Interesting housekeeping experience at Kidani....

[goofy4tink]

We moved over from BWVs to Kidani last Friday morning...our friends really wanted to 'see the animals'. So, we drove over and got to Kidani at about 8:45am. Checked in, and the CM looked to see if our villa was ready yet..nope. But said they would text us when it was ready. No problem...we headed off to a park. At about 2pm, we started getting pooped and wanted to head back and relax for a bit before heading out to dinner at Brown Derby, but no text had shown. My battery was pretty low and was telling me to connect it and charge...so figured that might have had something to do with it.
We got back to Kidani at about 3:30. Now, I am very well aware of what time checkin is....but still figured our one bedroom would be ready after checking in before 9am!! But no...it wasn't ready. The CM told us that it was in the process of being cleaned and it could be up to 90 mins before it was done. I was a bit put out and said...'So, it could be after 5pm before I get into my room, after checking in at 8:45am??? Seriously??' I found it hard to believe that all those other guests who had booked one bedroom savannah view villas were roomless as well. Especially for a Friday to Sunday stay....most of us avoid those weekend nights. The CM said there was no way of knowing when the housekeeper had started the room so it could be 10mins or 90 mins...no way to know. I went off in search of an outlet to charge my phone. About 2 mins into my charging, a text came across saying our room was ready. We got villa 7826, so off we went, bags in hand. We got up to the room, and lo and behold, there was a card hanging out of the key slot saying that the room was being serviced, sorry for any inconvenience. I had never seen that before, so really didn't know what to do. My dh knocked on the door, no answer. So, he took the card out of the slot, stuck in the room key and went in, loudly saying..'Hello.....hello.'' Lo and behold, there was the housekeeper, who jumped up off the sofa. She had the TV on. Dh apologized for interrupting her. She said no problem, she was almost done. Then....she said, and I quote....'It's almost quitting time, so I'm just hanging around here until it's time to go home.' Seriously??? Did you really just say that to a guest??? Then she turned off the TV, took her duster off the floor, by the sofa, and left. Now, there were dirty napkins and tissues on the floor, beside the bed, creamer containers beside the end table by the sofa. The toilet didn't flush.
So....what did we do??? I stopped at the front desk that night, after dinner. It was crazy busy when we left the room so figured I would stop on the way back. I told the CM at the front desk what had happened. He says...'So, what you're saying is that your room wasn't properly cleaned for you upon arrival?' Ah, yes, in addition to the fact that while our housekeeper said our room was ready, she continued to sit around in it, watching tv until her shift ended and left dirty stuff all over the room..yeah, that's what I'm saying. When I said that the thing that bothered me most were her comments about hanging out there, he just apologized and took my name and room number and asked if I wanted to speak to a manager. I said no, I just wanted it put on record that this housekeeper was out of line.

I mean, really, if she had cleaned the toilet, wouldn't she have realized it didn't flush??? And shouldn't that have warrented a call to maintainence rather than having the guest do it??
Other than that, our stay was terrific.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Did you at least take down the housekeeper's name???? If so, I'd be sending an email RIGHT NOW to member satisfaction and give names of both the lazy housekeeper AND the front desk person who took it so lightly. The time to complain is NOW while it's happening. Oh, and you SHOULD have talked to the manager.

 

[bobbiwoz]

That's a pretty big "other than that, it was a great stay!" What a terrible way to begin a stay.

Was it a good view of the savannah? In the end, that's why I book at AKV, to see the animals.

Bobbi

 

[goofy4tink]

That's a pretty big "other than that, it was a great stay!" What a terrible way to begin a stay.

Was it a good view of the savannah? In the end, that's why I book at AKV, to see the animals.

Bobbi

It was a very nice view. On the Sunset Savannah...lots of cattle, zebra and giraffe hanging out, eating. Very happy with the view.

 

[tjkraz]

Regarding the room assignment, rooms are often pre-assigned based upon guest requests and other factors. So it really isn't any surprise that the room wasn't ready. At the very latest, when you arrived at the front desk a room was attached to your reservation and you wouldn't get the page until that room had been serviced. Your early arrival has no bearing on where it falls int he queue.

