Does anyone report when things in their villas are in disrepair or need cleaning?

[MELSMICE]

We are OKW owners. During our last 3 trips here we have had issues with the room, including broken cupboards & uncleanliness in the room.

Our last trip was the worst with the dishwasher being broken, cupboard doors & drawers not closing properly, finding child's underwear in the sofa bed, pretzel bags & crayons under the coach, among many other things. After days of trying to gets these items rectified, which cut in to our vacation time, everything was done & we were compensated for our time & the fact that we drew attention to these matters.

DH had lengthy conversations with managers while we were there & when we returned home. He commented that there should be a checklist for housekeeping that is used when each room is turned over & one for engineering that is checked at last quarterly, but should be checked monthly.

Fast forward to this trip (we are currently here). We arrive in our 1BR & find that we have not been provided with enough soap for the bath area. We also have no sponge for the kitchen. No biggies, I call housekeeping & they take care of it. Go to take a shower & there is mold everywhere & it needs to be recaulked. (sp?)

DH immediately calls housekeeping who says they'll take care of it. This was Wednesday. He called again on Thursday & they say they'll take care of it. He calls again on Friday & tells them that the next call is not back to housekeeping, it is to the resort manager. Ten minutes later a team of 3 arrive to take care of the problem. They inform us that they can't do it while we are there & they'll wait until we check out. That doesn't fly with DH (or myself for that matter). We are told that we can move. We were on our way to dinner - we are not moving right now.

To try to shorten this story, we spoke with the housekeeping manager & also the OKW manager on duty numerous times while at dinner. We agreed to move to a newly painted & cleaned 2BR unit, but what an inconvenience - we had plans with friends that we had to cancel.

Things are clean in this room, however, every time we flush the toilet in the master bath water literally squirts out & gives your legs a nice bath unless you dodge the stream by being off to the side of the toilet when flushing! Cupboard doors still do not close correctly.

I realize these are minor things, especially the cupboard, but it would be a minor fix also. One of the cupboards has a loose hinge - a screwdriver is all that's needed. I definitely don't want to bathe my legs in toilet water each time I flush! GROSS, GROSS, GROSS!!!

I hate to complain, but we all pay dues to have these things done right. I am not one to complain about dues going up. I would rather they charge a little more & have the things taken care of & for me, as an owner, not have to deal with this when I'm on vacation.

BTW - we stayed at BWV in October & there were things in that room that were in disrepair also - including a missing shower door handle. Why wouldn't someone report this when it happened?

Do other owners report when things break or when you arrive in your room & it's not up the standards it should be?

My vent is over! I'm going to the pool now to try & enjoy my day (& I'm using the toilet in the 2nd bedroom before going!!!)

 

[jekjones1558]

We also report problems immediately so that the next guest will have a nice room. I think guests do not want to deal with issues during vacation, which I understand, but we need to make sure that standards are met. I have commented many times about the fact that mousekeepers apparently are not expected to report issues to maintenance and there is obviously no one from maintenance doing periodic inspections.
We have had issues at every resort at one time or another, but we feel that OKW service has deteriorated a lot since the SSR and OKW mousekeeping/maintenance staffs were merged. Let's hope that the upcoming OKW rehab will improve issues at OKW.

 

[princessfionasmom]

I am glad you are reporting these items. We have not had many DVC stays yet and have been very lucky to have rooms with no problems but I assure you I will definitely be reporting any if I see them. DVC is not cheap and we pay dues every year so we should not let things like this slide. The more people that complain the more pressure that will be kept on them to keep the resorts clean and up to par. I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation and I would definitely mention the showering toilet (YUCK!) when you check out if not before then. Thank you for speaking up. Because of your actions, the next people in those rooms will not have the same problems.

 

[cseca]

I guess I always try to make do if we see little problems that we can fix ourselves. I think on our trip 3 years ago I saw a door knob missing in our laundry cabinet (yeah, who could miss that right?). If we could open it somehow without the knob I probably would've waited until check out to notify them. But since we couldn't open it without pinching our fingers I called and ask them to please find me a door knob so we could do laundry.

