Just Back from YC...What the Heck is Going on w/ Them?

[WDWChick]

My DH and I just got back yesterday from YC. First, I have to say the YC was deserted. We checked in and informed them that we would like a lake view room (we paid for a water view). Since there was virtually no one at the resort they told us "no problem." We got in our room to discover a view of the trees and about 1/3 view of the pool. When I called the front desk, they seemed quite irritated they I didn't like the room. I told them that the front desk assured us that there were plenty of lake view rooms available. After vaiting several minutes on the phone, they told us to come back down and get our new room assignment.
Our new room was beautiful (room 3063)! Unfortunately our phone didn't work so we used our cel phone to call the front desk and report the problem. She told us to enjoy the rest of the day and they would take care of it while we were gone. Guess what??? We got back 4 hours later to discover the phone still didn't work. I went down (again) and the front desk told me they had no record of such a probl;em. The girl had the nerve to ask us, "Do you really need that phone?"
Also 2 out of 3 room services were wrong. When I told them that they forgot by bagel and I would like it removed from my bill instead of receiving it later, the woman on the line seemed annoyed and suspicious of my request. When my DH called down the following morning for room service again, the lady asked us to look more closely under all napkins and plates for our food!!! Nice! I guess by that time we had a reputation with the staff.
I love YC, but I was not thrilled with the service this time around(can you tell?). has anyone else had problems with YC recently?
Sorry to vent....
Chris

 

[sharoncity]

WDWChick - Sorry to hear your stay wasn't up to the usual standards of YC. That is truly too bad. Maybe they've had a big personnel turn-over recently? Maybe you had a lot of new employees? Just doesn't sound like the usual service most of us expect at the deluxe resorts. Hopefully it was just an off week for YC and not something ongoing. Hope the rest of your trip went well. How were the crowds at the parks?

 

[Eeyore1954]

Chris, sounds like you got the Disney version of a "bad hair" day (or week). YIKES! I would think you must have run into a slew of new people who haven't discovered what Disney magic is about (or just plain old customer service). I hope the rest of your trip made up for it.

 

[AMcaptured]

We returned 9/2 from BC and I think the level of service has gone down also. We had a package delivered from Epcot and they could not find it in the gift shop. It took me 3 trips to the gift shop to finally have it found. Every CM I talked to told me they couldn't find it back there and I would have to wait for so and so who would know how to find it, etc. Well after the third CM telling me they couldn't find it,I started to get a bit irritated and let them know it. Finally it was found but not until I demanded to see a manager. Of course the manager came out within 30 seconds with the package in her hands, very disturbing to me. I made sure I let her know how ridiculous the other CM's were and she said thank you for letting her know. However, she never said she was sorry I had to come back several times before it was found, etc. I thought it was very obvious every CM was just trying to pass the buck and make it someone else's problem.

Also, we stayed on conceirge and one late afternoon, about 5,the turn down service maid came and I explained to her my daughter was in the shower now and she handed me some chocolates and said, OK, I will be by tomorrow night then......I was expecting her to ask if we were going out for dinner etc and she would be back later but no, she just said she would see us tomorrow. I was glad she at least gave me some chocolate....

However, it was that sort of stuff, and I probably have a few more instances,where I feel their level of service is slipping. I hope they get a handle on it soon. I did compose a letter when I returned because I really want them to return to their "glory" year of yesterday.

 

[GoldenOldie]

It could have been worse. You could have been charged for phone calls from your non-working phone, too.

Seriously, it sounds like you just hit the law of averages. Sooner or later everyone encounters employees who aren't quite the way we thought they should be. Sorry it had to happen on your trip.

 

[threeboysmom]

Welcome back from the YC!! We'll be leaving next week - yippee!! I sure hope we don't encounter some of the problems you had to put up with. Hopefully, it didn't ruin your vacation for you.

I just had a question about the renovations. Did you have a renovated room? Did you hear any of the "construction noise"? Do you know what floor they are now working on?

Thanks!!

 

[Wilma Flintstone]

Back in '97 we stayed for 7 nights at the YC and found the CMs at the front desk to be cool and, at times, snippy. I chalked it up to SEVEN BAD HAIR DAYS and went on to enjoy the resort, which is sooo beautiful.
I also paid for a waterview room, and when politely asking (making sure) that the room she was searching for was, indeed, a waterview room, I received an answer with an attitude. When we arrived in our room, scaffolding was below us. I called to make sure that scaffolding would not make its appearance at my balcony (again politely explaining that we love sitting on our balcony day and night) and was reassured it would NOT happen.
Well, take a guess--when bringing in laundry I took one look and saw three sweaty workers taking a liquid refreshment break and staring directly into my room--and staring directly at me--yikes...another call and a move to another room. No apology for the mistake, but more cool attitude. I wondered why I was treated this way and felt personally defensive about it.
But it still remains a very favorite resort of mine and would recommend it to anyone. --Wilma

 

[Disney-Kim]

We were not treated very nicely either at the BC last year and it was AFTER we complained and moved rooms. We paid for a waterview and had a view of a tree. nice. we then moved to the stinkiest room in the resort....even the bellman said it smelled to high heavan. then back to the tree room. we moved the next morning to a perfect 1st floor waterview room. by then the front desk was not too happy with me...since my birthday surprise did not happen for my husband. I had a long conversation about the surprise with the front desk and they were all gung ho.....never happened. they prob realized it was the room switch lady.....

