Disney's waning commitment to DVC quality

It's difficult to comment on posts like this without coming across as a Disney-defending sycophant. But I think the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" is often applicable to something like DVC. If you visit WDW for the first time--or once every 5 years--most everything is shiny and new. It's often difficult to identify the flaws. Visit regularly as a DVC owner and flaws are immediately identifiable.

If some problem occurs today--which wasn't encountered over the past 20 or 30 years--there's an inclination to think "wow, things are really going downhill!" In reality, housekeeping services, maintenance and technology weren't flawless in the 90s or 2000s either.

Are things universally worse today than 10 years ago? I dunno. Not many of us would visit often enough--or have the necessary perspective--to truly judge. When I run into a problem during a Disney vacation, It means *I* had a problem. It doesn't mean that thousands of others are experiencing the same problem, or that Disney is objectively worse than in the past.

I don't remember what I ate for lunch last Thursday, so don't ask me if I had problems with KTTW charging in 2005, or if we found an old sock under the bed in our villa, or if bell services was slow, or if the pool was cold in February...
 
My last stay was in an SSR two bedroom. I really liked the quality of the bathroom fixtures in the second bathroom. I really like a hand held shower head.

I disagree with the title of this thread.

Me too! While we have had things change over the years, and a few minor bumps with DVC, we get as much joy now as we once did.

Every time I walk into my DVC room, especially when I take friends and family, I get that sense of joy that being DVC gives me!!
 
I think this totally depends on the resort. We recently stayed at BLT and while it is badly in need of a refurb, the 2BR rooms are huge, the service was great, the location could not be beat. Was the couch beat up? Yes. Was there a non-working microwave? Yes. Everything else was great though and it's on the schedule to be refurbished. AKV last year was amazing. Loved it. No complaints. We did OKW a couple summers ago, and that resort is definitely outdated, but its the oldest one, so I don't know what else can be expected. We recently bought at RIV sight unseen, but the videos I see look amazing.

We've been doing DVC since 2010 and I still think there is so much value in it. The space in the rooms and the proximity to world class attractions makes it great to me and even my non-Disney loving husband loves our DVC. I have stayed at the Four Seasons, The Loew's resorts, JW Marriott, the Holiday Inn, etc (yes I know, Holiday Inn is not luxury, my point is, they all have flaws). I have complaints about every single one of them for the price I paid. I don't think any one place is perfect, but if it's not working for you anymore and it makes you upset every time you go, it's probably time to move on to different destinations.
 


As a very frequent DVC traveler, I make 4 to 5 trips a year to Disney World staying at DVC properties, with the exception of the pandemic (1 stay in 2020, 3 in 2021). So I have a pretty good handle on any changes in service, cleanliness, etc. I haven't personally tracked a decline trend - I can say there were a few times that certain things seemed to be slipping a bit, but recent stays actually trended the other way, with notable improvements in some of those same areas.

Worn carpets, furniture, dead light bulbs, missing kitchen items, failing door locks - have been the most common issues - I seem to have run into more from 2018 to 2020. Recent renovations at various resorts seems to have improved those incidents, though some aspects of the redesigns were good (murphy beds, everything in good condition), and some bad (loss of dresser space in living rooms due to trundle bed). I've never had a bad stay, and when I ran into an issue, the staff/housekeeping/maintenance always responded to the issue in a reasonable time (same day, usually when I was in the parks).

Last year, I found Boardwalk staff to be very friendly and helpful - and all services seemed quite attentive in my 4 stays - room requests were fulfilled 3 out of 4 times - right down to an exact room number requested. Never had any 'room inspections' happen while I was there. Housekeeping staff checked with me after the first day when they knocked and I notified them I'm a late starter, usually in my room until noon - they adjusted their schedule on all future days to never come earlier than noon.

For me, worst changes have been increased costs, much longer ride wait times for standby, too many upcharge attempts, removing services that were once included/free, and more frequent ride down times. Also, some restaurants that had just been experiencing some nice improvements in food quality just before the pandemic went back downhill after I returned - several long-skipped restaurants that I was ready to add to my list of places to return to regularly fell back off the list when I went back to find the menus generic-ified, and food quality back down (Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony's Town Square, Sebastian's, Boatwright's all had menu overhauls around 2019 and 2020 which I found significantly improved them, but when I went back in 2021, they had all either reverted back to old menus, dropped new selections, or completely changed to 'family style').

