Found Cast Member in my hotel room

[LovesTimone]

Since the Vegas shooting, all hotels everywhere are doing this... This is a matter of safety for everyone. No-one likes the thought of someone going in their room. I am okay with it, if it could prevent another lunatic from doing the same thing.

We were in a hotel room in NYC and we had a knock on the door, and the gentleman said sorry to bother you, he was a security guard that we had said hello to, so we were familiar with him... we are doing our daily checks, is it okay to go ahead or we could come back later... DH was like feel free, he looked in the closet, under the bed, glanced around the bathroom and was on his way... Sure it's intrusive... but I would prefer to be put out a couple of minutes, than the alternative...

 

[BrotherCraig]

I have zero issue with it. It's a hotel room... it's not my house. Not my property. Ever since Vegas, things has changed. I had a couple of close friends at that concert in Vegas that had their lives changed forever. It's all in the name of safety on private property. Disney is a high target area and always under threat. I have zero to hide and I have nothing worth stealing really when I travel. I understand that others feel differently and I can respect that as well.

 

[lukemorenus]

Fine by me - but the CMs might be traumatized by what they see ;-)

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Yes this is a newer policy in response to the Vegas shooting. It does not matter if you are staying on the resort side or dvc, a cast member will enter once a day. It is a safety measure.

 

[lanejudy]

I was more commenting on the fact that wouldn't inspect it until we stepped out. We gave them every opportunity to insect it with us in there.

That was due to COVID protocols. CMs doing room-checks and limited housekeeping were given latitude to refuse to enter an occupied room and ask the occupants to step into the hall. I'm surprised the CM didn't just ask you first instead of repeatedly returning.

 

[MomOTwins]

I’ve had them come knocking while I’m in room and insisting they need to check to make sure everything is working and then come in and start switching light switches on and off...this was before COVID.

Most likely a neighboring room or one above or below you was having electrical difficulties and they were trying to determine the area that was affected. I remember one time we had water coming through our ceiling at the Poly and the maintenance guy said they went and checked the room above us and confirmed that wasn't the source of the problem.

To OP's original topic, I have seen a lot of people post their surprise at this room inspection policy. Every single one of those people reported putting the "Room Occupied/Do Not Disturb" sign up. Remember, the Vegas shooter avoided houskeeping seeing his weapons cache by using such a sign. I think as counterintuitive as it is, if you don't want to be disturbed don't use the sign. I think when houskeeping goes by they take note of the rooms they cannot enter due to that sign, and that triggers a room inspection by the security officer.

 

[xiphoid76]

This is something I hate! They don’t do it in Vegas anymore - stopped 2 years ago. The only place I know they still do it is at Disney. I have called numerous times to schedule it and they still invariably come during the time we take the kids for a nap. It drives us crazy. We have resorted to leaving post its on the door saying please don’t knock, taking a nap. They will then call and wake us up. So we have unplugged the phone now too. Scheduling the room check is hit and miss.
it is safety theater and needs to stop. You pay 500 dollars a night the one thing you can hope for is peace and quiet and not being disturbed by staff.
The unplugging of the phone and post its seems to work the best.

 

[RoseBen009]

Wow, I had no idea this goes on! I have no problem with it though, I'm glad they are being proactive.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Perhaps Disney could introduce some kind of TSA Pre type of system. I would be happy to email them copies of my wife and kids’ passports or birth certificates to prove in advance of our trip that I was taking them there on vacation, as opposed to being a kidnapper engaged in human trafficking, if it allowed me to avoid intrusive security door-knocks.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Not sure I understand how on earth Human Trafficing could happen at Disney....I known there was an incident last year of a guest bring a duffel bag with weapons which was discovered by bell devices at Poly. Guest claimed he needed to be able to “protect his family”

 

[dmband]

They just glance around to make sure you don’t have a cache of weapons.

They don’t go through your items. They just look around.

They replaced the “Do Not Disturb” signs with “Room Occupied” signs as well. If your room occupied sign is on, they may wait a bit longer to enter after they knock.

Wouldn't calling to "schedule" the room check kind of defeat the purpose of a room check for human trafficking and weapons caches? I can understand why you met with varying degrees of success doing so.

top notch security at its finest!
Typical we give you a warm fuzzy feeing that only actually beneficial IF the person committing a “crime” is stupid.

as far as scheduling goes, it would be nice if you could tell the. You will be sleeping for an hr without getting woke up

 

[Sarahslay]

So let me start by saying I visit Disney very often. Usually for weekend stays on a monthly basis (2-3nights at a time). Well I’m here now in a suite at the Art of Animation and I have the “room occupied” sign on door. Well.... I left and came back about an hour later to walk into my room and there’s a cast member inside! He says “ I’m inspecting” and walks out. I went to front desk to ask and was told they walk into every room EVERY DAY even if the sign is on the door.
Did everyone know this? I have never been told this at any of my hundreds of times stating at Disney property. I know all hotels reserve the right to enter your room at any point BUT according to the ARt of Anination front desk they actually enter all rooms every single day!
I’m annoyed by this. Never knew this happened every day on all Disney property. I think it’s Ridiculous that they need to enter my room on a short vacation stay to inspect!

