At Saratoga springs ended badly

[a742246]

My take on this.

I tip the housekeeping staff, if my room was dirty I leave no tip and a little note explaining why. I figure if the room was dirty I saved some money($4.00)
a day. Vomit or wet dog smell different story....

Room key not working. Pain in the butt, but things like this happen.

Someone walking in on me. If I had a dead bolt and I didn't use it I cough it up as a harmless learning experience (always use the dead bolt or chain no matter where you stay).

Sorry for your bad experience but I wouldn't let this bring you down.

 

[disneynutz]

Don't take written comments as an attack. I am sure that it wasn't meant that way and if they don't apply to you, ignore them.

Sadly, Disney's eagerness to increase profit has cause a major decrease in the areas where Disney was once known for. Part time CM's with inadequate training is causing all types of reservation and KTTW card issues. The cleaning and maintenance issues have increased everywhere, parks and resorts.
Disney is either not aware, or the have decided that a drop in quality is acceptable.

We are all DVC Members and the DVC is really out of the loop. They contract to Resorts and Parks on our behalf and problems are not reported back to the DVC unless we report them. The Satisfaction Team has replaced most of their CM's and the ones that I talk to now, really act and sound as if they are unaware of the challenges and problems that many of us are faced with.

 

[scauzilloc1121]

Yea I am not taking it to heart. I just thought this board was a place to share our experiences good or bad. I didn't realize that some might not like to see that there are problems at Disney. I love Disney just as much as the next person on here. I have my office at work decorated with Disney memorabilia, old original posters (no, not reprints but real originals that hung in the 70s in Disney world), yes I paid a pretty penny for them, my desk has paperweights and staplers etc.. that is Disney (old school mickey mouse). So I feel Disney is wonderful, but I also know it is a corporation and they are out to make as much money as they possibly can, so I understand that there will be issues with them, but I never will make a person, who just had a bad experience, feel as if they are totally wrong and have to explain themselves. I would offer comfort and assistance. So I would like to thank all of you who do that on here. I plan on using this site to help make some of my decisions in the future when staying at a DVC property. So I hope my thread will help others too.

 

[Carl'n'Ellie'sDad]

Sorry about your difficulties -- please understand that other poster's may just be interested in more details about why your issues with Mousekeeping led to other unfortunate results, such as missing EMH. In the past, I've had issues with aggressive Mousekeepers and painters on the am on check-out days. Coupled with your experience and some other similar posts, it does seem that SSR is understaffed and places some serious pressure on the staff to turn over rooms.
We've never had a serious issue on check-in, but we'll be very diligent to inspect the rooms this year. I also can't help but think that many of these problems are caused by non-owners trashing the rooms on SSR stays -- I wish that management would place the burden back where it belongs, on irresponsible guests, and charge extra clean-up fees after check-out when warranted.

 

[bumbershoot]

"So there was no poor preplanning on my part as you are suggesting. You obviously cannot handle someone saying that Disney made a boo boo so you want to turn it around on the person, but face it, they made a mistake."

"Instead of turning it around and trying to make it seem like I poorly planned my night or that I might dislike Disney"

Where is she saying that you might dislike Disney, or that you planned poorly?

When complaints like this are made, I know that I often wonder how I, as a future guest, can do all that I can do to prevent something like this from happening to me. So those questions are helpful to people like me. Sometimes it comes down to *there's NOTHING to do to prevent that from happening*. Sometimes there ARE things to be done. And then it's good to know things to do to prevent randomly bad things from *ruining* things.

For instance, I now have a thought that if we were running back to put things in the room, and ran into a key problem, that I might check the bags with bell services and then run back out to the parks. And I'd deal with the key problems when I got back. That way I've barely wasted any time (just the time to get back to the bell services people, since time to the resort, to the room, from the room, back to the park has already been "spent") and I get to do what I wanted to do anyway. Then I'd deal with the key problem when I returned.

Last December we had a problem that felt just awful with Jambo...a bit of perspective has helped me see that while the problem was still a problem, we could have had some different actions and reactions so an entire day wouldn't have been destroyed. At the time it felt like it was all their fault, but now I realize it didn't have to ruin our whole day.

So I put the same sort of questions to myself that tisbit put to you, and I still don't see where she said you might not like Disney...

 

[scauzilloc1121]

Thanks for your perspective on this.

