Just back from Windsor Hills, My Review!

[Christine]

Just wanted to say that I rented through www.americasdreamvacations.com and my place was totally SPOTLESS. It was so clean and I was so impressed. Whatever cleaning company they use does a great job.

 

[dmtaxter]

Hi,
I received your private message but I have been told by the forum moderator that a new member cannot sent pm's if they have less than 10 posts under their belt on the forum. If you click on my user name there will be a link to the website. Let me know if you have any trouble.

 

[bscs]

Let us know more details on your trip. Beside it being dirty which to me is one of the most important things but the place we are renting our condo at WHR from hasn't been a problem in the past. How was the rest of the place?

 

[marli]

So glad I checked in on this thread- we are renting from you in July, and from some of the comments people have made about coming in to a dirty home I was starting to become a little worried . So glad to have this fear laid to rest, we are prepared to have a wonderful vacation! This board is a great place for people to learn about the ins and outs of disney, of renting, and of vacationing in general. Looking forward to speaking to you soon, as our vacation approaches
all the best,
marli

 

[KatePTmom]

Hi, Has anyone experience with renting through HapiRentals at Windsor Hills?

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Hi, Has anyone experience with renting through HapiRentals at Windsor Hills?

I cannot answer your question but my advice would be to start a new thread asking this question. This thread is almost six years old and the information/discussion on here may no longer be relevant.

 

[LeahA]

So sorry for your bad experience with the cleanliness of your condo. We stayed this past December for the 1st time and our condo was spotless.

We booked directly through the owner and not a management company. On the fridge upon arrival was the phone number to her cleaning company, if we were to find anything wrong we could call them for them to come out immediately.

We had plenty of towels and clean sheets, I highly advise going through the owner directly. If anyone wants the website of where I booked through, let me know. We had a problem with the lock while we were there and called the owners cell phone and they helped us right away.

I agree, Windsor Hills is a great property!

 

[LeahA]

To whoever sent me a PM, please do so again, I started to read it and then something happened to my computer and I can't find it now to respond!

 

[Blackhawksfn2002]

Hi Leah,
I saw your post about Windsor Hills. My family was thinking about renting there in September, one thing that worries me is how clean the place would be..
I would love to know who you booked with?
Thanks for your time!
Michael

 

[2minnies]

I'm here actually right now, I can tell you our home was pretty spotless upon checkin. That being said, owners also need to ask their MCs / cleaning companies to do a "deep" cleaning at least 2x a year. Where they do things like clean the windows inside and out...wipe down every baseboard...move every single piece of furniture..etc. I would be VERRY upset if I checked into a dirty home too, our BIL/SIL just stayed in a home in Four Corners here last week, they also said it was "dirty", nothing like ours (they've stayed here too). Every owner uses a different MC here, so there is variation in the homes, the MCs, and the cleaners.

The big companies, Villadirect, IPG, Global, tend to not be all that great, I could get in trouble for saying this, but it's true. Ours is a small MC run by a husband and wife team. After the cleaners come, the cleaning supervisor comes by to check on each home, then the MC comes by themselves to check each home, it's a pretty thorough check, and not one guest has ever complained to us about cleaning.

You did the right thing, the owner needs to know. I tell people this all the time, the MC can make or break your stay. Owners actually have a hard time finding good MCs they're happy with, they make us look good or bad...fortunately ours are just excellent (MYDISNEYHOUSES happens to use the same MC as us as a matter of fact! FYI).

In our case, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have bought a home here in the first place, it's the single most important thing really...and they're looking after our guests and caring for our home that is worth ...what.. $100s of 1000s of dollars?

Homes should have tons of extra sheets, towels, that sort of thing too, no excuse for not having enough! There's also NO acceptable excuse for not getting a home cleaned properly, if they need more cleaners to get the job done correctly, etc, then do it. Even bring in people from the MC if you have to.

Definitely NOT acceptable for a guest to complain, then the MC offers some lame excuse...and they KNEW about it!?

Geesh...I guess I can add another company to the list of MCs I wouldn't rent from.

By the way..I CAN recommend our MC's homes (ours are some of theirs...but we never get much bookings from them! LOL)..

www.oasisvacationhomes.com

They run about 60 homes in Windsor Hills, Windsor Palms, and Emerald Island, and I am 100% confident in recommending that you will get a great (and clean!) home!

I totally support this post. I have rented from George and his properties are always in excellent condition.

 

[deanimal]

We rented a condo in Windsor Hills through Florida Sun Vacation homes in February and we were quite happy with the cleanliness of the unit. The only thing we noticed was some staining on the carpet near the entrance. We left right at 10 am and just before we got to the gate I remembered that we'd forgotten a charger and went back and there was already a pair of cleaners working in the unit. We were very happy with our stay, but it's good to have a heads up for things to look for next time.

 

[Ametista]

I keep warning people on the DISboards about Villa Direct! Here's more evidence of why I feel strongly about it! If your owner uses them I'd be very nervous about booking one of their managed homes. I'm also hearing horror stories from WHR owners lately about how VD cleaners / MC people are stealing everything not nailed down from the homes they manage (and some stuff that IS nailed down! LOL) Pictures, TVs, vacuum cleaners, sheets / towels...etc. Of course they'll try and blame the guests, or someone other than them....beware VD! Then you show up and find a house that has very few amenities like towels, sheets, etc, and the real reason is the MC is taking stuff from the home!

I hear this from other WHR VD owners all the time, in contrast, we've never had one single item disappear from our home. They said sheets "regularly" go missing.

You really think it's a guest going on vacation and taking home a Disney souvenir vacuum cleaner on the plane with them? ROFL

Anyhow, cheers, we're still here and off to Epcot this morning!

The last place we stayed the owners were selling their unit because they got nickel and dimed to death by Villa Direct, even though it was basically booked 365 days a year. The owners lived in Denmark and VD charged them so much for their service that the owners were selling. I swore I would never ever book through them.

Also, I am not sure a lot of people understand that there is the owner they probably booked with (on VRBO/Homeaway/Tripadvisor) and then there is the management company who is supposed to care for the place (who is getting paid a fortune to clean/manage it). There is no way for an owner (even if they are in the US, how would they know?) to know if the place wasn't cleaned properly unless a renter alerted them.

I stayed at a place in Clearwater Beach last summer that was dirty enough for me to comment (used soap bar in the shower, dog hair all over the area rugs, totally disgusting, and obviously had NOT been cleaned except on a cursory level). The owner was MORTIFIED, fired the cleaning service, gave me a huge refund on my booking. I did not ask for it either, I just sent the owner an email and said "I don't know who your cleaning people are but you may want to find better ones." And I detailed all the dirty stuff. The owner was very grateful.