Just wow

[tjkraz]

What would also be nice would be an option in the MDE app or something that allows the guest to let the resort know you are checking out. This would let them get to rooms early when a guest leaves early. We usually try to stop by the front desk to let them know when we are out of the room on the last day.

It's only a problem if housekeepers are standing around with nothing to do before 11am. And I doubt that's the case.

For the last 15 years, resorts have had Magical Express data telling them when a large portion of rooms are being vacated. If someone has a 9am DME pick-up time, housekeeping knows their room will be vacant after 9.

Hopefully they'll be able to interface with Mears in a similar fashion. If not, maybe we will see some tech advancements or more door knocks. Personally I'm skeptical that people bother to use electronic check-out systems at a Hampton or Holliday Inn, or whether that information actually filters to housekeepers in real time.

I can certainly say that Mousekeeping made us feel the rush to get out of our rooms. On Friday morning after Thanksgiving, we were checking out of a Grand Villa (there were 10 of us), and they knocked on the door starting at 8:30am, and about every 45 minutes after that checking in on us (despite us saying we would be out between 10:30-11:00). I get that they wanted to clean up, but it does take away from the last morning to feel like you are being rushed out the door.

Problem is we can't have it both ways.

Even before the labor market became what it is in 2021, you couldn't hire hundreds of *good* workers for near minimum wage jobs willing to work 5 hour shifts. Staffing from 11am to 4pm doesn't cut it. In a perfect world, each Disney resort has a fair number of early departures and staff can concentrate on those rooms prior to 11am. If not, they have to find rooms to clean. And that means knocking on doors.

I'm not saying that any level of intrusiveness is appropriate. But if the housekeepers can't keep busy before 11am, it's unlikely all of the rooms will be clean by 4pm.

 

[eandt]

OP may not want to divulge how they made it right. I know when special things happen during my stay or if member services did something for me out of the ordinary (once I was asked to please not blast it over social media), or if something went terribly wrong at a restaurant and they “made it right” I don’t jump to social media to announce it to everyone.

Totally agree that Disney needs to do something to address the housekeeping situation. Before the shutdown, we almost always had our room ready before 4. It’s not so good now since reopening and now all resorts are open. I know they don’t have enough staff. They had a big job fair last month....they really needed people for housekeeping....the pay is good and they get a sign on bonus. They still need to be trained and watched over. I think the housekeeping supervisor maybe needs to be checking up on them more often.....or maybe they do, but the resorts are big. I know a lot of TV watching goes on.

Perhaps a 10 am checkout needs to be implemented. @kristenrice made an excellent point about having 5 hours to clean rooms. I never really thought if it that way.

I don’t recall ever being nagged by housekeeping the morning of checkout. I always make sure the room occupied sign is on the door and double lock the door. Just don’t answer the door. If the door is double locked, they can’t get in. And I think....but not positive, if the regular lock is locked from the inside, their master key card gets a red light.

If you don’t mind getting your room later, when you do online check in they do ask what your arrival time to the resort will be. Put 4:00.

We sometimes leave early in the morning, and if we won’t be passing the front desk, we call housekeeping on the phone to let them know we are vacating.

And if there are any maintenance issues...please don’t ignore them. If you don’t want maintenance people in your room fixing something, at least make a note of what’s wrong and bring it to the front desk the day before you leave. Maybe this way maintenance can get to it while the room is being cleaned. I know people expect housekeeping to notice things, but they don’t see everything or don’t report it. Maintenance and housekeeping are two different worlds.

I do try to keep quiet about any agreement we come to as far as making things right as well, that is between us and the management team. Not that it is a regular occurence but we have found management to be understanding, fair and eventually do the right thing as long as they are treated with politeness and respect

 

[DaveNan]

And if it is a labor shortage, that implies they have fewer workers than they need (budgeted). So that means we should all expect money back on on 2021 dues. If they could not be properly staffed, then that means the cost of staff was lower than expected and we get a refund, right?????

 

[tjkraz]

And if it is a labor shortage, that implies they have fewer workers than they need (budgeted). So that means we should all expect money back on on 2021 dues. If they could not be properly staffed, then that means the cost of staff was lower than expected and we get a refund, right?????

The rooms still have to be cleaned. In this context, staffing shortage usually means fewer workers working longer shifts. Possibly combined with higher wages + bonuses to attract workers in the first place.

Even if there are savings across all line items which make up the budgets, the surplus is typically placed in the capital reserves fund. We cannot entirely rule out the possibility of some refund due to covid. But first there have to be savings and I'm not convinced there will be any savings for resorts which were budgeted long after covid hit and operating normally throughout the 2021 calendar year.

 

[RoseGold]

Can’t say I blame OP, I’d totally take free Remy, even if it came with an NDA. . Better than anything I ever got for DVC issues.

 

[murphy7573]

Not gonna' lie...The manager gave me a $200 credit attached my room cuz it wasn't ready until almost 6 pm. Didn't help we were in a 2 bdrm lock-off and the studio was ready so all of us were hanging out literally next door, listening to wine glasses being dropped and hearing them break trying to get the 1 bdrm side ready. The manager kept telling us only 15 more min., then another 15 more min. Finally I showed her the check in survey on my phone and asked her what I should say. I mean we did rope drop at AK that morning and we just wanted to get a break. This was in Dec. 2019 so staffing shouldn't have been an issue.

