Excessive Room Checks?

[Darklord77]

The most concerning thing I have been reading is employees questioning guests about future plans. Never tell anyone when you will and won't be in your room. It might appear to be a friendly ice-breaking conversation, but I always assume someone is angling on me.

However, I have never experienced excessive room checks (more than 1 per day). It's usually the housekeeper asking if we need anything. I always ask for something so they have to go get it and bring it back. My reasoning is that they might skip me next time.

Lets be honest. Why would anyone use Disney's high priced rooms to do their illegal business? Even the value resorts are approaching $200 per night. You can drive a few miles down the road and do the same business for less than $60 per night. You will get far less attention at the $60 hotels if you are doing stuff like human trafficking. If someone is running a brothel out of a Disney hotel room someone will notice pretty quickly. You'll have a half dozen Karen's calling the front desk in the first hour.

 

[reddog21]

No one can prove its works or doesn’t. The only thing that matters is Disney thinks it works. The policy has been in place for years so if you don’t like it stay somewhere else.

 

[FSU Girl]

I find the room checks so annoying. Always seem to be during nap time and I just don’t get them. We just stayed over at Sapphire Falls at universal and they didn’t do them. Had the do not disturb sign on the door the entire trip and it was great. I really like the Disney hotels better except for this

 

[jeankeri]

Is there a window of time these checks occur? Going back to BLT after 7 years, and this sounds so stressful. The mid-day rest block is absolutely one of those vacation necessities. Because it’s a vacation.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Last month we stayed at the AKL for 8 nights and were never bothered despite the DND sign perpetually on the door. They made several attempts for towels and trash but just left a message.

A year earlier BLT they did the checks daily, usually emptying the trash. No specific time but it was generally midafternoon.

 

[simplymama]

My one complaint about a security check is we were staying at Boardwalk and my son was not feeling well so was hanging in room. We had adjoining rooms, so I was in my room and he was in his watching t.v. An employee came and he opened the door to him and said he needed to come in to check the fire alarm.

He did not know that I was in that adjoining room. I don't see how Disney doesn't want to protect themselves from a male employee entering a room with a minor without asking for an adult. I was not pleased, but I don't think Disney really cares anymore if people are pleased...haha

edited to say I meant connecting rooms, not adjoining.

 

[PinkPixel]

My one complaint about a security check is we were staying at Boardwalk and my son was not feeling well so was hanging in room. We had adjoining rooms, so I was in my room and he was in his watching t.v. An employee came and he opened the door to him and said he needed to come in to check the fire alarm.

He did not know that I was in that adjoining room. I don't see how Disney doesn't want to protect themselves from a male employee entering a room with a minor without asking for an adult. I was not pleased, but I don't think Disney really cares anymore if people are pleased...haha

That does make me uncomfortable and a unique situation, but I will add that to my understanding minors are never in a room by themselves technically/legally to Disney. There has to be an adult listed on the adjoining the room and it’s not considered like a suite due to the additional door access. Also, why Disney does not guarantee adjoining rooms.

 

[simplymama]

That does make me uncomfortable and a unique situation, but I will add that to my understanding minors are never in a room by themselves technically/legally to Disney. There has to be an adult listed on the adjoining the room and it’s not considered like a suite do to the additional door access. Also, why Disney does not guarantee adjoining rooms.

Disney has always guaranteed connecting rooms for family, (although some will say in small print they still don't have to give them to you etc.) but we've never not received them when traveling with my husband and our children and it's been years and years of booking. It has to be done through a reservationist and they put the two rooms on to one reservation.

And yes fair enough that it probably is in small print somewhere that says you can't leave a minor alone in a room. But is that going to excuse them for allowing employees to enter without asking for an adult, if something were to go amiss. He was 12, so not a small child, but still young enough that I was uncomfortable with his decision to not ask if a parent or guardian was there before coming in. The doors between the rooms were actually open but he couldn't see that from the entry door or know I was sitting in there until he was all the way in the room and then he came through to mine and you could see he was a bit caught off guard with me being there. It was just a weird moment and think they should just be honest instead of making up stupid excuses like have to check the fire alarm and all he did was stare up at it...and would be nice if they asked for an adult before barging in.

 

[Miffy]

Is there a window of time these checks occur? Going back to BLT after 7 years, and this sounds so stressful. The mid-day rest block is absolutely one of those vacation necessities. Because it’s a vacation.

It all depends on when housekeeping does your room, which differs at each resort and in each section of each resort. Because if housekeeping goes to your room when you're not there, then there isn't also a room check.

But it's impossible to figure out when housekeeping will be at your room--at least in my experience it is.

We've had many trips where we had zero room checks because we were always out when housekeeping serviced our room.