 

[Sammie]

Not saying there is ever an excuse for a dirty room, but I will say it is the nature of travel anywhere that if you pick high peak times such as holidays where the resort is at full capacity, you increase your likelihood of problems.

Thus I now avoid these weekends, 4th of July like the plague, for one thing it is just too crowded everywhere.

I do agree with TJ that we do need to let DVC know about problems. I really don't think we have to increase dues to get clean rooms.

 

[Melynny]

We just got back from SSR today too. We had 2 different reservations, one an RCI exchange in a studio, Grandstand section. The second a points, we own there, a One bedroom in the Congress Park section. Each reaservation, on our Trash and Towel day, we ended up getting 4 bath towels, 2 hand towels and 2 wash clothes. The first time, I chalked it up to a mistake, or an inventory problem and assumed that it was a one time event. The second time.. I started to get mad.. and then I got madder. I kept thinking to myself, How could this be the same exact thing happening again?... so I went to the front desk, talked to 2 front desk managers Dave and David. I explained to them that the expectation for a studio and a one bedroom is to have 4 complete sets of towels for 4 people, so why on 2 different occasions, in 2 different resort ares, with 2 different size villas did the same thing happen.

I did not get any kind of answer besides " It should be 4, and there is possibly a need for some re training.... blah blah blah. I expressed my concern that this is ultimately costing members more because when I called from the studio, housekeeping sent up 2 complete new sets. How can that be cost effecient? A runner, more towels being washed And the time wasted by me being unhappy and trying to figure out what is missing and what I should do about it, then having to wait for someone to bring the towels, that should have been replaced seamlessly while someone was there. I did get a small credit to my account but that's not really what I wanted.. I wanted a real explanation, what really was going on. Other than that our rooms were both clean and in good repair.

 

[TisBit]

And tisbit, when i go on vacation, I don't have to have my vacation planned out to the last second. That is not a vacation. Relaxing, doing things on a whim, and just seeing where the days take us is a vacation to me. So there was no poor preplanning on my part as you are suggesting.

Well, in this case a glitch with the keys caused "the days to take" you not to EMH....it happens. Could have been the keys, the bus, traffic...just about anything.

You obviously cannot handle someone saying that Disney made a boo boo so you want to turn it around on the person, but face it, they made a mistake.

Actually, I said they most likely made a mistake in programming your keys....unless you knew of something else that might have happened. My post even said that if you had checked out early, it should not have disabled your keys.

Listen, I understand the hotel business, did it for a bit and I know how the locks work, so I was trying to give you insight into what the problem might be. Say you did check out early, your keys would have stayed active, until they gave someone a key to your room. When that key was swiped, it would have wiped out your keys at that point.

Tisbit, I just posted on here to let others know that you are going to run into problems, letting them know not to always expect everything perfect. I recently bought into DVC and love that aspect too. Instead of turning it around and trying to make it seem like I poorly planned my night or that I might dislike Disney, why don't you just say, oh sorry about that, not everything at Disney is perfect, but I am sure you will have great memories in the future, and oh by the way, here is a nice suggestion for you. Take a look at beastlyboo or rora's comments, they know how to make suggestions or ask for more information.

Well, if everyone just said sorry, this thread would be gone off the front page in a heart beat. I don't blame you for your issues with the keys or the cleanliness. The security lock and not having enough time for EMH, sorry, I don't blame Disney on that.

If anyone expects to not have any problems are setting themselves up for failure. I am sorry you don't like that I told you that you should have used the security lock, but I am trying to inform people that it is the only sure fire way of keeping your problems from happening to them. As for planning for EMH, again, I would suggest to anyone that doesn't want that to happen to them is never, ever leave a 30 minute delay and then be upset with Disney because you missed your ADR, EMH, rope drop, etc etc. When staying at resort/theme park this large, you cannot cut time close and then get upset when there is delay.

 

[BeesKnees]

Yea not latching the door was my mistake

I don't agree. They should not come in the room unannounced. I have stayed in hotels all over and I have never had a maid ignore a DND sign or barge right in except at Disney. It is unacceptable on every level. I don't care if the door is wide open they should knock.

 

[disneynutz]

I don't agree. They should not come in the room unannounced. I have stayed in hotels all over and I have never had a maid ignore a DND sign or barge right in except at Disney. It is unacceptable on every level. I don't care if the door is wide open they should knock.

I don't agree. In todays world everyone should always have the dead bolt on. You don't know who has access to your room.

