Back from OKW, BCV, SSR & HGVC

[JENR]

This may be just the time to go. There have been many serious compliants made in the past few weeks (one with photo's) and I would hope they are extra diligent to satisfy DVC members. If not please report it ASAP.

Thank you. You made me feel better.

I was totally freaking out because this will be our first trip HOME as Dvc members and I don't want my husband to say "See we probably should have looked into this more before we bought" We have stayed at Beach Club Resort several times and it has always been very clean. I just can't imagine BCV being that filthy. I really don't understand how DVC would let this happen.

Oh well. I hope your right.

 

[Buckalew11]

Okay, now I'm afraid! I just bought a resale at BCV and I'm thinking I've made a mistake.
Please, please, please, those of you who have had issues contact the powers to be and complain.
Just told my husband we need to send a preshipped box of cleaning supplies and to be aware we are spending our first afternoon cleaning.....

You and me both. I won't be at BCV unilt May. But I'll have (hopefully) SSR and OKW to compare it to within DVC resorts. I am hoping I didn't make a mistake buying in at BCV or into DVC period. I know these boards are a small part of what happens at DVC resorts but there are so many complaints about cleanliness. I don't want to walk into a room full of someone else's garbage, leftover food, stains, bugs, hair etc.
I am hoping to be nicely surprised by how clean the places are. Hoping, hoping, hoping...

 

[LakeAriel]

If DVC looks at my record they will see that I referred three people to them, one who bought. Between that and the fact I am selling, added to numerous other complaints, and I think they will make an attempt to straighten out, at least I hope.
The housekeeping manager thanked me for pointing out the unacceptable condition of my unit and I believe he, unlike most, meant it. He did have a department come in and start removing wasp nests from right outside my broken balcony door and around the resort. I showed him that there were dozens of nests under the under hang. I mean people have serious allergies to these things, what were they thinking? On the other hand if you don't go the extra mile and let them know it won't be corrected. My adrenalin was flowing overtime, I was so mad, so believe me everyone in charge knows now. I am awaiting word from. Mr. Lewis. Something tells me my adrenalin may be pumping again.
DVC members should not be getting inferior units!!!!!!!!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I don't really think they will do anything about the cleanliness issues because they feel once people get home they forget (and the constant sold-out occupancy rate at BCV supports this theory). In my opinion, anyone that is a contract owner at BCV should be sending a registered letter to the head honchos @ DVC stating they are very concerned about recent reports regarding the upkeep of the villas. Maybe if enough people respond they will realize that their performance has been substandard and will actually take some steps to improve the situation.

 

[bcvillastwo]

There is no doubt that the OP had valid complaints about the cleanliness of her BCV room. However, with that said, it's been my experience that when there are posts like this they are always followed by others who recall their own horrow stories which are then followed by the "I hope I don't have these problems on my upcoming trip" crowd. We went through this same roller coaster the 2nd or 3rd time we stayed at BCV. We were concerned that housekeeping quality had declined. Happily on our next and every visit afterwards things have been fine in our rooms.

To date we've stayed at BCV at 7 or 8 times during the past 3 years and we are going again in 3 weeks. We've been in studio's, one bdrms, and two bdrms. In all of those stays we never had an experience remotely similar to the OP's or anyone else who's exerienced similar things at BCV. We've also stayed at WLV, SSR, BWV, and HHI. Again, we never experienced anything like the OP or the others who have had simiar experiences.

I travel a great deal on my job. I've stayed in flea bags, moderate, and high priced motels and hotels and believe me the quality of some of these places at all accomodation levels ranges from extremely poor to exceptional. From my vantage point overall Disney in general and DVC in specific tends to do a better job overall and is more consistent overall than any place I stay. But my experiences are only my experiences. In addition, we all have different standards when it comes to cleanliness.

One more point, DVC has over 100,000 members now but I'm betting that only a fraction of them read/post comments on the DVC sectionof DIS Boards. In fact, someone was running a count of how many DVC members use these boards and after a week or so the number was less than 800. I realize the 800 count is probably not 100% accurate but it does offer a glimmer at the number posting/reading vs. those not reading and posting and the number reading and posting pales in comparison to the overall membership of over 100,000. I say these things to keep things in perspective. My generally good experiences at BCV offer one perspective, the OP's and others in this threat who've had bad experiences offer another perspective but overall we represent just a miniscule number of the members who actually stay at BCV.