 

[loves to dive]

First let me say, I enjoy going to WDW, go 2 to 4 times a year and have an out of state AP(the most expensive one) so no Disney hater here. Having said that, I'm not surprised what OP described happened. Often, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing at WDW and they can actually be clapping each other and still not know. It's a large operation with lots of small cogs keeping it going, still no excuse. I was at YC last week and if I had security checks it was while I was out of the room. I was in my room every day around 2 to 5 or so. Mousekeeping did come every day and make up the bed, empty the trash and sort of straighten the bathroom. The only day I was disturbed was the one day I came back to the room earlier than normal and mousekeeping had not been there yet. I put the room occupied sign on the door (which evidently had not been used in years and actually broke as I was hanging it but I was able to dangle it on the handle). They did call me and ask if I needed anything, to which I replied no thank you. A little later they knocked on the door and again asked if I needed anything when I opened the door. The person who knocked on the door was a supervisor so I'm assuming that was the room check. She did not come inside the room and I did not open the door very far.

No matter what level I have stayed at at WDW I have had room checks of some sort, if at a resort that does not have daily cleaning the trash cans have been emptied if I was not in the room. Other times if I was in the room it was a knock on the door and when I answered someone standing outside the room saying they were just checking. So I guess my experiences have been fairly positive.

I did get 3 phone calls from DVC before my trip, none of which I answered because unless you are a relative, I'm letting my phone go to voice mail. I listened to the voice mail on the first call and they said they saw I had an upcoming trip to YC and would like me to visit DVC and get a $100 gift card for watching a presentation. After the first call I put the phone number on my block list. They did mention in the voice mail that they noticed years ago I have shown interest in DVC which was not strictly true. I was on a trip with my son and then DIL and THEY had shown interest in DVC, I was just along with them. They actually bought DVC (which she got in the divorce). I did tell them my name I think, we were all on the reservation for the resort and I booked it under my name. I also told them at the time I had zero interest in buying DVC then or ever. So they had records, just not good ones.

As an aside, while I do stay in Disney resorts a lot, most of the time in the past 10 years they are on a split stay with the first few days at a WDW value or moderate and the rest of the time at Swan/Dolphin. That is not 100% of the time, I have stayed the entire trip in a WDW resort if the price is right or I can't get into Swan/Dolphin.

I don't think I've ever had a room check at Dolphin but they might have happened when I wasn't in the room. I do usually tell them I don't want daily housekeeping but I have noticed they do come in the room about every 2 or 3 days and empty the trash and change out the towels. They will usually leave a bag hanging on the door on the days they don't come with new bottles of water and coffee, etc.

 

[marielynn724]

I stayed at Coronado 2 weeks ago and had a few room checks when I was just returning from the pool, which is annoying as I was gone literally all day but whatever. I can move past that. What bothered me more was that they did a room check while I was in the shower and even despite me saying I was in the shower, they insisted on coming into the bathroom anyway. So I had to quickly throw on clothes despite being soaking wet....just for them to look in the bathroom for about 5 seconds and then they left.

That's a horrifying violation holy crap

 

[corellianskies]

We've only ever had one room check, even though we've been every year since they started them. It was at the Contemporary, while my son, a toddler at the time, was napping. They were very quiet, apologized profusely, did an insanely fast check and were gone. I don't know if its because we don't normally do long stretches (we usually do short trips, typically 3-4 nights), or because we never put the "Room Occupied" sign up, or if its because our usual haunt is a value resort (Pop or AoA), but its just not something we've experienced despite the fact we are always in our room from around 1-4 every day. We are literally never in the parks during the mid-afternoon.

While I don't mind room checks because I understand the necessity these days, I can understand the frustration. Had they ruined my son's nap the one time they did, I might've burned the place down. That was a hard-fought and hard-won time that day, lol.

 

[jeankeri]

So, is the ‘room occupied’ sign a flag to DO a check? Will definitely use my door latch, but maybe not use the door sign

 

[FSU Girl]

First let me say, I enjoy going to WDW, go 2 to 4 times a year and have an out of state AP(the most expensive one) so no Disney hater here. Having said that, I'm not surprised what OP described happened. Often, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing at WDW and they can actually be clapping each other and still not know. It's a large operation with lots of small cogs keeping it going, still no excuse. I was at YC last week and if I had security checks it was while I was out of the room. I was in my room every day around 2 to 5 or so. Mousekeeping did come every day and make up the bed, empty the trash and sort of straighten the bathroom. The only day I was disturbed was the one day I came back to the room earlier than normal and mousekeeping had not been there yet. I put the room occupied sign on the door (which evidently had not been used in years and actually broke as I was hanging it but I was able to dangle it on the handle). They did call me and ask if I needed anything, to which I replied no thank you. A little later they knocked on the door and again asked if I needed anything when I opened the door. The person who knocked on the door was a supervisor so I'm assuming that was the room check. She did not come inside the room and I did not open the door very far.

