Welcome Home!............Now Get Out!

[PBB]

We got a last minute reservation for one night at Boardwalk in a Studio. We are staying the rest of the week at Beach Club Villas. After driving all day in Torential rain, we checked in and grabbed a pizza at the pizza window on the Boardwalk ( why they don't deliver is beyond me?). We decided to sleep in and grab a late breakfast and hopefully move to BCV.

At 9:00 am, knock,knock, knock.......Housekeeping! I had to get out bed to communicate through the door that we were still in the room sleeping. I start looking for the "Privacy Please" tag and none was on the inside of the door. I called down to Housekeeping demanding they bring a "Privacy Please" tag,because, I knew that I had not put the tag on the door the night before and none was hanging on inside of the knob. (This happened at Vero once before they were out of them and a maintenance man knocked on the door waking me up to change filters on the A/C unit)

After showering and getting our items together, I open the door and there are 2 "Privacy Please" tags hanging on our door. I tell my wife about it.......She says she tried to tell me while I was on the phone with the Housekeeping Manager that she had placed the tag on the door the night before and that is why there were two. So, back to the phone.......I spoke to the same Housekeeping Manager to clarify things and to ask ........Why in the World would they knock on the door with a "Privacy Please" tag on it? The manager stated they are not supposed to do that and they would reprimand the housekeeper. She stated that since we were staying at BCV that she would do something for our inconvenience. We haven't seen anything..........

I have to admit this is a huge pet peeve of mine........DVC allows or instructs these housekeepers to knock on doors starting at 8 am. This has happened to us here at BCV,HHI,OKW and VB. I get they want to get started early,however, knocking on doors with Privacy Tags is just unexceptable. We live in Atlanta and we don't need to get up at the crack of dawn to leave. On a personal side, the challenges I have with my medical disability makes sleep a precious commodity. There are nights that I deal with pain until 3-4 am. So, I will sleep in past normal hours.

We always tell housekeeping on our way out we are out of the room........Disney should provide someone to call or a room available for servicing tag or magnet. Disney has a Goodnght Kiss at the parks with the fireworks to end the day on high note. Perhaps, DVC/Disney should learn from the parks......I wonder if they don't care because they know DVC Members will come back anyway............

 

[jerseygal]

It is understandable that at 9AM with a Privacy Please tag, that should be respected by the Housekeeping staff. Checkout is 11AM, so why the knock so early?No need to remind guests at 9AM, that it is checkout day. When housekeeping begins to knock at 10:45, we don't have a problem with this as we understand that they want to start readying the rooms for the next guests. Hope that you enjoy the rest of your vaca at BCV!

 

[disneynutz]

Housekeeping doesn't work for the DVC, they work for Disney resorts, DVC is a different department that has little to say on what the housekeepers do, if they did have any control, rooms would always be cleaned properly.

Housekeeping has an agreement with their union that if they finish their rooms early, they can go home with pay. Now you know why they start knocking early.

Bill

 

[BillPA]

That may explain why the rooms aren't always cleaned as well as expected.

 

[gmboy95]

Yeah....i have also noticed the dreaded knock on the door....i would imagine it happens quite a bit, as most trips we are out of the room before 6am to catch the preferred early flight home....I always temper my reaction to this, every time i check-in early and my room is ready long before 4pm!!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

As long as we've had the privacy please hang tag out we haven't received a knock. If we've missed putting it out then it has happened. We often stay at BWV and in rooms at the end of the hall where we'll see the housekeepers already around so I couldn't say that it's necessarily anything they "allow". And being west coasters our flights are usually late and we're in our room until 11.

 

[DebbieB]

When I first joined DVC, BWV was famous for checkout day hang up phone calls.

 

[hakepb]

It was years ago, but I thought the BWV room service pizza was the same or very close to being the Pizza window pizza

 

[PBB]

Well......my wife and I introduced ourselves to Ken Potrick this evening at the DVC Safari Spectacular .......Guess what the topic of conversation was? LOL

He was very nice and not shocked by our experience. It is a large problem. I expressed my comparison of the Good Night Kiss at the park with the Fireworks and Now Get Out in the morning. That is the last experience we have with the resort and it ends on a very low note........it is not good business way to leave a customer. He did confirm Dsney is mNaging the resorts not DVC. That being said DVC and the Members are still the customers and it should not happen. The member surveys help him in this regard.

I appreciated the time he spent with us!

