Ok I Understand the Excessive Wear and Tear

[Starr W.]

There was a newbie owner a few months ago who was planning on using duct tape to child proof her villa! Tape cabinets shut and tape on the balcony/villa doors!

Plus the dings on walls/cabinets could be from grandma's scooter or one of those big war wagon double seat strollers.

 

[cogero]

interesting thread.

I find it interesting to read everyones take on what is acceptable.

 

[Greysword]

Great thread, Sammie. I agree with you, Tim, Chuck, and many others.

If things are moved, then it seems important to take care in moving them. Some items are assumed to be moved (chairs, small tables, etc). Some items are assumed to not be moved (beds, nightstands, dining room table, etc).

We try do what Deb mentioned, in that we leave used towels in the bathtub and keep the bed a bit ruffled (never considered stripping it, but thats a good idea), and stock and run the dishwasher. We also vacuum frequently (and the night before leaving) and treat the place like I would my friend's house (very nice).

Our annual dues are used to both defray operational costs (mousekeeping, front desk, transportation, soaps, replaced items) as well as refurbishments. The model definately reminds me to be extra respectful, since I'll be paying for it in the future if I trash the place now.

Finally, I think this thread (and other recent ones) prove the point that many people have the attitude that they can do what they want to the room; because, they paid a lot of money to stay there. It is definately based on a person's perception on morality and each of us was raised differently. Maybe the relatively poor condition of some rooms can be projected as a microcosim of our current society. It just doesn't seem that Americans (by in large) are as respectful as we used to be, and what was once considred poor manners is now considered acceptable behavior.

Oh, one last point. I would be fully supportive of a measure, at one of my home resorts, that charged a departing guest for any excessive wear and tear to a room. This would likely cause me to make a cursory inspection of the place upon arrival (much like renting a car) and would even be willing to tour the place with a Mousekeeper prior to departing if required.

 

[ToddyLu]

I placed a Halloween decoration on the cabinet knob in our kitchenette last year...looked really cute. This year I am taking a flat fold out Xams tree to hang on the wall. Yes, I bought the command hooks and since I take dressings on an off for a living, I should be able to remove tape without scarring the room. I am just so tickled having a sofa and coffee table instead of my small value room that I just don't really notice the little things very much.

I have stayed in really nice hotels all over the world and then some seedy dumps where chaperones monitored the hallway. I still rank my first visit to AKV in the top 5 nicest places.

 

[Bell30012]

First to clarify, it's just my socked feet on the coffee table. I never wear shoes indoors. If Disney wanted to avoid people putting their feet on the coffee table they would put an ottoman or a footstool right in front of the couch. Instead of that convenient coffee table.

I am also hopeful that Disney considered this when choosing the furniture they put in these rooms.

 

[gkrykewy]

First to clarify, it's just my socked feet on the coffee table. I never wear shoes indoors. If Disney wanted to avoid people putting their feet on the coffee table they would put an ottoman or a footstool right in front of the couch. Instead of that convenient coffee table.

I am also hopeful that Disney considered this when choosing the furniture they put in these rooms.

Considered people using the coffee table at a footrest? Probably not specifically.

 

[kim532]

At BLT in APril, our room had numerous stains that I thought were interesting in the living given that the resort isn't that old. I chalked it up to the rooms having a higher number of small children in a room added that they are in a stimulating environment most of the day.

My 3 year old gets hyper in new places .

Kim

 

[Longhairbear]

A long time ago I posted about calling housekeeping because the lower rack on the dishwasher had no wheels on it. Someone responded to my post saying they had seen children being pushed down the hallway by their parents on the bottom rack of a dishwasher at the same resort around the same time.

 

[buzz5985]

The wear and tear that I have seen isn't from members doing as you described, it's from more severe abuse. At BLT alone we have seen a cracked kitchen counter top, a chipped kitchen cabinet door, a crushed light fixture above the dining table, a large black mark on the ceiling in the bedroom, marks on the walls, and stains on the carpets.

Not your normal items. I guess some people just don't care.

Bill

A cracked countertop - granite - is from the cabinets not being level.

I know from personal experience with our cabinets. Lucky the coutertop installer caught the mistake from the cabinet installer.

