Are DVC guests second-class citizens?

[VGCgroupie]

Washer/Dryer

Yes the beauty of villas. Our 1st stay we were in a studio half the stay and 1 bed the last 2 nights and we washed some towels. Our 2nd stay was s studio also.

 

[Mouseforward]

I normally don't have the towel issue ( grew up having one laundry day per week )

But it is hard in Florida since they do not dry that fast and you want to take twice daily showers. I can see how 2 or more in a room can run out.

 

[Wedgeout]

Overall I think we are treated better than regular guests. Did have a disappointing contact at the Polynesian tower though in May. Somehow the metal flap door security piece ended up opening, blocking entry on our return one night after park closing. (Perhaps the building is built on a slight slant lol).

It was a first floor Duo so I checked the slider from the outside. Still locked. Was too strange. Dedicated so no connecting door. Anyway, security and eventual hotel staff arrive and got it open. The kicker was got treated like we were somehow the cause closing the door in some odd way. No follow up check (as advised would occur) to see if everything still good. As if wanted to hide the incident from their records.

Used a rubber band on it rest of stay when went out. Three nights and also first DVC stay with no trash can emptying, (Unknown if any security checks made). Didn’t observe any housekeeping personnel during stay in that hallway.

Had a future stay booked to try a longhouse studio. Won’t stay at this resort again with that level of service. Modified that reservation to BRV.

 

[TAX GUY]

The only time we ever felt "second class" was several years ago when we stayed at the Grand Floridian, and it was from other guests! Our teen son at the time and his same age friend wore their basketball shorts and t shirts, and other guests looked down their noses at them (while wearing their matching sundresses and polo shirts). We quickly got over it and still had a great stay.

Never once did we have an issue with any cast member or housekeeping. Our only issue with appliances was at Animal Kingdom Villas. The disposal had an issue and they had maintenance repair it the next morning after we left for the day (they asked when we planned to leave for the parks so they could schedule it then). They have always been very accommodating with requests.

The daily housekeeping and towels is odd to me. Meaning, it doesn't bother me that its not daily. We pick up after ourselves here, just like we do at home. We also get a few uses out of bath towels at home, so reusing a towel to dry off after a shower isn't a big deal to us.

 

[AstroBlasters]

DVC is “deluxe adjacent”, not deluxe. But, over time you are paying a lot less than Deluxe… especially the 1/2/3 bedroom villas.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I will say I have noticed less Disney magical service but I think this is because my cash stays were mostly pre covid. Nothing is as good as it was pre 2020.

 

[Tumnus]

You no longer have to pay for towels. I've not paid for extra towels in the 5 years that I've been a DVC member.

Interesting, we have just been re-using and grumbling to ourselves because it says trash only. Do you just call and ask for new towels typically? Or will the automatically do it if you leave on the ground?

 

[Mouseforward]

Interesting, we have just been re-using and grumbling to ourselves because it says trash only. Do you just call and ask for new towels typically? Or will the automatically do it if you leave on the ground?

You call, or ask them when you see them in the hall.

 

[Mouseforward]

DVC is “deluxe adjacent”, not deluxe. But, over time you are paying a lot less than Deluxe… especially the 1/2/3 bedroom villas.

VGF is a "deluxe-themed" resort in the same way Poly is "south pacific themed" resort. One should not look too deep.

 

[radiodome21]

Yikes. That’s terrible. My wife’s biggest complaint about DVC is that we don’t get our towels changed more frequently. If only because our two teens seem to think they’re all for them. I actually hide mine in a closet if I remember. However at the VGF last month there was a towel cabinet outside our room so problem solved. I would definitely bring that up to a manager. As someone who travelled a lot for work years ago when I did rarely complain for whatever reason, it was always addressed and sometimes they threw in some goodies to recoup any bad experiences or lost mojo.

 

[Genie+]

Interesting, we have just been re-using and grumbling to ourselves because it says trash only. Do you just call and ask for new towels typically?

Yes - we’ve gotten in the habit of calling for extra supplies each trip. I know they used to charge for more coffees and towels, etc but so far I’ve never been asked for money.

Usually by Day 2 or 3 we’re running out of something, so at that point I’ll take inventory of everything and draw up a little list of what we’ll need to get us through our trip. I call housekeeping and usually 15-20 minutes later someone shows up with all of it. They tend to be very generous with whatever’s requested and very pleasant. Sometimes I’ve asked for bath and hand towels, plates, cups, lids, coffee, sugar and they arrive with one arm draped in towels and a bag holding the rest. We tip this person but otherwise no cost involved.

 

[sndral]

Interesting, we have just been re-using and grumbling to ourselves because it says trash only. Do you just call and ask for new towels typically? Or will the automatically do it if you leave on the ground?

They will not even see them if you leave them on the floor in the bathroom, IME the daily security/trash pick up person doesn’t even look in the bathroom(s), so call & ask for more towels if you want them. I usually just wash a load since we’re typically in 1+br.s. I also just call housekeeping when I run out of coffee.

We are on our first-ever DVC trip at the Polynesian. I’m honestly shocked by our experience with housekeeping.

