I've learned that Members should not complain about Mousekeeping...

[MickeyCrazed]

As a DVC member, I will never again complain or blame Mousekeeping about rooms that are not completely clean or ready on time. My reason???
We just returned from a stay at OKW. Checked in on Sunday 12/13 at 11:00 a.m. The front desk told us our room was ready, so we immediately went there, drug the luggage up the stairs, opened the door and WaLaaaa...
An unclean room was waiting.
Now, at first, I was really upset because I couldn't understand how this mistake happened. Then, as I looked around the room, I became disgusted at the former occupants...
There were dirty dishes in the sink, food all over the countertop and in the fridge, papers scattered about, soap left in the shower and jacuzzi, and the list goes on and on...
It's no wonder Mousekeeping doesn't have the time to clean "properly" according to some guests standards...they spend too much time cleaning up the mess we leave behind.
I know that after that experience, I spent an extra 10 minutes making sure I cleaned up as much as possible before we left OKW. So hopefully, the next tenants checked in to an ultra clean room early...
And for those of you wondering, the front desk did apologize, and assigned us another room which was immediately available.

 

[SueOKW]

My DH is always very good about leaving the unit pretty tidy. Thank goodness for him, cuz I'm always being lazy at the pool while the packing and cleaning up is going on!!

I truly believe that in many cases the place is a mess, and that's just downright rude and lazy. I imagine most of the readers and posters on this board probably are not the type to leave the place a mess. We all love WDW too much.

 

[Laurajean1014]

I consider myself neat and clean but do not know if I would graduate from the "leaving" standards.

 

[ColoradoBelle1]

While this wouldn't work for the people who rent DVC units from Disney, I think it should be implemented for DVC users:
All maids should be supplied with a cheap digital camera. If the unit is a mess 'above and beyond' , then digital photos are taken and forwarded to the DVC owners email address and put on file at Disney. Whatever 'extra' time it took to clean the 'extra' mess would be added onto their 'dues' .

I thought the units at DVC had little 'signs' that stated that the dishes should be put in the dishwasher and to press start before leaving. Also, empty the coffe pot and take out the trash. Maybe they could ask that all used towels be thrown into the tub. (That's what I always do). These things are fairly simple and don't require much work on our part.

Disney 'pays' per room clean instead of by the degree of the mess. Most often, rooms are left in reasonable condition and cleaning is a matter of rote.
But in special cases, the camera could record the condiition, Disney would pay the maid more and recompense it by getting it back from the DVC member. Again, if they rent it out to anyone at rack rate, that amount is absorbed by the astronomical rack rate charges!!

Colorado Belle

 

[DebbieB]

I've never seen a sign like that in a DVC unit nor any written notice of the requirements for deparature. Maybe they should come up with one.

 

[CarolMN]

I've never seen a sign like that in a DVC unit nor any written notice of the requirements for deparature. Maybe they should come up with one.

Me, neither and I would be happy to do anthing that DVC thinks we should do before leaving.

 

[ColoradoBelle1]

Im sorry if my memory is gone..I thought I remembered a sign like that from OKW 1 bedroom about 1997....So when I joined a friend in her DVC studio unit
last year, I just 'assumed'. But heck....I'm over half way to HALFheimers so maybe i saw this at some other place....glad you think it would be a good idea though!
colorado belle

 

[MickeyCrazed]

I imagine most of the readers and posters on this board probably are not the type to leave the place a mess. We all love WDW too much.

Yes, you are probably right.
I guess what really left a bad taste in my mouth was the fact that we had to wait a really long time to check in, and the people in front of us were complaining (the entire time) to another couple about how much Mousekeeping does not do. (They apparently were waiting to check out). Their conversation revolved around how dirty their unit was. The rug between the nighstand and the bed was dirty, the rug under the bed was not vacummed (they know because they found money under the bed) and the bathroom had mold. It was really a downer to hear all this complaining before I checked in and then walk into the mess that was in that unit. (Believe me, I am no queen of cleaning...but I would never room in that condition. It was just plain rude).
Anyway, it may have been an isolated incident that I am blowing out of proportion, but I truly felt sorry for the person who had to clean that room.

