Has anyone done a late checkout?

[jamaka66]

Has anyone done a late checkout and how does that work? We are staying at SSR in June and our flight out isn't until 6 PM so we thought we might play longer.

Thanks for the help.
Kim

 

[Chuck S]

There are no late check-out allowances at DVC resorts. With the high occupancy rates of DVC, the housekeepers need to get the rooms serviced and ready for the next guest. What you can do is reserve the room for an additional night and simply leave early.

 

[WOW]

No late check outs but you can leave your luggage at bell services and enjoy the day

 

[TenThousandVolts]

We check out luggage and leave the room early when we have a late flight. It works out fine.

 

[dgaston]

Most of the DVC resorts have nice bath areas by the pool so you can change. We did that yesterday at OKw. We had planned t go to Typhoon Lagoon, but they were parking cars willy-nilly on the grass and it occurred to us it would be way too crowded, so back to OKW we went.

Our plane left at 9 pm withou t trouble even with the snow in NE.

 

[agamich]

I tried on friday at OKW. I was told that there are no late check outs but we were in our room until almost 11:30 before the maid came. I had callled bell services to get our luggage and I was told to stay in the room until they arrived. I told the maid this and it wasn't a problem.

 

[wildernessDad]

There are no late checkouts. Checkout early, give bell services your luggage and enjoy the rest of your day until your departure time.

If you are flying on a participating airline, you can check into your airline at your Disney resort. You can give them your luggage and they will deliver it to MCO if you are using DME. Not sure how the luggage works exactly if you are not using DME. But you could at least check into your airline from the resort given the participating airline.

 

[jekjones1558]

Not sure how the luggage works exactly if you are not using DME.

If you fly a participating airline, you bring your bags to the resort airline check-in desk and get your boarding pass, just like you would at the airport. Then do whatever for the rest of your stay and when you get to the airport just go right to the security check. We love this perk even though we always do late morning or early afternoon flights, so we don't have much time to kill. It saves the headache of long check-in lines at the airport and also the hassle of dealing with luggage while returning a rental car.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Just to add, if you decide "What the hay, I'm just going to stay in the room until long after 11AM...", it ultimately affects another member who can't get into their room until long after 4PM, maybe even as late at 6PM. That happened to us once when the member (or whomever) in the room before us, decided to hit the parks for a few more hours before they were finally located and instructed to move out of the room.

DVC villas have fewer vacancies than any other Disney resort, so there isn't any swing time or swing space to manage the guests.

 

[Carneymom]

We had a similar late flight on our last trip. I left the bags with Magical express and kept a backpack with bathing suits in it. We went to Disney Quest, had a nice lunch at Downtown Disney (we stayed at SSR) and then played in the Pool. We then used the rest rooms by the pool to change and put the wet suits in a plastic bag inside the backpack. We do the same thing in reverse when arriving early. I always have swim suits in my carry on so if our room is not ready, we can use the pool.

Have Fun!

 

[JimMIA]

Just to add, if you decide "What the hay, I'm just going to stay in the room until long after 11AM...", it ultimately affects another member who can't get into their room until long after 4PM, maybe even as late at 6PM. That happened to us once when the member (or whomever) in the room before us, decided to hit the parks for a few more hours before they were finally located and instructed to move out of the room.

DVC villas have fewer vacancies than any other Disney resort, so there isn't any swing time or swing space to manage the guests.

Deb makes a great point. It's not just that late checkouts are not allowed. To check out late also inconveniences other guests arriving and eager to get their long-awaited vacations started.

To us, calling Housekeeping at 9 AM and telling them "We're out of the room" is our way of saying "Welcome Home!" to the next guest.

 

[crisi]

DVC also has the right (though I've never heard of it exercised) to charge you for the next day if you don't make it out of the room by check out time.

 

[Inkmahm]

Deb makes a great point. It's not just that late checkouts are not allowed. To check out late also inconveniences other guests arriving and eager to get their long-awaited vacations started.

To us, calling Housekeeping at 9 AM and telling them "We're out of the room" is our way of saying "Welcome Home!" to the next guest.

Exactly. We always fly out on an early morning flight and then I go directly to the office to work. I get there a little late, but I don't have to take a vacation day for it and I get to fully enjoy my last day/night at Disney.

When we leave, it is usually around 5:30 am. I like to think that us getting out of the room that early allows the next guests to have a nice surprise of arriving early and having a room ready!

 

[dianeschlicht]

I think at timeshares especially, it is rude to expect to stay in a room beyond the checkout time. With expected 100% occupancy most times, this really inconveniences EVERYONE except the person who is taking liberties with it.

We have a late flight in a couple of weeks when we leave. Our flight is at 8 PM, but we will be out of the room by 9 am and on our way to enjoy another nearly full day at the parks before we MUST go to the airport. I too usually call housekeeping and let them know the room is vacated.

BTW, on our very first DVC stay with points, we checked in and were given our room keys and number. We were lucky to find it ready at 3 pm! Until we got to the room, that is. We opened the door, and saw a rolled up kitchen towel on the little key stand by the door. Then I walked into the master, and there were suitcases on the already made up bed, and one of them was open. I was afraid to look farther, expecting to see someone pop out of the bathroom at any minute. We went back to the front desk where we were told that the previous occupant had told them at 9 am that their things would be out before check-in time. They were in the process of charging his credit card when we left the front desk and headed to our "new" room. I'm quite sure someone else ended up getting a late check-in time because of this person's inability to follow the rules. SO, you see, one person self extending, probably had a chain reaction effect on SEVERAL folks, not just us.