When we got to our room we had some issues. There was a stain on one bed, missing top sheet from another, missing hand soap, but most problematically, the fridge didn’t work. We asked for a replacement fridge. …

Wow, really inexcusable behavior by the housekeeper!
Like you I would have called & asked for some hand soap & adequate unstained bedding, however, regarding the malfunctioning fridge, I would have swung by the front desk & asked them to send maintenance to the villa, in my mind when appliances don’t work that’s a maintenance issue . Through the years I’ve had maintenance issues on 3 occasions & those guys were great. The housekeepers are a bit more hit or miss.

 

[PolyRob]

Like you I would have called & asked for some hand soap & adequate unstained bedding, however, regarding the malfunctioning fridge, I would have swung by the front desk & asked them to send maintenance to the villa, in my mind when appliances don’t work that’s a maintenance issue . Through the years I’ve had maintenance issues on 3 occasions & those guys were great. The housekeepers are a bit more hit or miss.

I've had maintenance issues at YC and VGF (from sheer number of visits, nothing wrong with those resorts). I agree that maintenance has always promptly responded and resolved the issues. One time I wasn't even in the room!

 

[Brianstl]

I will say I have noticed less Disney magical service but I think this is because my cash stays were mostly pre covid. Nothing is as good as it was pre 2020.

This is so true. I have been thinking a lot about this recently and I think we are in a large part to blame. During the heights of the COVID panic we were willing to accept less than what we considered standard service for obvious reasons. The problem is we haven't demanded a return to the previous standards after things returned to normal. If we don't demand those standards, businesses aren't going to put resources into maintaining standards.

 

[VGCgroupie]

This is so true. I have been thinking a lot about this recently and I think we are in a large part to blame. During the heights of the COVID panic we were willing to accept less than what we considered standard service for obvious reasons. The problem is we haven't demanded a return to the previous standards after things returned to normal. If we don't demand those standards, businesses aren't going to put resources in to maintaining standards.

100% agree.

 

[Steelers0854]

I don’t know what is in the Poly at the moment, but regarding the fridge it’s important to remember there are 2 classes of fridges at WDW, an actual fridge and a beverage cooler. If you got a beverage cooler they wont get very cold and aren’t designed to, so it may have been yours was working just fine, but was just not an actual fridge.

On the towel discussion from above, a question, do you wash your towels daily at home? Serious question, not trying to be rude. I always wondered about this when people want fresh towels everyday. Im usually never there long enough to need new towels…….now that im thinking about it it seems we may need more points

 

[sndral]

I've had maintenance issues at YC and VGF (from sheer number of visits, nothing wrong with those resorts). I agree that maintenance has always promptly responded and resolved the issues. One time I wasn't even in the room!

I had sort of a maintenance issue at the YC. Just as the bell services guy was delivering our luggage I tried to turn on the TV & it didn’t work, I said something about needing to run down to the front desk for new batteries for the remote & the bell services guy took a look behind the TV & sorted the wires back there & ‘fixed’ the TV for me .

 

[hardcorestitch]

We are on our first-ever DVC trip at the Polynesian. I’m honestly shocked by our experience with housekeeping.

When we got to our room we had some issues. There was a stain on one bed, missing top sheet from another, missing hand soap, but most problematically, the fridge didn’t work. We asked for a replacement fridge. The housekeeper came, looked at the fridge, scolded us for turning the coldness setting to 7, scolded us for overfilling the fridge, and told us she can bring us a second fridge but it will be the same fridge and not work any better. We told her we didn’t want 2 fridges in our room, just one that worked. She left annoyed and said nothing. Someone from housekeeping called and repeated that we could have a second fridge. We again iterated that we simply wanted one functional fridge. Finally, hours later, at 10:30, the same annoyed housekeeper brought a fridge and told us angrily that she had a lot of calls and deal with it ourselves. We plugged it in, refilled it, eventually realized it needed an on switch flipped, and sure enough, it functioned as we expected. Despite being full (lol).

This morning I told a housekeeping manager this whole story and she… offered us replacement soap. No other resolution whatsoever. Honestly I was shocked. Is that a sufficient resolution to that kind of behavior and wasted hours (in addition to waking up my sleeping children due to stonewalling us about simply finding a functioning fridge)?

Having only been hotel guests in the past I’m wondering if this is the difference between DVC and “normal” guests.

This isn’t Disney service. I would have been as grumpy as Grumpy himself! Whoever the manager there is, they need a lot more retraining, especially with interacting amongst guests.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I don’t know what is in the Poly at the moment, but regarding the fridge it’s important to remember there are 2 classes of fridges at WDW, an actual fridge and a beverage cooler. If you got a beverage cooler they wont get very cold and aren’t designed to, so it may have been yours was working just fine, but was just not an actual fridge.

On the towel discussion from above, a question, do you wash your towels daily at home? Serious question, not trying to be rude. I always wondered about this when people want fresh towels everyday. Im usually never there long enough to need new towels…….now that im thinking about it it seems we may need more points

I do not reuse towels at home or anywhere else.

 

[Genie+]

do you wash your towels daily at home?

No. I don’t reuse bath towels though, and change out hand towels frequently. Most of my towels are white, I have alot of them! And wash a big load of just towels weekly. Clean tidy linens are something my Mom instilled in us. By 7yo we learned to properly fold fitted sheets lol. I generally tend not to be a wasteful person but here? I must splurge!