Complaint about recent stay at BCV

[nickcapp]

Let me preface this post by saying we are not complainers. We often overlook things that probably SHOULD bother us. We are the type of people who don't let small inconveniences impact the enjoyment of our vacation.

Also, I have written one other complain letter to DVC in my entire 13 year ownership! I have also never asked for compensation.

That being said, we recently returned from a 2 week stay at BCV. We had a great time save a few issues that in the end added up and left us shaking our heads and questioning whether we would return to BCV. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it just seemed to lack that Disney sparkle and/or service.

The first issue is easily overlooked. A few days into our stay, Disney closed the road between the Boardwalk and Beach club. This meant our car (and buses) were forced to travel all the way in the other direction to get to Buena Vista Drive. This added a lot of time when traveling to The Boardwalk, Hollywood Studios, and Downtown Disney. If this was an emergency repair or something I totally understand and wouldn't give it a second though. We had family staying at the Boardwalk and this made drop off and pick up a royal pain. Not to mention adding time to getting to our ADRs. I understand a less frequent visitor would probably not have noticed at all. I know this is a nit-picking thing, so I chose to let it go. So what if I had to sit at two extra lights?

However, towards the second half of the trip, they closed the gym. I run around crescent lake for exercise, so no big deal again. I let it go.

What I felt was inexcusable came next....they had closed the Solarium. Due to the gym renovations, they moved a portion of the gym in there. This upset me. We spend A LOT of time in the Solarium. Its a great relaxing place to hang out. We felt a large benefit of the resort was removed.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but when it all added up, had I known of these issues, I would have chosen to stay somewhere else.

I did wind up writing a letter, again, requesting NOTHING. I merely suggested that if there is scheduled maintenance on large resort amenities like infrastructure, gyms, or large public areas, that they at least notify the members who have reservations during these work times.

Is that too much to ask? Should we expect certain inconveniences? I certainly would like to know what other regular visitors think.

 

[msp2mco]

I'm sorry to hear about the closures that you experienced at BCV. When we were there in March, there was construction around SAB and residing going on. I didn't think much of it. However, I agree with you. I love the public spaces at BC, so after the other inconveniences, I would be disappointed that the solarium was closed/repurposed.

 

[CarolMN]

I'm sorry you were disappointed and that you had some bad luck with this stay. I do think you may be overreacting to things that were just inconvenient, though.

The closing of the gym is related to the solarium. There is an expansion going on and the gym is being temporarily relocated to the solarium during the construction period. (That was discussed on the boards earlier this month).

Don't write off the BCV just because of this trip - those types of things can and do happen at all of the resorts. In my experience, Disney usually only notifies future guests if a feature pool will be unavailable or if there are major renovations going on. Most of the time, those things are discussed on the boards before they happen or at least, shortly after Disney announces them.

 

[nickcapp]

Thanks for the responses. Like I said, I didn't want to make a huge deal, but felt that we should have at least had a friendly heads up.

I chalked it up to progress and enjoyed my stay. It still bothered me enough to write the notification suggestion to DVC.

Like I said, the trip was great otherwise. We love the Beach Club, its our home resort. I have never hesitated to stay there and this probably won't stop me.

I'm glad I didn't make a big deal of it when I was down there. I didn't want to be labeled as one of "those" guests!

It just goes to show you there is no good time for Disney to do their maintenance. Its always going to interrupt someone's vacation.

 

[SamSam]

It just goes to show you there is no good time for Disney to do their maintenance. Its always going to interrupt someone's vacation.

Exactly! They have to do maintenance and renovations sometime and it will always affect someone's vacation.

 

[Brian Noble]

Would it have been nice (and possibly even expected) to be notified of the gym renovations and impact on the Solarium? Yes. Is it worth writing a letter? IMO, no. These sorts of renovations have to happen sometime, and I'd rather see them happen than to have upkeep deferred indefinitely.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney tends to not notify guests unless it's a MAJOR renovation. My guess is that they don't want everyone to reschedule.

We were at BCV during the Storm-A-Long bay repair, the SSR main pool rehab, roof replacement at BWV and painting at VWL where they installed a scaffold outside our window.

The worst is when the room needs maintenance that should be preformed when the room is vacant. We always seem to be there when they replace the filter for the AC. At BWV we had our refrigerator replaced 3 times due to new defective units.

