Beach Club Villas Concerns

[Deb & Bill]

We love BCV and usually stay 3 times/year.

The hallway carpets are discolored in places but I don;t know that I would have ever noticed if not for reading it on the DIS! But I'm sure it is not because they are dirty as I see them cleaning those carpets every single trip as well as touching up the cream colored trim.

Some of the things David dislikes are some of my favorite things. I like that BCV is set back from the main hotel. I love the woods views and prefer that view to any available at the BW. I think the rooms aren't any further to the amenities of the hotel than all very small % a handful of BC rooms. It dosen't bother me in the least to check in with BC guests....at BW isn't check in with BWI?

As others have said, try it and find out for yourself.

Same with VWL. You check in at the WL, walk alllllll theeee waaaaaayyyyy over to the villas. And all you see are woods. I don't mind either of these. And I'm with you, BCV23, about the quietness of the resort.

 

[caskar]

We stay at BCV over the 4th of July. The room was spotless as far as we could tell. We own and love that resort. We stayed at VWL and didn't like it as well, seemed too much like looking out our window at home. We wanted the beach feel which is great at BCV. The only issue we had was having to wait on housekeeping to do laundry in the 4th floor laundry for guests. I reported this to the manager, who said he couldn't understand why this would be taking place. My wife was shocked AND she had to help the housekeeper in using the front loading washing machine. She was trying to force the door open during the spin cycle. I don't understand all of this but my wife tried to explain it to me. The front loading machine was broken as it won't spin out the access water. That was never fixed while we were there for 2 weeks. Anyway, we have stayed at all the DVC resorts and almost all the Disney resorts and we love the Beach Club area and find BCV is the best place for our vacation dreams.

 

[dizzneebabe]

We stayed there for a week in Sept. '06 and our room (a 1 bdrm) was immaculate. We were on the ground floor and it was beautiful. Our friends were in an adjoining studio (even though we didn't book a 2bdrm) and that unit was also in tip top shape!

Hope this helps, too!

 

[SheriB]

We just stayed at BCV last week, July 10-15. Our room was immaculate. The only "issue" that I noticed was that the carpet seemed to be fraying at the entry from the hall. But the interior of the room (2BR) was spotless.

My parents also stayed in a 2BR in November with their best friends on our points. The friends usually only stay in a monorail resort (deluxe), and they were a little skeptical before they went. They only buy the best of whatever it is they're buying, so they can be somewhat hard to please. Not only was their room clean (believe me, I would have heard about it if it wasn't), but they can't stop talking about it, every time I see them. They absolutely loved it. They were my ultimate test of how the resort rates. And if they loved it, then I know I've got a winner. Although, we love it anyway, regardless of what they or anyone else thinks. We've stayed there 3 times now, and have no desire at this point to try any of the other resorts.
Just my 2 cents.

Sheri

 

[hmmerr02]

I've stayed there many times as you can see from my sig, I have never had an issue with cleanliness of any rooms I have stayed in, nor any major issues of any kind for that matter.

IMHO it is by far the best of all the DVC resorts that I have stayed in so far.

The only complaint I might have is getting the room/view I want because it's always at 98-99% capacity at any time of year, but I have a system that gets me what I want almost all the time.

Care to share your system? If not public, then PM me!! I"m dying to know!

 

[jade1]

Apparently when we do a ressie at BCV, word gets out and the rooms we are assigned are repainted/repaired/cleaned to very high standards-because it always seems that way. Maybe it's only for "original owners" of BCV.

Anyway, these are pics from 553 and 559 3 weeks ago. Just random trip memory shots, otherwise I would have tried to capture better/closer detail.

And the view we suffered with:

 

[keishashadow]

I hesitated - yet just can't help myself from commenting.

On an "add-on" recon visit last Oct. we garnered one of the elusive Epcot views, upper floor. We thought all was well - everthing in great condition; until we experienced the bug issue .

While very gross, such things are understandable in FL; especially when you have guests letting the balcony doors open. What turned us off was manager's non-response (never did hear from him despite repeated phone calls & time spent @ check-in desk). Ridiculous that we had to finally go thru bell service stand who pointed out an assistant manager the next day. The executive offices heard our tale & promised they'd address our experience with the staff.

That said, i have been encouraged by NOT reading any similiar tale here or on TA. Assume management has been brought up to speed. Unfortunately, DH will not be swayed in his resolve to neither add on or revisit, SAB aside.

As for the OP, go forth & enjoy! Don't forget to post a TR

 

[Deb & Bill]

It's Florida. Florida has bugs. You might have bugs in your room, especially palmetto bugs once in a while.

 

[jade1]

It's Florida. Florida has bugs. You might have bugs in your room, especially palmetto bugs once in a while.

Once again-same exact thing, not a bug seen in 553 or 559 (then again bugs in a room dont really seem to be tied to a certain resort unless they like the decor I suppose-I would assume they spray if there is a problem). Actualy I have seen very few bugs in or out in WDW. From MN I would expect more mosquitos than air molecules with heat and swamps everywhere.

 

[DisneyMomJen]

Jade1, thanks for all of those BC pictures. They reminded me of some of the reasons why I love the BC so much!!!

