MOld Key West

[DisneyFan]

We just returned from a stay which was supposed to be at Old Key West. We had made reservations for a Grand Villa at our home resort, Old Key West 11 months ago. We have been memebers since 2000 and have always stayed in the newer buildings 63 or 64. We requested one of these buildings and also Non-smoking for medical conditions. Our nephew has asthma and smoke allergies. Also had our 70 &71 year old parents with us as well as one in our party with arthritis. We checked in at 11:00 am and were given a room in building 25. We were assured that our room was non-smoking. Well, we went to the room and the first bad sign was that there was no "no smoking" sign on the door. We walked into the room and the overwelming smell of smoke hit us. We were only in the room for a few minutes when my 12 year old nephew's allergies kicked in. We went back to the front desk and they assured us that the room was non-smoking even though it didn't have the no smoking sign on the door. They offered to change the bed linens for us saying that that usually helps. That was not acceptable to us. The woman at the front desk said that that was the only room available. She then went to get a manager who somehow found another room for us in building 53. We had to take the room because of the smoke allergy even though we didn't want to be so far away from the main area. Okay, so we get to the next room and this one did have the no smoking sign on the door. We walked in and no signs of smoke so this was good. At this time it was now after 1:00 pm so we just bought all of our luggage in and set out for the parks. Dad stayed behind, he was tired from the trip. When we returned to the room later that evening Dad was not feeling well and he was sleeping. We began to unpack and noticed the poor condition of the rooms. The vents in our bedroom were covered with MOLD. There were huge clumps of hair in the bathroom. The bathrooms also had large amounts of MOLD. There were cigarette burns in the bed spreads and so much dust and dirt behind the head boards. These conditions are not good for anyone especially someone with asthma and allergies. My husband took pictures of everything that we found and went to the front desk to speak to a manager. He showed the manager the pictures and the manager said that he felt like he was going to throw up. He offered a VIP cleaning but said that nothing could be done about the MOLD. We said that this was not acceptable and he offered us another room. We went to look at the other room in building 51 and this room was no better. Full of MOLD. The manager told us that they have been having alot of problems. Building 14 was closed due to electrical problems. This really makes us mad because we all pay so much for maintenance fees and they are not maintaining the rooms. Finally, they offered to move us to Saratoga Springs. We did not want to move or stay there but we had no other choice. It was now around midnight and they told us they would send a van for all of our stuff at 7:00 am. We had breakfast reservations for 8:00 am for Donald's Breakfasaurus which we didn't make because of the move. They did come at 7:00 am for our luggage but then dropped it off at Saratoga Springs check in area. They didn't bring our luggage to our room until after 12:00 after several phone calls. The room was very nice. The resort is a totally different feel though from Old Key West and not in a good way either. Old Key West is so laid back. There is no Disney Magic at Saratoga Springs. We planned this family trip to celebrate Dad's 70th birthday. Planned 11 months in advance to stay at his favorite place Old Key West. That didn't happen. Although, we were happy to finally be in a clean room it wasn't what we planned on. Anyway Dad was sick for the next few days. Not sure if the MOLD had anything to do with it or not.
We are so unhappy about the conditions at Old Key West. We will be writing a long letter and sending the pictures and video that we took to top management. Don't know if it help or not, but I hope so. We don't know what to do for our next trip. We are so leary of Old Key West now.
Has anyone else ran into these problems? When we were speaking to the manager he got several other calls on the same issue. Makes you wonder???

 

[#1minnie]

There is no Disney Magic at Saratoga Springs.

Sorry to hear that your experience was so awful at OKW, and I agree, mold is unacceptable.

But in the eyes of a 5 year old Saratoga has plenty of "Magic" as well, I think yours were just too tired, (not that I blame you!) after being shuffled around so much.

We were thinking of trying a stay at OKW, but may reconsider now.

