BLT experience (caution long post)

[McCrae]

I think the OP is being a bit harsh on DVC. A room request is just that, it's a request. Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don't.

There was nothing wrong with the state of the original room and your lucky DVC allowed you to move room, they didn't have to.

Accept that things could have been better after your initial check in, however the intentions of the staff to help was very clear.

i don't really see that any of the issues raised as being major problems and think it's a moan about nothing.

I trust that the original OP is ALWAYS perfect when they do their work.

 

[disneynutz]

They don't leave pillows for the sofa bed? Even if there's more than 2 people in the room? What kind of stupidity is that?! We're LANDING at MCO at like 10:30. WHO KNOWS what time DME will get us there. NO WAY I want to be calling for pillows at midnight for my DS. Thanks for the heads up on THAT ONE.

I will call TOMORROW to add some requests once I ask DH if he wants to face MK or the pool.

Pillows are sometimes in the closet or inside the back rest of the sofa.

Bill

 

[disneynutz]

I think the OP is being a bit harsh on DVC. A room request is just that, it's a request. Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don't.

There was nothing wrong with the state of the original room and your lucky DVC allowed you to move room, they didn't have to.

Accept that things could have been better after your initial check in, however the intentions of the staff to help was very clear.

i don't really see that any of the issues raised as being major problems and think it's a moan about nothing.

I trust that the original OP is ALWAYS perfect when they do their work.

It's pretty obvious that Disney has issues with Mousekeeping. Disney Guests are paying a premium price for a Magical experience and as far as rooms go they are falling short. 50% of our stays have room problems of one kind or another. Rooms ready at 7:00 PM, dirty rooms, rooms released that weren't cleaned, never being notified when the room is ready, the list goes on. Yes if your problem reaches the right people Disney will buy you dinner, or put money into you charge account but even that gets old.

The sad thing is that Disney is well aware of the room problems but does little if anything to fix the problems before the fact. During our last visit we ended up being serviced by the VIP cleaning crew at 7:00 PM because the room that we had been waiting on since 1:00 PM was filthily when we were finally given the room number at 6:30. According to the CM's who does nothing but clean rooms that were missed or not cleaned correctly, this happens every day, several times per day.

Bill

 

[dvcssr1]

I think the OP is being a bit harsh on DVC. A room request is just that, it's a request. Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don't.

There was nothing wrong with the state of the original room and your lucky DVC allowed you to move room, they didn't have to.

Accept that things could have been better after your initial check in, however the intentions of the staff to help was very clear.

i don't really see that any of the issues raised as being major problems and think it's a moan about nothing.

I trust that the original OP is ALWAYS perfect when they do their work.

I totally agree that a request is just that, a request. But we do have issues with the floors being slippery in the bathroom after taking a shower with a roll in shower. DH being 60 and I being 58 with several minor health issues, it tends to get tricky on wet floors. I don't think is was unreasonable to want to be safe when in the restroom. If we were younger and no health issues it would not have been an issue.
As far as the second room, had it been clean and in good service, the pool view was beautiful. So, the rest of the requests not happening would have been great. In fact, DH and I decided that we actually like the pool/lake view better. But, I don't think dealing with a bathroom door, once shut and will only open when someone on the outside lifts it up, is moaning about nothing. No, I am not always perfect when I work. BUT when it comes to cleanliness and someones safety I think more care should be given.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I totally agree that a request is just that, a request. But we do have issues with the floors being slippery in the bathroom after taking a shower with a roll in shower. DH being 60 and I being 58 with several minor health issues, it tends to get tricky on wet floors. I don't think is was unreasonable to want to be safe when in the restroom. If we were younger and no health issues it would not have been an issue.
As far as the second room, had it been clean and in good service, the pool view was beautiful. So, the rest of the requests not happening would have been great. In fact, DH and I decided that we actually like the pool/lake view better. But, I don't think dealing with a bathroom door, once shut and will only open when someone on the outside lifts it up, is moaning about nothing. No, I am not always perfect when I work. BUT when it comes to cleanliness and someones safety I think more care should be given.

