POFQ- Beautiful but GROSS!!!

[ElleBelle]

I had posted a comment about this already in the Trip Reports forum- just thought I'd share our experience at POFQ with you all. Let me just start by saying we had a wonderful time. POFQ was such a quaint little resort- bus transportation was good, CM's at front desk and Sassagoula were just great. However, our room was filthy. Our room location was great- #6148 a first-floor corner with a view of the Sassagoula. When we first got to our room, my DH and I noticed that the rug looked like it needed to be vaccumed. Upon further inspection we found two dirty q-tips on the bathroom floor and hair in both of the sinks. I peeked into the bathtub and it looked like it hadn't even been wiped out since the last people left. There seemed to be leg hair shavings coating the inside back of the tub- and there were numerous "other" hairs as well. Of course I called the front desk, told them of my findings, and they said housekeeping would be to our room right away to clean. DH and I promptly left for the parks, and when we returned later that night we found the room to be looking much cleaner.

The next morning I woke up bright and early (about 5:00) and went to get into the shower. To my surprise, when I went to lift the bathmat from the back ledge of the tub, this is what I found:

a mixture of dust, dirt, and every person's leg hair shaving that had ever used that shower before me. Housekeeping had cleverly hidden it with the bathmat. I'm sorry, but I just didn't find this acceptable. I had already called once and drawn their attention to the fact that the bathtub was dirty. They ahem... "cleaned it"- er, um, pushed all the dirt under the bathmat, that is. How did they miss this? I once again called the front desk and reported my findings and that day while we were at the parks they cleaned. The room that evening did look much cleaner- but it just makes me wonder how good they actually clean between guests. For the rest of the trip I was a little skeeved about touching things in our room. Never had this problem with any other resort on Disney property before, and we didn't let it ruin our time. I guess I just expect more out of Disney- as they have always delivered before.

 

[Drizzo67]

I am so sorry you had this kind of experience at POFQ. When we were there last year our room was very clean. I did call ahead and let them know my son has asthma and that the room needed to be deep cleaned and heavily vacuumed. Maybe thats why I didn't have the same problem but I was lead to believe they assign rooms as they are available so there was not guarantee on which room I got.

As a habit I now carry Clorox Wipes to every hotel we go to. I know you shouldn't have to clean your own hotel room but remember, no one cleans for you the way you would.

Glad to hear your whole trip was not a bust. You did the right thing by calling the desk each time. Maybe this won't happen to the next person.

 

[Kay1]

We used to visit Disney resorts at least once a month for one or two nights (until it got too expensive) and I think it's just a matter of what housekeeper you get. One of my grossest experiences (dirty toilet) was at POFQ but I've had spotless rooms there, too. Sounds like you had a good time despite the dirt. Btw, you should have seen the room at a 3-star hotel we got from Easy Click --oh my!

Just have to inspect the room before we settle in, I guess.

 

[granmaz]

We are looking forward to our first onsite stay next February - at POFQ. We chose it after reading so many great reports, but recently there have been quite a few complaints about the cleaning of the rooms. By now Disney should have got it sorted as it is unnacceptable. Maybe we should complain ahead of our visits! I just can't believe you had to complain twice.

 

[ElleBelle]

We are looking forward to our first onsite stay next February - at POFQ. We chose it after reading so many great reports, but recently there have been quite a few complaints about the cleaning of the rooms. By now Disney should have got it sorted as it is unnacceptable. Maybe we should complain ahead of our visits! I just can't believe you had to complain twice.

Granmaz- I would continue to look forward to your stay. Like I said- The resort itself was beautiful, and full of charm. Nothing like standing outside your room in the evening, looking out over the Sassagoula seeing the boats pass to-and-from downtown Disney, and heaing the clip-clop of the horse drawn carriage. Yes, I do wish we had initially walked into a spotless room (which is what we are used to at Disney)- and yes, I was disappointed (especially after having to call on two different occasions to fix the problem). I had not heard others comments on the cleanliness of the resort. I do think I will be writing to Disney directly, and I hope to enclose the picture I put in this post. Wishing you a great vacation!

 

[Sammie]

I am sorry this happened to you, it really makes for an unpleasant start to your vacation.

