Horrible Horrible Wyndam Palms!!!!!

[truescorp]

I just got back from Wyndham Palms and have a really bad experience to share. Our bags were stolen right outside our door!!!! Part of it was our fault obviously, for leaving them out there, but they were outside for literally 20 minutes max and we came back and they were gone. This was around 8am on the morning of Sunday, Oct 26th, if anyone was there. The bad thing, and why I say "horrible WYndham Palms" in my subject is that at that time of morning, all the resort guest cars were in their spaces, and when we came back to look for the bags, those cars were still there. The only people out, were the workers at the resort. Of course crime can happen anywhere, I know that, but it was also the lackadaisical attitude of the staff when we told them what happened. We checkd with security every day after that(4 days), checked with the grounds person, anyone riding by on a golf cart, everything. My girlfriend told me when I came back, that I should've had them review security tapes. I never thought of that, but why wouldn't the Wyndham have suggested that? It almost ruined our vacation, but thank God our park tickets were in our fanny packs, so we pressed on. Believe me, once I can write a coherent complaint letter, I will be writing the Palms management. This is a 5 star resort, and I just expected better.

 

[Tigger Woods]

Sorry to hear about your experience. My uncle had one of his bags stolen at, of all places, the Grand Floridian. He was checking in and left his bags just a few feet behind him. When he went to retrieve them, his carry on bag was missing. It contained, among other things, his mini-dvd player (worth $600.00 at the time). Security was called, but the bag was long gone, and there was nothing the hotel could do.

 

[truescorp]

Not at the Grand Floridian! That puts things in perspective huh? The big thing is, were they at all sympathetic to his plight or did they act like they didnt care? With Disney property I have to believe they were more helpful than WYndham Palms.

 

[tink2dw]

WOW I'm sorry your bags were stolen!! I hope you didn't lose anything expensive ie camera.

I wouldn't have left my bags unattended anywhere!![We have to lock up everything!!! We keep Dd bike in the mud room] But they regularly have reports here about how easy it is to have
someone steal a bag even when you are only distracted for an instant!!

I hope you bought lots of Disney clothes, at the 3 disney Outlets!!

 

[Tesabat]

Oh - that's awful! Last year we had someone take our large suitcase from the baggage check at Southwest. There was a bag left that wasn't ours, so we knew it was likely that someone had just taken the wrong bag. After 5 days without getting the bag back, we did begin to think we'd never see our stuff again. It's a HORRIBLE feeling to lose your luggage... In our situation, Southwest was wonderful. They ended up having to go to great lengths to get our bag back from a very uncooperative woman, who was just too busy to be bothered to correct her mistake. SW also gave us a nice voucher to compensate - which I thought was very nice considering they weren't really at fault.

Even though the Wyndham was under no obligation to compensate...they could have at least been compassionate to your situation.

 

[ncbyrne]

We stayed at the Wyndham for 8 nights last year. It was ok, but I will never return. We also found the staff to be anything but cooperative. UNLESS of course, you are interested in purchasing the time share!

 

[Beejayjay]

That's an awful thing to happen on your vacation, and I do sympathise, but equally I have to say you were asking for trouble leaving your bags unattended for even a few minutes, let alone 20 !

Just because a place is nice and costs a lot to stay at, doesn't mean everyone there is a better class of person and so above theft ! Plenty of wealthy scumbags about.

It's a shame you cant be more relaxed about things like this, but thats the reality of it, and you have to be careful.

And as much as I agree the attitude of the resort staff sounds like it could have been better for sure, at the end of the day, they didnt leave their stuff in a situation where it could be stolen, and they can't be responsible for the actions of their guests.

 

[truescorp]

I fully accept the consequences of being forgetful. I knew I'd get posts from people who would slam me for that. And in retrospect, I'm now reading more about Orlando's general high crime rate, and had I known that before I left, maybe things would've turned out different. I truly am relaxed about it now, and I see a lesson in everything in life.
And ss the person who posted before you agreed with me on never returning to Wyndham Palms, thank you! That point is really all I was trying to make. Just as people post on here to recommend places due to their great experiences, I posted my bad experience to let some folks know the downside. And it wasn't only the attitude after the theft. We had broken light bulbs, bathrooms with no toilet paper, a lizard in the room, I could go on and on, but I won't be nit picky about it. I just know what I know now and will move on.
Thanks for your replies!

 

[WDWisTheBest]

I won't slam you for being forgetful, because most of us are either forgetful or unattentive from time to time. This could have happened to anyone.

I am surprised though that you are "now reading more about Orlando's general high crime rate.". For a large city, I have not read that Orlando is any higher in theft rate than any other city its size. Of course, with so many tourists and transient people in the theme park areas, there are possibilities of thefts and they do happen. But, are you sure that the theft rates are any higher than normal? Perhaps you are right, but is there really a high theft rate in Orlando?

Again, like others, I am very sorry that this happened to you and that your stay at the Wyndhan Palms was marred by the theft.

Did the staff refuse to replace the burned out light bulbs or refuse to replenish toilet paper? Or, were they slow in response ? That would be a fault of the maintenance crew and you are very correct in complaining about that.

