AKL Concierge IPO...not a good experience

[seaprincess]

My husband and I are staying at AKL Concierge in December. I received an e-mail from the Itinerary Planning Office asking about our upcoming plans, so I decided to call them directly to make plans for dining, the early morning Safari and to arrange some surprises for the room since we are celebrating our Wedding Anniversary. A gentleman answered the phone and I told him I was calling about the e-mail. Right off the bat, I felt as if he had a very sarcastic tone and I was taken aback. His first words were, " Well,what do you want to do?" It just did not have the warm feeling I am used to getting when calling Disney.

During the course of the conversation, I inquired about dining at Cinderella's Royal Table and Tony's. We made a reservation at Tony's after he told me nothing was avaiable at Cindy's. He did not offer to check an alternative day/time. When asked about Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, he gave me a number to call to purchase the tickets myself. What really frustrated me was when I asked about arranging surprises for the room,ones I was willing and prepared to pay for, and I was given the number to WDW florist and told it was better if I booked the arrangements myself. So I then asked myself, exactly what is a concierge for?

I have vacationed at Disney many, amny years as this will be our seventh visit this year with 53 total visits. We always stay on concierge as we enjoy the extra touches and pre-planning for our upcoming stays. We have never heard some of the responses I have heard from the IPO at AKL. We have only stayed at AKL once (non-concierge) and have read glowing reviews about AKL concierge service. I am now not so convinced.

I am thinking of swtiching our stay to another hotel at this point as I am a little disenchated at the moment. Any suggestions as to what to do?

 

[RachelTori]

Are you sure you were speaking to AKL IPO? I would suggest you send an email and ask Don or Juanita to call YOU. I'd be willing to bet it sure wasn't Don you spoke with!!!

Please post again after you've spoken with Don or Juanita. You might not hear from them until Monday, but send an email now with a request they call you as soon as possible.

And please don't change resorts. AKL is WONDERFUL!!!

 

[sherry8253]

We have stayed at AKL twice at CL so we could do the special morning safari. I was not impressed. Once we were in the lounge and it was pouring. I asked if they could check to see if Boma had anything available and if they would please cancel our other dining reservations. The gentleman in the lounge said it would be better if I went down to Boma and checked myself. I also asked about an illuminations cruise well before the 90 days out date and said any day would be fine. They said they would try. We were staying for 9 nights. I called after they had five days to try. The response was sorry but we have not been able to book anything for you. The next morning I was on the phone at 7 AM and booked the cruise myself. When I called several days later to make sure we were not booked for 2 cruise, the concierge told me they had not been able to secure a cruise for me. I too was told to book my own MVM ticktets. Whenever we walked in the lounge to ask anything you had to stand and wait because they were always busy looking at their computer screens. Often after 5 minutes, I would say excuse me and it seemed like it was a pain for them to look up and answer your question. I was NOT impressed. If it would not be for the special safari I would never book AKL CL again.

 

[patsal]

We have stayed at AKL twice at CL so we could do the special morning safari. I was not impressed. Once we were in the lounge and it was pouring. I asked if they could check to see if Boma had anything available and if they would please cancel our other dining reservations. The gentleman in the lounge said it would be better if I went down to Boma and checked myself. I also asked about an illuminations cruise well before the 90 days out date and said any day would be fine. They said they would try. We were staying for 9 nights. I called after they had five days to try. The response was sorry but we have not been able to book anything for you. The next morning I was on the phone at 7 AM and booked the cruise myself. When I called several days later to make sure we were not booked for 2 cruise, the concierge told me they had not been able to secure a cruise for me. I too was told to book my own MVM ticktets. Whenever we walked in the lounge to ask anything you had to stand and wait because they were always busy looking at their computer screens. Often after 5 minutes, I would say excuse me and it seemed like it was a pain for them to look up and answer your question. I was NOT impressed. If it would not be for the special safari I would never book AKL CL again.

It's like you are repeating my whole AKL CL experience! While we are not needy by any means and nearly all of our planning is done by me, I figure I am paying the CL $$ so let the staff help me out a bit. Truely it was an insane experience. July we did Poly CL--lets just say worlds apart. I'll be trying VAKL CL in April and hope that my first AKL CL experience was just a fluke. Otherwise no more CL for me!

 

[amcjeep4life]

Wow, I have to say I have had a completely opposite experience! Don has been unbelievably helpful for us, he told me when I needed to have my choices in to him for my ADRs, booked everything I needed, including CRT, and was absolutely fantastic. I am amazed anyone has trouble with IPO there. Now, I can't say what the actual concierge CMs are like, as we have not had the joy of actually having our stay yet (29 days and counting!). He has always responded promptly to any e-mails (well...except for the week he had the audacity to take a vacation ) and has just been super helpful. I'm sorry you haven't had that experience.

 

[lttlmc3]

Hmmmm. When my sister, nephew, and I stayed at AKL concierge, everything was wonderful. My nephew got a stomach virus while there and the concierge came to our room and asked what reservations, etc. they could change for us because it was obvious that we wouldn't be going anywhere that day. They changed our breakfast reservations for the next day and was very accomidating. This was last November. Service going down becasue of renovations??? I hope not.

 

[kapoof]

that is terrible that the cm told you to check for yourself!!! ressies are big part of staying cl!!! we stayed at bc cl and had great cms there that made last minute ressies for us and chatted with us every time we saw them. i would call back and ask to speak to the manager...good luck.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

I am so sorry to hear this, please try and speak with someone else.

I have been working with YC's IPO....they have been wonderful. They secured my tickets for the P and P Party, shopped for items for our room for our DD..assisted with ADR's, etc..I sent them a thank you gift cause they have been wonderful since day one.
On a side note...we changed from WL IPO..I wasnt pleased with their IPO's communication or lack thereof.
So try and call or send another email and explain your unhappiness thus far.
Good luck!

 

[seaprincess]

Thanks for your responses. I see that some have had a wonderful experience and others have had some challanges as well. I guess I have been spoiled by the YC Concierge over the past years. They always go the extra mile and even leave unexpected goodies and surprises that always make us feel very special.

Believe me when I say I am a "compulsive planner" and do take care of many things on my own prior to our vacation. This vacation happens to be a little more special because we are Renewing our Wedding Vows and I wanted to treat my husband to a wonderful experience.

I guess what it boils down to is "different strokes for different folks". I guess I expected a little more of the "warm fuzzies" and less of the "here's the number, do it yourself".

Thanks for sharing!! Have a Magical Day!!