Guest experiences with daily room checks

[ShirikiUtundu]

I posted my experience in the other (now closed) thread, so I'll share it here as well:

DVC stay @ Kidani Village 8-16 May. On all days but one the trash and recycling was removed from each can while we were absent from the room. On the one different day someone knocked while I was in the room finishing up laundry. He said "I'm here for the trash" and proceeded to only empty one can before running out of room. I think my presence made him uncomfortable or something. I mean if you say you are here for the trash per policy...get the trash...all the trash. And that ended up being my only minor problem with the practice. Thankfully we experienced no early knocks or "attempted barge-ins" during our stay.

(But just because 90%+ of people end up having no issues with the policy still doesn't make it a good, well thought out, or well-executed policy).

 

[ilgirl51]

We stayed at Pop Century June 9-14. We opted out of housekeeping and got our first room check about 5 minutes after we checked in. Every day after that we got a room check some time in the afternoon. We only put the "Room Occupied" sign on our door one time, when we were all planning to nap because of a late night planned at MK, and a room checker knocked 3 times and woke all of us up, even after my husband called out that he was coming to the door. When he opened the door, the room checker was gone...very frustrating. Other than that one time, the room checkers were very kind and respectful. They checked the room and the bathroom, and it really didn't bother us at all.

 

[KenHutch]

We had one encounter. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge from June 3 to the 13th. About mid-week my daughter (17) went back to the hotel to take a nap as the heat had gotten to her. She woke up around 13:00 or so to see a man with a tablet standing in our room. She told me she threw a pillow at him and used some rather Marine like language as to his identity. He told her that he was room check and fled rather quickly. My daughter told me she went downstairs to the front desk and was rather upset with them. But she did admit to me that she had not secured the door before her nap and I know knocking won't wake her up.

 

[Jen1995]

We stayed at BWI the last week in May. We are rope-droppers/park-closers. Yet, every day the housekeeping cart was almost right in front of our room, and both early morning and late night I saw and chatted with the housekeeper (who was quite friendly). The ONE day we were in the room during the day (around noon, after Typhoon Lagoon - edited to add that our room occupied sign was on the door), she knocked on the door. I opened it partially, told her we were changing, she kind of peeked in and said "Oh wow they ARE changing!" and handed me about 12 towels and a giant armful of toiletries, which she knew I was putting in my bag to save for later. So no official security sweep, but I was basically under surveillance the whole trip. (I almost wondered if my reputation as a critic of the policy had preceded me).

 

[DisArmyWife215]

We stayed at Pop Century 26-27 May and had a very aggressive gentleman check the room around 2-3 each day. Very loud knock and when we said coming he just knocked again and proceeded to open the door, the latch was on. He woke up everyone napping. Seems the second I put the sign out he'd come knocking. When we switched to the Poly that week we didn't have anyone do this. We had housekeeping a few times but on days we didn't, the housekeeper in the hall just asked politely if we needed anything as we were putting our sign out and she stood in the doorway sorta looking around. Very different experiences all in the same week.

That guy at Pop scared me and my husband was in the room at the time. I couldn't imagine being a teen alone or mom with her little ones and no one else in the room!

 

[Meggo]

We stayed at Caribbean Beach Mar. 18th - 24th. We didn’t have any issues of room checks at all. If I didn’t already know about this rule, I woudln’t have found out about it at during the trip.

When we checked in we were offered a room credit of $100 (maybe $150, I can’t remember for sure) to not have housekeeping each day. I was surprised by this offer because of the new room check rules, but was happy to take the extra spending money!

If they did come in to check our room, they must have done it while we were out. We never experienced any disturbances or negative situations with it. We did use the “room occupied” hanger while we were in the room, but it often fell off the door knob.

We have always used the deadbolt when we’re actually in a hotel room. It’s just too easy for “mistakes” if nothing else to be made and staff to enter a room. So, I’m not sure if that made a difference. But this rule was a non-issue for us.

 

[LabMouse]

I'm not sure if the Swan counts as a Disney resort for the purposes of this thread or not, but I figured I'd share my experience.

I booked at the Swan for our recent stay June 15-21 because as far as I could see on the boards, Swan & Dolphin weren't doing the Disney room check dance. When we arrived, we had a good old-fashioned "Do Not Disturb" sign for our door.