 

[jade1]

Jade1, thanks for all of those BC pictures. They reminded me of some of the reasons why I love the BC so much!!!

Your welcome-I just dropped the BCV pic from my sig-for shame.

 

[DebbieB]

We have our first trip home to the BCV in October and I'm concerned due to the Tripadvisor.com reports. Does anyone have recent reports that will make me feel better? Below are the last 2 reports from tripadvisors.com on the BCV.

Jul 15, 2007

My experience with this property took place in:
June, 2007
We have stayed at Disney so many times, and this is the first time we were unhappy. When entering the room, we found the room completly unclean! The rugs were so stained that I would not let the children take off their shoes. The tub was molded, and the room was just not clean. We did switch to another room, but the rooms are old. The hallway floors of the Villas are also filthy. I think that for close to five hundred dollars a night a clean room is expected. I will complement the hotel staff on being very friendly. We love Disney and hope that they will rehab the Beach Club Villas.

The rooms are old? The resort is about 5 years old!

 

[jade1]

The rooms are old? The resort is about 5 years old!

And the tub was moldy? Again I guess they retiled and replaced the tub for our arrival 3 weeks ago-lucky us.

 

[tjkraz]

Remember that BCV is considered the most popular of the DVC resorts and is always at 99% capacity...just about every single villa is occupied every single night. Statistics alone will tell you that once a while something is going to slip through the cracks in terms of cleanliness.

That pretty much sums it up.

The occasional cash guest is going to be a lot more critical regarding the quality of their accommodations. When you're paying $500+ per night for a room, you expect something better than Holiday Inn quality.

IMO, DVC members tend to get a lot more caught up in rhetoric like "location, location, location" while dismissing issues like chipped furniture, peeling wallpaper and stained carpets. In my relatively short tenure as an owner, more than half of my trips have necessitated calling maintenance to resolve issues that existed before we arrived. Maintenance has always been very accommodating, but the mere fact that I had to call tells me that the owner who stayed in the room before me (and perhaps several before that) didn't care enough to do so him/herself.

 

[mbhoxsie]

That pretty much sums it up.
IMO, DVC members tend to get a lot more caught up in rhetoric like "location, location, location" while dismissing issues like chipped furniture, peeling wallpaper and stained carpets. In my relatively short tenure as an owner, more than half of my trips have necessitated calling maintenance to resolve issues that existed before we arrived. Maintenance has always been very accommodating, but the mere fact that I had to call tells me that the owner who stayed in the room before me (and perhaps several before that) didn't care enough to do so him/herself.

True... One issue though is that not everyone that stays in those rooms are members... I am not slamming people that book via the CRO, but just saying that they don't have to pay dues for maintance and upkeep like DVC owners do... (Of course, the margin that DVC makes by renting that inventory back to the CRO should make up for it.. )

I just stayed at BCV less than a month ago... The room was in great condition... Not awesome, but great... Like tjkraz said, I am one of those that tend to overlook the minor stuff.. I am on vacation to have a good time, and if the room is clean, functional, and sanitary, I am happy just to be there.. I don't usually fret over scratches in the furniture, dings in the coffee table or etc... These rooms do take a beating from the number of guests they recieve and its a fine line between keeping the room in immaculate shape and keeping dues affordable.. (Cost vs. benefit, etc..)

BTW.. A quick review of our experience at BCV a few weeks ago.. (This was our first stay there..)

Our bell hop on check-in was the best I have ever seen... He provided us with tips about the parks (even though we didn't need them) and even called housekeeping for us to make sure we had extra blankets and pillows..

No problems with the room whatsover... Sofa bed was brand new... We had a Studio on the 4th floor... 431, I think... HUGE balcony where we could watch Illuminations fireworks at night.. We were near the laundry room, which worked out great because we were only in a studio...

Breakfast at Cape May was awesome... The buffet was to die for and the characters really spent time with the kids...

I only have two minor complaints... One, the valet... When I checked in, I told the valet I was a DVC member... Showed him my card... Soft cooler w/DVC logo.. Etc.. He verified that valet was complementary for me, and I handed over the keys... As the week went on, I noticed that I was being charged $10/day for the valet service... I went to the Concerige.. Got credited the amount.. I asked the CM at the desk to please make sure the charges stopped, and she said she would... As we were checking the bill at check-out, I saw we got nailed with them again... We had to go back down and get credited more... Not a big deal, but something I think they could've fixed at the first time I pointed it out...

My other issue is not so much with BCV, but with Disney's billing system as a whole... They could not figure out how to process personal checks... We usually don't like to leave a whole bunch on our CC at check out... So when we bought our 2 day park passes, I asked them if I could put them on a check.. They needed to see not only my driver-lincense, but also a Visa to process the transaction?? They already had my card on record and tied it to my driver's license at check-in... Seemed weird... I had to go back up to the room to get my CC, and then come back down to pay.. The day before check-out I tried to pay off a good part of the bill by check and the conceirge had a heck of a time getting the check approved... She didn't know how to call to get it approved and then had to get a manager to complete the transaction... It took about 20 minutes to do... Seemed a bit unnecessary. IMO, WDW is setting up there systems to work only off of Cash and Credit, period...