In this particular case the room was classified as vacant so we can assume that the Mousekeeper thought that the DND sign was left on the door by the previous Guest. They are lucky that Maintenance didn't come in and use their room to watch TV. That's what happened to us at BWV last year.

Bill

 

[dianeschlicht]

Yea not latching the door was my mistake, I usually latch any hotel room door I stay in but we were upset at how long it took them to get us in the room and didn't think about it. These issues will not stop us from using our points. As a matter of fact we have already booked 2 nights at DHH the beginning of October and 2 nights at AKV during July 4th weekend. I am hoping though they get this thing about not cleaning the rooms under control. We have friends and other family members that are DVC members and they have this problem quite a lot. They just stayed in BLT in April and even there they had to get another room due to lack of housekeeping. We also stayed in OKW in July and for some reason they gave us a room where construction was going on, the table and chairs in the room were cracked and broken and the ends of the mattress on the bed curled up like the ends of a elf's shoe. Also tile in the shower was cracked and it had mold all over the grout. Maybe we are just unlucky.

Not to doubt your issues, BUT...It would be highly unlikely that you had tile in the shower cracked at OKW, since the stand up showers there are a solid surface material and not tile. Or maybe you were in a studio?

I think housekeeping has definitely gotten worse the past few years at ALL DVC resorts, and maybe all Disney resorts. It is something Member Satisfaction needs to hear about each time we find it lacking.

I'm glad you went to the front desk and confronted the cleaning issue right away, because that was exactly the best thing to do. They can't fix it if they don't know about it. I sometimes just call housekeeping directly for minor issues, but for a major issue, I would also go down to the front desk and complain.

It does seem SOME housekeepers are getting agressive about getting those rooms turned around where people are checking out. From the issues you had, I'm going to guess there was a communication breakdown between the check in desk and housekeeping about when the room was vacated. I'm guessing that housekeeping thought it was empty the night before, and that might have also been why your keys stopped working at midnight.

 

[BeesKnees]

I don't agree. In todays world everyone should always have the dead bolt on. You don't know who has access to your room.

In this particular case the room was classified as vacant so we can assume that the Mousekeeper thought that the DND sign was left on the door by the previous Guest. They are lucky that Maintenance didn't come in and use their room to watch TV. That's what happened to us at BWV last year.

Bill

When the maids came in on me the room should not have been marked as vacant because we hadn't checked out yet. The only thing we had done at that point was called for BS to pick up the OL.

I agree that in today's world we should keep the dead bolt on but at the same time I should not have to protect myself from the maids who should knock and announce themselves like they do everywhere else. Besides I am sure they have a device to open the door even with the dead bolt on so what is to keep them from coming in anyway? Do I need to barricade the doors to protect me from the maids? Hire a security guard? Or should the maids knock on the door to make sure that the trust they are given by having a key to my home is not going to violate my privacy?

 

[disneynutz]

When the maids came in on me the room should not have been marked as vacant because we hadn't checked out yet. The only thing we had done at that point was called for BS to pick up the OL.

I agree that in today's world we should keep the dead bolt on but at the same time I should not have to protect myself from the maids who should knock and announce themselves like they do everywhere else. Besides I am sure they have a device to open the door even with the dead bolt on so what is to keep them from coming in anyway? Do I need to barricade the doors to protect me from the maids? Hire a security guard? Or should the maids knock on the door to make sure that the trust they are given by having a key to my home is not going to violate my privacy?

I'm not talking about the maids, yes they should have knocked and announced themselves. I was talking about the safe practice of everyone keeping your dead bolt and flip latch on. There have been plenty of reports of Guests walking into a occupied room because of a KTTW card or reservation mistake.

In your case it's apparent that your room was coded incorrectly as vacant on your last day, that's why your KTTW card was deactivated at midnight. It's probably also the reason that the Mousekeeper thought that it was OK to just walk in which was wrong on her part.

Bill

 

[scauzilloc1121]

We were in a studio that was not renovated with the new showers, appliences, etc...

 

[ccgirl]

We just got back from SSR today too. We had 2 different reservations, one an RCI exchange in a studio, Grandstand section. The second a points, we own there, a One bedroom in the Congress Park section. Each reaservation, on our Trash and Towel day, we ended up getting 4 bath towels, 2 hand towels and 2 wash clothes. The first time, I chalked it up to a mistake, or an inventory problem and assumed that it was a one time event. The second time.. I started to get mad.. and then I got madder. I kept thinking to myself, How could this be the same exact thing happening again?... so I went to the front desk, talked to 2 front desk managers Dave and David. I explained to them that the expectation for a studio and a one bedroom is to have 4 complete sets of towels for 4 people, so why on 2 different occasions, in 2 different resort ares, with 2 different size villas did the same thing happen.