As for the situation with the housekeeper, big time bummer.

Clearly she was in the wrong. Unfortunately even Disney's screening process can't weed out these sorts of people entirely. And since there's a union involved, it can take time for reports to pile up against those who are not performing.

It wouldn't have hurt to speak with a manager. Front-line employees have a way of covering for one-another. Your comments probably didn't get any further than the person you spoke to at the front desk.

Best thing you can do now is follow-up in writing. Strictly my opinion but I would omit everything about the room assignment process and focus on the housekeeping issues. That's the real problem you want to address. As they say in the newspaper business...don't bury the lead. The condition of the room and the attitude of the housekeeper is the real story here. Summarize that in 6-8 sentences and include as many details as possible (date, room number, names if known.)

 

[goofy4tink]

Did you at least take down the housekeeper's name???? If so, I'd be sending an email RIGHT NOW to member satisfaction and give names of both the lazy housekeeper AND the front desk person who took it so lightly. The time to complain is NOW while it's happening. Oh, and you SHOULD have talked to the manager.

Regarding the room assignment, rooms are often pre-assigned based upon guest requests and other factors. So it really isn't any surprise that the room wasn't ready. At the very latest, when you arrived at the front desk a room was attached to your reservation and you wouldn't get the page until that room had been serviced. Your early arrival has no bearing on where it falls int he queue.

As for the situation with the housekeeper, big time bummer.

Clearly she was in the wrong. Unfortunately even Disney's screening process can't weed out these sorts of people entirely. And since there's a union involved, it can take time for reports to pile up against those who are not performing.

It wouldn't have hurt to speak with a manager. Front-line employees have a way of covering for one-another. Your comments probably didn't get any further than the person you spoke to at the front desk.

Best thing you can do now is follow-up in writing. Strictly my opinion but I would omit everything about the room assignment process and focus on the housekeeping issues. That's the real problem you want to address. As they say in the newspaper business...don't bury the lead. The condition of the room and the attitude of the housekeeper is the real story here. Summarize that in 6-8 sentences and include as many details as possible (date, room number, names if known.)

It was late when we returned to the resort...I was exhausted and didn't really want to sit around and wait for the manager. The CM told me I could talk to the manager and it would only take a bit for him to get to the front desk..so, no, not waiting.
And I do understand how the rooms are assigned. It gets tiring to read here that we, the guests, don't understand how it all works. I do understand. I get it, I truly do. I figure that if my only request is a savannah view villa, that I had booked, it isn't a stretch to think it may possibly be ready before the 4:00 official time we can expect rooms to be ready. But, that wasn't my point in stating the long wait time. My point was that I checked in at 8:30ish, and my villa was the very last one that this housekeeper serviced.
My point was the lack of good service I got...everything leading up to that is pretty much superfluous info...just adding to the reason for my discontent.
As soon as I can remember where I put the email address for member satisfaction, I will be sending out an email. I figured that my comments at the front desk pretty much went unheeded as soon as I left.

So, yes, my email won't be 'burying the lead'...it will contain only pertinent info.

 

[Brandis]

This sounds almost like what happened to us in October 2010 at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge, though we didn't have much of a wait and in the end we got a better room location.

We arrived around 7PM directly from the airport, I did online check-in and they had everything ready and even my request for a room close to the elevators was granted.

So we went to the room (a 2 BR villa) and the door was blocked by a housekeeping cart. I pushed it aside (those things are heavy) and opened the door. 2 housekeepers were sitting at the dining room table, bowls in front of them, apparently they were having dinner. I was so surprised that I just stood there for a moment, then I said "Hello". In the meantime, a third housekeeper walked out of the kitchen area to the table, also a bowl in hand, looked at me and just said "Room not ready". I said "OK" and closed the door.