All in all, we loved our stay at BCV and will definately continue to keep it as an option when making future plans...

 

[purpliequeen]

We love the BCV, in fact my parents are interested in forgoing our plans to stay at the GF Dec 2008 in the RPC to return to the BCV. We stayed in a 2bedroom villa June 11-18th. The guests were my parents, me, and my best friend (we're both 18).

We loved the space, we noticed a bit of wear and tear, but nothing too serious. Everything was in working order. There were a few damp spots on the carpet when we checked in, but they were dry by the next morning.

No complaints at all of the resort. We got everything we requested- a higher floor and woods view. We could see a smidgen of fireworks from Epcot and loved the short walk there. All the CMs were hospitable and happy.

 

[doconeill]

We loved the BCV last week so much I've waitlisted for Dec. 1st-8th (I booked SSR originally as it was outside the 7-month window).

We did have one issue though. The tub was clogged - bad. The tub had about two inches of cold water before the shower was hot - made for a weird shower.

When we left in the morning for MGM, I stopped by the desk and told them, and they said they'd have maintenance check it out.

Got back around 2pm, and no one had been yet. Told them again and went to Stormalong Bay and back. After a while a maintenance guy came. He fished a lot of hair out, and it still wasn't unclogged. He said he had to go get a snake (I would have thought he'd bring one, given the issue), came back with another maintenance person, snaked out even MORE hair, and it STILL wasn't unclogged. It sounded like he had to call in an actual plumber, and said they'd be back in a while. I wanted to take a shower after being at SAB before heading to DD, but since we couldn't we just got dressed and went out.

By the time we were back that night, it was fixed.

As for the bathroom itself, it looked just like the above picture - same tiling, etc. I actually though the bathroom was oversized. You could fit several people in there, but there was only a small sink - a lot of wasted space. A double sink or at least a larger vanity would have been nice. This was in a studio.

I looked at the picture again, and our room had the vanity next to the tub instead of the toilet, which was about 10 feet away...

 

[keishashadow]

It's Florida. Florida has bugs. You might have bugs in your room, especially palmetto bugs once in a while.

a bug or bugs are to be expected, not an infestation

my issue was the manager who was MIA from the time of discovery, around midnight throughout the next day; despite repeated phone calls & pages left for him.

Of course there were no other rooms (sold out); was told if we were booked thru CRO they would've moved us immediately either within the resort or elsewhere

front desk was useless, refered me to the switchboard.

Only when i physically sat down in the lobby next day & started fussing about bugs was an assistant mgr found to deal with me (thanks again to bell services for stepping up!)

Only then did maintenance check the room, agree with my findings and summon the outside exterminator.

Other than that, the resort was lovely; just hard to overlook the incident and feel letdown.

Must say we have had nothing but fantastic customer service at every other DVC & resort property we have visited (have never had to call maintenance or housekeeping for any issues )...i'd like to think it was an unfortunate aberration, was addressed by exec. offices and shall never happen again.

 

[PEANUT1]

Schoolboy error.

Never, ever, ever, pay attention to anything ever seen on trip advisor.

According to trip adviser, everywhere, is old, dirty, smelly, noisy, tired and rubbish. It has no monitoring and everyone just tries to destroy anywhere they dont like. Most posts are totally ficticious. I know of anicdotal evidence that staff from one hotel, post dodgy reports about other resorts.

So, in summary.

Never believe anything you read on trip advisor!

I actually agree with tripadvisor most of the time..I have found some really great hotels by using it. I haven't stayed at BCV, just the resort, but I am sure it will be fine. You will find more negatives than positives anywhere you look bc people don't tend to write down the good; only the bad.

 

[BCV23]

We loved the BCV last week so much I've waitlisted for Dec. 1st-8th (I booked SSR originally as it was outside the 7-month window).

We did have one issue though. The tub was clogged - bad. The tub had about two inches of cold water before the shower was hot - made for a weird shower.

When we left in the morning for MGM, I stopped by the desk and told them, and they said they'd have maintenance check it out.

Got back around 2pm, and no one had been yet. Told them again and went to Stormalong Bay and back. After a while a maintenance guy came. He fished a lot of hair out, and it still wasn't unclogged. He said he had to go get a snake (I would have thought he'd bring one, given the issue), came back with another maintenance person, snaked out even MORE hair, and it STILL wasn't unclogged. It sounded like he had to call in an actual plumber, and said they'd be back in a while. I wanted to take a shower after being at SAB before heading to DD, but since we couldn't we just got dressed and went out.

By the time we were back that night, it was fixed.

As for the bathroom itself, it looked just like the above picture - same tiling, etc. I actually though the bathroom was oversized. You could fit several people in there, but there was only a small sink - a lot of wasted space. A double sink or at least a larger vanity would have been nice. This was in a studio.

I looked at the picture again, and our room had the vanity next to the tub instead of the toilet, which was about 10 feet away...

It sounds as if you were in an accessible studio with a tub rather than a roll in shower. Most BCV studios have the sink ouside the bathroom.