 

[SteveMouse]

Not that its right, but complicating the OP’s issue was that there isn’t a substitute accommodation with the same features anywhere on property. There’s a huge demand for accessible rooms. It’s perfectly possible there was literally no accessible room at any Disney hotel and management couldn’t offer what they didn’t have.

I’ve faced a similar experience in Philadelphia. I‘d been participating in a clinical trial and always stayed at a particular hotel, in a disabled accessible room. I’d been in every accessible room in the hotel. I was on a first-name basis with most of the customer-facing staff. One time, at check-in, the clerk told me a new room number. I pointed out immediately it was not an accessible room. They assured me it was. We went up together. it wasnt.

The person who was in the room I was supposed to occupy hadn’t checked out. There wasn’t another accessible room available on property or at any other hotel of the same or better caliber within 3 miles (this is downtown Philly). It was not a good night.

They apologized profusely. It wasn’t really the hotel staff’s faul that the person didn’t vacate- there was a medical need (of course, I also had a medical need).

 

[The Jackal]

I can certainly say that Mousekeeping made us feel the rush to get out of our rooms. On Friday morning after Thanksgiving, we were checking out of a Grand Villa (there were 10 of us), and they knocked on the door starting at 8:30am, and about every 45 minutes after that checking in on us (despite us saying we would be out between 10:30-11:00). I get that they wanted to clean up, but it does take away from the last morning to feel like you are being rushed out the door.

Same thing happened on Saturday morning - we all had 1 night in a BLT Grand Villa. Mousekeeping knocked on the door at 9:30 and every half-hour after that.

We were in a Poly Studios - 2 connecting - Saturday night, and on Sunday morning, they also knocked for the first time at 9am. We did check out at 9:30am to catch flights, so I have no idea if they would have kept knocking afterwards.

Like everyone, I do want my rooms to be ready reasonable close to the check-in time. At the same time, I don't want to feel like I'm being harassed endlessly on my check-out morning, because I am the type of person who will forego my casual morning because I am now feeling guilty -- except I shouldn't be when check-out time is 11am.

I hear you. We were at SSR in a 2 bedroom lock off and they were knocking at 08:00 AM. I told them we would be gone at 11:00. They never came back though, but we did have another issue. We arrived on a Sunday, Monday at 08:00 AM there was a knock on the studio door, it was maintenance wanting to replace a filter for the HVAC system, I had opened up the 1 bedroom door and spoke with him. He asked if we were in both rooms I said yes. 30 minutes later housekeeping knocks on the studio door. We tell them we are here till Saturday. Tuesday morning at 08:00 a knock on the studio door again and it’s housekeeping, again we advise them we are here till Saturday. We then advised the front desk of this. They said our rooms were ours till Saturday in their system, must be an issue with housekeeping system.

 

[RoseGold]

I need to make a sign for my owner's locker that says don't knock, I will be out on time. I hate being woken up early, especially on vacation. It's one of the worst things in DVC, IMO. 8AM for 11AM check out is ridiculous. You'd think that's what a "Room Occupied" sign would do, but apparently not.

 

[Lorana]

Problem is we can't have it both ways.

I hear you, but at the same time if they knock at 8:30am and we tell them that we'll be out between 10:30-11am, please don't come back at 9:15, then 10. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that, and I do think it's a bit unreasonable to knock on the door at 8:30am when checkout is 11am. We still had some of the kids sleeping, and we had only just started making breakfast. Our intent was to have a lazy morning lounging about, and we felt we couldn't enjoy it as a result.

I think we CAN have it both ways in that we CAN expect Disney to implement a system that allows us to designate when we are departing, so that they know when to clean the rooms without constantly knocking on a door on the morning of check-out. It's rather ridiculous that they don't already have this, since they built the functionality to allow us to check-in remotely, and to review all room charges. Just add check-out functionality.

 

[bakerworld]

Did I miss how they 'made it right'?

 

[DonMacGregor]

I hear you, but at the same time if they knock at 8:30am and we tell them that we'll be out between 10:30-11am, please don't come back at 9:15, then 10. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that, and I do think it's a bit unreasonable to knock on the door at 8:30am when checkout is 11am. We still had some of the kids sleeping, and we had only just started making breakfast. Our intent was to have a lazy morning lounging about, and we felt we couldn't enjoy it as a result.

I think we CAN have it both ways in that we CAN expect Disney to implement a system that allows us to designate when we are departing, so that they know when to clean the rooms without constantly knocking on a door on the morning of check-out. It's rather ridiculous that they don't already have this, since they built the functionality to allow us to check-in remotely, and to review all room charges. Just add check-out functionality.

I have a sneaking suspicion, given human nature, that 95% would indicate an 11 o'clock checkout, regardless of when they actually plan on leaving. Some because, as has been stated in this thread, "that's when I get to stay until", and others because Disney has taught everyone to assume the worst, time-wise, and give yourself a huge buffer in everything you do.

