For those who are tired of increase costs

[eliza61]

As someone that has gone often every year for over 32 years, I also think all of our experiences are now influenced greatly by interaction with less than pleasant guests. Even Disney has noticed it. The map and brochure that you pick up at Disney Springs, actually has a section on how to be nice other guests. Seriously, when did we have to start putting good manners in print.

I think this rubs many frequent guests the wrong way and influences their enjoyment of the trip experience. When you are in a bad mood I really think you notice in greater detail things that have changed or that are not perfect.

I know it is rubbing the Disney staff the wrong way and yes they are not as willing to just take it anymore, and I applaud them for doing so.

It's one of those cyclical issues. I also noticed the less than happy campers but it's a combination. parks that are packed to the giles, frustration stemming from the fact that for many visitors Disney represents a HUGE investment and they feel they are not getting their monies worth and then when there is a problem dissatisfaction getting resolution.

I've been on these boards for how many years now? And Disney IT still has a reputation as sucking and even dis members will advise people to call two or three times because CM's often know nothing. Like i said I had an issue with my fp+ this trip (wrote a thread about it) and got 4 different answers from 4 different cm's. Seriously??

Now my problem too probably stems from being an annual visitor. maybe familiarity does breed contempt. would I have noticed mold in the shower on my first visit? probably not and it does not ruin my trip by any measure BUT it does make you realize how they stack up against the competition.

I totally admit, I notice much greater "small" details now first, I'm an amateur photographer and the world is an awesome place to take shots but you do notice details, second if you go to one resort 17 times, the little things are important (at least to me). if something gives a resort character then it suddenly disappears you notice. if for 10 years you've enjoyed early mornings on the Boardwalk listening to the jazz while you sip coffee and then they stop piping music in, I feel the "lack". Once again, no it doesn't "ruin" my vacation but it brings a nostalgic sadness that your special place is now just like any other place.

 

[imaginiff]

As someone that has gone often every year for over 32 years, I also think all of our experiences are now influenced greatly by interaction with less than pleasant guests. Even Disney has noticed it. The map and brochure that you pick up at Disney Springs, actually has a section on how to be nice to other guests. Seriously, when did we have to start putting good manners in print.

I think this rubs many frequent guests the wrong way and influences their enjoyment of the trip experience. When you are in a bad mood I really think you notice in greater detail things that have changed or that are not perfect.

I know it is rubbing the Disney staff the wrong way and yes they are not as willing to just take it anymore, and I applaud them for doing so.

Totally agree Sammie. Increased prices bum me out, but what has NOT increased in price? A pack of 36 eggs at Sam's Club went up to $10 two months ago, same pack I used to pay less than $5 for. Now that the chicken scare is over, the price has dropped to $6....but still over $1 more than what I paid before the summer.

It is usually rude people at WDW that put me in a bad mood sometimes. Which is why we go to the parks early and leave before lunch to go and chill at our resort. But even then.....parents that ignore repeated warnings from the pool lifeguards....how many times do you need to be told that your kid can't stand on your shoulders in the pool...or their kid can't go down the slide backwards. Or the hot tub is NOT a kiddie swimming pool.

Some people just don't use common sense....I was especially irritated when getting photos taken on Main Street by a Disney photog. People would look at us, look at the photog and just walk right between us anyway. Which means the photog has to readjust and take another couple of pictures and holds up the line. Or people thinking it is funny to photo bomb.

Cast members take a lot of verbal abuse. I was watching some that were doing crowd control before the electrical parade...unbelievable the amount of people arguing and swearing because they were not allowed to stand where the sidewalk needed to be kept open or ignoring the cast members telling them to please clear the street. I guess they have been trained to not engage...I noticed how they just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Or a "higher up" would magically appear when things got a little tense.

 

[gagirldawg95]

For me, I choose Disney vacations (over and over) for the warm nostalgia. I do have difficulty with the concept of "value" at Disney, because it's a different calculus than any other vacation. I've stayed at every level of resort at WDW, most of the hotels at those levels (though mostly Deluxe) and we are now DVC members. I travel a fair amount outside WDW, and I've been fortunate to stay on very nice accommodations. On a dollar-per-night basis, the WDW resorts are definitely overpriced. But we go because we love the location, the theming and the "magic". As other posters have noted, whether that magic is of sufficient value to justify the prices is a completely personal calculation, so rational people can and will disagree. At least for now I'll stay on the side of "worth it."