So I'm not a Disney apologist - plenty to complain about lately. But DVC properties, and services, have been overall quite good lately.
 
My impression precisely.

Any hotel room with a kitchen is not a quality accommodation.

We kid ourselves if we insist DVC is anything but a low-rent Deluxe stay. "DIY Deluxe" is how I think of it.


Not entirely why we bought in but close enough. The rest, I heartily agree with.

And, I strongly suspect that if DVC CMs and properties went out of the ordinary to make initial members feel they'd gotten into something special and were going to be treated with special care, it was largely promotional. Intended primarily to encourage word of mouth to boost sales.

That's a common sales ploy that rarely endures. Particularly not for something never intended to provide top-quality accommodations and service.
"DIY Deluxe" is truly the most perfect characterization! We bought BLT because we wanted to be able to walk to MK and because we are a family of 4 with 2 older teens, have a fridge and washer/dryer.
 
A fact that seems constantly overlooked by so many. The cognitive dissonance required to expect a hotel that provides you with the opportunity to heat frozen pizzas and popcorn, or bake your own casserole in your room and wash your own bed linens, should conversely be compared to true 5-Star premium accommodations, in every other aspect, is staggering. Not sure I've seen many Park Hyatt, St. Regis, or Mandarin Oriental properties with a kitchen and washer/dryer...

Just because it's called "Deluxe" doesn't mean it's a premium resort, it's simply that level of Disney accommodations above others. News flash: Disney "budget" resorts ain't budget either (they're just the least expensive on the Disney spectrum).
But, I believe, the prices are higher than accommodations you mention. We stay concierge level in Cleveland, New Orleans, Boston and San Fran at Intercontinental Hotels less expensive than we stay at DVC and far far less than GF or CR concierge. Intercontinental concierge in the places mention is exceptional especially in San Fran and Boston. No place I would rather stay but the drive to the land of magic is a bit too much. :worship:
 


You are confusing two different posts. I never made any mention of room service or robes.

Disney Quality was not about posh stuff. It was about taking care of the little things -- like making sure you could get member services on the phone from your room instead of having to walk up to the lobby to have your question answered. What makes me think that it really was the gold standard then is because they really did take care of all those aspects to make the guest experience as perfect as possible.

I will relate one of the more recent (multiple) significant failures, disturbing as the bitter memory is. We went for a sit-down lunch at a restaurant in the park (California) and wanted to charge it to our room. First the waiter tried one of our room key cards - twice. Then he tried two more of our room keys. None of them worked. Then the restaurant manager came out and told us we could not use our room key cards. It felt like we were being looked at like people trying to fraudulently scam a free meal. We put it on a credit card and went straight to the desk at Grand Californian to ask them why this had happened and to fix the problem so that it did not happen again. They checked all of our cards and told us that from their end there was no reason that the problem should have happened since our room key cards were set to allow charging while we were in the park. So, there was no solution, and we did not dare to try to charge anything in the park again after that.
That has happened to me a couple of times over the years at WDW. There are times the room charge system simply goes down. So I always carry an extra credit card, and ID just in case. It is no one's fault this happens, just like power failures and and other issues. These things happen occasionally when you travel, no matter the company or resort destination. There could have been a short outage on a server or something. Given that all of the US parks and resorts run through the same servers, with probably 70,000 onsite guests on any given day, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. It isn't a recent thing. The occasional charge system failure has been happening for at least 10 years. It has noting to do with Disney or DVCs committment to quality, if the system is down, the system is down, what would you expect them to do?
 
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I will relate one of the more recent (multiple) significant failures, disturbing as the bitter memory is. We went for a sit-down lunch at a restaurant in the park (California) and wanted to charge it to our room. First the waiter tried one of our room key cards - twice. Then he tried two more of our room keys. None of them worked. Then the restaurant manager came out and told us we could not use our room key cards. It felt like we were being looked at like people trying to fraudulently scam a free meal. We put it on a credit card and went straight to the desk at Grand Californian to ask them why this had happened and to fix the problem so that it did not happen again. They checked all of our cards and told us that from their end there was no reason that the problem should have happened since our room key cards were set to allow charging while we were in the park. So, there was no solution, and we did not dare to try to charge anything in the park again after that.