I told my travel companions to have a seat at the fireplace in the Villa lobby and went back to the front desk and said that housekeeping was still in the room. The front desk CM was a bit surprised and said that usually housekeeping didn't work that late and then went into the backoffice to make some calls. When she came back she said she had another room for us but that there were no more 2BR villas near the elevator and if I still would like to take it or wait for the first room to be finished.

As we had a restaurant reservation later and wanted to freshen ourselves up a bit before, I took the other room. That one was done and in good condition and while it was almost all the way to the end of the longer hallway we had a nice view of the woods and even could see the lake. The first room would have been facing the bus stop. So I think in the end we were lucky to get a room change.

 

[LSchrow]

wow... it amazes me how often guests find MKing in the room, watching TV, eating, etc. and to actually state she was just hanging out in the room you were waiting for until quitting time, while the room was left uncleaned???!!! just wow
i know they have to call in when they finish a room, but am curious if anyone knows the amount of time they are allotted to clean, say... a 1bdrm villa (since they are the most numerous - we can get a pretty good idea of the time for the other size units that way).
geez, i wish i had time to sit down for a snack and TV show at my job

glad to hear you had a good time, tink - how was the weather last week? (we left tuesday night, just as the rain was starting)

 

[dzorn]

We moved over from BWVs to Kidani last Friday morning...our friends really wanted to 'see the animals'. So, we drove over and got to Kidani at about 8:45am. Checked in, and the CM looked to see if our villa was ready yet..nope. But said they would text us when it was ready. No problem...we headed off to a park. At about 2pm, we started getting pooped and wanted to head back and relax for a bit before heading out to dinner at Brown Derby, but no text had shown. My battery was pretty low and was telling me to connect it and charge...so figured that might have had something to do with it.
We got back to Kidani at about 3:30. Now, I am very well aware of what time checkin is....but still figured our one bedroom would be ready after checking in before 9am!! But no...it wasn't ready. The CM told us that it was in the process of being cleaned and it could be up to 90 mins before it was done. I was a bit put out and said...'So, it could be after 5pm before I get into my room, after checking in at 8:45am??? Seriously??' I found it hard to believe that all those other guests who had booked one bedroom savannah view villas were roomless as well. Especially for a Friday to Sunday stay....most of us avoid those weekend nights. The CM said there was no way of knowing when the housekeeper had started the room so it could be 10mins or 90 mins...no way to know. I went off in search of an outlet to charge my phone. About 2 mins into my charging, a text came across saying our room was ready. We got villa 7826, so off we went, bags in hand. We got up to the room, and lo and behold, there was a card hanging out of the key slot saying that the room was being serviced, sorry for any inconvenience. I had never seen that before, so really didn't know what to do. My dh knocked on the door, no answer. So, he took the card out of the slot, stuck in the room key and went in, loudly saying..'Hello.....hello.'' Lo and behold, there was the housekeeper, who jumped up off the sofa. She had the TV on. Dh apologized for interrupting her. She said no problem, she was almost done. Then....she said, and I quote....'It's almost quitting time, so I'm just hanging around here until it's time to go home.' Seriously??? Did you really just say that to a guest??? Then she turned off the TV, took her duster off the floor, by the sofa, and left. Now, there were dirty napkins and tissues on the floor, beside the bed, creamer containers beside the end table by the sofa. The toilet didn't flush.
So....what did we do??? I stopped at the front desk that night, after dinner. It was crazy busy when we left the room so figured I would stop on the way back. I told the CM at the front desk what had happened. He says...'So, what you're saying is that your room wasn't properly cleaned for you upon arrival?' Ah, yes, in addition to the fact that while our housekeeper said our room was ready, she continued to sit around in it, watching tv until her shift ended and left dirty stuff all over the room..yeah, that's what I'm saying. When I said that the thing that bothered me most were her comments about hanging out there, he just apologized and took my name and room number and asked if I wanted to speak to a manager. I said no, I just wanted it put on record that this housekeeper was out of line.

I mean, really, if she had cleaned the toilet, wouldn't she have realized it didn't flush??? And shouldn't that have warrented a call to maintainence rather than having the guest do it??
Other than that, our stay was terrific.