 

[edk35]

Totally agree Sammie. Increased prices bum me out, but what has NOT increased in price? A pack of 36 eggs at Sam's Club went up to $10 two months ago, same pack I used to pay less than $5 for. Now that the chicken scare is over, the price has dropped to $6....but still over $1 more than what I paid before the summer.

It is usually rude people at WDW that put me in a bad mood sometimes. Which is why we go to the parks early and leave before lunch to go and chill at our resort. But even then.....parents that ignore repeated warnings from the pool lifeguards....how many times do you need to be told that your kid can't stand on your shoulders in the pool...or their kid can't go down the slide backwards. Or the hot tub is NOT a kiddie swimming pool.

Some people just don't use common sense....I was especially irritated when getting photos taken on Main Street by a Disney photog. People would look at us, look at the photog and just walk right between us anyway. Which means the photog has to readjust and take another couple of pictures and holds up the line. Or people thinking it is funny to photo bomb.

Cast members take a lot of verbal abuse. I was watching some that were doing crowd control before the electrical parade...unbelievable the amount of people arguing and swearing because they were not allowed to stand where the sidewalk needed to be kept open or ignoring the cast members telling them to please clear the street. I guess they have been trained to not engage...I noticed how they just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Or a "higher up" would magically appear when things got a little tense.

My daughter has been to Disney over 30 times. She was also was in the CP back in 2012. She always said she wanted to do a professional internship after the CP. Well after her 5 months working in the Emporium at MK she says she prefers to be "a guest" and never did pursue the 2nd part of her DISNEY DREAM. She has seen both sides of the coin. She worked in the busiest store of the parks and encountered some of the rudest people ever. The customer is ALWAYS RIGHT...no matter what. PERIOD!! CP kids and CM's take abuse daily working there. She said she had to SUCK IT UP FOR 5 MONTHS....and be the better person. LOL On the other hand....She also will notice in a heartbeat CM's that are rude, don't want to be working, could care less about the guest. They are out there..... not everyone loves working for Disney. It's a hard company to work for with a lot of rules other companies don't have. Just knowing what I know about "Disney the company" and how they run things as far as her job went......I can understand frustrated workers at Disney. It's not magic and pixie dust all the time like a lot of people think that want to work for Disney. I try and go out of my way to really say THANK YOU to CM's, give an extra smile, show them gratitude for making my trip magical and give a compliment to those that do go out of their way. These hardworking people need some GUEST LOVE too.

 

[eliza61]

. These hardworking people need some GUEST LOVE too.

LOL. My first year in college, I was not a stellar student. Ok, I stunk, I went away for school and it really was one of the first times I had been on my own, what can I say wayyy to much partying.

Anyhoo, that Christmas I came home and got a part time job working at Macy's on 34th street in NYC in the Christmas villa. back in the dark ages you didn't see Santa in the mall, almost every department store had a toy section with their own "Santa".

Well after 3 weeks of abuse by "parents" when I went back to school, I knuckled down. talk about "scared" straight. no threat from my parents could have been as effective. I made up my mind that never, ever would I end up in a customer service job. LOL John q. public can be downright scary!!

I have great respect for the cm's

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

When I read negative commentary directed toward the Disney Parks and resorts from frequent guests, I often wonder how much of that is sound, measured criticism and how much is the result of diminishing marginal utility.

All things being equal, the first, second and third visits to the Magic Kingdom will be far more satisfying than the 50th, 75th and 100th visits. Same is true of restaurant meals, resort hotel stays and every other aspect of the vacation.

Is the food objectively worse than it used to be or are diners simply not as wowed as they were during those initial visits? Has the quality of housekeeping, maintenance and customer service truly declined or are frequent guests simply more attuned to the shortcomings?

During that first visit to the Magic Kingdom, few people are paying attention to the level of garbage in a trash can or if the exterior of POTC appears to have been recently painted. But by the 100th visit, those are some of the criteria by which guests choose to measure the quality of their experience.

Of course, all things are not equal and opinions are also tainted by price. The signature restaurant meal or after hours party ticket which seemed like a tremendous value 10 years ago can easily be labeled a rip-off today. Despite the fact that prices have been rising since the day the gates opened, most people choose to measure value starting with their initial visit.