We weren't out of the room before noon any day of our trip (except checkout). We had one day as a rest day where we only left the room for lunch and dinner. Ten minutes before checkout on our last day, someone knocked on our door wanting to service the room, and when we said we'd be out in a few minutes, she happily said she'd come back and went on her way. That was the only time anyone knocked on our door all trip, and we didn't have the DND out at that time. Housekeeping came by every day after we'd left for the parks (or lunch on our rest day).

It was wonderful and relaxing to be able to sleep as late as we wished, putter about the room in a towel after a shower, take a nap, etc, without worrying about possibly being disturbed at any moment.

I highly recommend the Swan (or Dolphin) as an alternative to anyone wanting to stay on-property without worrying about room checks.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Stayed at Pop 6/15 - 6/21. We were back in the room almost every day between around 1-4 for at least 2 hours napping and showering. Only one day did we get a knock, it appeared to be a housekeeping employee. He had a device/phone in his hand, said he just wanted to make sure we were happy, did our tv remote work, was our water hot, and when I said yes thank you he was on his way. Such silly questions! He Did not ask to come inside, although maybe he saw my 3 kids and their chaos from the door and we scared him away lol.

I was very nervous to leave my 13 and 10 year old in the room alone while I moved laundry or ran to the main hall and we kept the door bar latched at all times. Turned out not to be an issue for us.

Oh, on our last day we had late checkout at 1pm. At 11am housekeeping knocked and asked if we were leaving, I told them we were staying until 1, and that was that. They were very nice and I never had any repeat knocks or early knocks. We were out of the room by 7am every other day though.

Also we had declined housekeeping and never used the DND sign.

 

[Euby]

I stayed at Saratoga Springs from 6/17-6/24. I stayed in the room most mornings and didn't leave until at least lunchtime. One day I didn't leave until dinnertime. Trash was picked up each day but two. Those were days that I had the "Room Occupied" sign up due to late nights at the parks. No knocks or disturbances. The only time that I actually heard a knock on the door was on check-out day and that was @ 11am while I was on the phone with Bell Services.

When I checked in, I did have the Front Desk make a note to not be disturbed before 9am. Not sure if that played into any of this or not.

 

[Lisann]

I stayed at Grand Floridian May 19th through 26th of 2018.

Not once did someone bother us while we were in our room. We did have daily housekeeping, so I'm assuming that counted as the 'room check'.



I stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge June 16th through 20th of 2018.

We had daily housekeeping, so no new intrusions, except one: housekeeping knocked on the door for a 'housekeeping check', to quote them. The woman proceeded to go to the sinks, turn each one on, and then leave. What the heck was that all about? Checking the faucets? Or making an excuse to come in to the room? Very odd.

 

[StuckInKS]

Just had our first room check at Sports. We opted out of housekeeping at check in because we were offered a GC ($120 for 2 rooms for 6 nights). Yesterday was our first full day, but we left the room by 2pm so they may have come by while we were gone. He walked in and walked all the way to the bathroom. He glanced into the 2nd room on his way past, but did not go in there at all. Not sure why he was required to check the bathroom of one room and not of the other.

 

[brewcrew]

At Wilderness Lodge now in the new Copper Creek section. Have had housekeeping come in this morning to put in flyers. She had to put them in the room, we could not take them. Just had a knock on the door and a Disney employee told us he was here to do an inspection. He walked all around the room. So that’s twice in one day. So much for a midday nap lol.

 

[Wubar]

Was at Pop Century for a week earlier this June. We were up by 8am and off to the parks, and usually back by 4pm for a few hours before heading back out. Only time we ran into anyone was on check-out day, someone knocked around 10am. I opened the door, they introduced themselves and said they had to do a room check, and I said we'd be checking out within 30 minutes, which wasn't an issue for them and they left. That's the only time we saw any of the room inspectors. Note - we did opt out of mousekeeping.

 

[mmouse50]

Just got back from the Beach Club - there June 20 thru June 29th. Never had anyone knock in our door other than housekeeping one day while we were in the room - we told housekeeping that we would be out in about 30 minutes to please come back then - but they must have forgotten because we did not receive any housekeeping that day.