Yeah, and they usually empty the trash. This has been widely known for a while, I've known about this since 2018. Had someone come while I was in the room last Sunday as a matter of fact, we were in a 2 bedroom villa at OKW. Had only been there for less than 24 hours so hadn't actually accumulated much trash at all, but he still went around and checked all the cans, and looked around the room while he picked them up. The rest of my family was at the pool and I was reading a book, he finished and went on his way. This happens every trip, usually it's just me coming back to empty trash cans.

 

[Sarahslay]

Perhaps Disney could introduce some kind of TSA Pre type of system. I would be happy to email them copies of my wife and kids’ passports or birth certificates to prove in advance of our trip that I was taking them there on vacation, as opposed to being a kidnapper engaged in human trafficking, if it allowed me to avoid intrusive security door-knocks.

They know how many people are in the room, you do have to put that down when you book after all (who is in my room is in MDE anyway). You'd be surprised what people get up to, they just check everyone to be on the safe side. It's not like it's insanely intrusive, it's no different than having house keeping (and usually it's a member of the housekeeping staff that does it). It takes like a minute, and that's it, if that's too intrusive for you then I don't know what to tell you, it's not like they're giving you a cavity search.

 

[MomOTwins]

Not sure I understand how on earth Human Trafficing could happen at Disney....I known there was an incident last year of a guest bring a duffel bag with weapons which was discovered by bell devices at Poly. Guest claimed he needed to be able to “protect his family”

It is very sadly a very real problem in hotels in the Orlando area.

 

[The WDW 3]

I was more commenting on the fact that wouldn't inspect it until we stepped out. We gave them every opportunity to insect it with us in there.

Oh, do you think that he was watching you and specifically waited for you to step out before he went in?

 

[Lilsia]

Oh, do you think that he was watching you and specifically waited for you to step out before he went in?

I think they were saying that he came to the door and would not come in to inspect the room until they stepped out into the hallway. Which I find strange and alarming. I have had several room checks with me staying in the room. I usually stand there holding the door open. What was this guy going to do that he did not want them to see?

 

[dez1978]

Not sure I understand how on earth Human Trafficing could happen at Disney....I known there was an incident last year of a guest bring a duffel bag with weapons which was discovered by bell devices at Poly. Guest claimed he needed to be able to “protect his family”

It can happen anywhere. Not sure why you'd thing Disney would be immune to it.

 

[fla4fun]

I think they were saying that he came to the door and would not come in to inspect the room until they stepped out into the hallway. Which I find strange and alarming. I have had several room checks with me staying in the room. I usually stand there holding the door open. What was this guy going to do that he did not want them to see?

I have never been asked to step out of my room, but usually I am in a value or moderate resort with the curtains open on the window (I also usually stand by the door holding it open). I wonder If there are some situations, such as a man checking a room of a solo female, or a female checking the room of a solo male, where the CM has the authority to ask the guest to step outside as a safety precaution for both the guest and the CM? By being in a room that anyone can see into during the inspection, there is less chance of something unpleasant happening than there would be in a room where there are interior corridors. I would not be surprised if there have been people trying to exploit the situation to gain discounted or comped room nights by making accusations against CMs.

 

[snappy]

I think they were saying that he came to the door and would not come in to inspect the room until they stepped out into the hallway. Which I find strange and alarming. I have had several room checks with me staying in the room. I usually stand there holding the door open. What was this guy going to do that he did not want them to see?

As another posted above, maybe it’s Covid 19 restrictions if the CM doing the inspection doesn’t want to be in the room while the guests are inside. However, now that Disney restrictions are being lifted, asking a guest to step out during an inspection will end?

 

[dez1978]

I have never been asked to step out of my room, but usually I am in a value or moderate resort with the curtains open on the window (I also usually stand by the door holding it open). I wonder If there are some situations, such as a man checking a room of a solo female, or a female checking the room of a solo male, where the CM has the authority to ask the guest to step outside as a safety precaution for both the guest and the CM? By being in a room that anyone can see into during the inspection, there is less chance of something unpleasant happening than there would be in a room where there are interior corridors. I would not be surprised if there have been people trying to exploit the situation to gain discounted or comped room nights by making accusations against CMs.

Maybe it's a safety thing for the CM. I mean, if you are about to get caught in a criminal act by a CM are you going to let them leave the room after they've witnessed your guns, dugs, or whatever illegal activity you are involved in? No. If I were a CM doing these checks, I'd refuse to enter a room occupied by guests alone too. I'd either wait until they were gone, or use the buddy system where someone else is outside watching me to ensure both my physical safety and as mentioned here, that I could not be accused of doing something I hadn't done.