Some of the rust we saw in the bathtub at BLT when we were there last November - show some really serious construction "shortcuts" that are going to lead to problems down the road.

 

[Serein]

It was me! I admit it! I did it all. I've moved the coffee table and chair to make way for the hide-a-bed, and then moved the hide-a-bed to make way for my yoga mat. I've run the water in the sink, flushed the toilets, opened and closed the cabinets and used the microwave. I've open and closed the curtains, and put things on the tables. I've sat on the chairs and slept in the bed, and yet, I've even been naked in the shower... ew!!! Can you imagine going to someone's house and getting naked? I'm the worst, honestly. Once, on Halloween, I even stuck a picture of a cat to the sliding glass door using a suction cup. Oh, I tip well, I surely do, but that doesn't make up for the level of inconsiderateness. And before I checked out, I went so far as to pile all the dirty towels in the tub and to move the furniture AGAIN just to put it back... but I didn't measure where it was! I only put it back approximately! Look out! I'll be back again in 10 days. Stay away... I might touch your silverware!

 

[nunzia]

But when you stay at dvc you are going to someone's house where they don't want your feet on the table. That is, unless you asked every owner for permission. You can have my permission as long as you aren't wearing shoes.

See, that's how I feel..I can certainly put my feet on the coffee table at my home away from home..but I will not have shoes on, nor will I let my little princess tap dance on it with her clicky princess shoes..
Common courtesy isn't so common anymore. Back to the popcorn.....

 

[Tara]

It was me! I admit it! I did it all. I've moved the coffee table and chair to make way for the hide-a-bed, and then moved the hide-a-bed to make way for my yoga mat. I've run the water in the sink, flushed the toilets, opened and closed the cabinets and used the microwave. I've open and closed the curtains, and put things on the tables. I've sat on the chairs and slept in the bed, and yet, I've even been naked in the shower... ew!!! Can you imagine going to someone's house and getting naked? I'm the worst, honestly. Once, on Halloween, I even stuck a picture of a cat to the sliding glass door using a suction cup. Oh, I tip well, I surely do, but that doesn't make up for the level of inconsiderateness. And before I checked out, I went so far as to pile all the dirty towels in the tub and to move the furniture AGAIN just to put it back... but I didn't measure where it was! I only put it back approximately! Look out! I'll be back again in 10 days. Stay away... I might touch your silverware!

 

[needtogomore]

But, DVC is set up as a "low cost" management model - that's why they don't waste money with full housekeeping or add duplicate or extra amenities when they can get away with it. The maintenance fees...by widely held misconception...are (i believe...and opinion) used more to defray day to day costs than to be put back into refurbishment.
of course refurbs are done...but they are done less frequently at WDW than at holiday inns (no joke here)
so what can we realistically expect?

I would think that we should expect accomodations that are, on the whole, a little more run down....we are a captive audience that doesn't have to be 'wow-ed" to get us back there...

and i know what the response will be: "We paid all that money!"

Its not low cost at all DVC has some of the highest MF fees in timeshares, I dont think we should expect ours to be a little more rundown at all. not sure why you think we should.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

A long time ago I posted about calling housekeeping because the lower rack on the dishwasher had no wheels on it. Someone responded to my post saying they had seen children being pushed down the hallway by their parents on the bottom rack of a dishwasher at the same resort around the same time.

And those parents rolling their kids around on the bottom rack of the dishwasher undoubtedly though that they weren't doing anything wrong at all. In fact, there may be some on this board who think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking the dishwasher apart and rolling their kids down the hallway.

Bottom line is no one wants to be told that what they are doing is unacceptable or wrong. Everyone wants everyone else to approve of what they are doing and if you do object to what they are doing then you are the one with the problem, not them.

 

[tjkraz]

And those parents rolling their kids around on the bottom rack of the dishwasher undoubtedly though that they weren't doing anything wrong at all. In fact, there may be some on this board who think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking the dishwasher apart and rolling their kids down the hallway.

Bottom line is no one wants to be told that what they are doing is unacceptable or wrong. Everyone wants everyone else to approve of what they are doing and if you do object to what they are doing then you are the one with the problem, not them.