I think it took 2 days before someone came to fix it.

A missing door knob.... who in the world could've missed that? Unless the mousekeeping were real mice and just snuck under the doors or something...

But other than that we have been pretty blessed that our other experiences with the rooms were pretty good.

 

[spiceycat]

probably harder on DVC than most places. and will definitely call to get anything and everything fixed.

the housekeepers don't have the time or energy to report anything. So never expect them to it. they have a certain number of villas they MUST clean in a certain amount of time - that is all they can do.

expect more mold problems with their new air conditioner system. I still can't believe that Disney of all the places in FLORIDA is expecting to save money with the new air conditioner system.

they will have more and more mold problems unless they put a dehumifier to replace the air conditioning when people leave to go to the parks or check out. since they won't - expect more mold.

or at least have windows to open (of course most guests won't open the window - when they leave to go to the parks)

mold is a very, very serious problem in florida - and Disney needs to rethink it's air conditioning system.

but they won't because it saves money NOW - and since DVC belongs to us (members) - they probably don't care that we will spending more money on the mold problem - that their air conditioning system is the main cause.

kept mold from happening is very, very hard in Florida - especially when the system stops the air conditioner.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Owners have a vested interest and I think tend to report these types of things. Renters or non owners do not, and I think would be more inclined to not report.

As it is, Housekeeping has a hard time (with their given staff) to just get the villas cleaned in time for 4 pm check in. If another checklist were added for maintenance issues, I suspect we would be checking in even much later, perhaps 5 or 6 pm.

I know we budget for Maintenance, but to have staff go through more often would probably cost us more in dues. I try to think of it like a primary home - everything is not perfect, and there is always maintenance needing to be done. If it were as bad as the OP described in my unit, I probably would call right after checking in and ask to be placed in another villa.

JMHO.

 

[Brave teacher]

We report anything that needs attention. The biggest problem we have had in our 2 DVC visits were burned out lightbulbs when we stayed at Kidani last May. I checked the room once we walked and noticed the light on top of the tub did not work. Notified mousekeeping, went to Mara for lunch, and had someone at our daoor when we returned to change it for us. There must have been something wrong with the wiring because it kept going out throughout the trip. I definitely notified mousekeeping about the continuation of the problem. However, no one else came to check on it before we left.

 

[Donna M]

Our stove was unbalanced and rocked quite a bit at BLT. My husband fixed it in less than a minute but I wonder if it was like that since opening.

 

[eliza61]

I always report repairs. Luckily I haven't had many problems that required me to move. I had a stove that had broken burners and immediately reported it. It was fixed a couple of days afterwards. I also had a couple of burnt out light bulbs on the balcony at AKV's that were fixed immediately.

I always report problems.

 

[mickeymom629]

We stayed at a 2 bedroom at BWV once and the washer or dryer (can't remember anymore) sounded like it was shaking the entire place and it was very noisy!! I called maintenance and they replaced it while we were at the parks later that day!

Definitely report problems immediately.

 

[kendzee94]

On our last trip to Kidani, our outlet on the island that you plug the toaster in needed to be replaced. Maintenence was there very quickly and relaced shortly thereafter. Two years ago, we had to call mousekeeping when we still had dirty towels in our bathroom upon check in. We've never had a really bad experience like he OP though.

 

[castleri]

We have reported several problems and have always had very fast response. We always make it a point to call maintenance or mousekeeping directly not the front desk ( which really isn't the front desk) and it seems to work as we have never had an issue take more than a few hours to repair. I wish there was a card provided in the room to leave for maintenance when you check out if there are issues that need to be addressed that maybe you didn't want to address while you were there such as loose grout . They could put a box somewhere to drop them in so they wouldn't be thrown out by the housekeepers if they were left in the room. I still think reporting issues while there is the best way to keep things repaired and in good working order. Each person that doesn't report a problem just adds to the problem in the long run.

