Grand California Villa Check-in Room Availability

[rsimon]

We are staying here now and I wanted to share my thoughts on the checkin and availability of villas at the time of checkin.

We arrived at 11:00am and checked in, didn't expect the room to be ready as it sometimes is for the FL resorts, so we checked our bags with the bell services and went out to eat and look around.

At 3:00 we came back and asked if the room was ready yet and we were told, almost and it will be another 15 min. Okay, no big deal, we will wait in the lobby.

After an hour of waiting it is now 4:00 the time when the rooms should be available. I go up and ask again if it is available. The lady comes back and say's, it will be 15 minutes. I of course told her that is what they told me an hour ago and she then informs me that the rooms can be available anyime after 4:00 and it may be 5:00 or later.

After hearing this, I told her that wasn't right and how can we go from 15 minutes more to now maybe 5:00? They have the attitude here that anytime after 4:00 is their time vs. in FL the rooms are available by 4:00 for the most part with one exception in all our stays (in that case they made it right and appologized).

After getting her to find another room that was available we finally got a room by 4:30. It was clear the house staff here has no drive to bother getting things done by 4:00. As I have been here a few days now and been able to observe the house staff doing their daily cleaning, it is clear they don't care about the time and you see them routinely chit-chatting with each other standing around instead of cleaning even at 3:30. They don't get started on many of the rooms until later in the day.

I am just really disappointed in their attitude and the check-in process for such a nice place. It is not the DVC experience we are used to in FL.

 

[disneynutz]

Check in time at all DVC resorts is after 4:00. Yes the rooms are ready sometimes before.

The 15 minutes things happens to us often at WDW so I expect it's a standard response. I have been told that the Front Desk doesn't have any idea of the cleaning progress until the room is statused as ready.

Bill

 

[rsimon]

Check in time IS 4:00, not AFTER which is key here. Being AT 4:00 means the rooms should be ready by then as they are with any hotel that gives you a check-in time.

Even the DVC rep here said they should be ready between 2:00 and 4:00 but not after 4:00.

If it is anytime after 4:00 then what stops it from being 5:00, or even 8:00? You have to have a deadline that you can rely on as you are paying for that with your points and are expected to be out by 11:00.. Not AFTER 11:00..

If they can't turn rooms in 5 hours, then they have a staff problem which is what I have witnessed.

 

[disneynutz]

Check in time IS 4:00, not AFTER which is key here. Being AT 4:00 means the rooms should be ready by then as they are with any hotel that gives you a check-in time.

Even the DVC rep here said they should be ready between 2:00 and 4:00 but not after 4:00.

If it is anytime after 4:00 then what stops it from being 5:00, or even 8:00? You have to have a deadline that you can rely on as you are paying for that with your points and are expected to be out by 11:00.. Not AFTER 11:00..

If they can't turn rooms in 5 hours, then they have a staff problem which is what I have witnessed.

I don't know where you are getting your info from but room ready time is AFTER 4:00. We have waited as late as 7:30 at SSR.

I agree they have a staff/management problem. If you read my many posts on the subject, DVC isn't like a cash room, there isn't any incentive to improve the service.

Bill

 

[rsimon]

I have gotten my information from member services, DVC representitives and a manager. The problem is the language being used. Yes, it say's check-in time is 4:00 and you can check-in anytime after that (up to a point). There is an expectation the rooms are ready by check-in time otherwise they could say check-in time is anytime you arrive and rooms will be available anytime after 4:00.

Anyhow, sorry you had a bad experience as well (much worse than ours) but I would not allow that to go unchecked if it happens again in the future as it won't get better if we as DVC members don't call them on it.

Thanks!

 

[disneynutz]

I have gotten my information from member services, DVC representitives and a manager. The problem is the language being used. Yes, it say's check-in time is 4:00 and you can check-in anytime after that (up to a point). There is an expectation the rooms are ready by check-in time otherwise they could say check-in time is anytime you arrive and rooms will be available anytime after 4:00.

Anyhow, sorry you had a bad experience as well (much worse than ours) but I would not allow that to go unchecked if it happens again in the future as it won't get better if we as DVC members don't call them on it.

Thanks!

Info from the DVC isn't always the same as the resort. They are 2 different business units. Check in and room ready are two different things. You can check in as early as 7:00 AM, you won't have your room ready until later unless you are lucky enough to get a empty room.