Based on our experience, they work on things all of the time and in a way I guess we would rather be inconvenienced and stay in a clean, working WDW.

Bill

 

[jade1]

Yea that's a bummer-but we also had the SAB repairs at spring break. Oh well things need repair.

 

[Dean]

Let me preface this post by saying we are not complainers. We often overlook things that probably SHOULD bother us. We are the type of people who don't let small inconveniences impact the enjoyment of our vacation.

Also, I have written one other complain letter to DVC in my entire 13 year ownership! I have also never asked for compensation.

That being said, we recently returned from a 2 week stay at BCV. We had a great time save a few issues that in the end added up and left us shaking our heads and questioning whether we would return to BCV. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it just seemed to lack that Disney sparkle and/or service.

The first issue is easily overlooked. A few days into our stay, Disney closed the road between the Boardwalk and Beach club. This meant our car (and buses) were forced to travel all the way in the other direction to get to Buena Vista Drive. This added a lot of time when traveling to The Boardwalk, Hollywood Studios, and Downtown Disney. If this was an emergency repair or something I totally understand and wouldn't give it a second though. We had family staying at the Boardwalk and this made drop off and pick up a royal pain. Not to mention adding time to getting to our ADRs. I understand a less frequent visitor would probably not have noticed at all. I know this is a nit-picking thing, so I chose to let it go. So what if I had to sit at two extra lights?

However, towards the second half of the trip, they closed the gym. I run around crescent lake for exercise, so no big deal again. I let it go.

What I felt was inexcusable came next....they had closed the Solarium. Due to the gym renovations, they moved a portion of the gym in there. This upset me. We spend A LOT of time in the Solarium. Its a great relaxing place to hang out. We felt a large benefit of the resort was removed.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but when it all added up, had I known of these issues, I would have chosen to stay somewhere else.

I did wind up writing a letter, again, requesting NOTHING. I merely suggested that if there is scheduled maintenance on large resort amenities like infrastructure, gyms, or large public areas, that they at least notify the members who have reservations during these work times.

Is that too much to ask? Should we expect certain inconveniences? I certainly would like to know what other regular visitors think.

While I understand your concerns, these are all par for timeshares and for Disney hotels also.

 

[dvcterry]

Yea that's a bummer-but we also had the SAB repairs at spring break. Oh well things need repair.

Ohhh, now that's a sad day

 

[Ansky]

While I agree with most posters here that these are all minor inconveniences and shouldn't be made into a big deal, I do think it would be a nice gesture by Disney to send out a quick 1-2 sentence email giving you a heads up about any major renovations around the resort being done. We actually did get a letter in the mail one year when we had reservations at Caribbean Beach (before DVC, we were cash paying guests in this instance) stating that the main pool was being refurbished so we would have to use one of the quiet pools and it apologized for any inconvenience. It stinks when it happens, but it was nice of them to give us a heads up.

 

[AllyBri]

Let me preface this post by saying we are not complainers. We often overlook things that probably SHOULD bother us. We are the type of people who don't let small inconveniences impact the enjoyment of our vacation.

Also, I have written one other complain letter to DVC in my entire 13 year ownership! I have also never asked for compensation.

That being said, we recently returned from a 2 week stay at BCV. We had a great time save a few issues that in the end added up and left us shaking our heads and questioning whether we would return to BCV. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it just seemed to lack that Disney sparkle and/or service.

The first issue is easily overlooked. A few days into our stay, Disney closed the road between the Boardwalk and Beach club. This meant our car (and buses) were forced to travel all the way in the other direction to get to Buena Vista Drive. This added a lot of time when traveling to The Boardwalk, Hollywood Studios, and Downtown Disney. If this was an emergency repair or something I totally understand and wouldn't give it a second though. We had family staying at the Boardwalk and this made drop off and pick up a royal pain. Not to mention adding time to getting to our ADRs. I understand a less frequent visitor would probably not have noticed at all. I know this is a nit-picking thing, so I chose to let it go. So what if I had to sit at two extra lights?

However, towards the second half of the trip, they closed the gym. I run around crescent lake for exercise, so no big deal again. I let it go.