 

[Bobrow]

We stayed at the BC concierge last week in August and loved it,but I did notice their seems to be a real lack of communication between personel. They misplaced a piece of our luggage(or so we thought) and I reported it to the front desk. After a couple days i didn't hear anything and told the concierge. She made some phone calls but apparently never passed it on to anyone else and to make along story short, some of the other concierge staff had to really get the ball rolling because it was almost time to leave.It seemed like nobody ever passed on info.BTW,we ended up finding out that we had left the luggage at another hotel.My only other complaint was paying for a waterview,nonsmoking room and looking at a tree with a ciger smoker on the balcony next to me. I would go back today in a second however!

 

[summerrluvv]

We stayed at the YC last year and are going back again this year. If it wasn't for the location and the pool, we probably wouldn't go back. We had won the trip and everything was paid for except our food. We had ate at the YC Galley a couple of times and were told that since DS was under 3 his meal was free. Well the last time we ate there, I noticed we were charged. So I called the front desk and explained that we hadn't been charged all the other times and the guy was very snippy and said "Geez, Your room was comped, and you are complaining about $5.00?!" To me that was uncalled for. Oh well...there are rude people everywhere.

 

[PamNC]

I hate reading about bad service at the YC or BC as they are our favorite resorts. In fact, I can't say that we've ever had one bad experience at either. I hope the trend continues for us.

PamNC

 

[4greatboys]

Kimberly Im keeping my fingers crossed our visit to YC will be great. We leave in 4 days!!! Hopefully everything will be okay because Im not one of those guest who quietly go away. Im not a perfectionist but I expect good service, working phones and non-stinky rooms.

 

[WDWChick]

Sorry to get back to you all so late...The crowds? There were no crowds. We never had to wait for any ride, not even for a few minutes. at MK, we were in the front seat for every ride we went on. a nice bellboy from YC told us he had worked for Disney for 13 years and had never seen it so slow. I agree with that!
The renovations at YC are almost over. They are now on the first floor. We didn't hear anything from them. In fact, we wouldn't have known they were there if we didn't pass them on the staircase near the quiet pool.
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention... our room was right near the additontal elevator (the one far from the lobby). We always use that one to get downstairs instead of walking all the way to the other side of the hotel. Well, it was broken about an hour after we arrived at YC and never was repaired. Hope it is ready for any of you guys this week!
But even after all that stuff, we had one of the best times we ever had at Disney! That magic worked on us! I'll still go back to YC though. I just love it there. I hope it's just a series of bad hair days too!

 

[RAV]

We stayed at the Yacht Club 8 times and found that during our last few stays, we experienced some less than magical moments. Several members at the front desk are less than professional. We paid for a waterview and received a view of a tree. If we tilted our heads a bit we could see the leg of a chair at the pool. It was an inconvenience for the staff to relocate us. On another trip, we brought my dad. We had two rooms on the concierge level and did the Grand Plan. The rooms were supposed to both be in my husband's name so that when we dined we could receive one bill.( all meals were paid and room key indicates number in the party) Because the YC made the mistake of not including my dad on our grand plan, we actually needed a separate bill for him at a few restaurants. When we asked the concierge level to correct this very annoying situation he claimed that it would be a lot of work for the hotel. I asked if he preferred us to have difficulty at each meal to save him the extra work, and he reluctantly had the cards fixed. Last summer turn down service skipped us several times and when I questioned why, they told me that they wanted to do the room earlier than we left each night. When I asked if they could come a half hour later each night I was told by the housekeeper that was not good for her. One time our son flushed the toilet and it overflowed. The "matter" that came up was not what he had deposited. They sent someone up to fix the toilet but not any one to clean and disinfect the bathroom. It took so long for them to get someone to clean that we were late for our dinner ps. The manager offered us a complimentary character breakfast for our troubles. We declined saying that it was not necessary. She insisted. We went to the breakfast several days later, charged it to our room, only to find it on our bill upon checking out. When we explained that the manager gave us the breakfast because of the incident, the woman checking us out said there was no record of the incident and doubted our story. Over the years, we spent thousands of dollars at the YC and didn't need their breakfast. The attitude of the front desk was just plain rude. We just returned from the Swan. Everything was great. No need to put up with rudeness when your spending a lot of money and only get a few weeks vacation. The Swan is lovely, the location is similar, the pool is great and most of all the service is professional.

 

[Disney-Kim]

It really sounds like its the CM's who are not up to par. I think with all the layoffs last year that WDW lost a LOT of it's magical CM's.....