I would have said yes. That is totally unacceptable.

Denise in MI

 

[dzorn]

This sounds almost like what happened to us in October 2010 at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge, though we didn't have much of a wait and in the end we got a better room location.

We arrived around 7PM directly from the airport, I did online check-in and they had everything ready and even my request for a room close to the elevators was granted.

So we went to the room (a 2 BR villa) and the door was blocked by a housekeeping cart. I pushed it aside (those things are heavy) and opened the door. 2 housekeepers were sitting at the dining room table, bowls in front of them, apparently they were having dinner. I was so surprised that I just stood there for a moment, then I said "Hello". In the meantime, a third housekeeper walked out of the kitchen area to the table, also a bowl in hand, looked at me and just said "Room not ready". I said "OK" and closed the door.

I told my travel companions to have a seat at the fireplace in the Villa lobby and went back to the front desk and said that housekeeping was still in the room. The front desk CM was a bit surprised and said that usually housekeeping didn't work that late and then went into the backoffice to make some calls. When she came back she said she had another room for us but that there were no more 2BR villas near the elevator and if I still would like to take it or wait for the first room to be finished.

As we had a restaurant reservation later and wanted to freshen ourselves up a bit before, I took the other room. That one was done and in good condition and while it was almost all the way to the end of the longer hallway we had a nice view of the woods and even could see the lake. The first room would have been facing the bus stop. So I think in the end we were lucky to get a room change.

I would not have said the room was not ready I would have said they were using it as a break room and eating their dinner. If I was in a real mood from traveling I would have entered the room and said well with three of you I'll just wait should not take you long to finish.

Denise in MI

 

[jvelasco]

About six years ago at OKW, we checked into our room and found a housekeeper sitting on the couch watching TV. The room was done, so we didn't complain beyond a call to the front desk. Maybe we need to start a thread on these boards devoted to members who walk in on housekeeping watching TV, eating, etc. Unfortunately, it sounds like it would get a lot of activity.

 

[disneynutz]

Here is the link to Member Satisfaction: dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com.

Managers are harder to find these days because many have responsibilities at more than one resort, another Disney cost saving measure. Many CM's don't really seem to care about problems and act like "so what do you expect me to do". We always try to see a Manager face to face with a major problem but sometimes they will tell their people to say that they are not available.

We had almost the same thing happen but it was a Maintenance man watching TV. The guy moved so fast he was a blur leaving the room.

Bill

 

[DonnaL]

We just had a very similar situation happen to us at BWV last Sunday (10/16)...our room WAS ready upon check-in ...right about 4:00 p.m. When we arrived at the room, upon initially walking in, it looked and smelled fresh and clean......until we turned the lights on. There was a huge streak of some sticky substance......looked like some type of Koolaid or iced tea.....right down the door of the frig. And the base of the pedestal sink and toilet in the bathroom was disgusting........again some type of sticky stuff......Koolaid or juice.......looked like maybe had spilled on floor and splashed all over the bases of the fixtures and wasn't even wiped. Also, the grouting where the shower stall meets the floor tile was gross and moldy looking. The dining table (painted light aqua/green top) had ink/marker scribbles all over the top of it.....I actually tried to get if off with a plastic scrubby thing I always bring with me for kitchen use........wouldn't budge. I can't imagine any parent allowing their child to do something like that. The sofa also left a lot to be desired.....not huge sticky stains....but, stains nonetheless. DH and I immediately called housekeeping and they sent a housekeeping manager up to check it out......she apologized and stated the room would be recleaned and stated she would put a $50 credit on our room account. While we thanked her for that.....it wasn't what we were looking for.....my DH told her that's a one time fix. DVC members pay MF's with the expectation of having a clean room when we check in.....not have to call housekeeping to have the room recleaned. The same goes for maintenance and in the 10 years we have owned DVC we have seen a huge decrease in both housekeeping and maintenance of DVC units.....some resorts more than others. It was very obvious to us that BWV (at least the room we were in) is either in need of a rehab or is simply not being maintained properly and is really showing it's age......so much so that DH told me he's not willing to stay there again. We also witnessed an incident our second day there at a grand villa on our floor (4th)...housekeeping was in the room and another housekeeper came by....the second housekeeper stated to the one in the room...."Oh my God....did you call the Manager about this." Later in the day, when we came by.........there were items from the room sitting outside the door (the portacrib, vacuum, etc) and housekeeping/maintenance were still in the room. I guess I just have a hard time believing that people/guests/DVC members (?) are such slobs......that they would make such a huge mess that would take hours and hours to clean. I do plan to email Member Satisfaction about our experience, especially the fact that while it was very nice of the manager to credit our room account for $50......that is not the answer to what appears to be a huge ongoing problem. I have finally come to realize that while Disney promotes their DVC units as "Deluxe" based upon our recent experiences that is far from the case.