I have walking issues and at Jambo in December, I was given a HA studio with a roll in shower and the CM at the front desk said that there were no other studios available. (She, they, actually insisted that the whole reservation system was down and they could not see what rooms were available). I was in tears....however, I did think of something. I asked for and received MANY towels that I put on the floor of the bathroom and it worked for me. They offered me a different room the next day, but I told them if they would replace the towels which they did, I would work with what I had. It was only a 3 night stay with a DGF whom hadn't been to WDW in years and I didn't want to be homeless or move....they even told me I could stay in the room until the other was ready, but in the end, the towels and all of the handrails did the trick!

 

[Anal Annie]

Pillows are sometimes in the closet or inside the back rest of the sofa.

Bill

Sometimes? It should be ALL the time! Mousekeeping has no way of knowing how many people will be staying in a villa at any time or what the sleeping arrangements will be so the units should be cleaned and left with pillows, blankets and towels for 4 people each time it is serviced. Period. Not sometimes.

Now that I have our flights I need to call & add DME to our ressie so I'll just take care of the pillow thing & other room requests while I'm on the phone. Like I said, we will be arriving very late & the last thing anybody wants to deal with at midnight is a shortage of blankets & pillows. That is simply wrong to expect a guest to have to call & ask for standard things that should already be there. BLT should be no different than any other resort with respect to that. This should be the norm at all resorts. I am used to looking at the sofa bed first thing to make it up so we DON'T have to deal with at bedtime. IMO they should have it made up & ready for guests just like the regular beds. Guests shouldn't be expected to HAVE to make up any of the beds (unless they want their own sheets). I think that's another lazy issue on mousekeeping.

 

[tjkraz]

They don't leave pillows for the sofa bed? Even if there's more than 2 people in the room? What kind of stupidity is that?!

At BLT, the living room ottoman has a flip-up lid and is used to store pillows and blankets for the sofabed and sleeper chair. I don't know if not finding that was OPs issue but many people don't seem to check there.

 

[Anal Annie]

At BLT, the living room ottoman has a flip-up lid and is used to store pillows and blankets for the sofabed and sleeper chair. I don't know if not finding that was OPs issue but many people don't seem to check there.

So are there ottomans in the studios as well??

 

[tjkraz]

So are there ottomans in the studios as well??

Studios do have an ottoman but it doesn't appear to be a storage ottoman like the 1B villas. I mentioned that because OP stayed in a 1B.

Here's a photo of the 1B ottoman. The top brown (?) portion flips-up and has blankets and pillows stored inside:

For a Studio, I assume the pillows and blankets would be in the closet like other resorts.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Pillows are sometimes in the closet or inside the back rest of the sofa.

Bill

Blankets have always been in the closets but not pillows. And the sleepers are not the type that have the pillows in them.

At BLT, the living room ottoman has a flip-up lid and is used to store pillows and blankets for the sofabed and sleeper chair. I don't know if not finding that was OPs issue but many people don't seem to check there.

Thanks Tim! This is the first time I've ever seen that posted and we never looked there either. lol It might be nice if housekeeping mentioned it when you called them to get pillows for the sleepers.

The studios do not have the same ottoman as in your picture. I just assumed they were the same since the studio was the first BLT room I stayed in:

 

[lilpooh108]

THanks for the ottoman info. Never woulda checked there. Woulda checked the closet though...

 

[bumbershoot]

....they even told me I could stay in the room until the other was ready, but in the end, the towels and all of the handrails did the trick!

Gotta say...glad to know we're not the only ones who were offered* late checkout, to facilitate a move b/c of an inappropriately given HA-room, at Jambo last December! Man oh man were they having problems, weren't they?



*you declined the move and late checkout, we accepted both...in retrospect I would have preferred to have been homeless (we did need to move rooms), because we had to wait around IN the room for hours and hours, and it wasn't enjoyable at all.

 

[DenLo]

When we stayed in a BLT studio, I'm pretty sure there were extra pillows and a blanket on the upper shelf in the closet. We didn't use the pullout. The ottoman was strictly an ottoman with a wood tray on top of it. I took the tray off to put my feet up. But there were also five pillows on the queen bed. I think I'd put the extra pillows on the floor when we went to sleep at night.

 

[quirty30]

At BLT, the living room ottoman has a flip-up lid and is used to store pillows and blankets for the sofabed and sleeper chair. I don't know if not finding that was OPs issue but many people don't seem to check there.

