HH disappointment

[Haunted Mansion MaMa]

After a very disappointing trip to the Hilton Head Resort I have a letter I need to send to the general manager but do not have an address. Can anybody help? Is there any better place to send to??

 

[BWVDenise]

I don't know where to send it, but was wondering what was disappointing about it?

 

[Haunted Mansion MaMa]

The list of complaints is truly too long to post here. Problems ranging from large to small. Problems with the room mostly. Our stay was sub par based on past Disney Resort experience.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I had a recent bad experience at VWL, and I wrote to Jackie Lueders, Member Satisfaction Manager, 200 Celebration Place, Celebration, FL 34747. I was also given the name of George Aguel, but I don't know who he was. BTW, I also wrote to Mr. Rilous Carter, the GM of the resort. To the best of my knowledge, he never received my letter nor contacted me. I was contacted by WL only from the Main Office of DVC, not the GM of the resort. Hopefully, you'd get better satisfaction since, unlike WL, the resort in question, is purely a DVC resort.

 

[PamOKW]

George Aguel, but I don't know who he was

He's the "head honcho" of all DVC. His "real" title is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Disney Vacation Club. However, since they have now put Ms. Lueders in place to handle member problems, you'd probably be better off contacting her directly instead of waiting for the letter/e-mail to pass from Aguel to Lueders.

 

[JudithM]

Last I knew Sonya is the General Manager of Olk Kew West & Hilton Head (maybe Vero Beach, too). Also, Jackie is the Member Satisfaction Manager & would be a good person to contact. I will search for & bump up a note I wrote awhile ago about writing to DVC.

I am sorry you had problems at Hilton Head. Did you let someone know while you were at Hilton Head?

 

[Haunted Mansion MaMa]

Thank you, I would be interested in reading the note you mentioned.

Yes, I did speak with people at the front desk. They saw my unhappy face so many times, they knew there were many problems. There were so many things that went wrong that my kids were annoyed and disappointed.

 

[PADVCmember@OKW]

Give us a clue. What went wrong?

 

[ZerasPride]

as others have asked, I'd be interested in knowing (if you don't mind) some of the details of your negative experience. My sister and her husband will be accompanying us on a trip to Hilton Head in November and I've raved to her about what a great resort I think HH is. If things are headed "downhill" at Hilton Head I'd certainly like to know and prepare her and myself. Thanks!

 

[Haunted Mansion MaMa]

Okay, I'll try to touch on some of the items on my list. Most problems were with the room from big to small. A lightbulb was burned out, the toaster not working at all, refrigeration not cold enough to keep frozen foods from melting, toilet overflowed (twice), no sign for door to request privacy or housekeeping thus nothing to prevent the housekeeper from trying to enter the room at 8:30 a.m. as I am coming out of the shower and the rest of my family is asleep.

The Big Dipper pool was closed for repairs for an entire day, the underground parking was closed half way through our visit.

It was my daughter's 9th birthday. There was no helium for the balloons that were supposed to be delivered to the room with the card that had her name spelled wrong which my husband had to pick up at the front desk and deliver himself as that had not been done as of that evening.

The worst of it was being locked out of our room upon check in by the housekeeper who was in the adjoining room and not anwering our knocks. That's not the best part. The best part was being lied to and insulted by the woman at the front desk when I went back to have this situation corrected.

We realize that sometimes these things happen and we are really very tolerant people but to have a long list like this is unusual, inconvenient, and, in my opinion, just not acceptable for a Disney Resort.

 

[cgcw]

We spent a week at HH in July. While we had some problems with our villa (a very leaky shower and some very dirty carpet) it seemed like the staff bent over backwards to fix the problems and gave us a VERY nice credits towards our expenses (a free dolphin tour for the 4 of us $120). The manager of the resort called us a couple of times wanting to move us to a different unit -- we did not want to move. The supervisor of engineering came back and redid the job on the shower while we were out because he didn't like the way the two other people fixed it. Yes, we had problems but I feel a need to respond that the staff at HH went out of their way to correct the problems and make it a pleasant stay for us. I just wanted to post our experience with the resorts staff and their approach to our problems.

 

[JudithM]

I know from talking to DVC CMs that the maintenance CMs try to get info from housekeeping regarding the mechanical condition of the rooms. Remember that housekeeping's primary job is to clean not inspect for things like appliance operation. Ultimately the best feedback maintenance will receive is from members & guests.

Personally I am more tolerant of burnt out light bulbs & toasters not working than the helium balloon issue. To me the non-delivery of the balloons & card shows problems I see in the company overall where the magic is suffering.