What evidence do we have that the OP's or my experience represents any kind of a norm? Not much.

Again, before any one goes off on me, in no way am I dimishing the OP's or anyone else's concerns about the cleanliness of BCV. I am just trying to offer a little perspective. Thankfully, if you are a BCV owner and you decide to sell because you've determined that BCV is not clean enough to suit your tastes you can sell and sell quickly and probably make a little profit for your troube. Which means that in spite of your bad experience you will come out better than whole for spending your hard earned money on BCV. For that you can than Disney World and it overall good reputation of a quality place to vacation.

 

[LakeAriel]

I for one did not add my name to the DVCers on the boards. It wasn't something I found I wanted to do. So, yes, I am sure many others who own are reading and responding. I am glad you had good experiences but as you conceded it doesn't diminish the horrible ones others of us have had. Indeed I have written to both the New President of Disney and also the new Presdident of DVC. Though I will sell, at least my bigger contract, I hope for the rest of you who invested so much money that they get on top of all these complaints and show some respect to the owners.

 

[bzzelady]

Some of the BCV owners need to bring the pictures posted in this thread to the annual meeting on December 5th and very politely demand some action of the part of the DVC Mousekeepers management.
(I am going to be there during that time but I am not a BCV owner so I don't think that I can attend)

Going backwards in the thread, I agree with one of the early posters that care needs to be taken by our fellow members in the manner that they treat and upkeep the rooms. Just to give you an example-whenever I have rented at the beach, I have to pay a security deposit...which is not released until the condition of my unit is reported after my departure. Maybe DVC needs to consider a "point penalty" if the room is unreasonably unclean and stained (don't report me as an evil one to the tag fairy for this yet until I finish my thought).

Maybe Mousekeeping needs to have their managers look over the condition of a room that is particularly poor before they start cleaning it so that a point penalty of....let's say....30 points....can be assessed on the member's account. A few of these situations with people getting docked points noted on these boards and people will strive to keep the rooms cleaner, throw away the food that they have no intention of eating, and load/run the dishwasher before they leave. If you create a large spill on the carpet, pick up the telephone and call Mousekeeping...profusely apologize and request that the carpet/upholstry be cleaned before the stain sets in. It's the least you can do...would you let it fester at home? (if you do, I don't want to visit your house)

This would not only encourage members to treat their "part-time home" with more respect, but would also encourage Mousekeepers to communicate more with their management when they are faced with a daunting task and knowing that cleaning that one unit will take them as much time as it would to clean four relatively clean units.
DVC Mousekeepers are paid per unit cleaned, not hourly as the rest of the WDW Mousekeepers are...and this may very well be part of the problem!!! I

As one other poster noted, if these problems are not reported to a Mousekeeping supervisor/general manager on the spot, it will only leave a problem for the next person who stays in the room.
So please...take your digital cameras down to the desk but ask for a Mousekeeping supervisor to meet you at the room so you can point out the issues firsthand.

 

[LakeAriel]

Some of the BCV owners need to bring the pictures posted in this thread to the annual meeting on December 5th and very politely demand some action of the part of the DVC Mousekeepers management.
(I am going to be there during that time but I am not a BCV owner so I don't think that I can attend)

Going backwards in the thread, I agree with one of the early posters that care needs to be taken by our fellow members in the manner that they treat and upkeep the rooms. Just to give you an example-whenever I have rented at the beach, I have to pay a security deposit...which is not released until the condition of my unit is reported after my departure. Maybe DVC needs to consider a "point penalty" if the room is unreasonably unclean and stained (don't report me as an evil one to the tag fairy for this yet until I finish my thought).

