First Trip Home-disappointed

[problemchild718]

Hello all, my family and I just returned from our first trip home! We had a great time-great weather, no lines, enjoyed a bigger room. I must say I was very disappointed with OKW. Keeping in mind that we are used to small hotel rooms and staying at less expensive places, I really don't think I am overly critical.
We arrived via ME around 11 am. We didn't expect our room would be avail. and made plans to go to DTD and eat. We returned around 5:30 and our room was ready. No luggage though. (it arrived after 6 pm more than 7 hours after we did! When we arrived, I began to unpack our food. There were dirty dishes in the cupboard-ok not a huge deal. 2 cabinet doors were broken-when I opened them they nearly came off. I then found goldfish crackers in the pull out bed, wrappers on the floor next to the fridge-I let that go too. White stain on carpet in 2nd bedroom.Took a shower and found that the towel bar was broken and lying on the floor and the bathroom outlet didn't work-no blow dryer! Ok-use the one in the other bathroom, pick up the towel. Plug the curling iron in near night table in bedroom-no outlet cover. No vent cover in 2nd bedroom-just sheetrock with a rough opening. Blinds in the 2nd bedroom broken and hanging be one side. (2 windows) I immediately went back to the desk and asked to be moved to another room-no 2BR avail. Nothing avail at another resort, but the room assign. was going to continue to check. No call back. Next morning, I phone the desk, they verified nothing was avail.
I gave up and decided to suck it up and have a great time anyway. OKW will not be high on my list of places to stay again. To their credit, the staff was pleasant, the pool clean and well staffed. Bell services was friendly and accomodating our last day.

 

[susieh]

So sorry to read your post - and very surprised too. We're going back to OLW in June (our home resort) and we've never had a bad room there (although we have had bad hotel rooms elsewhere).

Have you thought about writing to MS and telling them what you have posted on here - they can't fix it unless they know about these things and it sounds like it wasnt recorded as a problem during your stay.

 

[jekjones1558]

WOW! No wonder you were disappointed! We have never had such poor mousekeeping and maintenance at OKW, so hope this was an unfortunate, isolated incident.
I hope that future DVC stays live up to high expectations. But maybe sometime in the future you can give OKW another try. Here's pixie dust for a PERFECT room on your next WDW trip.

 

[yasuern]

Sorryto here that all that was in your unit! THATS TERRIBLE! We have stayed at OKW many many times and the worst thing I found was one draw in the bedroom a little difficult to open and close.


Don't judge OKW by this one experience - its 99.9% of the time perfect!

Did they send someone to fix some of these items? Usually they are right on the ball. Wonder how soo many things could have been so wrong and no one noticed - that is awful!


Hope your next trip home is better


Sue

 

[Deb & Bill]

I was going to ask the same thing. Usually Maintenance orHousekeeping is right there to make repairs and get things fixed. Did you call Maintenance or Housekeeping and let them know about your problems?

We just got back from 8 nights at OKW and it was wonderful. We couldn't find the TV remote for the living room and they brought one right away when we called.

 

[tinkerbee]

I'm very sorry. I have never had that happen at OKW. Everything has always been very clean. Don't count OKW out just yet it usually is a great resort.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Hello all, my family and I just returned from our first trip home! We had a great time-great weather, no lines, enjoyed a bigger room. I must say I was very disappointed with OKW. Keeping in mind that we are used to small hotel rooms and staying at less expensive places, I really don't think I am overly critical.
We arrived via ME around 11 am. We didn't expect our room would be avail. and made plans to go to DTD and eat. We returned around 5:30 and our room was ready. No luggage though. (it arrived after 6 pm more than 7 hours after we did! When we arrived, I began to unpack our food. There were dirty dishes in the cupboard-ok not a huge deal. 2 cabinet doors were broken-when I opened them they nearly came off. I then found goldfish crackers in the pull out bed, wrappers on the floor next to the fridge-I let that go too. White stain on carpet in 2nd bedroom.Took a shower and found that the towel bar was broken and lying on the floor and the bathroom outlet didn't work-no blow dryer! Ok-use the one in the other bathroom, pick up the towel. Plug the curling iron in near night table in bedroom-no outlet cover. No vent cover in 2nd bedroom-just sheetrock with a rough opening. Blinds in the 2nd bedroom broken and hanging be one side. (2 windows) I immediately went back to the desk and asked to be moved to another room-no 2BR avail. Nothing avail at another resort, but the room assign. was going to continue to check. No call back. Next morning, I phone the desk, they verified nothing was avail.
I gave up and decided to suck it up and have a great time anyway. OKW will not be high on my list of places to stay again. To their credit, the staff was pleasant, the pool clean and well staffed. Bell services was friendly and accomodating our last day.