 

[danicaw]

I am sorry you ran into some difficulties with the service at the YC.
We just returned from a 2 week trip with the last week at the new BCV. Which by the way we love.
I had one odd thing come up. I called down to the front desk to ask if they knew were we could purchase pre-paid phone, without a pause she told me they were carried in the resort's store. So, the next morning I walked down to the store and asked. I was informed they do not and have never carried those. So, again I asked and was told at the store at International Gateway they have some. Which turned out to be at a vending machine between the stoller rental and the store.
It was a small thing and we found what we needed without a lot of trouble.
Other than that we found the CMs to be great. The women who checked us in was wonderful and found a great pool view villa for us that was already ready for us even at 10am.

 

[eeyore0062]

Maybe it had to do with the tone of your voice...


quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We checked in and informed them that we would like a lake view room
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



is it possible that you unintentually came across as demanding?

Most people respond more positively to a request rather than being informed

Just a thought!

 

[Wilma Flintstone]

I agree that the tone of someone's voice can have an effect on another person's behavior. In my case (in 1997), I was sweet and polite at check-in. The Bolivian-born beauty who was working on my reservation/check-in responded in an unfriendly fashion when I asked (really making sure) that we would, indeed get a waterview room. I paid for this room category, BUT it was a "cast member discounted" room. I got the distinct feeling that the CMs at the YC are not too enamored with those who get deals. If she only knew what it entailed to get those reservations! Months of phone calls, planning, overlapping reservations were just the tip of that iceberg. Then my friend (the CM) had to go and check us in (up to a week before). Someone else made a good point about the amount of money one spends at their resort of choice, between the souvenirs and restaurant/resort food, pool bars etc.
Even the bellman called behind him to me, asking "oh...are YOU a cast member ?...where?...for how long?"
Even our bill was screwed up. We had paid in cash, up-front and told them that the credit card on file was just for reference/proof of identity. We were all paid up except for the last few nights. When trying to use that credit card at dinner over at Palio, the card would not go through. Were our faces red! We found out that the front desk charged EVERYTHING (even the nights we paid for already) on our card and could not assure us that it would be taken care of until late the next day. They were uncommunicative, unresponsive and unreliable. Read about the scaffolding issue on the same trip.
Despite all this whining, I STILL love the resort, and would go back in a minute. I just won't have my hopes too high that Disney magic is alive and well in some of those CMs at the YC. Maybe they should all get HAIRCUTS (bad hair day???).
--Wilma

 

[mkymouse4ever]

I'm guessing the original poster was located somewhere on the 3rd floor. 3 years ago we check into our "water view" room with a lake view 3rd floor turns out about over the lobby area cause the door going out the back was under the balcony. The trees in the area are THE view! and THE only view. You would have to get done on all 4's to see water from the balcony. Even the bellman called the desk and agreed with us. He got into a fight with the manager after I did. We wound up moving the next day but I was not happy the way it was handled. They made it seem like we were the problem and causing this nusance not them. Quote "tree growth is an act of god and disney cannot control it" "no views are unobstructed" I said fine than don't charge me for a waterview, I'll stay here and pay for std. cause this is std. not water. Manager even said "guest with NO request cannot expect to get special rooms at the last minute". Now anyone on the DIS know's I am a queen of request and planning who believes that statement. I told him, I called cro many times and re-confirmed my request before heading to florida, I faxed at the 4 day mark, (only time we faxed), when the dust settled and off I went I called cro and asked them to pull my ressie in computer if possible and read it to me, and all my request were listed and in order. Hmmmmm....

Moving at the YC you "check out" at 11 am (no late ones) and then store luggage and if room ready at 3pm can check in at 3pm. Just like a new trip, They don't hurry up to get you into a room or let you wait with your room as some other resorts do.


Same trip, 4 days later; Hot tub, woman starts talking to sister and I about yc/ disney and she lives south florida and close friends with manager of yc...... comes and stays all the time... in suites and anything concerige... and for a std room price comp by friend..... All my problems and nothing, I told her of our trouble and she knew the pm manager and said oh, he is under my friend and has no power..... He just blew you off..... This was in sept. and she told us how she just made her arrangments for a big thanksgiving visit we said isn't it booked, oh no, they always got something for "special" people.... This whole conversation got to me and I still remember her and what she looked like, I wonder if her manager friend would of liked to know how she was bragging on and on... Since this visit, we have not been back to the yc, we went back to the bc this year cause could not get in elsewhere but did have a good visit. And have not have any problems at the beach club.

MKY

 

[WDWChick]

In response to Eeoyore0062:

When I said that I informed them I would like a lake view, I should have made it more clear. I told them at check-in that it was my DH 35th birthday and our 1 year anniversary. I also told her that we honeymooned at YC last year and how magical it was. I asked if there were lake view rooms available and she then told me that there were plenty due to the fact that the hotel was virtually empty due to 9/11.