No matter what level I have stayed at at WDW I have had room checks of some sort, if at a resort that does not have daily cleaning the trash cans have been emptied if I was not in the room. Other times if I was in the room it was a knock on the door and when I answered someone standing outside the room saying they were just checking. So I guess my experiences have been fairly positive.

I did get 3 phone calls from DVC before my trip, none of which I answered because unless you are a relative, I'm letting my phone go to voice mail. I listened to the voice mail on the first call and they said they saw I had an upcoming trip to YC and would like me to visit DVC and get a $100 gift card for watching a presentation. After the first call I put the phone number on my block list. They did mention in the voice mail that they noticed years ago I have shown interest in DVC which was not strictly true. I was on a trip with my son and then DIL and THEY had shown interest in DVC, I was just along with them. They actually bought DVC (which she got in the divorce). I did tell them my name I think, we were all on the reservation for the resort and I booked it under my name. I also told them at the time I had zero interest in buying DVC then or ever. So they had records, just not good ones.

As an aside, while I do stay in Disney resorts a lot, most of the time in the past 10 years they are on a split stay with the first few days at a WDW value or moderate and the rest of the time at Swan/Dolphin. That is not 100% of the time, I have stayed the entire trip in a WDW resort if the price is right or I can't get into Swan/Dolphin.

I don't think I've ever had a room check at Dolphin but they might have happened when I wasn't in the room. I do usually tell them I don't want daily housekeeping but I have noticed they do come in the room about every 2 or 3 days and empty the trash and change out the towels. They will usually leave a bag hanging on the door on the days they don't come with new bottles of water and coffee, etc.

I’m pretty sure only Disney hotels do them.

 

[Skywalker3]

So far, we've not had any issues with these room checks. We are the types who decline housekeeping when we travel. we'd rather not have anyone in the room, but we know Disney does these, and that' ok. They usually come in the mornings, while we are at the parks. If for some reason they don't , or we leave the door tag out, or we are back early, like 11 or 12, they call. THey ask if they can come, I say ok, they come and get the trash, and that's it. No big deal, and very glad to have the trash gone.
Now, I didn't appreciate the time I came out of the bathroom, in my towel, at Boardwalk, and there was a housekeeper there who said she was there to fix the toilet..... I had not called for anything like that. They had the wrong room, but that was distressing. I'd not put the latch on the door, as my DD and her friend were still out, but from that point on, latch went on.
no issues with people coming for trash pickup though

 

[Genie+]

Is there a window of time these checks occur? Going back to BLT after 7 years, and this sounds so stressful. The mid-day rest block is absolutely one of those vacation necessities. Because it’s a vacation.

I used to leave the ‘Room Occupied’ sign outside our door before going to the parks/wherever in the morning because I don’t need housekeeping and would rather nobody enter the room.

I stopped doing that though because it increases the chances a security check will come midday during our room break.

FWIW, most of the time housekeeping is in and out of the room in minutes nowadays. Often just a minute to take garbage.

 

[HopperFan]

That does make me uncomfortable and a unique situation, but I will add that to my understanding minors are never in a room by themselves technically/legally to Disney. There has to be an adult listed on the adjoining the room and it’s not considered like a suite due to the additional door access. Also, why Disney does not guarantee adjoining rooms.

Minors are in the rooms alone all the time. ALL of these sports teams and BTG put 4 kids to a room and there is no adult in the room. LARGE blocks of rooms with only children in them. My HOPE is that coaches/chaperones would instruct the kids to not allow a stranger in to the room. If they insist, everyone leaves the room and locks the door behind them. Make the person unlock the door themselves.

That's a horrifying violation holy crap

BEYOND horrifying. For me that would lead to a police report. When we are in our room we always keep the top latch on.

I used to leave the ‘Room Occupied’ sign outside our door before going to the parks/wherever in the morning because I don’t need housekeeping and would rather nobody enter the room.

I stopped doing that though because it increases the chances a security check will come midday during our room break.

I agree the sign is a flag to have them come and put eyes on you.

 

[Dug720]

I agree the sign is a flag to have them come and put eyes on you.

Especially when you put it on when checking in and leave it up 24/7 until checking out.

 

[Lesverts]

I thought I was going crazy with my last stay. I am a big turn off all the lights when you go out kind of person. I'd leave in the morning, come back around noon. Go into my room. Lights on. Leave again, all lights off. Come back. Lights on. Go out again. No lights on. Come back. Lights on. Someone was in my room 3 to 4 times a day. And to top it all off, in an 11 night stay I had housekeeping 2 times. They came in and never made the bed/changed the sheets/gave new towels/took out the trash.

 

[traveler9]

Not my video but this is a handy tool I use when I travel. It keeps anyone with an override key for the deadbolt from getting in your room. I use it in every hotel I stay in and have used it in Disney resorts before.