Mandatory daily room inspections?

[marikujawa]

I've found a couple blogs that quote the Disney policy about reserving the right to enter rooms. Then they'll just drop a statement like Resort employees are now required to enter each room at least once per day.

But that info doesn't show up on any of the releases and material produced by Disney. My skeptical self tells me it's the sort of interpretation that gets pageviews more than anything, but I'm willing to be convinced.

The closest I've seen is DVC trash pickups happening every day instead of every 4 days. When they were every 4 days, how did trash pick ups work? Did housekeeping just barge in and take your trash at unpredictable hours of the day?

Nobody's barging in anywhere. Housekeeping doesn't want to enter the room while people are there - in my experience, they are very respectful of guests' privacy and there's no reason to suspect that will change. I expect the only people who will be affected are the ones who never want housekeeping and keep the sign up constantly. At some point, I imagine someone will contact them (possibly by phone because that's what happened to us once when they couldn't get in to clean because of our schedule) and ask to enter if, in fact, there is a policy that they have to enter every day. I haven't been able to find any statement by Disney other than the words on the Room Occupied sign. I've seen only two reports of Disney personnel not respecting the new Room Occupied sign. One post was removed because it was not legitimate - the other is (in my opinion) not credible, although the same people who believed the hoax post probably believe the other one too.

 

[sponica]

Not to hijack the thread, but even if someone has to enter/inspect all hotel rooms daily, can't they track when your hotel room is in use/not in use with the magic bands/keys to the world? (Or am I giving Disney too much Skynet credit?)

 

[marikujawa]

Not to hijack the thread, but even if someone has to enter/inspect all hotel rooms daily, can't they track when your hotel room is in use/not in use with the magic bands/keys to the world? (Or am I giving Disney too much Skynet credit?)

There are so many threads devoted to speculation. It would be nice to have one just answering OP's question as to actual statements by Disney or guest experiences that evidence Disney's intent in changing the door signs.

 

[OKW Lover]

Not to hijack the thread, but even if someone has to enter/inspect all hotel rooms daily, can't they track when your hotel room is in use/not in use with the magic bands/keys to the world? (Or am I giving Disney too much Skynet credit?)

Not really. There are several flaws. If I don't have a MB (say I insist on just getting a regular plastic room key) then they don't know where I am. Yes, they might have records about when I opened my room door with the key, but they don't know if I'm still in there. They might even be able to tell that the door was opened from the inside as I would do when leaving, but that doesn't mean I actually left the room. I might have just looked outside.

I suppose that if they saw I just used my MB/admission media to enter a park they could deduce that I'm not in the room. But what if a traveling companion decided to stay back and rest a while?

 

[LYSE]

Disney hasn't come out with a press release, I did reach out to them and surprisingly was offered a phone conversation with a CM, I suspect they are avoiding putting it in writing on purpose but I should get a call back later this week. (I'm not expecting much)

 

[MakiraMarlena]

all my DVC stays, they came and did trash and towel while I was out in the middle of the day. I once stayed with a friend who did not want anybody entering the room for any reason and we kept the DND sign on the door 24/7. They left towels outside for us. It seems that won't happen anymore.

 

[maxiesmom]

It is covered in the new Terms and Conditions when you book:

"Please be advised that notwithstanding your use of a sign on your door, a request by you to forgo housekeeping services or any other request made by you, the hotel and its staff reserve the right to enter your room for any purpose including, but not limited to, performing maintenance and repairs or checking on the safety and security of guests and property. The hotel staff will give reasonable notice prior to entering by knocking and announcing the intent to enter the room."

 

[marikujawa]

It is covered in the new Terms and Conditions when you book:

"Please be advised that notwithstanding your use of a sign on your door, a request by you to forgo housekeeping services or any other request made by you, the hotel and its staff reserve the right to enter your room for any purpose including, but not limited to, performing maintenance and repairs or checking on the safety and security of guests and property. The hotel staff will give reasonable notice prior to entering by knocking and announcing the intent to enter the room."

That seems to be a lengthier version of the new sign. It will be interesting to hear what they are telling people who specifically ask about the new policy.

 

[cobright]

It is covered in the new Terms and Conditions when you book:

"Please be advised that notwithstanding your use of a sign on your door, a request by you to forgo housekeeping services or any other request made by you, the hotel and its staff reserve the right to enter your room for any purpose including, but not limited to, performing maintenance and repairs or checking on the safety and security of guests and property. The hotel staff will give reasonable notice prior to entering by knocking and announcing the intent to enter the room."

Right, and nowhere in that does it say that daily room inspections are mandatory.