LOL - we've stayed there several times and did not know this. But we've also called for pillows, after checking all the drawers and the closets and no one ever suggested we look in the storage ottoman.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

When we stayed in a BLT studio, I'm pretty sure there were extra pillows and a blanket on the upper shelf in the closet. We didn't use the pullout. The ottoman was strictly an ottoman with a wood tray on top of it. I took the tray off to put my feet up. But there were also five pillows on the queen bed. I think I'd put the extra pillows on the floor when we went to sleep at night.

The closet in my studio was spared such extras.

 

[dvcssr1]

I have walking issues and at Jambo in December, I was given a HA studio with a roll in shower and the CM at the front desk said that there were no other studios available. (She, they, actually insisted that the whole reservation system was down and they could not see what rooms were available). I was in tears....however, I did think of something. I asked for and received MANY towels that I put on the floor of the bathroom and it worked for me. They offered me a different room the next day, but I told them if they would replace the towels which they did, I would work with what I had. It was only a 3 night stay with a DGF whom hadn't been to WDW in years and I didn't want to be homeless or move....they even told me I could stay in the room until the other was ready, but in the end, the towels and all of the handrails did the trick!

That is an excellent idea! We will try that if we happen to get a HA room again. THANKS
As far as the pillows go, we did check all the closets and the chest/coffee table and found none. Our first night this trip at Kidani did have pillows in the closet. And in the past trips they had been in the chest/coffee table. But not this time.

 

[Who's your Mickey?]

Everybody loves to bash BLT, but I've had more issues with the other DVC properties I've stayed at. I'll give my "bottom 2" examples:

The door to the balcony was not closed at SSR, I assume when they cleaned it, and it rained that day. When we checked in the carpet was soaked by the open door. It was a last minute trip at a busy time and they said there was nothing else available at SSR, or any other DVC property for that matter. So we were stuck there. It was a weekend trip, so we only had to deal with the wet carpet for 2 days. We were offered a points refund, but we had rented points for that trip so that did us absolutely no good.

The worst was at AKV-JH. We had a great 1 BR unit with a phenomenal view of the savannah. I went into the bathroom and found dried boogers and fecal matter smeared on the wall in the "sin bin". It was at a height that suggested a small child was the culprit, but it was nasty non-the-less. I called the front desk and a housekeeper came to the room and cleaned the mess. She complained loudly about how disgusting it was the entire time, but she did clean it up. She then lingered for a moment, as if she was expecting me to tip her. I did not. It's not that I'm a cheap SOB, but this issue was something I shouldn't have had to encounter in the first place, so I felt that a tip was not warranted. We complained to the front desk, but nothing was really resolved and no compensation was offered.

The first issue was more of an annoyance, but did have the potential to be a problem in the future if they didn't fully correct it soon. They sent a maintenance guy with a shop vac up to suck up some of the water, but it was still pretty wet even after he finished. The second issue really pissed me off. It was disgusting and a health hazard. To top it off, we had to deal with a housekeeper telling us how gross it was. We contacted MS and all we received was a phone call apologizing for the "issue" and that they were reviewing housekeeping policies and procedures across all DVC properties. Translation: oops, you caught us with our pants down, the housekeeper who originally "cleaned" the room and the complainer both got written up, case closed.

 

[DenLo]

We've never really haven't had any problems at any resort that weren't fixed immediately. I mean these villas are in constant use, so things will go haywire. But I always look around the room and check to see that things work. But sometimes you find out at last minute problems like finding a wet carpet. That happened to us at VWL last trip.

But obviously some blatant oversights and mishandling are occurring and the DVC needs to get housekeeping and maintenance in order. And it definitely sounds like CR is treating BLT guests as unwanted stepchildren. They need to get over it quick.

If you don't get good service, while staying at a resort, call or stop buy the front desk and speak to the manager. And if that doesn't work send a message to the DVC Member Satisfaction Team. dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

We need to get DVC's service back on track. Look how all of the complaints about BLT's studios got some some action. So it does work.

Hopefully things will be better on your next trip.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I've never understood why, if one has not requested a HA room, does MS just give you one without asking or telling you at check-in!

Glad in the end you finally ended up with a clean room!

 

[DenLo]

There are probably more HA rooms that are not used by HA guests and they have to be assigned to someone. It makes more sense to assign an HA room to a family with older children or a couple versus those with young ones. Because of the lower cabinets and stove knobs being on the front of the stove it could be dangerous for a young child to be in an HA villa.