Deciding that a Walt Disney World visit no longer returns sufficient value is a perfectly reasonable conclusion. We all value our money differently and if WDW isn't the preferred way to spend thousands of dollars on recreation, so be it.

However, passing judgement on the quality of specific experiences typically involves flawed subjective analysis. Is (park/restaurant/resort/cast member) really worse than it was 10 years ago or are we simply seeing it differently than a decade ago?

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Interesting post...I tend to agree with this about lots of things in life, but for real Disney has gone downhill over the last 10 years. It's not subjective for me at least...it's objective. When we bought DVC our Boardwalk units were well-maintained. They weren't new as we bought resale, but they were well-maintained. 2 years ago our Boardwalk unit was so disgusting that they gave us a $300 credit after the manager came up and saw how filthy, moldy, and generally broken the unit was. Parks are much more crowded, you have to jockey to get restaurant reservations at 6 months out, jockey for fastpasses in advance, etc. The experience has changed for the worse, and it's measureable for me at least.

It doesn't help that we frequently trade into Marriott Vacation Club and have seen the incredible level of maintenance and service there that Disney used to have. That alone opened our eyes to the decline that we were witnessing at Disney sadly.

 

[bethifoody]

My complaints about prices and diminished quality are translated into "I'm not buying park tickets." or "I'm dining off property." I vote with my dollar. DVC is a place to land & lay our heads at night. They really don't get too many more of our dollars.

 

[Sammie]

Interesting post...I tend to agree with this about lots of things in life, but for real Disney has gone downhill over the last 10 years. It's not subjective for me at least...it's objective. When we bought DVC our Boardwalk units were well-maintained. They weren't new as we bought resale, but they were well-maintained. 2 years ago our Boardwalk unit was so disgusting that they gave us a $300 credit after the manager came up and saw how filthy, moldy, and generally broken the unit was. Parks are much more crowded, you have to jockey to get restaurant reservations at 6 months out, jockey for fastpasses in advance, etc. The experience has changed for the worse, and it's measureable for me at least.

It doesn't help that we frequently trade into Marriott Vacation Club and have seen the incredible level of maintenance and service there that Disney used to have. That alone opened our eyes to the decline that we were witnessing at Disney sadly.

I think the condition of the units though goes back to what I said about rude guests. I think there is a great increase in the amount of abuse the units get now than say 10 years ago.

I don't think that renters are worse on the units than members but I do think the resorts are staying fuller now due to the rental market which was basically unheard of 10 years ago. Now that rental companies are on Facebook and other social media, renting is very well known.

That does not leave many units not occupied and less time to repair them and clean them properly. DVC could raise dues and hire more help but members would hate that too.

 

[disneynutz]

I think the condition of the units though goes back to what I said about rude guests. I think there is a great increase in the amount of abuse the units get now than say 10 years ago.

I don't think that renters are worse on the units than members but I do think the resorts are staying fuller now due to the rental market which was basically unheard of 10 years ago. Now that rental companies are on Facebook and other social media, renting is very well known.

That does not leave many units not occupied and less time to repair them and clean them properly. DVC could raise dues and hire more help but members would hate that too.

So prior to the increased renting owners just let their points expire?

IMO rental brokers has made it easier for owners to stay home while the increased number of owners has increased DVC occupancy to the max. Owners from resorts other than WDW are booking WDW resorts at 7 months. I don't see WDW owners booking as much at the non-WDW resorts.

Bill

 

[Sammie]

So prior to the increased renting owners just let their points expire?

IMO rental brokers has made it easier for owners to stay home while the increased number of owners has increased DVC occupancy to the max. Owners from resorts other than WDW are booking WDW resorts at 7 months. I don't see WDW owners booking as much at the non-WDW resorts.

Bill

Of course they did. Every year thousands of points expired.

Why would a rental broker make it easier for owners to stay home?

Makes no difference where someone owns at 7 months, they can't book anything then unless some owner isn't.

 

[imaginiff]

I think the condition of the units though goes back to what I said about rude guests. I think there is a great increase in the amount of abuse the units get now than say 10 years ago.

I don't think that renters are worse on the units than members but I do think the resorts are staying fuller now due to the rental market which was basically unheard of 10 years ago. Now that rental companies are on Facebook and other social media, renting is very well known.