What I felt was inexcusable came next....they had closed the Solarium. Due to the gym renovations, they moved a portion of the gym in there. This upset me. We spend A LOT of time in the Solarium. Its a great relaxing place to hang out. We felt a large benefit of the resort was removed.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but when it all added up, had I known of these issues, I would have chosen to stay somewhere else.

I did wind up writing a letter, again, requesting NOTHING. I merely suggested that if there is scheduled maintenance on large resort amenities like infrastructure, gyms, or large public areas, that they at least notify the members who have reservations during these work times.

Is that too much to ask? Should we expect certain inconveniences? I certainly would like to know what other regular visitors think.

I don't understand the Solarium being an issue, there are 2 other lovely rooms to hang out at the BCV, the Drawing Room and the Breezeway.
Why would you even mention compensation?

 

[Sammie]

There is absolutely no way for them to win with closures due to renovations.

They are open 24/7, year round, someone is always going to be inconvenienced.

If they don't do them, people complain.

If they do them, they complain.

If they notify them and then it does not happen due to some type of a delay, they complain because they moved to another resort.

 

[cvjw]

We stayed in a 2 bedroom villa in June a couple of years ago, and arrived at the resort to find out that the pool slide and parts of the pool were closed. It was an emergency repair, so we had to do without the best part of SAB during our stay. Things happen, we didn't complain or ask for compensation - we just dealt with it.

 

[mazoo77]

I agree with OP that Disney should notify guests about planned maintenance being done during their stay. I would expect that Disney plans and schedules their maintenance well in advance and there is no reason the information shouldn't be provided. A heads up would be nice.

 

[Dean]

I agree with OP that Disney should notify guests about planned maintenance being done during their stay. I would expect that Disney plans and schedules their maintenance well in advance and there is no reason the information shouldn't be provided. A heads up would be nice.

It's really an impossible task to do so plus the system doesn't necessarily want people reacting to such option by changing reservations or taking up staff time by complaining or negotiating. Letting people know is the easy part, just put it on the website. The problem is knowing about such issues and making the decision about what to notify members and what not to. Clearly none of these issues were of the type where it would have been reasonable to expect a notification and part were outside the resort.

 

[Cee]

We'll be at BCV in a few weeks and I was relieved to read that these were the only issues you had with the resort. I guess in the case of the Solarium, Disney figured it was better to have a makeshift gym than no gym. It had to go somewhere and the Solarium was the best location.

All these things are temporary, but I'm sorry that it impacted your vacation.

Next time, all will be well.

 

[Snurk71]

I wouldn't consider the solarium being used as a temp spot for the fitness room as a "major" renovation.

Now, the SAB closing during spring break (we only experienced the partial closure) - I do consider as "major" since SAB is a major draw to YC/BC.

 

[tjkraz]

Honestly I don't think it would hurt to slip a brief notice into the check-in packets for guests who will be impacted by closure or temporary relocation of any resort amenity.

Beyond that, I wouldn't anticipate any major changes to Disney's status quo. While projects may be penciled-in on the calendar, exact dates are not set until just a few weeks beforehand. Notification at 11 or 7 months is not practical. And given the nature of DVC reservations, most guests aren't going to be able to switch resorts even when some desired amenity is impacted.

Notification would most likely be costly. Disney doesn't have the framework in place to send mass emails to guests staying over a certain date range. And even if they had the capability, not all members use email and many messages are still misdirected by spam filters. Ultimately we're talking about thousands of letters being mailed. Resorts occasionally go this route but only with a very major project like closure at Stormalong Bay.

Also, things like this have a way of morphing from a positive to a negative. While it may seem like advance notification is a good thing, drawing attention to any sort of refurb / closure has a way of inducing panic among members.

There are people who have no idea where the BC health club or Solarium are located--and no intention of using either one. But tell folks these facilities will be closed during a stay and suddenly they begin fretting over the impact it may have on their stay. Some will even start angling for compensation.

 

[Dean]

Honestly I don't think it would hurt to slip a brief notice into the check-in packets for guests who will be impacted by closure or temporary relocation of any resort amenity.

I think that's very reasonable and should be routine procedure. That's much different than a prettification for minor to medium issues. Obviously decisions must be made as to what to notify potential guests ahead of time, what to do so on check in and what not to mention. Not everyone will agree with the decisions of course.