager if anything was documented with housekeeping regarding a broken glass and she stated there was not. I asked if they were required to document any damage, she stated they were not. Needless to say I was not happy.
I spoke to 3 managers that evening, not a single one of them offered to change our room. Not a single one accepted responsibility. Other than the sorries, they treated us like WE had broken the glass. When we checked out the next morning, I made it very clear, again, to the desk manager that we had nothing to do with the glass on our floor. It was done by their housekeeping staff, and we were very upset that Disney offered to do nothing. When we returned home the very first thing I did was contact Disney Guest Services. I wrote a lengthy letter describing what had taken place. I explained very clearly that I was not asking for compensation. I was asking that Disney change their policies when anything is damaged in a room. I asked that the housekeeping staff be held accountable. I did not want to see this happen to another family. What if that glass shard had gone into my daughter's foot instead? What if I had placed my 4 month old on the floor to play!?
3 days passed before I heard a word. On the 4th day I received a response stating only that my e-mail had been forwarded to the "appropriate parties." I asked if she could be more specific and she said it would be handled by the Guest Claims Services. It took roughly 2 weeks for me to hear back from claims. They stated they were investigating the matter and would contact me again after reviewing the complaint with the Polynesian. Another 2 weeks passed when I received another notification asking why we did not fill out an accident report. I explained we were not GIVEN an accident report. I was not aware Disney had forms, and not a single one of the managers ever mentioned them. I "ASSUMED" my having spoken to 3 managers was enough report. Several days passed before I was then given a copy of the accident reports and asked to fill them out and mail them. I did so, at which point I never heard back from Disney.
I have left multiple voicemails and e-mails, still nothing. I have a case number with no employee willing to communicate with me. My case was assigned a representative who apparently does not exist, as she never answers her phone. I have a generic e-mail address that apparently drops all messages into the void. At this point it has been 3 months, and I am throwing in the towel. Again, I wasn't asking Disney for anything, other than consideration in changing their policies with housekeeping. It's very little to ask and being they are so into quality control you'd think this would be a give in.
So the moral of the story, BE CAREFUL with any breakables left in your room. Check the floors when housekeeping leaves. I've never worried about walking barefoot in a hotel room before now. Our next trip is in December and I'll be sure we keep our shoes on before performing a sweep! I'd ask that they not place glassware in our bathroom, but I'm fearful they'll just keep returning it when they come to clean the room. Disney is fantastic with guest complaints. Not happy with your service? Here's a free dessert on us. Had problems with transportation? Let us give you some fast passes. Injured? Sucks to be you!
My husband and I journeyed to the World' April 17th of this year with our 5 year old daughter and 4 month old son. We stayed 3 nights at the Polynesian and for the bulk of our trip the hotel was incredible. We had a great room, great view, and were well attended. Our 3rd night, we arrived at the hotel roughly around 8PM to change clothes and head to Magic Kingdom to enjoy the Fireworks and Parade. My daughter went into the restroom and my husband walked in behind her. Both had taken off their shoes when walking into the room. As my daughter sat down on the toilet, my husband yelled for her not to move. Sensing something was wrong, I ran over to the restroom. My husband had stepped on something quite sharp and his foot was bleeding heavily. He remained calm, grabbed a number of towels and was able to get the bleeding under control.
I headed to the phone and called the front desk. I explained what happened and that we needed medical attention. They offered to send an ambulance but my husband felt antiseptic and a bandage would be sufficient. He sat down to look at this foot and found a small shard of glass had gone straight into his heel. (There was a LOT of blood for such a tiny puncture) He was able to pull it out but that of course caused more bleeding. Within 5 minutes one of the front desk staff had come up with a first aid kit and we got his foot situated. The front desk attendant left with nothing other than a sorry.
When everything was calmed down, I grabbed a flash light and started looking at the floor. There were small glittering shards of glass scattered on the bathroom floor and front entrance carpet. We did not, I repeat did NOT break anything our entire stay. We had not been in our room from early morning until we returned at 8PM. I called the front desk again and asked to speak with management. I relayed the story and explained there was glass all over. The manager was quite nice, but other than multiple apologies they offered to do NOTHING. After spending 15 minutes on my hands and knees cleaning up glass, I finally had enough.
This time I marched down to the front desk and asked that they PLEASE send up someone to clean up the glass. He said he would have housekeeping up immediately. The woman who arrived was appalled. She kept repeating how there was glass everywhere and how embarrassing it was that this could happen. After she vacuumed the room several times, she scooped up the towels that had been quite blood stained by my husbands foot and stated she was taking them to her manager. She was about as angry as we were! Her belief was that one of the house keepers dropped a glass, and instead of cleaning it up properly, simply used a dust pan and then proceeded to walk over the remaining shards, crushing them further and scattering them to the carpet.
By the time our room was finally cleaned, we had missed the parade and fireworks. My daughter was very upset by her daddy getting hurt and just wanted to go home. We got her situated and in bed (thankfully my 4 month old slept through everything) when I received a call from yet another manager, again apologizing for what happened, but offering nothing else. I asked the manager if anything was documented with housekeeping regarding a broken glass and she stated there was not. I asked if they were required to document any damage, she stated they were not. Needless to say I was not happy.
I spoke to 3 managers that evening, not a single one of them offered to change our room. Not a single one accepted responsibility. Other than the sorries, they treated us like WE had broken the glass. When we checked out the next morning, I made it very clear, again, to the desk manager that we had nothing to do with the glass on our floor. It was done by their housekeeping staff, and we were very upset that Disney offered to do nothing. When we returned home the very first thing I did was contact Disney Guest Services. I wrote a lengthy letter describing what had taken place. I explained very clearly that I was not asking for compensation. I was asking that Disney change their policies when anything is damaged in a room. I asked that the housekeeping staff be held accountable. I did not want to see this happen to another family. What if that glass shard had gone into my daughter's foot instead? What if I had placed my 4 month old on the floor to play!?
3 days passed before I heard a word. On the 4th day I received a response stating only that my e-mail had been forwarded to the "appropriate parties." I asked if she could be more specific and she said it would be handled by the Guest Claims Services. It took roughly 2 weeks for me to hear back from claims. They stated they were investigating the matter and would contact me again after reviewing the complaint with the Polynesian. Another 2 weeks passed when I received another notification asking why we did not fill out an accident report. I explained we were not GIVEN an accident report. I was not aware Disney had forms, and not a single one of the managers ever mentioned them. I "ASSUMED" my having spoken to 3 managers was enough report. Several days passed before I was then given a copy of the accident reports and asked to fill them out and mail them. I did so, at which point I never heard back from Disney.
I have left multiple voicemails and e-mails, still nothing. I have a case number with no employee willing to communicate with me. My case was assigned a representative who apparently does not exist, as she never answers her phone. I have a generic e-mail address that apparently drops all messages into the void. At this point it has been 3 months, and I am throwing in the towel. Again, I wasn't asking Disney for anything, other than consideration in changing their policies with housekeeping. It's very little to ask and being they are so into quality control you'd think this would be a give in.
So the moral of the story, BE CAREFUL with any breakables left in your room. Check the floors when housekeeping leaves. I've never worried about walking barefoot in a hotel room before now. Our next trip is in December and I'll be sure we keep our shoes on before performing a sweep! I'd ask that they not place glassware in our bathroom, but I'm fearful they'll just keep returning it when they come to clean the room. Disney is fantastic with guest complaints. Not happy with your service? Here's a free dessert on us. Had problems with transportation? Let us give you some fast passes. Injured? Sucks to be you!