That does not leave many units not occupied and less time to repair them and clean them properly. DVC could raise dues and hire more help but members would hate that too.

I think more owners did more banking and borrowing for longer trips, and for an every other year type vacation. So that left more inventory available...and as you said....more time to repair and clean rooms properly. DVCers are a lot more savvy now and the on-line system makes it easier for members to make their plans and manage their points. There are a huge number of SSR owners that never stay there and were lucky enough to snap up SSR at bargain prices on resale. They can't wait for the 7 month mark to get in to a near park resort (and I do realize there are a huge number of SSR owners that love to stay there). So....that leaves little chance for those last minute trips to BWV or VWL that owners at those resorts used to be able to get. As to room conditions....the shame of it is, there seems to be a great number of "throw away" type people...someone else will fix it if they break it, or clean it when they are sloppy on the couch while watching TV. I have been to 6 different resorts/rooms this year and have never experienced a filthy room with broken furniture and dirty dishes. Previous years ... usually 4 different resorts/rooms....again, nothing disgusting.

Yes, DVC could raise dues and hire more help....but that would go over like a lead balloon. Maybe if they would start making non-owners put down a security deposit or something. I wonder how other timeshares handle this?

And put me in the party of people that let points expire...only happened once, my own fault.

 

[DonnaL]

We purchased our DVC in 2001 and have visited at minimum once a year since that time....most years it's twice and a few times has been three or more. We will be there later this month and can't wait to get there. Yes....I do have some complaints, however, not really related to the cost of things....we have always maintained a balance of eating out/eating in during our trips...granted tickets are expensive, but, we plan our trips so we can make the most use of AP's some years and other years we get PH's for 3, 4 or 5 days depending on the trip. My complaints are based on the maintenance, housekeeping and refurbishment of the DVC properties. Over the past 14 years we have definitely seen a decline in all three. I think the "the powers that be" have been focusing just a little too much on continuing to build new and are not putting the effort nor the finances into maintaining what they already have, and on our last several visits housekeeping has left a bit to be desired. Although to be fair about that, I also feel DVC members themselves may have a part in that. When we purchased our DVC we were made very aware that this was "our home away from home" and have always treated the DVC unit we were in as such....taking care of the furnishings just as we would in our own home. I think that is somewhat lacking of many owners these days or many people simply have a disregard for taking care of and respecting furnishings and such, maybe in their own homes also, since we have been in some rooms which have scribbles on the walls and furniture with crayons and pens, gouges in furniture, deep scratches, etc. I also have looked into rooms that are being cleaned while passing by in the hallways and am shocked at the condition some people leave "their home away from home" with bags of trash left, huge stains on carpeting, etc. I imagine it's difficult for housekeeping to clean some of those rooms in the time allotted, and then again, everyone's estimation of what "clean" means is not the same. I feel if most of the new purchasers of DVC took a good look at the existing DVC properties....which is somewhere they may stay in the future.... they may think twice about paying the price ...what is it $160 pp now?...... After all, when they purchase.....they are looking at a pristine model......not something 51 other groups or families have stayed in this year. I have stayed at other timeshare properties which are maintained as well, and some better, than DVC. Granted.....that is not the case with all the timeshares out there, but, there are some beautiful Marriotts and Hiltons out there folks.

Also, as the above posted mentioned....there has been a huge increase in renters also...who have no vested interest in the property they're renting, so many simply don't care how they take care of it. OP might be onto something when you mention a security deposit for renters.....probably wouldn't stop some damages, but, it just might curtail it a bit, especially if it were enforced and the word got out there.....

 

[eliza61]

I think the condition of the units though goes back to what I said about rude guests. I think there is a great increase in the amount of abuse the units get now than say 10 years ago.

I don't think that renters are worse on the units than members but I do think the resorts are staying fuller now due to the rental market which was basically unheard of 10 years ago. Now that rental companies are on Facebook and other social media, renting is very well known.

That does not leave many units not occupied and less time to repair them and clean them properly. DVC could raise dues and hire more help but members would hate that too.

Love you Sammie but I totally vehemently disagree. OK, full disclosure:

My dh and I owned two condos in OC NJ for 17 years and My grandfather and great uncle ran a successful NYC restaurant for 33 years. so darn successful that it put the kids through college and then no one wanted to be in the hospitality industry. LOL. I have bored dinner companions to the point of them wanting to stab themselves with a fork, with my ramblings on property management, believe me I know about the service industry and rude guest.