Bill

 

[dvcterry]

op our paper confirmation says check in after 4:00 p.m. sorry to hear about your experience but hopefully you'll have more positive things happen & forget about this in time. it really such a wonderful place.

 

[rsimon]

op our paper confirmation says check in after 4:00 p.m. sorry to hear about your experience but hopefully you'll have more positive things happen & forget about this in time. it really such a wonderful place.

So is that 4:00:01, 4:15, 4:30, 5:00? Not sure when to expect it.. as I said, I waited until 4:00 to finally say something. Check-in after 4:00 to me say's the room is ready after 4:00.. Not after 4:15, 5:00, or whenever they decide to get it ready..

I would have been a lot more patient if I knew they were being slammed, but they weren't and to see the house keeping workers just being lazy and chit chatting while I go into the lobby with people waiting for their rooms every day, it is pretty bad.. Not the way I would run my business at all.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

OP, I hope the delay in getting a room hasn't colored your trip. It sounds like it has? I have stayed at VGC 3 times, twice the room was ready about 3 and once it was probably 4:30 ish. My DH felt frustrated that it wasn't ready at 4:00, and I reminded him that we have waited that long at WDW as well. We were told that 15 minute story as well- we ended up getting a glass of wine in the bar, and that turned out to be one of our favorite places to relax...we wouldn't have found it otherwise.

Remember it is a VERY small resort, DVC wise. They don't have as many rooms available each day for guests checking in. Mousekeeping is working the hotel rooms as well. While you may see them chit chatting, it is entirely possible they are on their break. Hopefully the room is in great condition, and that's really what matters. I would rather wait longer and have the rooms kept up to DVC standards, than have them ready earlier and be dirty like I have heard so often at the WDW DVC's.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[tjkraz]

After getting her to find another room that was available we finally got a room by 4:30. It was clear the house staff here has no drive to bother getting things done by 4:00. As I have been here a few days now and been able to observe the house staff doing their daily cleaning, it is clear they don't care about the time and you see them routinely chit-chatting with each other standing around instead of cleaning even at 3:30. They don't get started on many of the rooms until later in the day.

I am just really disappointed in their attitude and the check-in process for such a nice place. It is not the DVC experience we are used to in FL.

VGC has a lot more early and mid-day arrivals due to guests coming from the east and midwest. Meanwhile WDW sees a lot of late arrivals from the west coast and their resorts are all many times larger than VGC. Typically the WDW cleaning crews can continue working well beyond 4pm because some of the villas won't be occupied until much later in the evening.

So it's not really and apples-to-apples.

As for many of the rooms not getting serviced until later in the day, that's a given at any hotel. Hospitality workers expect full time employment (or close to it) just like the rest of the workforce. Their shifts will run something like 7-4 or 8-5, with some rooms not being serviced until later in the day.

If hotels could hire twice as many workers for 11am-3pm shifts, I'm sure they would happily do it. But most people cannot accept a job with a 20 hour work week.

As for the workers chatting and "standing around" that you witnessed, it's hard draw any firm conclusions given the limited DVC housekeeping schedules. It is possible that your late room occupancy occurred on a heavy departure day while CMs were seen moving at a more leisurely pace when there were fewer DVC rooms to be serviced.

It can also be misleading to draw conclusions based upon 10 second hallway encounters. I think most workers find themselves occasionally stopping for a little water cooler talk with coworkers...even while in the middle of important projects.

Is there room for improvement at VGC? Perhaps. But I don't know that these are symptoms of a systemic problem. Through multiple VGC stays, we would agree that room occupancy tends to be later than most WDW arrivals. But even at WDW there are occasional reports of guests receiving their room late.

My own personal "best practice" is to assume that a room will not be available until at least 4pm. We try to schedule our travel plans (avoiding extreme exhaustion) and touring plans (no arrival day dining reservations) around that assumption.

Hope the rest of your stay is a good one.

 

[cvjw]

We've gotten villas after 4:00 twice at BLT, and once at Kidani Village. Sometimes rooms need more cleaning than the normal one, so check-ins after 4:00 are not out of the question.

We plan on our villa being available around 4:00. If it is ready early, we consider it a little extra pixie dust.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I like how you are now spending your entire vacation on a productivity study LOL. I don't think you can determine worker productivity based of your occasional sightings.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We arrive tonight around midnight. I hope our room is ready!

See you at the pool rsimon.