 

[SteveH]

No need to say they are mandatory, in fact if they said that and they didn't do a room inspection then they open them up to lawsuits should something happen that they could have caught.

I for one say bring it on, I think it's a great idea to randomly check every room every day. Sure can't hurt from a housekeeping point of view and if it stops some bad people/acts then all the better IMHO. If you want/need that much privacy then RV & Fort Wilderness are options.

 

[cobright]

... can't they track when your hotel room is in use/not in use with the magic bands/keys to the world? (Or am I giving Disney too much Skynet credit?)

Here's some credit for your skynet theory...
Some of those thermostats with the motion sensor have a feature in them that determines if the room is occupied. And if those feature is implemented, housekeeping could use as little electronic device to receive that info from little transmitter outside the door.

This is true. It is a feature not currently used by the Disney resorts but could be installed simply by adding the optional transmitter hardware.
here's the page from the thermostat installation manual.

 

[cobright]

No need to say they are mandatory, in fact if they said that and they didn't do a room inspection then they open them up to lawsuits should something happen that they could have caught.

And yet there are at least two websites and a dozen or more disboard posts saying just this, that Disney is making daily room inspections mandatory.

Personally, I expect mousekeeping to be in there every day so it's a non issue for me but this is a policy that is generating a lot of heated complaints and I'm just curious if it even exists.

 

[My3SweetSuns]

https://nypost.com/2018/01/02/the-chilling-reason-disney-world-removed-do-not-disturb-signs/

 

[OKW Lover]

No need to say they are mandatory, in fact if they said that and they didn't do a room inspection then they open them up to lawsuits should something happen that they could have caught.

Let me first say that I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the internet. But I think its a huge jump to go from letting people know you are reserving the right to enter a room to it now being a mandatory thing in a legal setting. There is a big difference between filing a lawsuit about something like that and actually prevailing in the courts.

 

[maxiesmom]

Let me first say that I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the internet. But I think its a huge jump to go from letting people know you are reserving the right to enter a room to it now being a mandatory thing in a legal setting. There is a big difference between filing a lawsuit about something like that and actually prevailing in the courts.

I wonder how many guests can afford the same caliber lawyers as Disney

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

http://www.advisen.com/tools/fpnproc/fpns/articles_new_1/P/299886803.html?rid=299886803&list_id=1

Orlando Sentinel article quotes an unnamed Disney spokesman.

 

[LovesTimone]

I really don't care if they enter my room, I am sure that they will be knocking as they do now.... If they change it to room occupied then they are going to knock...even if it's not out they are going to knock... If this helps keep everyone safer.... then I am all for it, no big deal...

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Bottom line, Disney is private property and they have the right to set the policy that they enter rooms every day. Paying them to stay there does not give you temporary ownership of the room (my statements don’t apply to DVC ownership, I don’t know how that works but I’m sure Disneyblegal looked in to it), you are renting the space, so they have the right to enter with reasonable notice, just like a landlord can with a rental property. If you don’t like it, stay offsite.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Not to hijack the thread, but even if someone has to enter/inspect all hotel rooms daily, can't they track when your hotel room is in use/not in use with the magic bands/keys to the world? (Or am I giving Disney too much Skynet credit?)

I've always wondered this! On our last trip (CCV, Dec. 16 - 23, 2017), I accidentally left the "privacy please" sign hanging on the door when we went to the park for the afternoon (we had spent the morning swimming, so was hoping housekeeping would wait until afternoon to come so we could shower, etc.). I was kicking myself when I realized the sign was still there, because I wanted fresh towels, more coffee, etc. Lo and behold, when we came back that evening, housekeeping had come and cleaned the room (immaculately, I might add. The staff at CCV were awesome). I sensed they knew we had left for the afternoon . . . which is fine with me. We had an issue with a balcony door lock during that trip and engineering had come to fix that when we were out of the room. Staff coming into our room just doesn't bother me. And to the PP's point about housekeeping not wanting to be in the room when you are there - I agree. A housekeeping CM was in our room one morning when we were at breakfast and DS announced he had forgotten to brush his teeth! So we went back to the room for a quick stop and she left our room while we were there. I think it's a privacy thing as much as a safety issue for them.

 

[DebbieB]

Disney hasn't come out with a press release, I did reach out to them and surprisingly was offered a phone conversation with a CM, I suspect they are avoiding putting it in writing on purpose but I should get a call back later this week. (I'm not expecting much)

That's my guess. They don't want to put something out officially because it could open up a can of worms legally in case of something happening. By staying silent, they can't have it thrown back at them in court.