1) the Responsibility for the condition of the unit is always on the owner. always!! Sorry for shouting but to say the dvc units are crappy because of ill mannered guest and to accept that as a legitimate excuse is beyond insane.

Hotel rooms, apartments condos can and do get taken out of service. Any hotelier with any type of professionalism (except it seems disney) knows how to put their inventory on rotation. I mean doesn't Disney have some type of property management team? Are they winging it. Yes I know they are technically not in the hotel business but jeez, Disney does not have to raise the dues to hire more people, they need to become efficient and start enforcing the rules it already has.

Are you saying a patron could walk into my family restaurant and get dirty dishes and we could use the excuse "oh my bad, the last guest were pigs and I didn't have time to clean them properly"?

Disney, me, Hilton etc etc enter into a legal contractual agreement when we rent out units. Disney has non smoking rules and penalties, I shouldn't find cigarette butts on the balcony floor. If the mousekeepers come in and see them, you know what automatic charge. Rental car companies do it all the time and the fee is a couple of hundred bucks.

Shore town units take unbelievable abuse, sand, wind salt water, you think Disney gets rude guest?? talk to me about the college students that rent shore condo's and leave every thing from live snakes (yes we found one of those in our bathtub) to certain male birth control devices thrown all over the balcony to illegal drugs.
So you rent a week in a condo and fined weed pipes left behind and the legitimate excuse is that the rentals are heavily booked in the summer and can't be cleaned properly??

I cannot believe that you would accept that. Now old and poor maintain are two different things. Old rugs get updated, that only happens every so often, so yes some times you can get a complaint about the decor being outdated. no one expects "brand" new every visit. Worn out rugs are a totally different issue. The large rug in the entrance way in Beach club villas, should never be stained and yucky looking. You buy 14 rugs and have the cleaning guys change when needed.

Lastly, Are our units any more occupied than a Marriott unit in Times Square NY, a timeshare in Vegas? It's a fixed piece of property with a limited known number of rental days. any halfway decent property management program can spit out 50 decent maintenance schedules.

I don't know Sammie, I guess for me, I get baffled. some things could be such easy fixes (and I admit, it's always easier to arm chair quaterback) Why if someone has an issue and makes a call does it go to a "call" center, some where god only knows where? a guest shouldn't have to go downstairs to the front desk to ensure their issues are received. have a check list prior to a guest coming in, one step, check the appliances. then maybe you can stick an "oops" sign on my stove to let me know something was broken?

**sighs*** I totally admit, I'm armchair quaterbacking at it's finest.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

1) the Responsibility for the condition of the unit is always on the owner. always!! .

Doesn't WDW own/rent a certain amount of points as well, as cash stays?

 

[Sammie]

Increased occupation, be it members or renters or cash guests makes no difference to me, increases wear and tear. And yes I think DVC runs at a higher rate of occupancy than some.

Maybe it is the product not lasting as long also. I know that was a major issue at BLT and that was something Jim Lewis signed off on.

If you have a resort that is booked to capacity say BCV and the guest before you has trashed the place, what does DVC do? The next guest is not going to be happy with being moved.

Members complain constantly about getting rooms after 4 pm, heck they complain on here about getting rooms after 2 pm. They complain if carpets are damp from them being cleaned between guests. It is the reason they are putting less carpet in the new units in the living and dining areas.

I agree completely that whoever occupied that room should be held accountable but Disney is probably never going to do that.

As to other timeshares obviously you have stayed in units there that are not in bad shape, but I am sure other people have shared bad reviews about the same places. We have never gotten a dirty room at Disney, ever. Is there wear and tear, yes.

Personally I would be all for no one checks in until 4 pm but we know how well that would go over.

Basically Disney guests want things fixed and kept in great shape but are angry when those things are taking out of service. They want rooms very clean but want to get that room as soon as they arrive. They want carpets without stains but don't want them damp when they get the room.

 

[Brian Noble]

My complaints about prices and diminished quality are translated into "I'm not buying park tickets." or "I'm dining off property." I vote with my dollar. DVC is a place to land & lay our heads at night. They really don't get too many more of our dollars.