I'm surprised as well. I am amazed by your patience... I would have definately been complaining. If the front desk didn't have it cleaned, fixed etc immediately, I would have just continued asking up the chain. That room was unacceptable. If manager did nothing, I would report his name to guest services in the park as well as call member services. Those conditions were ridiculous.

 

[Connears]

OKW is our home resort and have stayed many times since we purchased in 1994. Most recently 12/25-12/29/05. We have always had great service and friendly CM there. We have had 2 small housekeeping issues(a pot left in sink and late trash/tidy) but they were quickly corrected with much apolgies and we even got free daily housekeeping next trip to compensate(without asking). The 2 bdroom this time was spotless and everything in order. I would hate to have you cross off OKW because I feel it is a great atmosphere. We had very bad attitudes and service at BWV and would only stay there as a last resort. Sorry all the problems fell into your stay. It really is a great resort, but I understand the sour taste you may have.
Connears

 

[Brikate]

Whoa! we would have been really PO'd too! Like you, we probably would have let a few things slide, but no working outlets in the bathroom? Broken fixtures? Other guests remnants? That was totally unacceptable and we would have been on the phone pronto!

But also I must say that we spent 7 nights @ OKW Dec. 4-11 and didn't have one single problem. Our reservation included 3 - two bedroom units as well as a studio so that should have increased our odds of problems - you'd think!

While we own at BWV & BCV, we enjoy staying at OKW and have many times - esp. when we need several units. Hope your next trip is much more magical!

 

[jiggerj]

I am very sorry that you had to have a bad experience at OKW ESPECIALLY your first trip home! Please dont let it bring you down. OKW really is beautiful. The next stay will be better and only better and better then again!

I have yet to stay at my home resort at BWV and I am very excited for it. The excitment on your first visit home is VERY important.

 

[cobbler]

HUGS. To bad to expirence that on your first trip home. I haven't stayed at OKW so I can't comment.

Hopefully you will give it a chance again.

 

[Alexander]

Wow! That really stinks! We love OKW and have never had any problems! It almost sounds like your room was not meant to be rented out. Like it was listed for repairs but since they had no other 2 bedrooms available on property they had to use it.

Please don't let this one bad experience turn you off to OKW. It is a beautiful resort. It is the oldest of the DVC properties, and some of it is in need of repair, so give it a try again, just ask for a renovated room!

Oh--I forgot to mention about the luggage. They won't bring your luggage to your room until you are in your room. If you arrived back at the resort at 5:30, then getting your luggage after 6:00 is really not unreasonable. They don't just drop it off in your room when it's assigned.

 

[MulanMom]

We've been owners at OKW since 1993 and stay there frequently. I do remember one time we went into a 1 bdr that was absolutely awful. Dirty cups in the cupboard, hairs in the bathroom, excrement on the wall near the toilet paper, sticky tops on side tables. With a toddler (maybe two by that time, don't remember!), I ended up cleaning most of the items. Housekeeping sent up a housekeeper to redo the bathroom. Mgmt. was really apologetic and I must say, we have not had a housekeeping issue of that nature again. Around that time, with message boards that I had frequented, I seem to recall others having the same complaint in the same area of the resort. I truly think it was more an issue with an individual housekeeper or two rather than an attitude of the resort.

