Guest experiences with daily room checks

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I just got back from a one night stay at Pop, and I had forgotten/didn't know about this policy (haven't been to the World for a couple of years and remember seeing thread titles about this on the DIS but didn't think of it for this quick, unplanned stay). I had just checked in and had been in my room for ten or fifteen minutes when someone knocked on the door. I was in the bathroom and yelled "just a minute please", but he apparently didn't hear me. He opened the door just as I pulled the bathroom door closed. I didn't see him, but he said something and closed the door. I washed my hands and went to the door and no one was there. I'm guessing this was a room check since I didn't use bell services or call for maintenance, and there is no need to make up a room that had just been given to someone.

From now on, I will latch the door even if I am just in the room for a few minutes. It would have been nice if they had explained the policy when I checked in.

 

[juuuliebeth]

Tomorrow is the my check out day after nine nights at the Contemporary. I had read this thread and took advice of putting the sign on the door and using the latch when in the room. I never once ran into Mousekeeping or security checks. There were two times the room wasn't serviced by the time I returned to the room. Once was when I spent the morning at the resort and was at the pool starting around 10am, returning at 1pm. I left at 2pm for Disney Springs and never heard a knock during that hour I was showering/getting ready. It was done when I got back at 5pm. (A dog made out of towels was watching TV when I got back, which was so adorable.) The other was after a morning at Hollywood Studios. I came back at 1:15pm or so. I headed out to the pool until 3:30 and the room was serviced when I got back.

 

[dotdot35]

We have just spent 7 nights at BLT on DVC points. We had our trash emptied every day and most days this happened before we got back for an afternoon break. There was only one afternoon that they knocked while we were in the room, and it was a quick trash empty and gone. It was actually nice to have our trash emptied everyday with 6 of us in the 2BR.

 

[Disneylover99]

Here at Pop now....

We are in the middle of a two week stay and we declined housekeeping. We don't generally get to the parks til mid to late afternoon so we spend a good chunk of time in our rooms.

Yesterday (day 6) was our first room check. It was at 11:30am. All 4 of us were in the room. I heard a man knocking next door first, so I Wasnt surprised by the knock. I didn't really understand what the man said when I answered the door, but I let him in. Lol. He walked to our tv and looked behind it. I thought maybe he was the cable guy at first since he appeared to touch the cords. Then he looked behind our dresser and proceeded to the washroom and looked inside. We were all just sitting on our beds. He asked if everything was okay. I said yes, and he left.

Today (day 7) the same man arrived at 10:40am. I heard him knocking next door first, same as yesterday. I was right by the door, so as soon as he started to knock I opened the door quickly to say everyone else was still sleeping. We were at MNSSHP last night and didn't get to bed til after 2am. He said that was okay, he'd be quick. So I let him in and when the door shut behind him. It was completely dark. I guess he saw the sleeping bodies and didn't quite make it to the washroom this time. He asked if everything was working in the room okay. I said, if it's not, I'll call you!

I can't tell you how bizarre this is. My husband and daughter woke up as this man walked in. My son slept through it all. It's become laughable to me when they give you the pretense that they are checking on room maintenance. Give me a break!

We have not used our room occupied sign at all. The people next door use it all the time. Both of us received knocks on both days.

Day 8 - I saw the same security man as the two previous days at about 11am going from door to door knocking. It didn’t seem to matter if people opted out of housekeeping or not. He was just going in order down the row where I was staying. He stopped a few doors down from me and left.

I called housekeeping to request some new bed linens, toilet paper, etc....and they promptly arrived five minutes later. I was thinking that might count as my room check. But, no. At around 3pm, a different man arrived for our security check. We were just about to walk out the door to head to the parks and he said, oh, I’ll come back when you’re gone. And I said no, it’s okay, you can come in now. He stepped inside my door and immediately stepped out and left. I kind of got the feeling that he wanted to look around the room when we were gone, which was kind of creepy. I looked around to double check that no valuables were left out before we left for the evening. I have no idea if he came back or not.

 

[beattyfamily]

We stayed at the All Star Music last week for 6 nights Opted out of Housekeeping so I didn't feel the need to put the 'Do not Disturb' sign up. I didn't know about the daily random check-ins.

Day two at around 4p I hear a knock. We're decent but napping. I ignored it thinking it was someone at the wrong door as thats happened to us in the past Then I heard keys so I went to the door. I opened it. I couldn't understand him I thought he was just asking if we needed towels I didn't let him in as I didn't know what he really wanted

Next day we were napping again Same time. This time I heard a knock and before I could even get out of bed he had opened the door I was pissed. What if I was naked? So he could tell I was angry and he apologized and left.