Now, about the "lizard" in the room. If it is what I think it is, it is a "gecko". They are omnipresent, present no real problems and actually help to keep down pests. They are very skittish and generally don't show up when people are around. But, perhaps you did have a lizard and not a gecko in the suite.

I do hope your stay in the area was good in spite of the theft, which was certainly traumatic.

 

[magicmouse2]

Did you have daily maid service at Wyndham Palms ?

 

[Beejayjay]

True,

I wasnt trying to 'slam' you, if it came over that way, myapologies.

I stand by my assertion that you certainly didn't help yourself by leaving your bags unattened for so long however - I guess it's a lesson hard learned now.

Your post title at first impression gave the suggestion that all that went wrong was due to a failure on behalf of the staff at The Wyndham - I'm sure you'd agree that's not so.

And as WDW said, if you're room was badly maintained, you had every right to feel disappointed and to have complained to the management, and I hope you did/do so - these things will never improve unless the customer complains.

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by truescorp
I, all the resort guest cars were in their spaces, and when we came back to look for the bags, those cars were still there. The only people out, were the workers at the resort. .

Twenty minutes is a long time. It's certainly possible (as you imply) that the bags were stolen by an employee. It's also possible the bags were stolen by another guest who just moved the "abandoned" bags to their room. It's also possible in the 20 minutes a thief was dropped off, picked up whatever wasn't nailed down and then got back into the car.

I think your post is a good warning to keep your eye on your property but I'm not sure it's fair to make it a specific indictment of a particular property.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I am confused. Is it the Wyndham Palms and Country Club that you were staying at? I stayed there this summer and it was really nice and the staff was very attentive. I think there is another Wyndham Palms and maybe that is the one you were in. I trust no one. We did not have maid service and it was great. I hate to have someone come in and be in my room and make my bed if they are a stranger. The thing is, if something were missing from my room it would have to at that point boil down to staff since they have a pass key. And were not suposed to be in the room. I know eveyone says it is grate having house keeping but really it was very little trouble especially since I saw so many bad things about Orlando and housekeeping staff on shows like Datelie and 20/20. I lock everything in the safe but I still hate to hear stories like yours.

 

[J&D]

Our bags were stolen right outside our door!!!! Part of it was our fault obviously, for leaving them out there, but they were outside for literally 20 minutes max and we came back and they were gone. This was around 8am on the morning of Sunday, Oct 26th

If you are talking about the Wyndham Palms Resort & Country Club, I know that they have daily garbage pickup in the morning. We were told to place our garbage outside our door in the mornings for pickup. Perhaps (just an idea) it was mistakenly picked up as garbage since you left them outside of your door in the morning.

Sorry for your loss and bad experience. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Wyndham Palms Resort & Country Club.

 

[truescorp]

Could be, but I doubt it very seriously. I'm glad you had a good visit. I love the fact that everyone on this board has a chance to let everyone know their experiences, good and bad. I can say I had a much better visit at Cypress Point 2 yrs ago, and I'm sure there are some who have posted that their stay was not so good. I just think that broken light bulbs aside, stolen bags aside, putting away every little petty thing I could've found wrong with my stay, customer service is the bottom line. That goes from hotel management to the housekeepers to the garbage pick up people.

 

[Lisa P.]

Theft is such a headache when traveling. Did you complete a police report?

A friend recently had his laptop computer stolen while he passed through security at a small regional airport. He put it on the xray scanner conveyor belt, then something alarmed as he himself passed through the gate. So he had to be scanned manually with a handheld unit. When he stepped over to the pickup side of the xray belt, his laptop bag was gone. Just like that! About a half dozen people had passed through security and one of them took his laptop bag.

This was the 3rd time this has happened to him (he travels constantly on business). But the previous 2 times were at large international airports. Now, even at a local airport, it was stolen! The airport's security tapes verified that he had had the bag and had placed it on the xray belt. But the cameras did not cover the pickup side of the belt so there was nothing to prove who had taken it.
What a headache to lose (and have to replace) your things away from home!

 

[Robinrs]

Yikes, what a horrible experience.

I agree, did you file a police report? Not that that changes anything but at least it would be on record.

I think the attitude of the staff was inexcusable and I'd write to the company about it.

Again, I'm so sorry this happened to you.

 

[Jane E.]

First of all, I'm very sorry for your loss. That would be very upsetting. My parents had the same exact thing happen on a trip many years ago. My dad told my mom to put the suitcases outside of their room while he went to gas up the car. When he came back the suitcases were gone. It turned out that there was a bus tour on the trip. The bus driver had instructed all of his group to set their suitcases outside their rooms and he'd load'em up. Sure enough my parents suitcases ended up on that bus. By the time they figured out what happened with hotel management the suitcases were long gone. They ended up having to buy new stuff.

 

[wdisneelvr]

truescorp-

I'm sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience.

What exactly did the Wyndhams Palms Resort & Country Club say to you?

Did you want to be compensated in some way?

Other than checking with security/lost & found everyday what did you expect to happen?

You mentioned that guest services wasn't responding the way you would have liked.

I have had a few things stolen in all areas of travel, and those items were taken because of my mistake, not the hotel or store or restaurant I was at. I was careless or forgetful. We all have to be careful, and I have learned my lesson as well.