OKW housekeeping room turn around?

[rkdahl]

Our home resort is OKW and I'd say out of all our visits since joining in '93 we've had to wait to 3-4pm for a room to be ready nearly 90% of the time. This is certainly expected since check in time is listed at 4pm. But I've always wondered why it takes so long to get all the rooms turned around. And have we just always been unlucky and ended up as one of the last rooms that got cleaned and ready.

We checked out of OKW yesterday and one thing struck me as maybe part of the turn over problem. When you check out of OKW, or any DVC resort for that matter, do they ever ask you to call the front desk and 'check out' like a normal hotel does? I didn't recall seeing that on any of our express checkout paperwork. It got me to thinking that maybe there are many vacant rooms but they don't know which rooms are vacant since people get their express check out bills and then just leave.

People could have very early flights out of Orlando and be vacating their rooms at 7am or 8am and yet the housekeeping staff doesn't know they left. Or do they wait untill 11am before they start housekeeping so they don't disturb other guests.

Does anyone know how this process works? I've seen many people waiting for their rooms at OKW each day and I was just curious how this all worked.

 

[OneMoreTry]

The mousekeepers usually start knocking at our door at about 730 or 8. I think that's the system to find out who's vacated.

What size villa? We use 2BR and have always had a room ready when we get there around noon. Do you have lots of requests?

 

[Disney Doll]

Any time I have ever checked out of OKW, there is always a basket full of clean linen waiting right outside the door, and a housekeeper hovering nearby, doing other things, but also keeping an eye on us and when we are leaving. I have actually had the housekeeper knock to see if we could give her an estimated of what time we'd be checking out.

 

[JimMIA]

I always call housekeeping to let them know we're out, but I've also had the same "Housekeeper Hovering" experience mentioned above.

 

[Chuck S]

I wonder if they've thought about notifying housekeeping when someone boards the DME bus for the return to the airport? In most cases, unless a party is split up, that would indicate a vacated room. While we usually drive, so DME has no effect on us, it would give housekeeping a "heads up" on a fair percentage of the rooms.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have always had a basket of clean linens outside our door early on checkout morning as well, and if I don't see a housekeeper in the area, I will call the front desk and tell them we have left.

FYI, I have never had a call or knock from housekeeping on checkout morning at OKW, and we have had more than 20 stays there. By the same token, we have rarely gotten in our room right at check-in either. We usually check in around 1 PM, and usually have to wait until 4 to get into the unit. Once, the folks ahead of us had made a terrible mess, and the carpets needed to be shampooed. They apologized and it was closer to 5 when we actually got in. I few times we got our unit right away, and once we had a guest who checked in ahead of us, and they got into the unit right away as well at about 10 AM. One time, we even had guests of ours get bumped from their All Star room the night before while we were staying at AKL. They were put in the second bedroom of the lock off unit we would be assigned the next morning. When we checked in at 8 AM, it was all ready for us, and they were already settled in the second bedroom!

 

[rkdahl]

The mousekeepers usually start knocking at our door at about 730 or 8. I think that's the system to find out who's vacated.

What size villa? We use 2BR and have always had a room ready when we get there around noon. Do you have lots of requests?

We usually stay in a studio or 1 bedroom. On this last trip it was a studio and it wasn't ready until 3pm.

I've seen the linen baskets at rooms that are turning over, those get delivered during the very early am. But we've never had anyone 'hovering' or knocking at our door on the last morning.

I wonder if maybe I should write a letter to DVC/OKW and ask them if they've considered (or maybe if they actually do this and we just don't know it) things like:

- as part of the Express Checkout ask guests to 'Please call Housekeeping/Front Desk when they are vacating the room" That's a very normal request at all hotels I've ever stayed at
- As Chuck suggested, get a listing of all DME guests that have checked in for DME and departed. They could do this at 7am/8am/9am and have plenty of rooms to get started on.
-Asking guests when they check in at the resort, what time they are expecting to vacate their room on the last morning. Some folks are positive when they are leaving (ie airline flights, DME) others don't expect to leave until 11am and could so indicate.