We had that happen about 6 years ago, staying at Saratoga Springs. Checked in as usual, room charging privileges enabled, then headed to Disney Springs. Had dinner, and found the room charging wasn't working. We did not have wallets with credit cards with us - I often fully rely on and commit to the room charge ability and not having to bring wallets or cash. We were able to convince the restaurant that we weren't dining and dashing, providing our resort room number and having them contact the front desk to verify - then walked back to Saratoga's desk, venting about the frustration and embarrassment, and then back to the restaurant to pay once they got everything working (and with my wallet just in case). We were given $200 credit on our account for the inconvenience and two full-day fast-passes for the following day (back when they had Fast Passes!). More than made up for the incident. The room charging worked the rest of the trip on the Magic Band/cards.

In more modern times, I now don't worry about bringing my wallet, as if the room charge ever fails, I can use ApplePay on my phone - though I've only had to once in 3 years when Paradiso 37 said THEIR system was down and they couldn't do the room charge.
 
For me, worst changes have been increased costs, much longer ride wait times for standby, too many upcharge attempts, removing services that were once included/free, and more frequent ride down times. Also, some restaurants that had just been experiencing some nice improvements in food quality just before the pandemic went back downhill after I returned - several long-skipped restaurants that I was ready to add to my list of places to return to regularly fell back off the list when I went back to find the menus generic-ified, and food quality back down (Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony's Town Square, Sebastian's, Boatwright's all had menu overhauls around 2019 and 2020 which I found significantly improved them, but when I went back in 2021, they had all either reverted back to old menus, dropped new selections, or completely changed to 'family style').
Don't knock the Family Style meal at Liberty Tree until you've tried it. Family Style is usually not on my list of dining styles, but this is the exception. This restaurant was always a must do lunch spot for us when they had the traditional menu, but their family style meal is excellent, IMO. It is still a must do for myself and my traveling party, especially when someone has gluten allergies. They had a gluten free version of EVERYTHING! It was so awesome for her. Tony's has always been one of those places that has had good food one time, and lesser food the next. I haven't eaten there for quite some time.
 
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Don't knock the Family Style meal at Liberty Tree until you've tried it. Family Style is usually not on my list of dining styles, but this is the exception. This restaurant was always a must do lunch spot for us when they had the traditional menu, but their family style meal is excellent, IMO. It is still a must do for myself and my traveling party, especially when someone has gluten allergies. They had a gluten free version of EVERYTHING! It was so awesome for her. Tony's has always been one of those places that has had good food one time, and lesser food the next. I haven't eatent here for quite some time.
I agree! We love Liberty Tree. We went again last year and the family style meal is great. It’s still good quality.
 
We first looked at DVC in 1995 I believe. Did the spiel at OKW. They had color themed placemats, napkins, and dishes. Obviously that has been cut.

It’s also the minutia that I’ve noticed has been cut…
Before the “Disney Parks” era, the pens by the notepads were actually themed to the resort. No, a pen is not make or break, but it was truly impressive to see that kind of attention to detail.
Eventually all pens said “Disney Parks”. Not sure what it is now. Perhaps the pens went the way of the clocks.

I’m sure there are other things as well.
 
Lets be honest here
QUALITY SERVICE EVERYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY IS SLIPPING

This is not a Disney thing, it a US thing.

‘’quality customer service‘ requires people that care and that is not really a thing in this country anymore.

I m a life time Hilton Diamond member, I will not stay at Hilton properties unless I have to any more ….. reason lack of service.

Jetblue was my goto airline for a decade…… I will not be taken ing them any more…… lack of service

‘This isn’t a DVC thing, or a Disney thing, it’s a US thing
 
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Lets be honest here
QUALITY SERVICE EVERYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY IS SLIPPING

This is not a Disney thing, it a US thing.

‘’quality customer service‘ requires people that care and that is not really a thing in this country anymore.

I m a life time Hilton Diamond member, I will not stay at Hilton properties unless I have to any more ….. reason lack of service.

Jetblue was my goto Adeline for a decade…… I will not be taken ing them any more…… lack of service

‘This isn’t a DVC thing, or a Disney thing, it’s a US thing
I 100% agree with you regarding Hilton. Like you, I am a lifetime Diamond member. A little over a year ago I made the switch to Marriott. My "go to" Hilton locations completely deteriorated. Marriott has proven to be much better.