I did not get any kind of answer besides " It should be 4, and there is possibly a need for some re training.... blah blah blah. I expressed my concern that this is ultimately costing members more because when I called from the studio, housekeeping sent up 2 complete new sets. How can that be cost effecient? A runner, more towels being washed And the time wasted by me being unhappy and trying to figure out what is missing and what I should do about it, then having to wait for someone to bring the towels, that should have been replaced seamlessly while someone was there. I did get a small credit to my account but that's not really what I wanted.. I wanted a real explanation, what really was going on. Other than that our rooms were both clean and in good repair.

How many people were staying in the studio? Maybe they only gave 2 sets of towels because 2 people were on the reservation? DOn't know if this is the case or not. Just curious.

When the maids came in on me the room should not have been marked as vacant because we hadn't checked out yet. The only thing we had done at that point was called for BS to pick up the OL.

I agree that in today's world we should keep the dead bolt on but at the same time I should not have to protect myself from the maids who should knock and announce themselves like they do everywhere else. Besides I am sure they have a device to open the door even with the dead bolt on so what is to keep them from coming in anyway? Do I need to barricade the doors to protect me from the maids? Hire a security guard? Or should the maids knock on the door to make sure that the trust they are given by having a key to my home is not going to violate my privacy?

The things with the DND signs is sometimes they fall of the door, or get taken. I have been at a hotel before where a tween thought it was funny to go up and down the halls stealing the signs. I may be wrong, but I don't think housekeeping has the special tool needed to open a deadbolted door. I believe they have to call security for that. I have also been in a bathroom before and did not hear housekeeping knock. Perhaps they knocked and you didn't hear them? I am not doubting what happened at all, just trying to give other sides of the story.

This story is one example why I refuse housekeeping during the majority of my stays. I just don't like strangers trapsing through my room.

Another tip, I don't know where you were shopping but they have package delivery to the WDW hotels (except for the last night of your stay). I like that so I don't have to lug all the bags around.

I hope your next stay is better.

 

[TisBit]

When the maids came in on me the room should not have been marked as vacant because we hadn't checked out yet. The only thing we had done at that point was called for BS to pick up the OL.

I agree that in today's world we should keep the dead bolt on but at the same time I should not have to protect myself from the maids who should knock and announce themselves like they do everywhere else. Besides I am sure they have a device to open the door even with the dead bolt on so what is to keep them from coming in anyway? Do I need to barricade the doors to protect me from the maids? Hire a security guard? Or should the maids knock on the door to make sure that the trust they are given by having a key to my home is not going to violate my privacy?

It was in the "heavily edited" responses, but I did go over how the locks work. The with the deadbolt set, none of the master keys will work (includes Security, maids, managers, maintenance, etc). There is a special key that most hotels will keep in a seperate safe controlled by the either the manager or seucrity supervisors that can bypass this lock in the event of an emergency. So, the deadbolt will protect you from being intruded upon. The security latch is even safer and while it can be bypassed, it is extremely difficult and time consuming....

As for the houskeepers not knocking, often times they do knock and we just don't hear them. Especially with the villas at SSR, the outside door faces a solid wall, so if you are in the living room or bedroom area it is easy not to hear a knocking on the door.

 

[Brian Noble]

Ultimately, you should *always* set the deadbolt/latch when you are in the room and wish not to be disturbed, because mistakes do sometimes happen.

 

[ocean134]

Wow

 

[BeesKnees]

I'm not talking about the maids, yes they should have knocked and announced themselves. I was talking about the safe practice of everyone keeping your dead bolt and flip latch on. There have been plenty of reports of Guests walking into a occupied room because of a KTTW card or reservation mistake.

In your case it's apparent that your room was coded incorrectly as vacant on your last day, that's why your KTTW card was deactivated at midnight. It's probably also the reason that the Mousekeeper thought that it was OK to just walk in which was wrong on her part.

Bill

You are mixing me up with the OP. My key card was never deactivated. I am reporting a second incident of the maids barging right in unannounced which happened at BLT a year and a half ago.