I have not always walked into the perfect DVC room either . In May we stopped for a night at Hilton Head. The TV remote was missing. A call to engineering brought a CM to our rescue!

On the same trip we were in two other one-bedroom units at OKW before we finally settled in. Yes, we missed out on going back to any park in the evening on the day of check-in, but I did not let it ruin my vacation.

I encourage anyone having problems to get in touch with DVC management & let your concerns be known while there.

 

[Haunted Mansion MaMa]

Yes, I must agree with you in that our complaints were all handled in a very timely and friendly manner. I do not have any complaints with the staff other than the one person at the front desk as I mentioned. However, no attempts were made at "making it up" to us. There was no offer or attempt at compensation of any type. This is what I would expect from a Disney Resort and felt was sorely lacking. Like I said, you can sometimes expect things to go wrong but acknowledgment of our inconvenience would have made us very happy.

 

[JudithM]

Keep in mind that any compensation a member receives at a DVC resort ultimately comes out of our dues. Yes, if I had been at a non-DVC resort rather than OKW in May, I might have expected compensation, like maybe dinner, since it ruined my late afternoon/evening. However, I quickly realized that any compensation would be coming from my dues . My pocketbook snapped shut !!

 

[adamak]

Sorry your stay was not up to par.

From last last stay in HH, I agree that the fridge was not cold enough. We don't have much food, so we didnt' complain. I'm sure someone else would have experienced that. Also the kitchen area is kinda dirty. We end up washing all the dishes before we use it.

I also understand the frustration. Even if things are handled in a timely fashion, is that acceptable? Sure the staff are not to be blamed for the overflow toilet, but I do believe, after so many glitches, guests should at least be compensated. Even if it's an apology from the Manager.

 

[JudithM]

"...you can sometimes expect things to go wrong but acknowledgment of our inconvenience would have made us very happy."

I just reread your note & the above statement is so very true. Now that I think of it perhaps because both housekeeping & engineering were willing to work so hard on the problem in room #2 & the front desk helped so much on the other issues, that I didn't feel so unhappy. They at least acknowledged that yes the issues were problems/concerns to me as the guest/member.

 

[Haunted Mansion MaMa]

A phone call of apology from management was all that was needed. As someone mentioned, the "magic" was missing which is what we have come to expect from Disney and sorely missed this trip.

 

[canda]

I am sorry you did not get you balloons. It must also have been before 4:00 before getting your room. We get locked out before 4 all the time. Some days you get lucky to get in early. Lightbulbs and toasters go out all the time. There are two pools there to swim in, and the underground is full most of the time anyway forcing 90% of the guest to park outside. I always find a nice shady spot. I hope they don't give too many dolphin cruises away because of little things, because that will make MY Dues go up. It does not sound like it just HHI resort that made your kids trip bad. Sorry you had a bad week. We all get those from time to time. Just look forward to the next time you come and don't let little things ruin your vacation.

 

[SlyHubby]

Originally posted by Haunted Mansion MaMa
A phone call of apology from management was all that was needed. As someone mentioned, the "magic" was missing which is what we have come to expect from Disney and sorely missed this trip.

Agreed! What it boils down to is that HH is simply not Disney. It may be a DVC resort, but it is not Disney.

 

[SlyHubby]

Originally posted by JudithM
Keep in mind that any compensation a member receives at a DVC resort ultimately comes out of our dues. Yes, if I had been at a non-DVC resort rather than OKW in May, I might have expected compensation, like maybe dinner, since it ruined my late afternoon/evening. However, I quickly realized that any compensation would be coming from my dues . My pocketbook snapped shut !!

I have to disagree with that sentiment.

Does where you use your points differentiate them? Not in my mind - the points that take me to OKW are just as "valuable" as the points used for any other property and I expect that I will get a certain "satisfaction" out of their use regardless if it is my home resort or not. When something goes wrong with someone's trip specifically because of the resort, then they are entitled to compensation in my mind. Forget this "it's coming out of my pocket" - it already came out of your pocket and you are entitled to the best the resort has to offer. If the resort messed up, then it's all the owner's problem from that resort, because the fees already paid did not prevent the problem from happening and if someone suffered as a result, then they are entitled to compensation to right the situation - whether that compensation comes in the form of a free dinner or a simple apology.

Let's take a simpler example. You are a shareholder in McDonald's. You take your family to McDonald's and order a meal that they screw up. Do you expect that they are going to give you the meal for free or fix the order, or are you going to let it slide because you are a shareholder and ultimately fixing the order will result in less profit (more expenses) for McDonald's? It's no different.