 

[tarak]

We stayed CL at the Beach Club from June 9-16. We had a few instances of housekeeping showing up when we were in the room. We said we’d be out in half an hour or so, and that was the end of it. We never had anyone disturb us when the Room Occupied sign was out.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

I was at Pop in May on a solo trip. I requested no mousekeeping and got the the gift card instead, so I was shocked that first day when someone knocked on my door and when I checked through the spyhole to see a man stood there. I opened the door with the security catch on and there was no way I was going to open it further for a strange man, even if he was in a CM uniform.Has Disney considered the security of guests, particularly females on their own with this policy? Someone could knock on the door pretending to be checking. It was only when i called down to the front desk that they explained what this was. Don't they trust guests to not trash rooms or what is the reason for this?

 

[morganms22]

I was at Pop in May on a solo trip. I requested no mousekeeping and got the the gift card instead, so I was shocked that first day when someone knocked on my door and when I checked through the spyhole to see a man stood there. I opened the door with the security catch on and there was no way I was going to open it further for a strange man, even if he was in a CM uniform.Has Disney considered the security of guests, particularly females on their own with this policy? Someone could knock on the door pretending to be checking. It was only when i called down to the front desk that they explained what this was. Don't they trust guests to not trash rooms or what is the reason for this?

I answered your question, but then realized I wasn’t allowed to do that on this thread. My report is below:

We went about two months ago and never saw them, but we were hardly ever in the room and we did not decline service. We stayed at the Polynesian.

 

[MinnieMSue]

Just got home from 15 nights at Pop. We took an afternoon break most days for a few hours and declined housekeeping. We had 2 Room checks happen while we were there. The first was around 3 and a woman tapped on the door a few times. My teen was asleep in the bed right by the door. I opened it and she said she was here to do a room check and I opened the door. She saw my daughter asleep and apologized and didn’t come in. The second came just before 11 and a man tapped on the door. My daughter was in the shower. I made sure the bathroom door was locked and I half opened the barn door. I told him my daughter was in the shower. He told me he wasn’t going near the bathroom. He walked into the room and looked all around. He looked as far as the area between the bed and the wall by the bathroom then quickly left apologizing for bothering us. Both wore housekeeping uniforms. On checkout day we planned to leave our room at 10:45 to catch magical express. At 9 a housekeeper knocked and told us we were supposed to be leaving. I informed her we would be leaving at 11 which is checkout time. She grumpily said ok. We went for breakfast and took our suitcases to airline checkin and left carryons in the room. This is the one time we put the room occupied sign up during our stay. As far as we know housekeeping didn’t attempt to come into our room during this time. She was the only person at the hotel that annoyed me. Everyone else was just fine.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Back home from a week's long split stay at Contemporary and YC this Tuesday past. We returned to our room everyday by 2:30 PM the latest and the room was always already cleaned and some days turn down was done as well.
I did get a 2nd turn-down service one day because monster children had a jumping up and down on the beds contest. Our room attendant heard me berating them and offered to return. Very nice of her and she was tipped accordingly.

Never declined Housekeeping and never had a security check.

 

[PrincessV]

6 nights at CSR in early July, declined housekeeping for a gift card...

We switched rooms after 3 nights because the construction noise in room #1 was terrible in the early morning, and we sleep in. We generally left the room around noon for lunch, returning after an hour or so, and then leaving for the evening around 3-4pm. No security checks while we were in the 1st room for 3 days. In the second room, my 16yo son was sleeping while I was at the pool and said a woman dressed in housekeeping costume knocked and when he asked "who is it?" she said she was there for a security check, would now be an okay time to do it? My son said he felt comfortable letting her in, so he opened the door, she walked to the bathroom and back, politely thanked him, and left. The next day, the knock came just as I was heading out the door, so I answered and a gentleman in CSR costume said he was there for the "security check" - I told him my son was still in bed, I asked my son if he was okay with someone coming in, both agreed it was fine by them, and I stood in the doorway while the man walked to the bathroom and back and left. No knock or anything the last morning, but we were out the door to be on the road at 9am.

I have to say, because I already knew about this procedure, and explained it to my son in advance, it was all fine and not at all as "icky" as I thought it might feel. But had I known nothing about it, I think I'd feel very differently. It's just plain weird for a hotel employee to show up and ask to walk through your room with no advance notice of the policy (a flyer in the room, maybe? something online during the booking or check-in process?). And had I been traveling alone, I think I'd have been far more hesitant to allow entry. OTOH, both times, the CMs sounded like if it was a bad time, they'd be happy to come back later; the tone was not aggressive or insistent in any way.