 

[debbie in Seattle]

Sorry about your trip. Our first trip 'home' wasn't as bad as yours, but bad. I wrote to Disney and got a call about a month later from this gal who was very well trained in 'listening', I felt like I was talking to myself. I ended up selling my Boarwalk points (also had points at BCV). That first impression is so important. I agree with what we spend, there should be a higher standard. I don't expect my rooms to be 'perfect' but there are limits. Let us know your outcome.

 

[carlos1117]

Please post the photos.

 

[Shelby5514]

Yikes!

 

[CarolA]

Ok in your letter you have very valid complaints
If you want success I suggest leaving out how you always stay at building X and how long you have been members. If you give them your membership number they know that. My experince has been that letters that wander off into things that are not valid complaints tend to get overlooked in most places. IT gives the reader the chance to say to themselves "they just complained bacause they didn't get what they wanted" (NOTE: I am not saying that, but I have read a lot of complaint letters in my day and....)

I would also ignore the building being closed for maintenace. That is what your dues are doing, maintenance. If the rooms need to be painted or something major is broken things have to be taken off line. WOuld you rather they put you in a building with known electrical problems??

 

[lizziepooh]

We just returned 2/2 from eleven nights at OKW in a one bedroom unit in bldg. 44. There was a lot of black mold inside the window sills and around the inside of the windows in both the living room and bedroom. I called housekeeping and the supervisor came over and cleaned it the same day. With the blinds down, I can see where housekeeping wouldn't necessarily see the mold, but it seems like they should be told to look at the window sills occasionally, since mold is a problem in Florida.

We also had a leaking pedastal sink and a clogged vanity drain which were taken care of promply by maintenance after we called. Housekeeping should have noticed both, especially the clogged drain when they cleaned the vanity sink, since it barely drained. I would think that housekeeping staff should notify maintenance when they notice things like that, but apparently they don't.

I'm sorry you had such bad luck this time. It is very disappointing.

 

[Disney Doll]

We have never personally had any major problems with OKW. We have had a couple of minor issues which were quickly fixed.

Good idea to bring it to the attention of management.

 

[jarestel]

WOuld you rather they put you in a building with known electrical problems??

Maybe as part of the checkin process, and as an attempt at pro-active customer service, the CM can ask if a guest would prefer rooms with mold, rooms with electrical problems, tobacco reeking n/s rooms, rooms with plumbing problems, rooms with pest infestations, etc... That way a member can choose his/her own room issues and everyone is happy.

Personally, I'd just as soon request a room with no issues, but that's probably an unreasonable thing to expect. After all, requests are only requests and not guaranteed. But hope springs eternal.

It's too bad about the condition of the OP's room(s). Maybe the next trip will be better.

 

[vascubaguy]

Maybe the drastic increase in OKW dues will go towards some of this much needed maintenance at OKW. Maybe they can invest in some of those nifty new duster things that can reach anywhere....

I know the dampness etc is an issue in FL, so mold is difficult to battle; however, I wonder why they do not have air purifiers in the central AC. Those things kill the mold, bacteria, and with the ozone plates, even clean the air. You could be in a smoking room and not even know it if those things were running! I have one in my house and love it.... would be nice if they were in my home-away-from-home!

To the OP, sorry to hear about the bad experience. I definately encourage you to follow up on your complaints. If you have time, it would be great if you could post those here as well. I'm planning my first stay at OKW (in a studio) this coming October. However, I might try to switch at the 7 month mark.

 

[carlos1117]

Jarestal,

To build on your idea maybe we can have different categories at OKW similar to BWV's. The OKW categories can be: standard, perferred and mold.

I'b bet it would be hard to get those low point mold rooms on Friday and Saturday nights!

Mike

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Sorry to the OP about all the troubles. I have to say our last few OKW stays have kinda been the same way. Terrible mold smell that is very overpowering when you first walk in, that is if you don't smell the smoke. A couple of years ago, my DH and I went for a couple of days by ourselves, we were at OKW in a studio. We walked in and the floor was soaking wet. It was all over by the door and under the window, thankfully we were moved to a different room. It has become my last choice when making reservations for WDW because I worry about the smoke or mold when we get a room.