Later that day I went to the front desk to complain and explain my frustration and concerns. How since I opted out of housekeeping I thought I wouldn't be disturbed. The manager explained the new policy and apologized as he certainly didn't handle the second day correctly. I told her no one warned me this would be happening and from now on I will use my 'Do not Disturb' sign when I am in the room. It never happened again.

She gave us two fastpasses for that evening for our trouble and she said she'd talk to the housekeeping manager.

 

[maxiesmom]

Later that day I went to the front desk to complain and explain my frustration and concerns. How since I opted out of housekeeping I thought I wouldn't be disturbed. The manager explained the new policy and apologized as he certainly didn't handle the second day correctly. I told her no one warned me this would be happening and from now on I will use my 'Do not Disturb' sign when I am in the room. It never happened again.

She gave us two fastpasses for that evening for our trouble and she said she'd talk to the housekeeping manager.

They no longer have Do not Disturb signs. FYI

 

[beattyfamily]

They no longer have Do not Disturb signs. FYI

They did have 'still dreaming' or 'occupied' signs but I just called it what I am used to 'do not disturb'. I used it after the second incident.

I also stayed at universal and they had them as well

 

[Lynne M]

Even though this is supposed to be an experiences-only thread, I just want to clarify the purpose of the sign for those who are unfamiliar with this recent policy change.

Disney has removed the Do Not Disturb signs from their resorts. There are now ‘occupied’ signs available for use on your door. Use of this sign does not mean that resort staff will not knock on your door. The occupied sign is there to let staff who may be knocking know that you are in the room. Expect someone from housekeeping or security to enter your room once per day for a room check, even if you have declined housekeeping.

If you wish to discuss the room check policy, post a thread on the resorts board. Posts that are not guest experiences will be removed from this thread.

 

[razster]

Over three plus weeks across two resorts (AKL-J and BWV) we can report that at no time was this at all intrusive. Generally we would be out early and on return we found main bins were empty. It was hit and miss if they had cleared the smaller bins, but we generally added the contents of the smaller bins to the main trash when we remembered. Where we were in the room late due to late nights previous evening they came when we were out at the pool or dinner etc. Once we had a very lazy day and were back and forth to the room all day, and they called to say they needed to perform a security check and the room was occupied, we told them we would be out for a meal after 5:30pm. All worked perfectly. No intrusion. No disturbance. We did use the room occupied sign whenever we were in the room and the latch. But these were never challenged. Hope everyone has a great stay!

 

[JFox]

So, the mandatory room checks...I know the reasoning behind it and why the policy was instituted. During my solo trip 2 weeks ago I opted to forego housekeeping so I knew that there would be a safety check.

Now when I stay at a hotel if I am in the room both the bolt and safety latch is engaged. When I am not in the room and housekeeping has already been by I have a DO NOT DISTURB sign outside. I also keep my stuff packed. I've been in too many middle of the night fire drills in Europe. Also, I don't keep ANYTHING out in the open, and my bag is always locked.

One afternoon after returning from Disney Springs there was a knock at the door and exactly .029945 seconds had passed before the master key was used. I opened the door and this guy was there. He said, "Is everything alright?" I thought that was weird. Did he know something I didn't know. He peered inside and was satisfied it wasn't a DEFCON 1 situation and left. What if I was in the shower? Napping or worse, pooping?! Would there have been an attempt to break down the door?

Thing is I assumed that since my room was the last of the wing he was done. But when I came back from the pool I saw him come out from a room a few doors down. He was inside the room. Is the room check a visual from the door or a "go inside and assess the situation" type of check?

 

[Shanti]

We stayed at the Beach Club, club level, over this past weekend. Each morning, housekeeping knocked for entrance at around 9:30am, then openied the door. From the bed (not visible from the door), I would then tell her that we were still in bed, and she would apologize and go away, returning much later to clean the room, and again later to provide turndown service in the evening. There was no Do Not Disturb (or whatever Disney's variation is) sign available for use at all. I kind of wished for the opposite, a "time to clean this room" sign or something similar, to let housekeeping know when you were out of the room and wanted it cleaned. No one bothered us about room checks.