 

[macosx]

...We were lucky to find it ready at 3 pm! Until we got to the room, that is. We opened the door, and saw a rolled up kitchen towel on the little key stand by the door. Then I walked into the master, and there were suitcases on the already made up bed, and one of them was open. I was afraid to look farther, expecting to see someone pop out of the bathroom at any minute. We went back to the front desk where we were told that the previous occupant had told them at 9 am that their things would be out before check-in time...

Someone, maybe several people at DVC dropped the ball on this one. Several people should clear the room before it is given over to a new visitor. Mousekeeping not cleaning the room? Were they unaware of the guest change? Not good. No quality control? No reservations/checkin process for ensuring that rooms are ready? I would worry that they're adequately changing keys/cards.

In any decent hotel, I would expect that at least 2 people would need to prepare a room before the room is available. The housekeeping person taking care of the room, and at least one other person checking that the room is in order (either housekeeping supervisor/management and/or reservations/checkin). Come to think of it, I've even recall waiting a minute outside the door while the Bellman takes a quick look/inspection. Guess this type of mishap isn't that uncommon, but shouldn't be happening, and certainly shouldn't be another guest discovering the problem.

 

[igitur]

also in regards to changing your clothes if you want to use the pool....at BCV and during our last trip at AKV, we had full access to the lockers and showers in the spa and exercise room which is right off the pool. It works out great because you can always store your things in a locker if you want and jump into the shower before changing into your dry clothes.

We usually book a later flight (usually 6 or 7 p.m.) and then we feel like we actually get an extra day because we still have access to all the facilities at the resort...we just don't have our room anymore If the weather is good, we spend the day out at the pool, have a nice lunch, shower and change get our luggage out of storage and head for the airport at about 4 p.m.

Deb

 

[dianeschlicht]

Someone, maybe several people at DVC dropped the ball on this one. Several people should clear the room before it is given over to a new visitor. Mousekeeping not cleaning the room? Were they unaware of the guest change? Not good. No quality control? No reservations/checkin process for ensuring that rooms are ready? I would worry that they're adequately changing keys/cards.

In any decent hotel, I would expect that at least 2 people would need to prepare a room before the room is available. The housekeeping person taking care of the room, and at least one other person checking that the room is in order (either housekeeping supervisor/management and/or reservations/checkin). Come to think of it, I've even recall waiting a minute outside the door while the Bellman takes a quick look/inspection. Guess this type of mishap isn't that uncommon, but shouldn't be happening, and certainly shouldn't be another guest discovering the problem.

No one said the room wasn't made up... It WAS cleaned. The person just didn't leave. The fault here was that housekeepind didn't report that fact to the front desk when they cleared the room as cleaned. It was also the fault of the former guest who self exteded and didn't come back before 11. After all, if they hadn't self extended in the first place, there would be no mistake by mousekeeping.

 

[macosx]

No one said the room wasn't made up... It WAS cleaned. The person just didn't leave. The fault here was that housekeepind didn't report that fact to the front desk when they cleared the room as cleaned. It was also the fault of the former guest who self exteded and didn't come back before 11. After all, if they hadn't self extended in the first place, there would be no mistake by mousekeeping.

I'm not saying the fellow who was in the room didn't cause the problem, but it SHOULD have been caught before you were impacted. How did he get in the room? Did housekeeping clean the room and leave him inside? Were they unaware of the guest change? With daily housekeeping, most people aren't moving, but with DVC, it's just the opposite, and housekeeping should have noticed if someone hadn't moved out yet. Were the keycard combinations not changed and they came back after? What if he was a criminal?!? These days, those keycards are/should be monitored by security, and it wouldn't take much to flag keycard usage after a guest checks out or is supposedly checked out. Then again, Disney doesn't have the best software and systems developers working for them. Just visit their websites and you'll see they're focused more on eyecandy than content and functionality. In a way, that's part of the Disney magic and more a reflection of what is important to their users. I'm very critical of Disney, but they're charging upwards of $400/night for rooms, so they're held to a higher standard of high end hotels charging same rates. This error is minor compared to some really horror stories about dirty rooms (supposedly cleaned) and worse both at Disney/DVC and other high end hotels.

 

[Chuck S]

With daily housekeeping, most people aren't moving, but with DVC, it's just the opposite, and housekeeping should have noticed if someone hadn't moved out yet.

That isn't necessarily true. Whenever a DVC member stays 8 noghts or longer, they get a full cleaning on day 4 of their stay...so there are probably a good number of full cleanings with guests belongings still in the room, and housekeeping probably only sees a schedule that tells them what rooms have to be cleaned, not whether the guest is staying on or checking out.

 

[macosx]

That isn't necessarily true. Whenever a DVC member stays 8 noghts or longer, they get a full cleaning on day 4 of their stay...so there are probably a good number of full cleanings with guests belongings still in the room, and housekeeping probably only sees a schedule that tells them what rooms have to be cleaned, not whether the guest is staying on or checking out.

I respectfully disagree. While you're right about the longer stays having additional cleanings, I believe those longer stays represent a small minority of bookings. I still think most most full cleanings are associated with changes in guests. It's possible the individual doing the cleanings doesn't have or care about the guest staying or checking out, but it would be irresponsible to create a system where guests are responsible for checking themselves out, housekeeping is responsible for just cleaning a list of rooms, and NO ONE managing the whole process. I can't believe Disney would create such a senseless system, much less one that doesn't have multiple points of failure to impact the function (i.e. guest satisfaction).

Besides the offending guest, I believe there are at least two Disney employees who were not doing their job properly. If either of them did, you would not have been involved, and the Disney Magic would have been maintained. I really hope these screwups are really uncommon and not SOP.