 

[jarestel]

I'b bet it would be hard to get those low point mold rooms on Friday and Saturday nights!

You're probably right.

 

[debbie in Seattle]

I've always wondered why DVC doesn't have a 'comment card' in the rooms like most hotels, condos, etc so that we as members couldn jot down these issues so maintence could be made aware. Housekeeping has such a hard job and so much to do, lots of things are certainly missed.

 

[m4travel]

Sorry, OP, to hear of the troubles you encountered at OKW. On our recent first-ever trip to FL/WDW/DVC, we stayed in a 1-Bdrm at OKW. Although we arrived early from DCL, because of my back problems which occured on the trip from the west coast we needed a villa, pronto. The front-desk CM was able to accommodate us at 10:30 in the morning with a non-smoking, first-floor unit and Disney delivered us and our luggage promptly.

There was a faint odor of disinfectant when we first arrived (I think it had just been cleaned), but that dissipated quickly and was certainly preferable to a unit with the type of problems you found!

We own at SSR and talked them into a tour the morning of our last day. Very nice, but you're right - it's not OKW. We'll be booking OKW for most of our stays, I think. Perhaps a small contract that will give us the 11-month booking window....

 

[La2kw]

We've never had problems at OKW, and we've stayed there many times. It's unfortunate that you had such bad luck. I think moving you to SSR was good of them. It's too bad you didn't like it there either, I think it's a great resort.

 

[dianeschlicht]

In over 20 OKW stays, I can't say all have been maintenance issue free, but we have never had the extent of problems you seemed to have this trip. I'm with the others here...Post those pictures for us all to see. I have seen some small mold issues in showers in the past, but have never experienced a mold smell, and I would notice, because it is one of my worst allergies! We have also had issues with folks smoking in non-smoking buildings and having the smoke filter into the bathroom ventilation system in our unit....not DVC's fault directly, but I do expect them to correct it by informing the offenders that it is a non-smoking building. As for wet carpets.....We see this rather frequently at OKW, and it is due to the carpet needing to be shampooed because of an excessively messy previous occupant.

 

[M4travels]

We own at SSR and talked them into a tour the morning of our last day. Very nice, but you're right - it's not OKW. We'll be booking OKW for most of our stays, I think. Perhaps a small contract that will give us the 11-month booking window....

Perhaps a small contract?? Gee, I like how I find out things by reading the boards when I'm at work!!!! Lots of things to discuss over dinner tonight!

Michael

 

[Alexander]

Perhaps a small contract?? Gee, I like how I find out things by reading the boards when I'm at work!!!! Lots of things to discuss over dinner tonight!

Michael

Oops! Hey aren't you supposed to be working anyways!

 

[JudithM]

DisneyFan, I am sorry you had so many problems on your recent stay at OKW. Those rooms were not acceptable im my opinion.

We just returned 2/2 from eleven nights at OKW in a one bedroom unit in bldg. 44. There was a lot of black mold inside the window sills and around the inside of the windows in both the living room and bedroom. I called housekeeping and the supervisor came over and cleaned it the same day. With the blinds down, I can see where housekeeping wouldn't necessarily see the mold, but it seems like they should be told to look at the window sills occasionally, since mold is a problem in Florida.

We also had a leaking pedastal sink and a clogged vanity drain which were taken care of promply by maintenance after we called. Housekeeping should have noticed both, especially the clogged drain when they cleaned the vanity sink, since it barely drained. I would think that housekeeping staff should notify maintenance when they notice things like that, but apparently they don't.

We have had housekeeping/engineering issues over the past year or so on each stay at OKW. We have been members for well over ten years. We found these problems to be two fold - lack of attention to detail & lack of communication among cast members. I have talked to the head of housekeeping at OKW, & on our last trip (for the OKW annual meeting) I had a conversation with the General Manager at OKW. I feel we should not have to call for maintence/housekeeping issues when we first walk into the unit. Like the member mentioned above "Housekeeping should have noticed both, especially the clogged drain when they cleaned the vanity sink, since it barely drained."