 

[Deb & Bill]

And those parents rolling their kids around on the bottom rack of the dishwasher undoubtedly though that they weren't doing anything wrong at all. In fact, there may be some on this board who think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking the dishwasher apart and rolling their kids down the hallway.

Bottom line is no one wants to be told that what they are doing is unacceptable or wrong. Everyone wants everyone else to approve of what they are doing and if you do object to what they are doing then you are the one with the problem, not them.

Good post, Rob.

 

[Dean]

I'm not sure the wear and tear really is more, just more noticeable and reported about. Still, some members seem to feel entitled to use and abuse. The idea that the membership are owners and thus feel compelled to take better care is really not true. Some will take care of everything whether they own or not, some won't. IF there's a difference, I think it's in attitude. Also I suspect a hotel is better able to track and recoup damages than DVC has been interested in doing thus far.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I think there are a number of issues at play here and others not.

1. DVC is a timeshare. You can't compare it to a hotel. Hotels have to convince people they want to come back or stay at another one of their locations on the next trip. Each stay is like an audition. Timeshares already have their guests signed up for decades. We've stayed at other timeshares and most (in our experience) don't measure up to the DVC level of maintenance.

2. Timeshares have owners that resist increases in maintenance fees and grumble about all dollars spent (generally speaking). Certainly, hotels have to put the added maintenance costs into the room rates, but people paying cash generally prefer to spend the bucks for a spotless well maintained room or they don't care and stay in a budget hotel.

3. DVC probably has a greatly disproportionate number of children staying in their timeshare properties compared to most other TS properties. I think that equals disproportionate wear and tear.

4. DVC/Disney is probably much more inclined to NOT impose fees or police and convict guests as abusers. Just the left over nature of the old Disney way. Disney has much more at stake in alienating any guest. It is a tight rope they walk.

All things considered, I don't think it is the moving around of furniture, or putting one's feet on the coffee table, or hanging decorations that really make the wear and tear. It contributes, but not nearly to the degree of having the vast majority of guests stays that include children. Families with children, even when diligent about cleaning, still are much more active and simply wear things out faster. Everything gets used more... toilets, faucets, dishwasher, washer and dryer, more spills, more dirt on the carpet, stains, bumps and dings in the walls, doors get slammed more, shades get pulled too hard, and the list could go on.

So DVC is really in a tough spot when they have owners who want to keep the MF's down, and on the other hand, probably the highest rate of guest stays that include children of all ages.

Yes, there are some small things that one can do to NOT contribute, but It all comes down do the dynamics of a DISNEY timeshare.

JMHO

 

[patsal]

I don't know what others do, but the excessive wear and tear is obvious. I really have decided I wouldn't want to see some of these people's homes. I did discover that my DS is a messy by nature person, I found without him on the vaca there was nothing to clean up after...however my house was another story upon arriving back home....
I'm sure my rooms turn over pretty quickly after seeing into some people's rooms, I cannot imagine seriously creating that much squalor! However, look at the parks, people carve their names into things in the aiting areas, can't refrain form stepping on things and climbing them, just a refelction on society as a whole and the inability to refrain from previously frowned upon behaviors. Most parents dont' want to discipline, they wait for a CM to do it and then say things like told you you'd get in trouble for that! With a shortage of CM's most things are not good.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Tape is one of my biggest pet peeves. There is NO REASON to put Scotch tape all over the WOODEN doors at AKL/V. You can argue with me until you are blue in the face and you will NEVER convince me that it is necessary to tape stuff all over the doors. It is defacing hotel property, period, the end.

In general, parents are less strict than they were several generations back. There is a trend of parents who want to be friends with their children, never discipline them, never give them any parameters or rules. These are the parents who allow their children to run through the halls SCREAMING, the ones who allow their children to eat, drink, and spill stuff all over the place, the ones who allow children to jump on beds and couches. These are also the parents who think the rest of us should be thoroughly entertained by these antics and never oppose or disapprove of their little prodigies. Makes me sick.

I like to think I am hard to shock, but there are still things on these boards that shock me. And if people are posting things that shock me, I can just imagine the things they are doing that they DON'T post.