DISSAPOINTED!!! CR...long!!

[aussiedaisy]

Hi,
We have just returned to Australia following our first trip to WDW where we stayed on the 9th floor of the tower at the CR. The view was fantastic and so was the location which, I know is what you are really paying for....but...in my opinion if I pay the price I paid for that tower room, I expected the room to at least be clean. It was [U]disgusting[/U]! There were trodden in crumbs all over the carpet, a plastic spoon and fork on the floor, the windows were filthy with hand prints and smudges etc all over them. The bathroom benches were filthy with soap scum all over them, the mirror was all splotchy, the floors in the bathroom obviously are NEVER cleaned or mopped! There looked like a blood stain on the floor in the toilet. The table near the window had a thick film of visible sticky stuff on it like something had been spilled and not cleaned up. The chairs on the balcony were totally black with dirt, there is no way you could sit on them. One day we left the room at 7am and didnt return till 6pm...the room hadn't been touched! Still wet towels etc. I had to call housekeeping and they said I must have left the do not disturb sign on the door....thats difficult if there isn't even one in the room to be found! I was sooo mad, they were really difficult that I rang to ask for fresh towels! No one apologised for the room not being done, I ended up ringing the front desk and complaining. I am so extremely dissapointed to have paid such a lot for this hotel and to get such bad service and a dirty room. I stayed at a Howard Johnson last year in california for $79 a night and the room and service was impecable....so clean. I know that they are busy in housekeeping and I am a person who rarely complains...but you do expect if you pay to stay onsite at disney that the rooms would be at the least CLEAN! I just can't stop thinking about it, It was a trip of a lifetime for me and my sister and I saved so hard for it and reaserched so long and I am so incredibly dissapointed about this aspect of the trip. I hope, If i ever go back to WDW again there is a more decent onsite hotel we can stay at! Has anyone else found this a problem at the CR?

 

[LukenDC]

I hope that you write a letter to the hotel manager and complain. Be sure to mention that you complained to the front desk and housekeeping during your trip. Dirty hotel rooms are unacceptable, especially at the rates charged by WDW. I have not stayed at the CR before, but I have read other postings by guests who had some complaints about the cleanliness of the rooms.

On another note, I visited the CR in September and strolled through the grounds and the area near Bay Lake. I was shocked to see hundreds and hundreds of dead mosquitos and other flying insects covering the exterior of the buildings, including exterior doors, near the pool and dock (not guest rooms). I have never seen anything like it!

 

[DisneyDotty]

So sorry to hear of your awful experience. We were at the CR in June and exerienced just the opposite--the room, though in need of remodeling (pre-redoing of CR rooms), was spotless, and the housekeeping service was wonderful during our 10-night stay.

 

[AussieTink]

I agree with the post by LukenDC, that you should write a letter to explain what happened. Sounds like the room was in need of a huge clean. I hope that other than your room, your trip was a wonderful experience! We are visiting Disney World in 2006, and know just how hard you have to save for a big trip overseas - Australia is so far away!!

 

[MareSINY]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. You should have IMMEDIATELY went back to the front desk and demanded a different CLEAN room when you got there and saw the mess. I was there in September and although the room was in need of refurbishment it was clean and housekeeping always did a great job of cleaning the room each day.

For the amount of money paid I agree you should have a clean room, but instead of waiting to you got home and venting to us you should have complained at the front desk when you first saw the problem.

 

[bicker]

That's really critical. There is so much less they can do for you if the issue wasn't logged as an official complaint while you were on-site, due to past abuses.

We never experienced anything like that at the Contemporary. We did have one trip where we had trouble with our room at the Disney Institute, and we called the front desk as soon as we noticed it. They had a workman out to us within 10 minutes and everything we straightened out within 20 minutes.

 

[n2mm]

That is too bad. CR is one of my favorites, but we too had a unpleasant stay there too in September. We complained to the front desk several different times, regarding several problems (no hot water, no parking, lack of housekeeping), but they just didn't care. It was my big 50th birthday bash with all of the family and we had planned on this for over a year and was such a disappointment. I did the survey when it arrived at home and blasted them for every problem we encountered and ended with the question "will you ever stay at this resorts and my answer was NO. There was no magic for us at the CR in September....which is too bad, since I really like this resort.

 

[boomhauer]

When I first started going to Disney, the CR was my DREAM Resort. After having walked through it though and seen pics of the rooms (BLAH!), I have no interest in staying there.

 

[disgal1]

I am so sorry for your horrible experience! I wish you could have cancelled the room and gone to port orleans, or the Swan.

In all the times we have stayed at wdw , we have Never had a problem .

Please don't let it ruin the memories of the rest of the trip. I hope you come back again, and try one of the moderates, or the Swan.

And if you ever have room like that again...check out, there are thousands of rooms in the wdw area!

 

[bicker]

It was truly something "back-in-the-day" -- the source of much of my fixation over WDW in my teens. It's relevance as anything other than "a nice hotel" is decreased markedly as we've entered the age that the CR was themed to represent. I think it survives today solely as a token of what it was, rather than what it is. I think the beginning of the end came when Disney built a new moderate resort (WL) and was able to command as much money for it as they were able to get for the garden wings of the CR. Of course, they're supposedly going to be addressing that problem, but that still leaves the tower as just "a nice hotel" which doesn't really cut it, when stacked up against the Poly, BC/YC, etc. I'd love to see them recognize that the CR's time has come and gone, and make it into a new hotel, perhaps with a radically different theme.