 

[Rash]

I agree that it is unexceptable to leave a room in such condition. However, Disney should not have told you the room was ready without checking it first. Check-in is not "guaranteed" until 4 pm - they had plenty of time to check the room and clean it before then. You would have still gotten your room on time and not had the inconvenience of switching rooms. Perhaps they were trying to be extra helpful by having a room ready early for you, but I bet you would've been just as happy waiting a bit longer and finding a clean room. Many guests who find a dirty room aren't as thoughtful as you are and would blame mousekeeping (such as the people in front of you at check-in), thus ceating a customer service problem for Disney - one that could be avoided easily just by checking the room.

Disney may not be able to control the poor cleaning habits of it's guests, but it can make sure it's check-in procedures are handled properly.

 

[Disney Doll]

It always amazes at what slobs people can be!!!! I always try to leave the room reasonably picked up...I throw all the towels into the tub, get rid of the garbage, run the dishwasher, clear out the fridge of anything that would be smelly etc...although I have been known to leave behind unopened food or soda that I hope the Mousekeepers enjoy! I try to leave the room reasonably "picked up"...it only takes baout 5 or 10 minutes, and I hope it makes a difference in the Mousekeeper's day.

I agree that it would be a good idea for a photo to be taken of really messy or dirty rooms upon checkout and to have that occupant billed for the extra cleaning. Wouldn't bother me, because I doubt it would ever affect me.

 

[tjkraz]

Sounds like the situation may be helped a little bit by posting some guidelines for members to use.

That said, I'm probably gonna get flamed for this one. I realize that it's hard to paint an accurate picture of the room in a message board post. Maybe it was much worse than the picture I'm painting in my mind. But here's my take on the things that DisneyCrazed mentioned:

There were dirty dishes in the sink...

Perhaps the dishwasher was full of other dishes being washed. That probably wasn't the case, and I'll concede that this probably was laziness on the part of the departing guests.

...food all over the countertop and in the fridge...

I know people here have addressed this topic in the past, and I really don't remember the answer. We've left things (unopened beverages, sealed packages of snacks, etc.) behind hoping that the housekeeping staff might be able to take it. Can they?

If not, then I guess we could have saved them 2-3 minutes by tossing it all the in the garbage. This is one area in which a sign would certainly help.

...papers scattered about...

Again, laziness. But housekeeping does need to go through the entire room and vaccuum everything. I don't see how this significantly contributes to the difficulty of the job the staff has to do.

...soap left in the shower and jacuzzi...

What should we be doing with used bars of soap? I guess throwing them in the garbage would save housekeeping about 5 seconds...

I'm not trying to imply that being DVC members or hotel guests in general is a license to trash the place. But I just don't see anything on this list that would add more than a 4-5 minutes to the cleaning of the unit. Housekeeping still has to replace all of the linens, wash all of the surfaces and tile floors, vaccuum the rugs, wash all of the dishes, replace the soaps, replace all of the pens and pads they put in the room, and so on...

As an owner and a guest, I'm more concerned about physical damage to the unit. Things that I would consider out of line would be any damage to walls, furniture, doors, rugs, etc. Damage to appliances. Plumbing or electrical issues caused by members.

Go ahead, flame away. We usually do what we are able to get the room into a reasonable condition before we leave. We load the dishwasher and start it running. We'll pile the towels together or throw them in the tub. But, yes, housekeeping will almost certainly find unmade beds, a dirty bathroom and debris on the rugs when they enter our room. And they'll also find a tip to show our thanks for getting the room ready for us before we arrived.

 

[Pa@okw95]

We always clean up after us on departure day. All food is put in the garbage unless it is something that the maid might want to keep like un-opened cans of beer. We clean all the counters so nothing is left. The dish-washer thing about running it is something we do but I always thought they claimed to clean all the dishes before check-in. I know they do not so we do. WE ALL SHOULD EMPTY THE ICE MAKER AND TURN IT OFF. Know one wants to take a chance on ice in the ice maker!! The garbage is taken out by us. I must confess to leaving the soap in the shower however. At any rate, I though everyone did this until I was down there in Jan and was told the room I had before it was completely finished-it was 4:45 and they sensed I was about to boil over. The garbage that the cleaning lady had out front to take down was unbelievable. Doesn't anyone know about the garbage rooms in OKW. every building has them. Well at any rate, I agree with the OP

 

[Cruelladeville]

I'm with you, tjkraz, I didn't read anything that was too awful to clean up. Mousekeeping has to clean the shower anyway, leaving the soap isn't going to add to the cleanup time. Now, if the tenants had spilled shampoo on the floor and left it, or the food was dripping down the counter, I could understand your outrage, but the unit didn't sound like it was in too awful a condition to me. And I resent the assumption that it was a DVC member who left the room messy--lots of those rooms are rented to non-members!