 

[Sammie]

We report them too but lately as you noted, there is more and more to report. It truly is getting out of hand.

Lately since there is an obvious problem at DVC with maintenance and housekeeping before we even unpack we give the room an inspection. As a member on vacation we should not have to do this for them but as noted its a hassle to move after you settle in.

If we find major problems we move before we settle, small things I will let them take care of while I am the parks.

 

[MELSMICE]

We report them too but lately as you noted, there is more and more to report. It truly is getting out of hand.

Lately since there is an obvious problem at DVC with maintenance and housekeeping before we even unpack we give the room an inspection. As a member on vacation we should not have to do this for them but as noted its a hassle to move after you settle in.

If we find major problems we move before we settle, small things I will let them take care of while I am the parks.

That is a good idea & something we will definitely be doing from now on.

After speaking with the front desk manager again, the issues with the new room were taken care of this evening - even the spitting toilet!!!!!

 

[nunzia]

probably harder on DVC than most places. and will definitely call to get anything and everything fixed.

the housekeepers don't have the time or energy to report anything. So never expect them to it. they have a certain number of villas they MUST clean in a certain amount of time - that is all they can do.

expect more mold problems with their new air conditioner system. I still can't believe that Disney of all the places in FLORIDA is expecting to save money with the new air conditioner system.

they will have more and more mold problems unless they put a dehumifier to replace the air conditioning when people leave to go to the parks or check out. since they won't - expect more mold.

or at least have windows to open (of course most guests won't open the window - when they leave to go to the parks)

mold is a very, very serious problem in florida - and Disney needs to rethink it's air conditioning system.

but they won't because it saves money NOW - and since DVC belongs to us (members) - they probably don't care that we will spending more money on the mold problem - that their air conditioning system is the main cause.

kept mold from happening is very, very hard in Florida - especially when the system stops the air conditioner.

OT, but what is the new air conditioning system compared with the old?

 

[KandiB47]

I wish there was a card provided in the room to leave for maintenance when you check out if there are issues that need to be addressed that maybe you didn't want to address while you were there such as loose grout . They could put a box somewhere to drop them in so they wouldn't be thrown out by the housekeepers if they were left in the room.

I was thinking that too I always have something that needs to be fixed during my stay. Sometimes it's just a small item that could be fixed later.

 

[JWG]

OT, but what is the new air conditioning system compared with the old?

They have motion sensors, if they're talking about what I'm thinking of, that turn the system off if no one is in the room. Which makes overnights tough unless you sleep wailing your arms around.

I thought there was an override for this though?

 

[Debi]

I also report things when I notice them. DVC or not, it's just the responsible thing to do. I know I'd appreciate the courtesy if the previous room occupant reported an issue, so I do the same thing. Besides, a portion of our dues goes to room maintenece, so if we're paying for it, we should have the problem fixed when noticed.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I wish there was some form you were asked to fill out when you checked out to note if everything was OK. Mousekeeping doesn't always know the knob is missing on a certain cabinet, and it's very common to "make do", rather than possibly change your plans so it can be fixed. Last time I had very dusty chairs, wicker chairs with dust so thick between the slats. I would have loved a form to fill out.

 

[MELSMICE]

I wish there was some form you were asked to fill out when you checked out to note if everything was OK. Mousekeeping doesn't always know the knob is missing on a certain cabinet, and it's very common to "make do", rather than possibly change your plans so it can be fixed. Last time I had very dusty chairs, wicker chairs with dust so thick between the slats. I would have loved a form to fill out.

I know we've mentioned this numerous times to both mousekeeping, management & engineering & I'm sure we're not alone.

When we spoke with the OKW manager on duty at one point he said, "Please write a letter voicing your concerns." Our thoughts are that they know they are short handed in their staff & that things are not being taken care of that should be & that by writing letters to upper management maybe they will see that something needs to change.