 

[goofy4tink]

wow... it amazes me how often guests find MKing in the room, watching TV, eating, etc. and to actually state she was just hanging out in the room you were waiting for until quitting time, while the room was left uncleaned???!!! just wow
i know they have to call in when they finish a room, but am curious if anyone knows the amount of time they are allotted to clean, say... a 1bdrm villa (since they are the most numerous - we can get a pretty good idea of the time for the other size units that way).
geez, i wish i had time to sit down for a snack and TV show at my job

glad to hear you had a good time, tink - how was the weather last week? (we left tuesday night, just as the rain was starting)

The rain stopped by Wednesday afternoon but it was a bit chilly.

We just had a very similar situation happen to us at BWV last Sunday (10/16)...our room WAS ready upon check-in ...right about 4:00 p.m. When we arrived at the room, upon initially walking in, it looked and smelled fresh and clean......until we turned the lights on. There was a huge streak of some sticky substance......looked like some type of Koolaid or iced tea.....right down the door of the frig. And the base of the pedestal sink and toilet in the bathroom was disgusting........again some type of sticky stuff......Koolaid or juice.......looked like maybe had spilled on floor and splashed all over the bases of the fixtures and wasn't even wiped. Also, the grouting where the shower stall meets the floor tile was gross and moldy looking. The dining table (painted light aqua/green top) had ink/marker scribbles all over the top of it.....I actually tried to get if off with a plastic scrubby thing I always bring with me for kitchen use........wouldn't budge. I can't imagine any parent allowing their child to do something like that. The sofa also left a lot to be desired.....not huge sticky stains....but, stains nonetheless. DH and I immediately called housekeeping and they sent a housekeeping manager up to check it out......she apologized and stated the room would be recleaned and stated she would put a $50 credit on our room account. While we thanked her for that.....it wasn't what we were looking for.....my DH told her that's a one time fix. DVC members pay MF's with the expectation of having a clean room when we check in.....not have to call housekeeping to have the room recleaned. The same goes for maintenance and in the 10 years we have owned DVC we have seen a huge decrease in both housekeeping and maintenance of DVC units.....some resorts more than others. It was very obvious to us that BWV (at least the room we were in) is either in need of a rehab or is simply not being maintained properly and is really showing it's age......so much so that DH told me he's not willing to stay there again. We also witnessed an incident our second day there at a grand villa on our floor (4th)...housekeeping was in the room and another housekeeper came by....the second housekeeper stated to the one in the room...."Oh my God....did you call the Manager about this." Later in the day, when we came by.........there were items from the room sitting outside the door (the portacrib, vacuum, etc) and housekeeping/maintenance were still in the room. I guess I just have a hard time believing that people/guests/DVC members (?) are such slobs......that they would make such a huge mess that would take hours and hours to clean. I do plan to email Member Satisfaction about our experience, especially the fact that while it was very nice of the manager to credit our room account for $50......that is not the answer to what appears to be a huge ongoing problem. I have finally come to realize that while Disney promotes their DVC units as "Deluxe" based upon our recent experiences that is far from the case.

Hey....we checked into BWV on the 16th as well.