 

[boomhauer]

It was truly something "back-in-the-day" -- the source of much of my fixation over WDW in my teens. It's relevance as anything other than "a nice hotel" is decreased markedly as we've entered the age that the CR was themed to represent. I think it survives today solely as a token of what it was, rather than what it is. I think the beginning of the end came when Disney built a new moderate resort (WL) and was able to command as much money for it as they were able to get for the garden wings of the CR. Of course, they're supposedly going to be addressing that problem, but that still leaves the tower as just "a nice hotel" which doesn't really cut it, when stacked up against the Poly, BC/YC, etc. I'd love to see them recognize that the CR's time has come and gone, and make it into a new hotel, perhaps with a radically different theme.

Not having stayed there, I acn't totally back it that up. However, from what I have seen, I agree.

Maybe it's just me, but when on the monorail passing it, I think the wings are just ugly. No look to them at all. More like dorms.

 

[deentx]

we have stayed at wdw (boardwalk 2002, YC 2004) and we are reserved next month (dec 2005) at the boardwalk. we cant imagine the problems stated at CR as all we have had is the exact opposite. But I add my sentiment that holy heck should have been raised at the time of finding the room in that condition.

 

[kirkharrod]

I am always surprised by people who write complaints about their room who did not move to another room or resort.

If I checked into a room, and it was dirty, or smelled like smoke, or smelled musty or whatever, I go down to the desk, tell them it is not acceptable and get another room. If another room is not any better, I would change resorts. I have done this before (though never at Disney).

You are paying alot of money for that room. If it is not acceptable, you should demand another room or your money back.

 

[SB in KY]

I am sorry the OP had a bad experience...but I have to stay we stayed at the same resort during the same general time period and had a totally different experience....we were on the 12th floor of the tower so our room was not redone....the OP was on 9 so if they were on the Bayview side they had a newly refurbished room and if on MK side it was still an old room.

Housekeeping was excellent....we had an immaculate room...she left us towel animals every day and extra towels from the second day on. The bathroom was spotless (and DD#1 has a mold/mildew phobia so she is extra wary of FL bathrooms and this one passed even her critical inspection)....the carpet and bedding were in very good shape, nothing was worn or torn. Housekeeping cleaned the sliders and all mirrors daily and since the people on one side of us fed birds from their balcony a lot...we had a lot of bird ummm....shall we say waste on the balcony and chairs a couple of days and both times the whole balcony was spiffy clean including the furniture the next time housekeeping came. We requested turndown service the first night and they came every single evening thereafter (at exactly the time we had requested the first night)

I was actually expecting the room to be a bit more worn, since they are in the process of refurbishing them...but the only thing I noticed was that the sliders were hard to open (the rollers were worn out)...not a big deal really...just took a little extra elbow grease to get get the open and closed.

I don't know if maybe 12th floor rooms were in better shape because it used to be the club floor...but we were really happy....and housekeeping certainly exceeded what we had the past couple of stays at the Poly.

I guess everyones experiences are different and I certainly would not have tolerated a room in the condition described by the OP....IMHO if you don't like the way your room looks at a WDW resort, just call housekeeping during office hours and ask to speak to a supervisor and then ask them to come to your room and point out the problems when they arrive. We did that 1 time at the Poly and they totally took the room apart and cleaned it within an inch of its life in about 1 hour. If you call the front desk or guest services all they can say is "I'll call housekeeping" and whoever answers the phone there couldn't care less as a rule and all they do is notify the person that did a bad job in the first place....but if you get the supervisor to come look for themselves they will make sure the job is done right.

 

[chyam]

Quite honestly I am finding this happening more and more at Disney, I know there are many instances of just the opposite but I am also seeing more and more of the unpleasantness also. Something that NEVER happened at the Disney resorts. In the past 2 years I have stayed at the WL and POFQ several times and there were at least 2 times that I have to say was less than perfect! I have written and of course complained but you know it's not only the mousekeeping staff that doesn't care it is beginning to seem like the managers don't either! Please don't flame me because I do know there are many that do care, but the bad apples are really doing harm to the "magical" disney touch! There is absolutely no excuse for the the way some of these rooms are done, and it happens from the values to the deluxes considering the prices that are charged.

 

[Beachangel]

I would not have tolerated a room like you described. I would have called the manager up for a visit and let him/her see the room firsthand. I've stayed at CR, but our room was clean and we really enjoyed the resort.

 

[bicker]

CM service quality seems to track guest behavior, pretty closely.

 

[Marimar]

So sorry...that sounds like a lousy experience, one that I would not have stood for!

I am always surprised by people who write complaints about their room who did not move to another room or resort.

If I checked into a room, and it was dirty, or smelled like smoke, or smelled musty or whatever, I go down to the desk, tell them it is not acceptable and get another room. If another room is not any better, I would change resorts. I have done this before (though never at Disney).

You are paying alot of money for that room. If it is not acceptable, you should demand another room or your money back.

My exact same thoughts immedately after reading the origina post.

 

[Sammie]

I would not have tolerated a room like you described. I would have called the manager up for a visit and let him/her see the room firsthand. I've stayed at CR, but our room was clean and we really enjoyed the resort.

This is exactly what you should do and believe me this is what management wants you to do. They can not fix something they don't know about and they need to see it when it happens.

If the guest waits until they are home and writes a letter there is no proof of the situation. That would be like witnessing a crime, waiting a week and then contacting the Police, you think they are going to believe that situation.

 

[bicker]

Even if they wanted to believe you (and I sincerely believe they would), realistically, they cannot. With the ascendency of the Internet, the grapevine is just too strong, and past consideration of after-the-fact complaints has been abused so often, that there is no practical way to provide such consideration any longer.