What do you guys think?

 

[dianeschlicht]

We usually stay in a studio or 1 bedroom. On this last trip it was a studio and it wasn't ready until 3pm.

I've seen the linen baskets at rooms that are turning over, those get delivered during the very early am. But we've never had anyone 'hovering' or knocking at our door on the last morning.

I wonder if maybe I should write a letter to DVC/OKW and ask them if they've considered (or maybe if they actually do this and we just don't know it) things like:

- as part of the Express Checkout ask guests to 'Please call Housekeeping/Front Desk when they are vacating the room" That's a very normal request at all hotels I've ever stayed at
- As Chuck suggested, get a listing of all DME guests that have checked in for DME and departed. They could do this at 7am/8am/9am and have plenty of rooms to get started on.
-Asking guests when they check in at the resort, what time they are expecting to vacate their room on the last morning. Some folks are positive when they are leaving (ie airline flights, DME) others don't expect to leave until 11am and could so indicate.

What do you guys think?

I have always thought it was common courtesy to let either the front desk or housekeeping know when the room was vacated. I do think it might help a bit to speed things up, but I must say I never see any housekeepers who aren't busy, so I doubt they are "waiting around" for something to do.

 

[donald...really]

I also wonder if the housekeepers report the room as being clean as soon as they are finished with it. It always seems strange that the majority of the time our room is dirty until exactly 4:00. I wonder if clean rooms are sitting there empty because the housekeepers sometimes don't report them as clean until they are finished with their shift.

 

[DebbieB]

Some hotels do not report the room as ready until a supervisor stops by and inspects it. So it could take time for the supervisor to mark it as ready.

 

[sjpvac]

Have to agree with the early check-in approach. For the last several years I get to the check-in at 8AM and the room is usually available by noon or 1. This may not work for everyone just arriving in Orlando but I always do a "mini-vacation" before Disney so I stay one night near Universal and enjoy the great rides and restaurants along International Drive.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

I always call housekeeping to let them know we're out, but I've also had the same "Housekeeper Hovering" experience mentioned above.

Same here.

 

[castleri]

This past trip in September was the first I ever had the early morning phone call - no one on the line experience - that others have reported. I think as several have said it is just common courtesy to call housekeeping and let them know when you leave unless you see someone right outside the door as you are taking stuff out and can tell them. They could also have the door hanger thingie that says "vacation over - room ready for cleaning" or something like that to leave on the door when you leave. As with anything else there would be those who wouldn't do it of course. Am wondering what the experience will be checking in on the 24th of December. Don't really care if the room is ready just hope it will meet my one request of NS.

 

[MiaSRN62]

We always call and let mousekeeping know when we're actually leaving the room upon checkout. This year, on checkout day, our phone rang at like 7:30 am (OKW). When I answered it, the person hung up. Our flight wasn't until 3 pm, so we had planned to sleep in and leave closer to the checkout time. I was not amused by getting that call at 7:30 am, but I'm guessing it was mousekeeping's way of checking to see if we were still in the room ? I had a "do not disturb" sign on the front door. Next time, I will be taking the phone off the hook the night before we leave so we all don't get awakened by a phone call.
Also, we checked in around 10:45 am that trip and our room was immediately available (2 bedroom).

 

[Halle]

This past August we stayed at VB and BWV, changed rooms midway at BWV, none of the rooms were ready before 4:00. We arrived early at both resorts.

 

[castleri]

Sorting through my file cabinet this AM and found an express check out envelope from one of our DVC stays - at least I think it was DVC- there is a "lime green" (actually closer to fluorescent green) sticker on the front which says---
" We hope that you have enjoyed your stay. At departure, please dial 667 on you phone, wait for the tone, and hang up. This informs us that you have left your room. Have a safe journey home"

Don't remember seeing this the last couple of times we stayed so guess it didn't work out too well or I could be wrong and it was from one of the 3 times I stayed at other than a DVC resort. Seems like a good idea through.