Here is a link to my review of GF RPC over Easter.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/2014-2015-grand-floridian-resort-villas-faq.3336950/page-91
This was a split stay and here is my BC review. Full disclosure: what you are about to read is not pleasant, I did not enjoy my stay and have very little positive to say about it.
We visited BC club level water view (or tried to) over Easter week. It had been many many years since our last visit to BC. We did not care for the small lounge previously and did not find it enjoyable mainly for that reason. Never having a table is not pleasant. We decided to revisit after the lounge was expanded.
We arrived around 6-7 pm after a full day in MK. We were very quickly checked in and told our room was not ready. There were quite a few people hanging around in the same boat and they were not happy. Okay, stuff happens, we really were not upset at this point. We were going to just go to Epcot as we had a dinner reservation later, but we almost immediately received a text that our room was ready. Great !!
Not so much, we immediately noticed when we walk in that the room has one bed and is much smaller than other BC rooms that we have had. We were a party of 4. Next we become aware that we are standard view instead of water view. Okay, so I think we will just easily get this worked out.
Not so much, I am told there are simply no more rooms. A gentleman complaining that his room is still not ready yells that I am lucky I have room. The CM is ready to dismiss me and just keeps repeating that there are no rooms. I go back and discuss what we want to do before going back to ask for manager. I am told a manager will contact me.
Not so much. Over an hour later and no manager. I am sorry but I was very unhappy at this point. I sat down at the CM station and politely told them they could get a manager or help me but that I would be staying there until we reached a resolution. I stated that I would prefer ANY room in the hotel that had two beds for my party of 4 whether that was club level or not. They stated again that they had no room. I told them that they could either find me a room, walk me to another resort or refund my deposit and we would stay at the Four Seasons. After another few phone calls a manager finally appeared and the heavens must have opened up because a room was available.
Now I understand that things do happen but the way this was handled was completely unacceptable. I even had a CM tell me that there was no way we could move tonight and we would have to be out by 11am the next and not have room until late that day so didn't I really just want to keep the room I have ? No, I don't and it was not like I was asking to move becase I was unhappy about room location. Her attitude just really represented everything that was wrong. Previously, at check in before the problem I just happened to enquire as to if they had welcome gifts and was very defensively told that no resorts had welcome gifts anymore. Same CM also told me they did not have water bottles because no resorts were allowed to.
In the end we did move. It took over 2 hours to get this resolved, we missed our dinner reservation but luckily they were very nice and able to accept our late arrival. Not once did anyone apologize. They need to redo the reservation system. If they have so many rooms that are different configurations they need to be a bookable category. There is no way that room should garner the same price as a larger room with two beds, etc.
The only positive thing I can say is that the lounge is wonderful, the food was outstanding. Other than evening appetizers it rivals GF RPC. The desserts are much better at BC than GF. Breakfast is almost identical, with maybe a slight edge to BC. Evening and snacks I still give to GF RPC although my children overall liked the food better at BC. We never had problems finding a table.
The alcohol issue did come up because we wanted to take one beer each back to our room to enjoy later. We were told they would do it but really we were not supposed to do that and that the beers were to be opened by the CM's when served. It is obvious that this is a cost cutting measure to try to limit alcohol consumption. I do not in any way believe it is due to guest behavior. Frankly, the are spending a large amount of their budget on the wonderful food and each CL does have a budget to meet. Less alcohol means more money for the varieties of food they are offering. I did think it funny that they were enforcing this rule but never questioning the guests filling their water bottles directly from the carafe. We never used the water or other carafe drinks after this, people put Dasani bottles they were drinking out of around the tap to fill them.
Once we were settled our room was in good condition and housekeeping was fine. In order to get our room cleaned early in the day we had to text and let them know we were out early or they would come very late in the day.
We were never greeted when getting off the elevators or walking by and we noticed it was not just us. The CM's either had no time or no time and no inclination to interact with the guests. There were many unhappy guests and yes we witnessed inappropriate behavior. However, when you have this many guests with issues there is a much deeper problem. I will not return anytime soon to BC CL. After discussing the fact that they have many different room configurations, I don't know that I am anxious to return anywhere in the resort. IMO you should never book a room that states occupany is 5 and receive a room where occupancy is 3. What if someone invited a friend and shows up with 5 ? I mean they booked a room with occupancy of 5. To me they need to make the rooms with different configurations a bookable category and if they want to charge more for the 5 occupancy rooms so be it.
Valet and bell service were wonderful. Bus to MK one early morning was awful we arrived a little before 6am and bus did not show up until 6:40 and everyone who arrived later tried to push ahead to get on a bus that was already full from the other resorts. This was only day we attempted to take the bus. Another Mom told me it was the same way all 3 days she went to 7 am MK. She made sure we got on that bus and I thank her for that. She loudly announced to all the pushers that we had been there for 45 minutes and that the first people there were going to get on the bus.
Sorry, this was long and seems like one big complaint. I really wanted it to be different and not seem that I was a constant complainer. However, I really did not feel like I received what I booked and that was a problem for me. Furthermore, if it had been handled differently and I had been given ANY options I would have felt much better.
The impression we were left with that sticks with us is watching a child spill the grape jelly from the lounge on the door to his room on our arrival day. It coated the door below the handle and below. It was still all over the door when we left 4 days later. While the rooms were clean and everyone did the basic, it seemed like everyone was struggling to see that there were problems and issues that a checklist did not cover.
Edited to add: Seemed harsh after I read it back. Wanted to add that we were in a large group but I honestly don't know if the resort knew we were with a group of 25. I booked the entire trip for everyone and dealt with any problems that arose. We did not ask for adjoining or connecting rooms or anything together. Out of 7 rooms only 2 had issues. One for a party of 3 that received handicap room with no tub (another thing I think most families expect to receive) and the one room for 3 with different view for party of 4. The two problem rooms both were checked in later in the day so heads up for that. Other groups arrived earlier. Both rooms we had problems with were moved to other rooms after I refused to leave until some resolution was reached and both of us were willing to move to another resort or offsite if needed
While I was ultimately satisfied with the resolution and did not expect any compensation other than receiving a room with tub and a room with a second bed. However, it would have been nice had they offered a few FP's since we wasted several hours of our time dealing with this when really it should have been easier.
When we last stayed at Yacht Club CL I don't remember them doing that but my memory may be failing me.
As for the room issue, we had this happen to us at the YC CL a couple of years ago, all they had left was a room with 1 bed for the four of us. I agree there needs to be something done in the computer system to keep this from happening.