 

[disneynutz]

We just had a very similar situation happen to us at BWV last Sunday (10/16)...our room WAS ready upon check-in ...right about 4:00 p.m. When we arrived at the room, upon initially walking in, it looked and smelled fresh and clean......until we turned the lights on. There was a huge streak of some sticky substance......looked like some type of Koolaid or iced tea.....right down the door of the frig. And the base of the pedestal sink and toilet in the bathroom was disgusting........again some type of sticky stuff......Koolaid or juice.......looked like maybe had spilled on floor and splashed all over the bases of the fixtures and wasn't even wiped. Also, the grouting where the shower stall meets the floor tile was gross and moldy looking. The dining table (painted light aqua/green top) had ink/marker scribbles all over the top of it.....I actually tried to get if off with a plastic scrubby thing I always bring with me for kitchen use........wouldn't budge. I can't imagine any parent allowing their child to do something like that. The sofa also left a lot to be desired.....not huge sticky stains....but, stains nonetheless. DH and I immediately called housekeeping and they sent a housekeeping manager up to check it out......she apologized and stated the room would be recleaned and stated she would put a $50 credit on our room account. While we thanked her for that.....it wasn't what we were looking for.....my DH told her that's a one time fix. DVC members pay MF's with the expectation of having a clean room when we check in.....not have to call housekeeping to have the room recleaned. The same goes for maintenance and in the 10 years we have owned DVC we have seen a huge decrease in both housekeeping and maintenance of DVC units.....some resorts more than others. It was very obvious to us that BWV (at least the room we were in) is either in need of a rehab or is simply not being maintained properly and is really showing it's age......so much so that DH told me he's not willing to stay there again. We also witnessed an incident our second day there at a grand villa on our floor (4th)...housekeeping was in the room and another housekeeper came by....the second housekeeper stated to the one in the room...."Oh my God....did you call the Manager about this." Later in the day, when we came by.........there were items from the room sitting outside the door (the portacrib, vacuum, etc) and housekeeping/maintenance were still in the room. I guess I just have a hard time believing that people/guests/DVC members (?) are such slobs......that they would make such a huge mess that would take hours and hours to clean. I do plan to email Member Satisfaction about our experience, especially the fact that while it was very nice of the manager to credit our room account for $50......that is not the answer to what appears to be a huge ongoing problem. I have finally come to realize that while Disney promotes their DVC units as "Deluxe" based upon our recent experiences that is far from the case.

Another example of Disney cutting back and taking away some of the magic.

We use to get a $200 room credit, then it went down to $100, now it's down to $50? What do they expect you to buy with only $50, we depend on that money every third check in or so.

Bill

 

[Poppin]

As I read through all these, I can't help but think to myself that there are so many people out there today who need and want jobs. I also can't help but wonder whether the resort management has a measurement program to randomly check housekeeping performance. As a DVC member, I fully expect a clean room.....anything less is unacceptable.

 

[DebbieB]

Another example of Disney cutting back and taking away some of the magic.

We use to get a $200 room credit, then it went down to $100, now it's down to $50? What do they expect you to buy with only $50, we depend on that money every third check in or so.

Bill

I don't understand why Disney is cutting back when housekeeping comes out of our dues.

 

[psac]

I don't understand why Disney is cutting back when housekeeping comes out of our dues.

Not having any idea of the inner workings, my total guess is that Disney pays for the housekeeping for "their" rooms and for the DVC rooms, and then charges back DVC for "our" share. The low quality is probably the same for both.

The biggest problem I've had with mousekeeping is timing. We've returned to cash rooms as late as 3 or 4 PM and not had the room done yet. After leaving the room at 7-8am, that's a little silly. But these stories are doozies.

 

[AKLFan3]

Wow, I am just shocked reading all of these posts. I would be livid seeing a housekeeper sitting around watching TV/eating dinner upon my arrival in my room. I definitely would have taken her name and reported her to the manager, although I can see why the OP didn't bother to wait for the manager. The first day at WDW is always the most tiring. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

Boy, these type of threads can really turn off potential DVC buyers be it direct or resale