Housekeeping and Check In

[ccbloom]

I have a theory.

It starts with "m" and rhymes with "tasks".

And don't forget that the cultural representative program is still suspended because the State department isn't issuing those types of visas due to COVID. This is felt most acutely in Epcot's World Showcase, but also at Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Loge, where many of those excellent cast members were cultural representatives from Africa.

Yes, all of the above. I agree there is a lot going on that contributes to this. I’m not sure what the difference is between last January and this January, though, since all of those things were factors then, too.

And because of one of those things, many have had to take on roles of patrol vs greeters.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I'll note that daily trash and towel gives advance warning which villas are going to be brutal to turn over.

Slobs are quickly obvious during T&T.

 

[wnielsen1]

Does this mean check out just begins at 11? They should be consistent with their rules.

I think some guests think that's what it means! Which also contributes to the rooms not being ready.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'll note that daily trash and towel gives advance warning which villas are going to be brutal to turn over.

Slobs are quickly obvious during T&T.

Interesting! Do they actually document this, or just make mental notes?

 

[Sandisw]

Check-in wasn't late.

Remember, check-in STARTS at 4:00. 4:00 is not a deadline for your room to be ready.

People should expect that rooms be ready around 4:00 pm because technically checkin is done by most online anyway.

I get there could be times when it’s a few minutes late, but anything more than 15 to 20 minutes should be few and far between and more than 30 should receive a token gift for the late room.

 

[McCrae]

We are currently staying at Old Key West and I was curious about the recent experiences others have had.

Both here and Saratoga, our check in was 1.5 to 2 hours late.

Every single day we have had someone stop by for trash and towels and literally insist on taking stuff from us even though we didn't need it.

They should really focus more on turning around the rooms instead of providing service we aren't supposed to get and more importantly we don't need. This would likely help them prepare rooms on time, which is really more important.


On a side note, the pull out at OKW is terrible still! For a premium product, we really need to do better or provide another bed!

The issues you have are just part of how DVC operates. I like the daily towels/trash service and I am glad they check rooms on a daily basis. These are unlikely to change. If you are not happy why don’t you just sell. It doesn’t sound like DVC is a good fit for you.

 

[New Mouse]

The issues you have are just part of how DVC operates. I like the daily towels/trash service and I am glad they check rooms on a daily basis. These are unlikely to change. If you are not happy why don’t you just sell. It doesn’t sound like DVC is a good fit for you.

DVC operates on their own schedule and can't meet their own self imposed deadlines? That was not advertised on my DVC tour.

 

[Vulnox]

I can see the check in being more of an issue if it wasn't for how easy your life remains if you just go, "No problem, I will leave our luggage with bell services and go to dinner". Then come back and boom, room ready. This is such an odd thing in my view to get this upset about at Disney World of all places. Maybe if I was on a 14 hour drive and finally stopped to get some sleep, sure, not even dinner may be on my mind. But for the most part it probably isn't that critical. As others said, I doubt the trash pickups are holding things up. They most likely have a portion of the cleaning staff dedicated to room turn over and another dedicated to trash check, and it's probably an 80/20 split (with 80% on room turnover). I have had rooms be late before outside of Disney, so it being DVC I don't even think is key. It's just a fact of life that things don't always fit the plan exactly. I am sure there are delays with cash rooms as well, so leaving DVC won't resolve anything with certainty.

Not saying that to excuse anything, but I haven't yet heard of a service or product that doesn't at times have hiccups. It's one thing if it were every time, but it doesn't seem to be something people complain about all the time.

 

[Sandisw]

I can see the check in being more of an issue if it wasn't for how easy your life remains if you just go, "No problem, I will leave our luggage with bell services and go to dinner". Then come back and boom, room ready. This is such an odd thing in my view to get this upset about at Disney World of all places. Maybe if I was on a 14 hour drive and finally stopped to get some sleep, sure, not even dinner may be on my mind. But for the most part it probably isn't that critical. As others said, I doubt the trash pickups are holding things up. They most likely have a portion of the cleaning staff dedicated to room turn over and another dedicated to trash check, and it's probably an 80/20 split (with 80% on room turnover). I have had rooms be late before outside of Disney, so it being DVC I don't even think is key. It's just a fact of life that things don't always fit the plan exactly. I am sure there are delays with cash rooms as well, so leaving DVC won't resolve anything with certainty.

Not saying that to excuse anything, but I haven't yet heard of a service or product that doesn't at times have hiccups. It's one thing if it were every time, but it doesn't seem to be something people complain about all the time.

There are a lot of reports of people having had to wait more than an hour for a room.

Not easy to say just go to dinner when you don’t have a place to get ready. We stopped making reservations for the first night because of a late room issue once.

We had 6:30 pm ones at Ohana for our group of 7 and had been at the park all day after arriving at 10:00 am. It was after 5:30 and still no room. I spoke to the manager because we had planned to get cleaned up…this was in August..and ready.

He comped our meal for us because we didn’t get the room until 5:45 pm. Fortunately, it was BLT, so we got ready as quick as we could. Thr first ones done went on ahead to let Poly know why the rest might be delayed.