 

[problemchild718]

Thanks for the feedback! I did report all of the issues within 30 min of our arrival. Initally, they told me it would be $40.00 to change rooms, but then told me they would look for something else at no charge. There was no call back on day one and no one came to fix the problems. After I went back day 2, they sent someone to clean the carpet and fix the outlet, none of the other things were repaired/corrected. I spoke with my guide when we stopped in at SSR about my concerns. Having been to WDW resorts in the past, I am chalking it up to a bad mousekeeping day prior to our check-in. We will give it another try sometime in the future-after we stay at some of the other resorts. We still love WDW.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sorry you has such a bad experience at the home we love. We were there 12/31-1/10, and only one small issue that was imediately fixed after we called housekeeping. I guess if I was you, I would enumerate all those things and send it to the quality control person at DVC. You should have at the very least been offered a recleaning as well as the repairs. Can I ask what building you were in? Some have gotten units that obviously were in need of rehab and perhaps were put into inventory because capacity booking. The resort holds back 4% of the ownership for itself to accommodate those rehab times, but I suspect they sometimes use those units anyway. Our first GV stay was in a unit that was being taken out of service right after our stay for rehab. The resort even apologized before we got to the room. What we found were worn wood floors and tables etc.

 

[Lesley]

The recleaning and repairs should have been taken care of immediately if they could not move you. I did have trouble getting help from housekeeping at OKW once in the past. I used the housekeeping button on the phone and was left on hold for a very long time. All I needed was a couple more glasses!

Its reports like this one that have put me in the habit of thoroughly inspecting a room before I let my family "move in".... I think with conditions like you described I'd have to politely but firmly insist on being assigned another room or give them x amount of time to take care of the issues and show me that the problems are corrected.

Luckily I've only once had trouble....and I sucked it up because my whole family was sick and we just needed beds and quiet. That room was not as bad as what you described (and it was at BWV)...but i did have a cabinet door fall off, the carpet was wet near the kitchenette and the vents were all quite dusty/dirty (didn't help our illness!). That was also our first DVC stay....but our experiences since then have all been good (besides needing our dryer repaired nearly every visit! weird luck, I think ).

 

[problemchild718]

We had room 6312 a first floor room diag. to the main hub/hospitality house. We needed something near the bus and food as I have been out of a leg cast only a couple of months and still have pain when I walk. Furniture looked good and carpet appeared to be fairly new. No problems with the exterior-is it normal that the leave the laundry carts with towels outside near the trash/recycling? With all I have read about paying for extra toewls, I was surprised-every day a cart in the am with clean towels and at night it was full of soiled towels. I have decided to write a letter to them and copy DVC and OKW

 

[byoung]

We have stayed at OKW a few times with no problems only in a studio thought. My sister and her family stayed in a 2 bedrm witch was very nice. Sorry to hear your problem. Do believe the manager should have done more for you. By the way I'm also from Central NJ.

 

[MiaSRN62]

OKW will not be high on my list of places to stay again.

Problemchild,
Sorry your trip to OKW was less than perfect. I, personally, after many stays here (in all unit sizes) have never had any problems----well, a frog in the bathroom once.....but the kids caught it and set him free.
The room you had should never have been released into inventory. I don't know how Mousekeeping could have turned a blind eye to all that you mentioned ? Sounds like it needed some maintenance. But I've been on these boards for many years now, so I hope you can give OKW another chance. I honestly don't think there is one DVC resort that I have not read/heard that people have had trouble with. There's been trouble with dirty rooms, maintenance, unfriendly CM's at just about every DVC resort. Unfortunately, none are perfect. Take care and hope you had a nice vacation regardless. Hope your next vacation is more trouble-free

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Yowza!
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.

Is anyone else wondering about the previous guests?
Either they didn't report these issues, or they tore the place apart.

MG