Every year, Disney gets some new repeat guests, and loses some old ones. However, as this quarter's results yet again confirm, there are more than enough people coming to replace those who have decided to stop going, and those people are spending more per visit as well. From the earnings release:

Growth at our domestic operations was driven by increased guest spending and attendance at our theme parks, partially offset by higher costs. Guest spending growth was primarily due to higher average hotel room rates and ticket prices for sailings at our cruise line as well as theme park admissions and increased merchandise, food and beverage spending.
​

So, as I wrote above: Disney is in the business of selling happiness, but doesn't particularly care if I am personally happy, so long as overall more people are spending more money on Disney's brand of happiness. And, so far, they are.

So prior to the increased renting owners just let their points expire?

In a way, yes. During the recession, and well into the recovery, travel demand was significantly lower, and that surely impacted some Members as well. Some sold into a market with few buyers, leading to the collapse in prices and suspension in ROFR we saw during that period. Some defaulted and had their contracts foreclosed. Some deposited into RCI in hopes their circumstances would improve later before those points expired. And, some simply let their points expire unused.

That still happens of course, but at lower levels than it did. Disney is allowed to pull units that they don't already own/don't need to monetize for DCL/ABD/DC out of inventory at 60 days and rent them as "breakage"---essentially, unused points. The first revenues returned from that go back to the resort budget to defray Dues for members, but that income is capped and Disney keeps the rest. Every time I've checked, each resort gets the maximum possible of breakage revenue, so at least that many points go unused.

But, as travel demand has recovered, all of those other things dried up. Fewer contracts are available for sale (and more buyers are chasing them). I haven't seen the foreclosure numbers from wdrl recently, but I assume they've gone down. There is absolutely less inventory going to RCI these days. Finally, the units are booked earlier than they ever have been. Some of that might be Aulani points chasing WDW inventory, but some of it is also just simply due to the recovery. We see the same tightening of bookable inventory in other timeshare systems as well.

 

[tjkraz]

When we bought DVC our Boardwalk units were well-maintained. They weren't new as we bought resale, but they were well-maintained. 2 years ago our Boardwalk unit was so disgusting that they gave us a $300 credit after the manager came up and saw how filthy, moldy, and generally broken the unit was.

Perhaps there's more to this story than is detailed here. But taken at face value, the one bad unit strikes me as nothing more than an outlier. 10 years of ownership with a single (recent) bad experience doesn't make that the "new norm."

We've been owners for 12 years now. Our worst experience was an OKW room around 2008-2009; musty smell, dirty carpet, toaster and dishwasher that had to be replaced. But that was clearly the outlier among our experiences. In the years before and after we've had rooms which are equally well-maintained and properly cleaned.

Are you saying a patron could walk into my family restaurant and get dirty dishes and we could use the excuse "oh my bad, the last guest were pigs and I didn't have time to clean them properly"?

The timeshare equivalent to your analogy would be telling a guest "we're sorry the last guests were pigs, thus you probably won't get into your room until after 9pm while we do extra cleaning and wait for the carpet to dry."

According to a 2012 survey by the ARDA (timeshare trade group), average occupancy industry-wide was less than 77%. We KNOW that DVC resorts run much higher than that. Disney holds-back 2% of points for maintenance purposes. At most resorts, owners are booking that other 98% virtually year-round--either for their own use or rental purposes. There simply are not widespread vacancies at BLT, BCV, BWV, VGF, VWL, VGC, etc.

The 2% maintenance allocation gives Disney the ability to take every room out of service for one week per year. I suspect--though I don't know for certain--that most of it is planned maintenance. At a minimum, walls need to be painted and carpets steam cleaned a couple times per year. That is undoubtedly scheduled so that every room receives equal attention.

Once you subtract the planned maintenance, that leaves precious little excess capacity to address unplanned items. And some unplanned items are much more important than others--plumbing leaks, defective appliances, electrical, HVAC and other mechanical issues are a higher priority than painting over crayon marks on the wall left by an unsupervised child.

Still, having an extra room or two vacant is only useful if it is a close match for a room that needs extra attention. If the excess unit happens to be a Standard View One Bedroom, it won't be of much use if issues arise with a BoardWalk View Two Bedroom or a Grand Villa.

Generally speaking, every room that's vacated at 11am must be prepped for an incoming guest by 4pm the same day. A daunting challenge to say the least.