 

[TinkB278]

On my last trip in September our rooms at riviera and Polynesian were both ready over an hour late. For riviera it was 5:30 and we had been in the park all day and were exhausted and had been waiting around the resort since 4 because I figured our room would be ready shortly. I finally went to the front desk to ask when we could expect our room would be ready, the CM seemed shocked and looked at his tablet and said we “must’ve slipped through the cracks”.

I just wish there was more reliability on their behalf, especially since we have a toddler.

 

[Vulnox]

There are a lot of reports of people having had to wait more than an hour for a room.

Not easy to say just go to dinner when you don’t have a place to get ready. We stopped making reservations for the first night because of a late room issue once.

We had 6:30 pm ones at Ohana for our group of 7 and had been at the park all day after arriving at 10:00 am. It was after 5:30 and still no room. I spoke to the manager because we had planned to get cleaned up…this was in August..and ready.

He comped our meal for us because we didn’t get the room until 5:45 pm. Fortunately, it was BLT, so we got ready as quick as we could. Thr first ones done went on ahead to let Poly know why the rest might be delayed.

Yeah, my view on it is probably based too much on my own experiences with Disney. Usually we are coming in from a flight and too late to go to parks first. We generally plan to be walking around and usually start our time at Disney Springs checking out shops and that before worrying about the hotel room. We will see in our trip next week how I feel after since we are staying in a different room (and resort for the most part) each night. I imagine if after our day at the park and we arrive at AKV if the room isn't ready I may be lighting a nearby torch as well.

 

[TinkB278]

Yeah, my view on it is probably based too much on my own experiences with Disney. Usually we are coming in from a flight and too late to go to parks first. We generally plan to be walking around and usually start our time at Disney Springs checking out shops and that before worrying about the hotel room. We will see in our trip next week how I feel after since we are staying in a different room (and resort for the most part) each night. I imagine if after our day at the park and we arrive at AKV if the room isn't ready I may be lighting a nearby torch as well.

When doing split stays is when I’ve felt the most inconvenienced by not having a room at check in time. It’s just hard when you’ve been in the heat and crowds all day and are ready for a minute to cool down and decompress but there’s nowhere to go. I’ve found this bothers me even more during Covid times when sometimes I feel a bit freaked out by crowds.

 

[Her Dotness]

I guess we ought to have felt significantly inconvenienced the year we were doing the Halloween party and needed to change into costumes before our room was ready.

I simply trotted over to the bell desk at VGF's entrance and asked to get the bag containing our costumes from the storage area.

We changed in the restrooms off the lobby. It wasn't as comfy as changing in the villa would have been but worked.

It's DVC, not a full-service hotel. As in our own homes, sometimes things aren't as we'd rather, so we make do and get past the momentary inconvenience. That's our philosophy, anyway.

 

[New Mouse]

It's DVC, not a full-service hotel. As in our own homes, sometimes things aren't as we'd rather, so we make do and get past the momentary inconvenience. That's our philosophy, anyway.

It should actually be staffed better than and before a full service hotel in this regard. It's what our dues pay for. They know what occupancy will be months in advance.

 

[Vulnox]

It should actually be staffed better than and before a full service hotel in this regard. It's what our dues pay for. They know what occupancy will be months in advance.

This I do agree with. We are part of DVC to stay in deluxe accommodations, and while there is an aspect of that which is less deluxe in the less frequent Mousekeeping visits, that is a known when you buy in. It shouldn't be the expectation that things are late. And them doing fewer mousekeeping visits for whole room cleaning should be freeing up time to do the room turnover cleaning.

All that said, staffing is difficult now as has been covered a few dozen times. I don't think it's happening out of malice. My only stance on it is to expect it to never happen would be unreasonable. It should never be the norm, though, or they need to just change the check in times.

This whole thread did remind me to do my check ins for the other nights we have next week and it does say check in starts at 4PM, and I don't see them mention much on room readiness. But it's a fair expectation that it be ready at check in the same as they expect you to have that door closed and your stuff out at check out. So probably doesn't need to be said that it should be ready on time.

 

[Pooh12863]

I plan on having my room by 8 pm and plan my day accordingly, I’ve yet to be disappointed.

 

[McCrae]

DVC operates on their own schedule and can't meet their own self imposed deadlines? That was not advertised on my DVC tour.

The things you complain about are relatively trivial in the grand scheme of things. Disney is supposed to be fun. If it is a big deal for you, you have a get out.

 

[JamesWinston]

Check-in wasn't late.

Remember, check-in STARTS at 4:00. 4:00 is not a deadline for your room to be ready.

Please stop representing your opinion as fact. Many of us aren’t 15 years old and have stayed in hundreds of hotels over decades and know how it works. Check in and check out times aren’t suggestions.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Please stop representing your opinion as fact. Many of us aren’t 15 years old and have stayed in hundreds of hotels over decades and know how it works. Check in and check out times aren’t suggestions.

Good talk.

DVC isn't a hotel.

 

[New Mouse]

The things you complain about are relatively trivial in the grand scheme of things. Disney is supposed to be fun. If it is a big deal for you, you have a get out.

It is but between this, the IT fiasco beforehand, the IT fiasco during (this trip), the service provider actually needs to help create that fun.

At some point you need to throw your hands up and say "I paid a lot of money for what you are advertising as deluxe (hotel) accommodations. Fix it."