And, as for the people at checkout who were complaining--they looked under the bed. Why would someone do that, anyway? What upset them, finding dirt or finding money?

 

[Rash]

This may be a bit off topic but...if they really want us to take the trash to the garbage rooms, why do they call the one housekeeping visit per week "trash and towel day". Doesn't that give the impression that mousekeeping will take care of trash removal?

 

[MickeyCrazed]

And I resent the assumption that it was a DVC member who left the room messy--lots of those rooms are rented to non-members!

And, as for the people at checkout who were complaining--they looked under the bed. Why would someone do that, anyway? What upset them, finding dirt or finding money?

I never said that a DVC Member left the room messy. I know that points can be rented either from DVC Members or from Disney directly. So, of course, there is no way for me to determine who left the room in that sort of condition.

As for the complainers in line...I wanted to ask them why they were so upset to find money. I would be happy to look past a few dustballs for that. I would have screamed "JACKPOT!"

My whole point regarding this post was to remind Members what a crappy job Mousekeeping can have. They work hard, and have a lot more to clean than housekeepers at the regular Disney resorts. Guests staying at DVC resorts (Members and non-members alike) should keep this in mind and help them as much as possible so that we can all enjoy the benefits of a clean room and possible early check in.

 

[DebbieB]

It sounds like it was a slipup that they gave you a room that had not been cleaned. From what I've heard, after housekeeping cleans the room a supervisor stops by and checks it before telling the front desk it's ready (I assume by computer). Maybe a wrong room # was entered into the system.

 

[bongo59]

bottom line is the 4PM time allows more than enough time to get even the worse possible slob infested room cleaned...............the real issue is folks want to check in when they get there............it is not realistic...........go to the parks or orlando and call the number after 4PM.............it is the rule and we should all expect it................if you get lucky...........consider it a magical moment............just dont expect it

 

[JimC]

Yes, you are probably right.
I guess what really left a bad taste in my mouth was the fact that we had to wait a really long time to check in, and the people in front of us were complaining (the entire time) to another couple about how much Mousekeeping does not do. (They apparently were waiting to check out). Their conversation revolved around how dirty their unit was. The rug between the nighstand and the bed was dirty, the rug under the bed was not vacummed (they know because they found money under the bed) and the bathroom had mold. It was really a downer to hear all this complaining before I checked in and then walk into the mess that was in that unit. (Believe me, I am no queen of cleaning...but I would never room in that condition. It was just plain rude).
Anyway, it may have been an isolated incident that I am blowing out of proportion, but I truly felt sorry for the person who had to clean that room.

Agree that mousekeeping has a difficult job and since they don't visit every day it is even harder to keep up with all of the details. I have mostly great things to say about Disney CMs and what they do. When they do slip up (and that is rare), they have been great at recovery.

Almost as bad is the abuse they get from people. A little understanding and kindness makes everything go much better.

In regards to that couple in front of you.....maybe the fact that they spend vacation time under the bed examining the rug tells you something How many of our own homes have pristine rugs under the furniture each and every day?

 

[TDC Nala]

Sounds to me like you were assigned a room that housekeeping hadn't gotten to yet at all.

I agree that we should not be slobs, but it's still the job of the housekeepers to clean the rooms.

 

[disworldnum1]

Well this sounds like a housekeeping problem,which seem to happen quite frequently at the BWV.I don't think I have ever received a room that i could say lived up to my standards and to be honest they are not that high.My wife cleans everything after we arrive especially anything related to the kitchen.I have constantly had showers that were less then clean and the list can go on.I found not to expect anything and I won't get dissapointed.I don't want to start my trip off on the wrong foot and seem to let alot slide. I definitely wouldnt accept this anywhere else.I have had to switch rooms on several occasions and this is why i walk through the room before i unload one bag into the room.