Could Disney improve their procedures in certain ways? Yes, I'm sure they could. But I also think it's unfair to compare the likes of Bay Lake Tower to a 200-room Marriott Lake Tahoe which may average 50 vacancies per night.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Could Disney improve their procedures in certain ways? Yes, I'm sure they could. But I also think it's unfair to compare the likes of Bay Lake Tower to a 200-room Marriott Lake Tahoe which may average 50 vacancies per night.

It might be argued that DVC/Disney actually has it easier than your example of a Marriott Lake Tahoe. Disney has done a very good job at increasing demand at prevously slow times and if they are close to 100% occupancy year round that means they can train and have consistent staff for that. Other locations have to deal with far greater variability and will bring on inexperienced staff for busy times. And I don't think that automatically translates into keeping them on for maintenance at slow times.

Either way, there are difficulties to deal with but I think much has to do with the direction that any of them want to go with maintenance more so than the suggested occupancy. As was mentioned - they are supposed to maintain 2% of inventory in order to deal with maintenance. And as I've found there are usually rooms available for cash reservations too, so no, they are not 100% filled many times of the year. What I'm not certain of is that all the resort managers are dedicated to maintaining rooms at high levels. I know that I certainly have my gut feeling of which resorts do place more emphasis on it and which ones place less.

 

[tjkraz]

It might be argued that DVC/Disney actually has it easier than your example of a Marriott Lake Tahoe. Disney has done a very good job at increasing demand at prevously slow times and if they are close to 100% occupancy year round that means they can train and have consistent staff for that. Other locations have to deal with far greater variability and will bring on inexperienced staff for busy times. And I don't think that automatically translates into keeping them on for maintenance at slow times.

I'm not sure Disney's maintenance staff would agree that they have it easier.

Again, they have a 5-hour window from 11am to 4pm to turn over dozens or hundreds of rooms, depending on size of resort and number of check-ins.

Hotels and timeshares with seasonal peaks have historical trends on which to base their staffing. And with reservations being made weeks & months ahead of time, they know what is coming. Peaks in occupancy can be accounted for by scheduling more staff members on days with high check-outs and offering overtime if necessary.

Either way, there are difficulties to deal with but I think much has to do with the direction that any of them want to go with maintenance more so than the suggested occupancy. As was mentioned - they are supposed to maintain 2% of inventory in order to deal with maintenance. And as I've found there are usually rooms available for cash reservations too, so no, they are not 100% filled many times of the year.

The 2% figure does not translate into much. Beach Club has around 200 rooms. 2% of that equates to 4 vacant rooms. Of those 4, I suspect some (on average) are scheduled for planned maintenance--paining, carpet cleaning, etc. If the remaining "spare" room is a Studio or One Bedroom, it's of no use if a Two Bedroom villa is discovered to need some extra attention.

As for the cash rooms, they do seem to book-up much later than DVC villas. But many times they ARE still being filled with guests. A quick look at Disney's reservation site showed almost nothing available in a DVC villa for next week. I think AKV had something available but there was nothing at VGF, BLT, BCV, BWV or OKW.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Perhaps there's more to this story than is detailed here. But taken at face value, the one bad unit strikes me as nothing more than an outlier. 10 years of ownership with a single (recent) bad experience doesn't make that the "new norm."

We've been owners for 12 years now. Our worst experience was an OKW room around 2008-2009; musty smell, dirty carpet, toaster and dishwasher that had to be replaced. But that was clearly the outlier among our experiences. In the years before and after we've had rooms which are equally well-maintained and properly cleaned.

There isn't really more to the story. The room was dirty and also moldy and broken. We went to the desk and had someone come look at the room. They sent the manager. We were given a $300 room credit. We also took pics and sent them to dvcmember satisfaction or whatever it's called and they called us back really quickly. The lady I talked to thanked me for sending pics as she said that they were getting a lot of complaints about BWV at that time and pics helped them strengthen the case for a renovation. I asked her which resorts generated the most frequent complaints about condition at that point, and she said BWV by a landslide, followed by BLT. That surprised me as BLT isn't that old. I would have guessed BCV.

Also, I wouldn't say outlier. We had had other BWV rooms that were very worn with yucky bathrooms. This one was borderline uninhabitable though.