However for anyone else planning future trips, if you have housekeeping problems, Do Not Call the Front Desk. You are not speaking to the Front Desk you are speaking to an operator at a Call Center for all the Disney resorts. The chances of it getting to the housekeeping staff are not great.

Call the direct line from your room to Housekeeping and ask for the Housekeeping Supervisor on Duty, and ask them to come to your room and see the problem. That way they know exactly what you are talking about and can it get taking care of and deal with the person who did not clean it properly so it won't happen again.

 

[ElleBelle]

I am sorry this happened to you, it really makes for an unpleasant start to your vacation.

However for anyone else planning future trips, if you have housekeeping problems, Do Not Call the Front Desk. You are not speaking to the Front Desk you are speaking to an operator at a Call Center for all the Disney resorts. The chances of it getting to the housekeeping staff are not great.

Call the direct line from your room to Housekeeping and ask for the Housekeeping Supervisor on Duty, and ask them to come to your room and see the problem. That way they know exactly what you are talking about and can it get taking care of and deal with the person who did not clean it properly so it won't happen again.

Either way, whomever I spoke to should have been, and were in contact with housekeeping. They are housekeepers. Their job is to clean things. They failed to do this. They should have done it right the first time- and I wouldn't have needed to call anyone. Whew--- I just needed to get that off my chest. Sorry!

 

[lagunaseca]

I'm sorry you had that experience.

 

[Karibeth19]

We also had housekeeping problems at POFQ in May. We had an adjoining room with my parents and their bathroom was filthy upon check-in. They called to complain, and housekeeping was sent out to clean the room again, but when we returned later, the exact same places were still filthy! My dad went to the front desk to complain, and got one night comped off their room. Later in the week, we returned to our room after all day at the parks to find the door open. Not wide open, but not shut either. Kind of like housekeeping pulled it just to the point of closing, but didn't pull it all the way closed. We were able to walk right in without using our key! Fortunately, nothing was missing, but it would have been so easy for someone to walk right into our room and take what they wanted! We complained, and were given an apology. Then, on the day we left, we were packing up around 9:30 when housekeeping knocked on the door briefly and then marched right in. I told her we weren't ready yet, and she snipped, "Well, when ARE you leaving?". I told her check-out was at 11:00 and that's when we would be gone. We continued to pack up (taking our own sweet time ), and she must have come by our room two or three times, peeked in the window, gave a look of disgust, and walked off.

POFQ was a beautiful resort, but the housekeeping issues really took away from our enjoyment of it.

 

[4greatboys]

Sad that this happens but I do believe its the exception not the rule. We had this happen to us at AKL back in 2002. We checked in and went to our room and it was evident it had not been cleaned. No biggie we were headed out for the parks then out that night so it left them plenty of time to tend to it. We came back to our room at around 1 am from PI and our room was still dirty. Now we were unhappy. We called housekeeping and they sent someone right up. She was very nice and apologized to us but you shouldnt have to call for housekeeping once, much less twice. They did comp us a night.
We have since stayed at AKL and Im happy to report our room was clean and we had a wonderful stay.

 

[Tinkaroo]

Not to glob on, but we had some pretty shaky mousekeeping at POFQ in October. Was not nearly as bad as yours, but there was definitely (head) hair on the floor of the bathroom, crumbs on the carpet, etc. We didn't complain, but I will next time. Hotels in general are beginning to gross me out - too many Dateline specials with black lights, I guess.

I agree with the other poster that said no one will ever clean as good as you will for yourself!!!!

 

[granmaz]

Do you think it would be worth while contacting them and voicing concerns about these experiences with bad housekeeping? I guess it all would come to nothing, but surely someone, somewhere would be concerned about the adverse comments.

 

[lisafromgeorgia]

We go to Disney every other year and have always stayed Deluxe with no problems. We stayed at POFQ in May and experienced the same issue with the bathroom. I booked our room there primarily on the recommendation from other DIS members. I was really disappointed in the horrible mousekeeping and I don't want to return because of it. We aren't picky people by a long shot, but when I close the bathroom door and find a year's worth of hair behind it, I get annoyed. Disney isn't a cheap trip no matter where you stay. There should be some sort of quality control at ALL the resorts to make sure that these things don't happen.