 

[quirty30]

As long as we've had the privacy please hang tag out we haven't received a knock. If we've missed putting it out then it has happened. We often stay at BWV and in rooms at the end of the hall where we'll see the housekeepers already around so I couldn't say that it's necessarily anything they "allow". And being west coasters our flights are usually late and we're in our room until 11.

I've had the same experience. Dozens of DVC stays - I always have the DND hangtag on the door and never once has housekeeping knocked.

 

[imahistorygeek]

The title of this thread is the same experience we had at Boardwalk. 8am and they're knocking on the door. We've never experienced this anywhere else.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I have never had them knock on the door when I put out the privacy notice at any Disney resort. If they do, they will get an earful as will the manager.

Disney hotel management is pathetic however so I am not surprised that they do this.

 

[nj disney family]

we got our first door knock yesterday morning at OKW. with 3 young kids we were up, but thought it was odd. will definitely start using the privacy card from now on.

 

[2binak]

At the end of one of our stays at BWV, the housekeeper knocked at 10:30am and when I answered, she tried walking into the room. I stepped in front of her and told her that we'd be out of the room at 11am and that she could come back then. She said that she had no problem starting to clean while we were in the room, that she would start by grabbing the dirty towels, sheets, etc. I told her that the room was ours until 11am and she could come back then. I practically had to force her out of the room! And yes, the DND sign was on the door.

 

[jakenjess]

We had this happen at the Poly back in February. The housekeeper was knocking (privacy sign on the door) at 8:45, and she actually tried to tell us we need to be out by 9:00!
I knew this was wrong and said we'd be out by 11:00. Informed the front desk when we checked out, and there was a manager there training someone. He seemed shocked and said he would look into it.

 

[holden]

It happened to us at Bay Lake. We were staying in a Grand Villa and hanging out until the 11am checkout. They knocked around 10am and we told them we were staying until 11am. At some point one of us left the room and the housekeeper was sitting in the hall right outside our room waiting for us to leave. She sat there until we left at 11.

 

[Kim&Chris]

I HATE THAT. Nothing is more annoying that that hang-up phone call OR that knock at the door at 8am on the morning of check out. It makes my blood pressure shoot through the roof.

I refuse to answer the phone or door. Check out is at 11, so I'm staying until 11 (unless my flight requires me to leave earlier).

 

[disneynutz]

It happened to us at Bay Lake. We were staying in a Grand Villa and hanging out until the 11am checkout. They knocked around 10am and we told them we were staying until 11am. At some point one of us left the room and the housekeeper was sitting in the hall right outside our room waiting for us to leave. She sat there until we left at 11.

I don't fault the housekeepers, I fault Disney. Disney is who sets their schedule, makes the union agreements, supervises their work, allows them to knock early or phone the room.

The other issue I have is with some guests who leave the rooms in a total mess. We were given the opportunity to tour a GV, the guests were still in the room at noon and when they left, the room was a war zone. The housekeeper was on her own and cleaning that room was going to take hours. Crap on the floors, balloons, baby strollers, blow up beds, all left behind, food and liquids spilled on the counters, dirty diapers sitting on the dresser. Must have been 30 empty water and drink bottles all over the place. Sink was full of dirty dishes.

To top it off, the housekeeper said that the new guests were waiting in the lobby and wanted to get into the room ASAP.

Bill

 

[gmboy95]

Well......my wife and I introduced ourselves to Ken Potrick this evening at the DVC Safari Spectacular .......Guess what the topic of conversation was? LOL

He was very nice and not shocked by our experience. It is a large problem. I expressed my comparison of the Good Night Kiss at the park with the Fireworks and Now Get Out in the morning. That is the last experience we have with the resort and it ends on a very low note........it is not good business way to leave a customer. He did confirm Dsney is mNaging the resorts not DVC. That being said DVC and the Members are still the customers and it should not happen. The member surveys help him in this regard.

I appreciated the time he spent with us!

It is amazing that when customer service isan issue at the hotel, they tell you "Disney manages the resort"......But when you complain about the annual pass prices for DVC members they are also quick to point out that DVC has no control over the ticket prices.....well OK, then what in the hell does DVC have control over other then zapping the dues out of my bank account every month?

 

[gmboy95]

This is the two sides to every coin issue....you cant jump for Joy when your room is ready at noon time on check in day, and curse the gods when they knock on your door early in the morning on check out day