Maybe Mousekeeping needs to have their managers look over the condition of a room that is particularly poor before they start cleaning it so that a point penalty of....let's say....30 points....can be assessed on the member's account. A few of these situations with people getting docked points noted on these boards and people will strive to keep the rooms cleaner, throw away the food that they have no intention of eating, and load/run the dishwasher before they leave. If you create a large spill on the carpet, pick up the telephone and call Mousekeeping...profusely apologize and request that the carpet/upholstry be cleaned before the stain sets in. It's the least you can do...would you let it fester at home? (if you do, I don't want to visit your house)

This would not only encourage members to treat their "part-time home" with more respect, but would also encourage Mousekeepers to communicate more with their management when they are faced with a daunting task and knowing that cleaning that one unit will take them as much time as it would to clean four relatively clean units.
DVC Mousekeepers are paid per unit cleaned, not hourly as the rest of the WDW Mousekeepers are...and this may very well be part of the problem!!! I

As one other poster noted, if these problems are not reported to a Mousekeeping supervisor/general manager on the spot, it will only leave a problem for the next person who stays in the room.
So please...take your digital cameras down to the desk but ask for a Mousekeeping supervisor to meet you at the room so you can point out the issues firsthand.

I agree with you 100%. One thing you overlook though is that these units are frequented by renters staying at less then they can get a moderate. They really aren't going to respect it as their home.

 

[ton80]

This nov will be our 2nd trip as DVC members (Stayed last Year at SSR)
very clean and basically Brand New. But I do not expect BCV to compare
to SSR with the "new" smell or look. But any advice would be great?
Reason we are staying at BCV is SAB and location (for DS 4 yrs old)

Dixie Landings 9/98 Honeymoon
All star sports 9/99
off site 05/01
BWV 11/04
AKL 03/05
SSR 11/05
BCV 11/06

 

[Lasrnw]

After coming to the end of our last EVER visit to BVC ( you couldn't pay me to stay there again) on our day of checkout we get a knock on the door at 8:05am....it is housekeeping asking if we are checking out that day, I say yes and she asks how soon we'll be out...I say before the 11 check out time and she leaves. At 8:45 we get another knock on the door and it's the same woman and she asks again when we are leaving...I again tell her we will be out before the 11 am check out time. (Yes it is true) at 9:15 she knocks again and I open the door and she tells me that we need to get out of the room now because she has to clean it for the next guests and she is very busy today. My jaw dropped to the floor and I laughed and told her that I had already cleaned the room when we checked in so she didn't need to worry about it and at 10:45 we left BCV never to return again.

 

[mmmcq]

Lasrnw,

I'm sure if you don't want to return to BCV that your reasons are valid. But the departure scenario with housekeeping that you described is not just related to BCV. It's hotel industry wide.

We spent the better portion of our summer on the road looking at colleges and primarily staying in Marriott hotels for the reward points which I frequently use. Three weeks ago we drove from Boston to Philly overnight and arrived at 2am. We had a 10 appt the next morning so I let the girls sleep in late. Unfortunately, in my haste to get us tucked in earlier that am, I had neglected to put the "do not disturb" cards in the access card holder.

We got the 7:55 am rapping on the doors (two rooms) from housekeeping while I was in the shower. I heard them but couldn't do anything about it. They rapped again at 8:15 and by that time I was dressed and able to grab the cards off the doors, put them up and shoe them off.

When we were in the lobby departing I complained to the Manager. I told him that after almost 20 hotel stays in 6 months, that was the most obnoxious housekeeping staff I had encountered (the rapping was really really loud and grating). I asked if there wasn't a central report for each floor which accounted for who had already checked out as early as 8am. Otherwise, I strongly suggested, they should wait till at least 8:30 before loudly rapping on the door as they had done.

After you got the first knock I would have called housekeeping and told them you weren't leaving until closer to checkout time. It's something I frequently do to ensure that we aren't bothered - at Disney or on the road elsewhere.

 

[jaysue]

This nov will be our 2nd trip as DVC members (Stayed last Year at SSR)
very clean and basically Brand New. But I do not expect BCV to compare
to SSR with the "new" smell or look. But any advice would be great?
Reason we are staying at BCV is SAB and location (for DS 4 yrs old)

Dixie Landings 9/98 Honeymoon
All star sports 9/99
off site 05/01
BWV 11/04
AKL 03/05
SSR 11/05
BCV 11/06

I would stand pat with your choice - you will enjoy BCV - we have stayed at BWV, VWL, OKW, SSR and BCV (and others) - our kids love BCV due to SAB and walking to Epcot and sauntering along the boardwalk - you will enjoy it there. We have had in a number of stays, an experience similar to the OP on one occassion - we went to the reservations/restaurant desk at BC and did not move one inch (we were very polite and firm) until someone accompanied us back to the room. We left the room and when we returned back it had been cleaned to the best of their ability given that the stains had mostly set.

