Jim Lewis Fired from WDWCo

[hakepb]

Exactly...and that is always where the trouble starts in entertainment...cost accounting sucks the juices dry...

Some of the 'simple' suggestions are near impossible...'cleaner rooms' 'better service' and 'better frontline employees' all translate to the same thing: better trained, educated, paid and compensated employees.

Over Iger's dead body...no way at all this will happen. They will ride the whole horse into bankruptcy before that will ever happen. They've spent 25 Years cutting and lowering standards...they will not reverse.


But maybe I'm a skeptic...but does anybody else have any faith that this new DVC head is anything more than a 2 bit salesman?

I mean...the resume screams salesman, does it not?


That's gonna mean more cutting and accounting and more sleazy peddling...

It seems to me the cleaning issues are more than just staff/pay/training.
And then mousekeeping spends a lot of resources (including resort management offering credits) doing rework.
It seems part of the problem is knowing which rooms need what service on a given day. I don't think mousekeepers have a real-time system letting them know about all last-minute room assignment changes, etc. Then it gets compounded with late guest checkout, and the DVC system results in unbalanced mousekeeping needs on a day to day basis...

Something more along the line of a Toyota-type quality initiative (costs go down when you reduce defects) may improve cleaning and reduce costs. What if there were 3 different colored lights on a mini-hidden mickey at each door. 1 light=T&T. 2=Full cleaning. 3=done(logged by mousekeeper). Blinking=member still in room.

But that may be against Disney culture which started by throwing a ton of resources at an issue to provide the service when quality mistakes were present.

 

[disneynutz]

It seems to me the cleaning issues are more than just staff/pay/training.
And then mousekeeping spends a lot of resources (including resort management offering credits) doing rework.
It seems part of the problem is knowing which rooms need what service on a given day. I don't think mousekeepers have a real-time system letting them know about all last-minute room assignment changes, etc. Then it gets compounded with late guest checkout, and the DVC system results in unbalanced mousekeeping needs on a day to day basis...

Something more along the line of a Toyota-type quality initiative (costs go down when you reduce defects) may improve cleaning and reduce costs. What if there were 3 different colored lights on a mini-hidden mickey at each door. 1 light=T&T. 2=Full cleaning. 3=done(logged by mousekeeper). Blinking=member still in room.

But that may be against Disney culture which started by throwing a ton of resources at an issue to provide the service when quality mistakes were present.

My understanding is that they use a system accessed by the in room phone to get their assignments and to report the rooms ready. Problem is that the codes for the system change and most of the Mousekeepers have trouble using the system. That's why often the rooms are not reported as being ready or a dirty room is reported as being cleaned.

Bill

 

[hakepb]

My understanding is that they use a system accessed by the in room phone to get their assignments and to report the rooms ready. Problem is that the codes for the system change and most of the Mousekeepers have trouble using the system. That's why often the rooms are not reported as being ready or a dirty room is reported as being cleaned.

Bill

Sounds like a system better developed for a hotel where every occupied room gets cleaned everyday. In room phones don't help set out laundry baskets in-front of rooms before cleaning days.
I wonder if (OT?) costs could be reduced and check-in times improved if some members got shifted service. Ie days 3 and 7 instead of 4 and 8. Ask a member at check-in, would you like to help keep dues low by allowing cleaning a day earlier? Then print the room with schedule.

 

[Sammie]

I am not exactly sure the timing of this, but Al Weiss retirement might have been the kick off of the investigaiton. If he had seen this issue and tried to warn his bosses that there was a problem, but not one would listen, it may have prompted him to retire before the house of cards came crashing down. In doing so, probably expressed his concerns and displeasures...prompting the higher action.

But Al Weiss seemed to have retired just shortly before the sales were suspended.....

Don't think it was a decision Al made on his own, I think he was encouraged to take an early and sudden retirement.

If there had been no reason to do it suddenly with the length of time he had been with the company there would have been a prior announcement, a date set for retirement, and big send off.

It did not happen that way.

 

[TisBit]

Don't think it was a decision Al made on his own, I think he was encouraged to take an early and sudden retirement.