 

[RoseGold]

I have a sneaking suspicion, given human nature, that 95% would indicate an 11 o'clock checkout, regardless of when they actually plan on leaving.

Or just a hangtag that says please clean room. It's not like that would be hard. I've left in the wee hours and would have used it.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I didn't mind the "Do not disturb" sign. It used to actually mean something.

 

[Lorana]

I have a sneaking suspicion, given human nature, that 95% would indicate an 11 o'clock checkout, regardless of when they actually plan on leaving. Some because, as has been stated in this thread, "that's when I get to stay until", and others because Disney has taught everyone to assume the worst, time-wise, and give yourself a huge buffer in everything you do.

Oh, yes, I do imagine people would. But I was thinking more of the "check-out" button that, say, Hyatt and Marriott have, that I can press when I'm actually heading out the door to let them know that I have, in fact, checked out of the room.

 

[BamaGuy44]

Problem is we can't have it both ways.

Even before the labor market became what it is in 2021, you couldn't hire hundreds of *good* workers for near minimum wage jobs willing to work 5 hour shifts. Staffing from 11am to 4pm doesn't cut it. In a perfect world, each Disney resort has a fair number of early departures and staff can concentrate on those rooms prior to 11am. If not, they have to find rooms to clean. And that means knocking on doors.

I'm not saying that any level of intrusiveness is appropriate. But if the housekeepers can't keep busy before 11am, it's unlikely all of the rooms will be clean by 4pm.

That all may be true, but other hotels seem to be still able to turn their rooms over without rushing people out the door. Not unreasonable to expect Disney to do the same, especially in hotels they label as "deluxe"

 

[tjkraz]

That all may be true, but other hotels seem to be still able to turn their rooms over without rushing people out the door. Not unreasonable to expect Disney to do the same, especially in hotels they label as "deluxe"

Industry-wide, average hotel occupancy is around 66%. That means on any given night, your run-of-the-mill hotel has dozens of rooms that were vacant the night before which can be used to accommodate early arrivals. And rooms can easily be taken out of service if maintenance problems are discovered or staffing prevents them from cleaning promptly. After all, 1/3 of the rooms will be empty on an average night.

DVC is a timeshare with a daily occupancy upward of 98%. (It also happens to be a timeshare where members seem to enjoy split stays, which places increased pressure on housekeeping.) DVC doesn't have the luxury of vacant rooms. Somehow...someway...every room that is being vacated must be clean by 4pm.

Are there things Disney could do better? Yes, of course. I'm not denying that. But let's not pretend that 900-room Saratoga Springs faces the same challenges as a 150-room suburban Holiday Inn Express. If Disney knew that 300 of those SSR rooms weren't needed on any given night, it's safe to say all arriving guests would have a clean room by 4pm.

 

[CarolynFH]

(It also happens to be a timeshare where members seem to enjoy split stays, which places increased pressure on housekeeping.)

This is a factor that I don't think receives much attention - every time I see a post stating that they stayed in multiple resorts over as many nights, I cringe. Other timeshare companies have started charging a housekeeping fee for stays of fewer than 7 nights. I'm sure DVC is well aware of that; whether they're considering implementing such a fee, I can't say. I do know by reading posts on the non-DVC Resorts board that Disney is paying sign-on bonuses and increasing wages in effort to recruit more housekeeping staff.

 

[BamaGuy44]

Are there things Disney could do better? Yes, of course. I'm not denying that. But let's not pretend that 900-room Saratoga Springs faces the same challenges as a 150-room suburban Holiday Inn Express.

Let’s also not pretend these DVC resorts are special unicorns and there aren’t plenty of other large expensive hotels that stay pretty much full. Maybe they also have housekeeping rushing people out too. I doubt it though. Disney seems to be coming up with “unique” solutions to these issues.

I’m the first one to give companies the benefit of the doubt, especially now, but the excuse making is off the chart.

 

[tjkraz]

Let’s also not pretend these DVC resorts are special unicorns and there aren’t plenty of other large expensive hotels that stay pretty much full.

How many hoteliers have to staff 30,000 hotel rooms in a single metro area?

Look, it's not a catch-all excuse for any bad performance by Disney. But it's also not a factor that should be casually dismissed as if Disney is the one poor performer in the industry.

Some of the most popular timeshares in the us include Marriott Ko Olina, Sheraton Plantation in Myrtle Beach and Marriott Newport Coast. Check out their TripAdvisors. Plenty of 1 and 2 star ratings citing the same challenges DVC faces daily.

Maybe they also have housekeeping rushing people out too. I doubt it though. Disney seems to be coming up with “unique” solutions to these issues.

There's a lot we don't know, including the frequency with which these issues occur. There are 5000 DVC villas at WDW operating at near 100% occupancy. And we're sitting on a chat board that caters specifically to complaints from that audience. Conservatively, there are 25,000+ DVC check-ins occurring at WDW every single month. With that volume, there will never be a time where there aren't a handful of posts each month about late room entry.