Keep your ressie, it's a great place

Cheers
jaysue

 

[lisaviolet]

After coming to the end of our last EVER visit to BVC ( you couldn't pay me to stay there again) on our day of checkout we get a knock on the door at 8:05am....it is housekeeping asking if we are checking out that day, I say yes and she asks how soon we'll be out...I say before the 11 check out time and she leaves. At 8:45 we get another knock on the door and it's the same woman and she asks again when we are leaving...I again tell her we will be out before the 11 am check out time. (Yes it is true) at 9:15 she knocks again and I open the door and she tells me that we need to get out of the room now because she has to clean it for the next guests and she is very busy today. My jaw dropped to the floor and I laughed and told her that I had already cleaned the room when we checked in so she didn't need to worry about it and at 10:45 we left BCV never to return again.

Holy @#@#!!!!!

 

[TracyK]

I agree with you 100%. One thing you overlook though is that these units are frequented by renters staying at less then they can get a moderate. They really aren't going to respect it as their home.

What an offensive comment. Would you be the same person who is trying to sell a reservation to renters who aren't going to respect the property.

 

[bzzelady]

I agree with you 100%. One thing you overlook though is that these units are frequented by renters staying at less then they can get a moderate. They really aren't going to respect it as their home.

Well, then the savvy DVC member who rents needs to, in turn, charge a deposit in cash equal to the points that could be potentially removed from the account in case of damage with the deposit then to be returned 1 month after checkout to ensure that MS has cleared the account.

Just a thought that may make members and renters more accountable.

 

[corpcomp]

Back in July when we stayed at BCV our room was clean. No real issues and we had a great time. We will definitely be back.

Sorry you did not and we understand considering the pictures. I've read posts saying its housekeeping and other saying its owner / renters. Its really both and I hope for your sake SSR will not look like that in another 4 years but it very well might if owners / renters and housekeeping act the same way there.

However it is time for new furniture at BCV. I wonder how much has been allocated to the replacement fund at this point? I hope all those attending the December meeting bring this up vocally and get some firm answers.

Is there a way that emails can be sent in in support of this at the meeting?

 

[LakeAriel]

Well, then the savvy DVC member who rents needs to, in turn, charge a deposit in cash equal to the points that could be potentially removed from the account in case of damage with the deposit then to be returned 1 month after checkout to ensure that MS has cleared the account.

Just a thought that may make members and renters more accountable.

I think that is a good idea!

 

[LakeAriel]

What an offensive comment. Would you be the same person who is trying to sell a reservation to renters who aren't going to respect the property.

I didn't mean to offend you. My answer is in response to the response by some that owners need to take better care of their units. Often it is not the owner in the unit. And I do not believe a person paying less then $80 per night for a deluxe room is going to have the same investment and respect for the property as someone paying for a timeshare and yearly dues.
I have stayed in a value, (POP) a moderate, ( POFQ) and a deluxe, (BCV) this past year. The only resort I had problems in was in the deluxe. I was as careful in the value as the deluxe and I am sure most are. I am also sure some owners cause damage too. That said I still believe an owner whose dues pay for upkeep are going to care a lot more about how the unit is taken care of.

 

[JUDSON]

as bcv owners, we've been staying there for the past three years . before every trip it's like the same thing: i skim these boards, see what's been going on at bcv, and more often then not i come across an unfortunate thread as this one.

so we fly down expecting the worse, but we never experience any of the problems. i do not doubt these problems have not occurred and i really feel for the op, but i guess we're just lucky. never had a problem checking in, never had a problem with cm's, never had an unclean or damaged room, never had a problem with mousekeeping. i think the only bad things were our tv remote and kitchen spatula were once missing (we had both in less than 2 min. after our initial call to the front desk).

as far as mouskeeping goes... we get daily housekeeping whenever we go. our last trip (10/2005) i noticed that, in passing in the hallways, mousekeepers were making an effort to say 'hello'/'good morning'/etc. to us and our young children; it was really nice to experience this every day.

so now that i've probably put the hex on my next trip (3 weeks away)... i just hope that our luck holds out. to those of you out there doubing their bcv purchase, try not to worry. i don't think bcv is in the toilet just yet; whatever the issue is over there, i'm sure it is managable.

 

[Scotch]

JENR - Just wondering about the condition of your BCV room???