If there had been no reason to do it suddenly with the length of time he had been with the company there would have been a prior announcement, a date set for retirement, and big send off.

It did not happen that way.

This article (if it is correct) Al is still with Disney directly reporting to Staggs until November 1st. He stepped down from his position immediately, but did not leave the company immediately. The article also puts pretty pointedly that he was not available for comment outside of the press report. This is where I wonder if he pulled a "whistleblower" on Jim Lewis and company, while announcing his pending retirement. He stays on with WDW for another 6 months helping to sort out the problems at DVC and being available to the audit/investigation teams. Just saying that it seems pretty logical with the timeline and conditions of his departure.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...hawaiian-hotel-and-time-theme-park-executives

Al Weiss, the Walt Disney Co.'s top executive in Florida and a longtime civic leader in Orlando, is retiring after 39 years with the company.

Weiss, the president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, announced the decision Wednesday afternoon in a note to Disney employees.

The 57-year-old executive will step down from his leadership position effective immediately, though Disney said he will remain with the company working directly with Disney Parks Chairman Tom Staggs until Nov. 1.

"While I will miss the great people, exciting projects and stellar vision of Disney, I am very excited to begin the next chapter of my life," Weiss wrote. "I will not miss my weekly Monday morning commute to California, but I will look forward to spending time with family, grandchildren and friends and traveling this great big world in which we live."

Weiss began his career with Disney as an 18-year-old hourly worker in the Magic Kingdom and ultimately held more than 20 different jobs with the company, from finance manager for entertainment to vice president of resort operations support. He was president of Disney World, the company's biggest resort, for 11 years, from 1994 until 2005.

He also has been active in the Central Florida community. He co-founded and remains actively involved in Vision360, an Orlando organization that builds multidenominational Christian churches. He has chaired the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, served on the University of Central Florida's board of trustees and currently sits on the board of directors for the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.

Disney said Weiss was unavailable for comment beyond his letter.

Disney is losing one of its most experienced theme-park executives at an important time, with the division in the midst of a host of big-ticket capital projects. The company launched the first of two new cruise ships in January, will open a Hawaiian hotel and time share this summer and is expanding theme parks in Orlando, California and Hong Kong.

What's more, Disney recently completed a deal to build a new $4.4 billion resort in Shanghai, in what will be the company's first theme park on mainland China. And Weiss has been a leading supporter of the company's billion-dollar "Next Generation Experience" project, which will introduce a host of technology-driven upgrades at Disney World over the next few years.

In a separate note to employees, Staggs, the former Disney Co. chief financial officer who now runs the company's theme-park division, suggested that he did not intend to directly replace Weiss. Instead, Staggs said he would detail a new operations structure for Disney's parks division in the coming weeks.

Staggs credited Weiss with leaving "a profound mark" on Disney's theme-park business.

"As you all know, he spent his whole professional life with Disney, literally growing up in the company — and most notably serving as an integral part of Walt Disney World Resort through most of its history," Staggs wrote. "That experience enabled him to have a genuine appreciation for and true understanding of all that our cast does, and all that our guests expect. This operational knowledge has been invaluable over the years, and I greatly appreciate all he did to ground me in the business when I moved into this role a year and a half ago."

 

[pilferk]

Sounds like a system better developed for a hotel where every occupied room gets cleaned everyday. In room phones don't help set out laundry baskets in-front of rooms before cleaning days.
I wonder if (OT?) costs could be reduced and check-in times improved if some members got shifted service. Ie days 3 and 7 instead of 4 and 8. Ask a member at check-in, would you like to help keep dues low by allowing cleaning a day earlier? Then print the room with schedule.

There's an easier way to track it....and I'm not sure why Disney doesn't do it.

You use a room key system. The housekeeper gets 2 keys (one red, one green). You swipe the red key, when you enter, and begin cleaning.

You shut the door and swipe the green admin key when you're done cleaning.

Walk away.

The door swipes record every in and out swipe of the keys (and which key was used). They do this for security purposes..but could (relatively) tie the system into housekeeping.

I've seen a slightly modified, mostly off the rack, system used by BA's in a healthcare setting.