 

[smartmommy4]

I'm at Pop Century right now. It is 7:34 p.m. I declined housekeeping for today and was expecting a room check. Never got it, judging from my trash bins. I did get an email gift card for $10. They didn't offer it when I requested no housekeeping, but they sent the the gift card anyway. Nice!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We just returned from a 5 night stay at BWI. This was our first stay since the room checks were implemented (except for a one-night, pre-cruise stay at YC) and, after reading many reports on these boards, I was pleasantly surprised by our experience. On our first morning, housekeeping knocked around 9:30 am. I let the housekeeper know we would be out in about 30 minutes and she left. We then swam, had some lunch and got back to our room around 12:30 pm to get ready to go to MK and MNSHHP. By that time, housekeeping had been in our room and it was cleaned beautifully. On our second day, we went to DHS early morning and then Typhoon Lagoon. We came back to our room around 2:30 pm and took a nap. We had the sign on our door. While we napped, we got a call from housekeeping. The housekeeper said she noticed we had the sign on the door and wondered if we would like housekeeping that day. I asked if they could come around 5 pm and she said that would be fine. We then went to Flying Fish for dinner. When we came back, not only was our room cleaned, but they had done turndown service for us (we weren't staying CL). Every other day after that, housekeeping came when we were gone from our room, they always respected the door sign and no "security" person ever inspected our room. Other than the phone call asking about the sign and if we wanted housekeeping, we were never disturbed and our privacy was respected.

 

[heathermm]

We stayed at AKL (Jambo House) from 8/11-8/18. Not once during our whole trip did we have anybody knock or try and enter our room while we were in it. I did keep latch on while we were in room sleeping, etc ( just in case). Housekeeping did come while we would be out in the parks. I was expecting it to be bad; but was pleasantly surprised.

 

[tnolan]

We were at Pop Century from 8/11-8/15. We kept housekeeping, were out of the room between 9 am and 7 pm or so everyday, and did not experience any security checks. Room was always made up when we got back in the evening.

 

[jenushkask8s]

I just finished up a 3 night solo trip at POFQ. I did not decline housekeeping and there was no Room Occupied sign in my room.

Friday, I was out early for an 8am breakfast at BoG, back to the room by 9:30 annas it hasn't been cleaned yet. I took a nap till 2pm before heading out at 3pm for MNSSHP. I never received a knock during that time and my room wad clean when I got back after MNSSHP. Sunday, I was out at Epcot from 11-6 and my room wad clean when I got back. I was out of the room by 10am today (check out) and never received a knock.

 

[mjr0483]

I just got back from 10 night split stay. 5 Nights in Poly DVC and 5 nights in Copper Creek DVC. We had a room occupied hanger but didn't use it, ever. Since we stayed as DVC, it did seem that they emptied the garbage every day except for day 4 when they did trash & towel day. We slept in most days until at least 9AM and came back to the room most days for a couple hours to get out of the rain. We only had one knock on the door while we were in the room during our stay at the Poly. My wife answered the door to a very very light knock and told the guy we were getting ready. She closed the door and I peak through the hole and he was still standing there. Either ignoring or not understanding. I opened the door and firmly told him my daughter was in the shower. He said you want me to come back. Um, yes. And he finally walked away.

We did have luggage delivered at both locations and called housekeeping for extra blankets and every time they did mention to wait in the room and to make sure the room occupied sign was not on the door. So hopefully they are starting to be more respectful of the sign and guest privacy. I hope they work out a better balance between getting in the room for checks at a more convenient time.

 

[borgthe]

Just got back from a 12 day stay. We started out at the parks late this trip so slept until after 9 some mornings. Well, tried to sleep. 2 of the 3 days we tried to sleep late a loud, obnoxious knock was heard. Our bolt was latched and I didn't get up to answer because I was annoyed. They tried to open but obviously couldn't so left. However, I still couldn't sleep because I heard the loud knocking all the way down the hall at all the other doors.

I find the new policy outrageous. I pay for a hotel room to sleep in, not to be obnoxiously woken up. Disney needs to get themselves together. I'll be staying at a timeshare for next year's trip.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Deleted

 

[KBoopaloo]

Just returned from a solo trip of 5 nights at Port Orleans Riverside. I used the "Room Occupied" sign anytime I was in the room and also always kept the latch on when I was in the room. I kept varied hours - leaving early some mornings, later some days, returning to the room for blocks of time in the afternoon some days, being out all day on other days. I had housekeeping every day but they never knocked or arrived at any time when I was in the room. I never even saw the housekeeping cart in the hallway area by my block of rooms even with all of my coming and going.