HBC

 

[nunzia]

This has been a concern of mine as well. We didn't get in our room until after 6:00 pm on one visit and had checked in at 7:00 am. I have heard regular hotel rooms are cleaned first (no verification, just heard it), and wish they could do a better job of getting people in by 4. If you are only staying one night and have to check out by 11 then that really cuts into your hotel time. Yu would hope if you had dinner reservations you could at least get in the room in time to freshen up after a long park day. That said, we also often have gotten in at 2 or 3.

 

[hjgaus]

This has been a concern of mine as well. We didn't get in our room until after 6:00 pm on one visit and had checked in at 7:00 am. I have heard regular hotel rooms are cleaned first (no verification, just heard it), and wish they could do a better job of getting people in by 4. If you are only staying one night and have to check out by 11 then that really cuts into your hotel time. Yu would hope if you had dinner reservations you could at least get in the room in time to freshen up after a long park day. That said, we also often have gotten in at 2 or 3.

YES... our 1st time it's ever happen to us last month so I think we might just go home after early morning hour and wait it out for our next stay!! My kids were hot & tired and just wanted to relax that day so when getting into the room a little AFTER 4pm they took a nap! (that's two 15yr olds plus one 19 yr old boys not tiny toddlers) Although the lobby COULD become my BFF by now but I may just look like bum who's gotten too settled in!

 

[bltpoppins]

We had a terrible check in on Mother's Day 2011. We checked in at 11 a.m. and the CM told me where our room would be. Since I knew from the Dis where the ded 2 BR are located, I knew exactly which room it was. I went upstairs and found the laundry basket with changed linens outside the room. A couple hours later, went back upstairs and found the linen basket gone. Went to the check in desk and asked if they could check if the room was available. I was told "not yet".

I was cooking dinner for DH's family and very anxious to get in the room. By 5 p.m. I was getting annoyed and went back to the check in desk a 3rd time and asked them to verify that the room was not ready. Magically the CM came out of the back room and said "oh yea, it's ready!" What a coincidence! Clearly there was no communication from housekeeping to the desk!

But the resort is fantastic and I would love to stay again. However, I wouldn't plan on fixing dinner the first night of our stay.

 

[DebbieB]

This has been a concern of mine as well. We didn't get in our room until after 6:00 pm on one visit and had checked in at 7:00 am. I have heard regular hotel rooms are cleaned first (no verification, just heard it), and wish they could do a better job of getting people in by 4. If you are only staying one night and have to check out by 11 then that really cuts into your hotel time. Yu would hope if you had dinner reservations you could at least get in the room in time to freshen up after a long park day. That said, we also often have gotten in at 2 or 3.

Last year my friend checked in at 7:00am and the room was ready at 9:45am. I was flying out that day and was shocked when she texted me when I was connecting in Phoenix that our room was ready. And it was the best studio - 6504! Arriving on 9/22, but both our flights don't get in until around 11:30am but hopefully we'll be lucky again.

 

[taaren]

I doubt its a system-wide thing. Of our four check-ins at VGC, we've never not had our room by 4p. This last stay in June in a studio the text came at 3:30p or so. Our stay in a 1 bedroom we got in super early, before noon, and for the times we've stayed in 2 bedrooms we've gotten in mid-afternoon, around 2:30ish (though one time the carpet was wet, but we were happy to toss the luggage in and nap).

Not only does VGC share Mousekeeping with the GCH, but there are so few villas there will never be an unoccupied one the previous night ready to use like there is on the hotel side frequently. And, if the previous guest checks out late from a villa, its going to take longer to get it ready.

 

[TagsMissy]

They have the attitude here that anytime after 4:00 is their time vs. in FL the rooms are available by 4:00

Incorrect, all DVC rooms are promised to be available after 4, not by 4; even in Florida.

 

[rsimon]

Incorrect, all DVC rooms are promised to be available after 4, not by 4; even in Florida.

Not to belabor this, but isn't after 4 and by 4 the same thing virtually? By 4 would mean it is ready by 4 and not after, however, after 4 means it is ready at 4 also so you can have the room at 4:00:01. I think many of us DVC owners have cut them a lot of slack by letting it fly when they say after 4 and letting it go until whenever.

If I was told by a car repair place that my car will be ready after 4, I would expect to be able to pick it up anytime from 4 until closing. How many would actually show up and be irriitated if it was not ready or would you patiently wait until they decide to get it ready by 5:00 or later?

To me this is a matter of getting what you paid for and is pretty straight forward. Based on the posts I have read, I am in the minority which is why DVC isn't too concerned about it.