As for assignments (which rooms need cleaning)...pretty much every large hospital in the US has a decent bed management application. And cleaning a room (when a patient is Discharged or needs cleaning) needs to happen a lot faster, and on a lot less notice, than what usually occurs at a hotel.

But we've seen the disaster that is DisneyIT.

 

[manning]

There's an easier way to track it....and I'm not sure why Disney doesn't do it.

You use a room key system. The housekeeper gets 2 keys (one red, one green). You swipe the red key, when you enter, and begin cleaning.

You shut the door and swipe the green admin key when you're done cleaning.

Walk away.

The door swipes record every in and out swipe of the keys (and which key was used). They do this for security purposes..but could (relatively) tie the system into housekeeping.

I've seen a slightly modified, mostly off the rack, system used by BA's in a healthcare setting.

As for assignments (which rooms need cleaning)...pretty much every large hospital in the US has a decent bed management application. And cleaning a room (when a patient is Discharged or needs cleaning) needs to happen a lot faster, and on a lot less notice, than what usually occurs at a hotel.

But we've seen the disaster that is DisneyIT.

Why not program it for one key? The first swipe logs you in the second one logs you out.

 

[hakepb]

I think 2 keys (or 3 keys, TnT complete. Full complete) would be helpful.

What if the door locked when you leave the room to get a roll of TP from the cart? I don't think 1 key only would work.

 

[TisBit]

There's an easier way to track it....and I'm not sure why Disney doesn't do it.

You use a room key system. The housekeeper gets 2 keys (one red, one green). You swipe the red key, when you enter, and begin cleaning.

You shut the door and swipe the green admin key when you're done cleaning.

Walk away.

The door swipes record every in and out swipe of the keys (and which key was used). They do this for security purposes..but could (relatively) tie the system into housekeeping.

I've seen a slightly modified, mostly off the rack, system used by BA's in a healthcare setting.

As for assignments (which rooms need cleaning)...pretty much every large hospital in the US has a decent bed management application. And cleaning a room (when a patient is Discharged or needs cleaning) needs to happen a lot faster, and on a lot less notice, than what usually occurs at a hotel.

But we've seen the disaster that is DisneyIT.

Hotel lock systems are not designed this way. They are not connected to a network and the locks are merely "readers" which determine if the card is permitted access. All employee cards are stored in the reader, so they work all the time. The guest cards are read the very first swipe and will continue to work as they were programmed (until such and such date, etc) or until a new guest card is swiped and overrides the previous guests card. This is why if someone is mistakenly issued the wrong room, when they swipe the new card, it deletes the old guests cards (or if you lose your room key and they reprogram with new cards...but they can do a "reissue" that doesn't delete the other room keys.)

There are wireless systems that have handheld computers where a housekeeper can enter the status of the room and include maintenance codes, etc. These are then either dowloaded or direct networked via wireless and could improve the maintenace issues as well.

 

[doconeill]

Hotel lock systems are not designed this way. They are not connected to a network and the locks are merely "readers" which determine if the card is permitted access. All employee cards are stored in the reader, so they work all the time. The guest cards are read the very first swipe and will continue to work as they were programmed (until such and such date, etc) or until a new guest card is swiped and overrides the previous guests card. This is why if someone is mistakenly issued the wrong room, when they swipe the new card, it deletes the old guests cards (or if you lose your room key and they reprogram with new cards...but they can do a "reissue" that doesn't delete the other room keys.)

I've wondered how the lock systems work, but this doesn't seem right at all. It would imply that ANYONE can get in to ANY room just by swiping their card, and I could lock everyone out of their rooms by just going down the hall and swiping. So I'm sure there must be something more technical to it that described.

Now, I could see doing something like programming a card with "I can open room X until date Y", but there are also many complications with that. And the readers still need to be programmable (for the employee cards, etc.) and report that data (who entered when, etc.)

 

[CarolAnnC]

This thread has veered way off of the topic of Jim Lewis' termination, and since we have exhausted the topic anyway, it is time to close this. Thanks everyone. You will find a separate thread on the Aulani situation and on the new VP Claire here on Mouse as well. But if you have an unrelated topic you are seeking to discuss, please feel free to start a new thread. thank you.