That said, I don't think you can Disney in the same class as Hilton. I have not seen anywhere near the slip in service and accommodations at Disney like what has happened with Hilton. I think staffing issues are still the main culprit for all service related businesses, but Disney hasn't seen the precipitous drop like other businesses have. Generally speaking, the Disney CMs still go out of their way to make the experience magical. We have run into some "oversights" when it has come to room turnover, but I think that is because of the staffing and the workers being stretched so thin. I am ok with that because when I have called the front desk they make it right.
 
I 100% agree with you regarding Hilton. Like you, I am a lifetime Diamond member. A little over a year ago I made the switch to Marriott. My "go to" Hilton locations completely deteriorated. Marriott has proven to be much better.
Same boat here: won’t step foot in a Hilton property unless it’s the last option possible. Moved my hotel spend from my Hilton Aspire to my Bonvoy Brilliant, and not looking back.
 
I 100% agree with you regarding Hilton. Like you, I am a lifetime Diamond member. A little over a year ago I made the switch to Marriott. My "go to" Hilton locations completely deteriorated. Marriott has proven to be much better.

That said, I don't think you can Disney in the same class as Hilton. I have not seen anywhere near the slip in service and accommodations at Disney like what has happened with Hilton. I think staffing issues are still the main culprit for all service related businesses, but Disney hasn't seen the precipitous drop like other businesses have. Generally speaking, the Disney CMs still go out of their way to make the experience magical. We have run into some "oversights" when it has come to room turnover, but I think that is because of the staffing and the workers being stretched so thin. I am ok with that because when I have called the front desk they make it right.
I would further this statement to say that when you balance cost versus quality, Disney is distancing themselves even further from their competition. I am a platinum elite Marriott member and have found their standard business class hotels (i.e. Courtyard, Marriott, Westin) are much better kept than Hilton or Hyatt, but their prices are rising faster than Disney by far. If you go up to Marriott's JW or other signature properties (which is where I would want to go for a family vacation), the level of service does meet or exceed DVC, but the price for those rooms are as high or higher than Disney Deluxe cash rooms.

If you look at cost for the mid to higher level hotels anywhere near vacation locations (not talking Ritz level, more JW Marriott or even Standard Marriott) they are $600 to over $1,000 per night on average. We recently compared an Atlantis trip to Disney (cash). If you include park tickets and the difference in airfare, the costs were less than $400 apart for 5 nights (Disney was a bit more expensive) but that included 2 adults and 2 kids park tickets for 6 days in a package.
 
If you look at cost for the mid to higher level hotels anywhere near vacation locations (not talking Ritz level, more JW Marriott or even Standard Marriott) they are $600 to over $1,000 per night on average. We recently compared an Atlantis trip to Disney (cash). If you include park tickets and the difference in airfare, the costs were less than $400 apart for 5 nights (Disney was a bit more expensive) but that included 2 adults and 2 kids park tickets for 6 days in a package.
Platinum Elite here as well. Agree with just about everything you said, but I’d sort of disagree with this last paragraph though. Perfect example would be Grande Lakes Resort right there in Orlando. A JW Marriott conjoined with a Ritz Carlton. The Ritz is still +/- 3 times the cost of the JW on average. I attend a conference there every year, and while I do like the Ritz side a bit better, it’s still just too hard to justify paying triple the rate for one over the other.
 
A JW Marriott conjoined with a Ritz Carlton. The Ritz is still +/- 3 times the cost of the JW on average.
I just priced out my August trip for the heck of it. Waldorf is 450, Ritz is 550, Four Seasons is 1050. There are two JWs, one is 450, the other is 360. Margaritaville is $160. Maybe I'll keep my points and stay there! I've always wanted to see that Margaritaville pool.
 
I 100% agree with you regarding Hilton. Like you, I am a lifetime Diamond member. A little over a year ago I made the switch to Marriott. My "go to" Hilton locations completely deteriorated. Marriott has proven to be much better.

That said, I don't think you can Disney in the same class as Hilton. I have not seen anywhere near the slip in service and accommodations at Disney like what has happened with Hilton. I think staffing issues are still the main culprit for all service related businesses, but Disney hasn't seen the precipitous drop like other businesses have. Generally speaking, the Disney CMs still go out of their way to make the experience magical. We have run into some "oversights" when it has come to room turnover, but I think that is because of the staffing and the workers being stretched so thin. I am ok with that because when I have called the front desk they make it right.
My favorite place to use my Hilton points was the LBV Palace. The service went to hell, the room are in need of update and most of the staff needs to be fired….

I’m Titanium at Marriott, it s some what better.
 

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