We check in at another resort Sunday and I seriously hope we have a better experience this time. If we don't I will have to really complain.

 

[ottawa-newbie]

I had posted a comment about this already in the Trip Reports forum- just thought I'd share our experience at POFQ with you all. Let me just start by saying we had a wonderful time. POFQ was such a quaint little resort- bus transportation was good, CM's at front desk and Sassagoula were just great. However, our room was filthy. Our room location was great- #6148 a first-floor corner with a view of the Sassagoula. When we first got to our room, my DH and I noticed that the rug looked like it needed to be vaccumed. Upon further inspection we found two dirty q-tips on the bathroom floor and hair in both of the sinks. I peeked into the bathtub and it looked like it hadn't even been wiped out since the last people left. There seemed to be leg hair shavings coating the inside back of the tub- and there were numerous "other" hairs as well. Of course I called the front desk, told them of my findings, and they said housekeeping would be to our room right away to clean. DH and I promptly left for the parks, and when we returned later that night we found the room to be looking much cleaner.

The next morning I woke up bright and early (about 5:00) and went to get into the shower. To my surprise, when I went to lift the bathmat from the back ledge of the tub, this is what I found:

a mixture of dust, dirt, and every person's leg hair shaving that had ever used that shower before me. Housekeeping had cleverly hidden it with the bathmat. I'm sorry, but I just didn't find this acceptable. I had already called once and drawn their attention to the fact that the bathtub was dirty. They ahem... "cleaned it"- er, um, pushed all the dirt under the bathmat, that is. How did they miss this? I once again called the front desk and reported my findings and that day while we were at the parks they cleaned. The room that evening did look much cleaner- but it just makes me wonder how good they actually clean between guests. For the rest of the trip I was a little skeeved about touching things in our room. Never had this problem with any other resort on Disney property before, and we didn't let it ruin our time. I guess I just expect more out of Disney- as they have always delivered before.

Hi! Were were at POFQ Nov 12-19 - room 6229, and I had the same issue - housekeeping did a very poor job in our room...
The full length mirror was never cleaned, (it was dirty when we arrived) and there was hair left in the bathtub every day... (my hair, granted, but still - I thought that part of the fun in staying in a hotel was to have someone clean up for you!!) I could also tell that it had been awhile since the floors had been cleaned... boy am I glad I had slippers with me!

I didn't complain, as I felt bad since they gave us a free upgrade...

But I will write a letter and hope to get a response!

Our trip was fabulous though!

 

[Sammie]

Either way, whomever I spoke to should have been, and were in contact with housekeeping. They are housekeepers. Their job is to clean things. They failed to do this. They should have done it right the first time- and I wouldn't have needed to call anyone. Whew--- I just needed to get that off my chest. Sorry!

Never said they should not have cleaned it the first time, totally agree.

However I was trying to help any future guests eliminate the problem of having to call more than once if they do have a problem.

 

[Sammie]

Do you think it would be worth while contacting them and voicing concerns about these experiences with bad housekeeping? I guess it all would come to nothing, but surely someone, somewhere would be concerned about the adverse comments.

it is definitly worth reporting to the Housekeeing Super while you are there. If you leave you have no evidence of the problem, it then becomes he said, she said.

Always call while you are there, always ask to have the super come and see the mess. There is no way then they can deny it did not happen.

And Yes it should not happen, but occasionally it does.

 

[wdwlver]

Sorry you had to have that as part of your trip. That would've been totally unacceptable to me as well. WDW is not cheap by any means, and there is a basic expectation of cleanliness when checking into any resort....

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

I am sorry this happened to you, it really makes for an unpleasant start to your vacation.

However for anyone else planning future trips, if you have housekeeping problems, Do Not Call the Front Desk. You are not speaking to the Front Desk you are speaking to an operator at a Call Center for all the Disney resorts. The chances of it getting to the housekeeping staff are not great.

Call the direct line from your room to Housekeeping and ask for the Housekeeping Supervisor on Duty, and ask them to come to your room and see the problem. That way they know exactly what you are talking about and can it get taking care of and deal with the person who did not clean it properly so it won't happen again.

Exactly! Sammie, you took the words out of my mouth.