Polynesian resort, please say it isn't so!!!!?!!!!

[Disney Padawan]

OP I would go ahead and try the Poly if money is not that tight. If you really have to stretch your budget then go to WL. Which I think is just as nice with better housekeeping. We stayed at the Poly last fall after staying at WL previously and we did like Poly only slightly better because of the monorail and theme. ALso it's a Disney original. The housekeeping was not that great but I'm a bit of a clean freak. Let's just say they never vacuumed all week and I had to write a note for them to even change sheets . We do tip everyday too but it did not matter. We stayed in the Samoa building, which you could hear pool noise from. I'm hoping for either Tokelau, Fiji or Samoa this trip. We are staying again in October since we got a really good pincode rate otherwise I would have staed at WL. I do prefer to stay deluxe.

My DGF and I are somewhat clean freaks too, (her more than myself) that is why I've been concerned with the Poly.

 

[Disney Padawan]

It is true that Disney is a pretty high stress environment. Unfortunately, while guests come first at Disney, employees (especially entry level) often come last, IME. As a former employee, I can just say that one of the huge draws to working at Disney was their benefits package. While pay wasn't that great, their benefits were unmatched. BUT...this was costing them too much money and the way they dealt with this was to make most employees "CT's", or casual temporaries, which means that they work "seasonally" but get no benefits. An employee could work all year for 5 years and still be considered a CT, just to avoid giving them benefits.

I think that combined with low pay, and the attitude I saw, which was "go ahead and quit...there are others lined up to work here" has definitely hurt their workforce and ability to woo new employees. Hopefully they have learned this and are working on making it more beneficial for new hires. That may help with the shortage and, in turn, help with bringing the hotels back up to the standard people have come to expect.

I also agree with disneyfan67, exellent post.

It's unfortunate how things have changed at Disney. I can remember many years ago when some of my friends worked for Disney, they were there because they wanted to be, they enjoyed everything about it. I recall the money being OK but it still wasn't unbearable, not how it is now. Times have changed and the cost of living is always going up. Disney should really take this into considaration because if they keep at it, then no one will want to work for them.

If they would put their employees 2nd (guests being first) and pay them a decent wage, then maybe things like "questionable service" won't be brought up so often, like it has been lately. I'm curious how much they will raise their prices if they do something like this.

I wouldn't want them to raise their resort prices but I'm sure they will anyway, along with everything else. Heck, don't they raise the price of admission every year? Why can't they utilize that money and give it to their employees? Looks like Iger and Co. have a lot of cleaning up to do, they better hurry, Disney's reputation seems to be at stake.

 

[Dina]

We haven't stayed at Poly yet..we will for the first time in Oct. But we read reports on resorts and restaurants on places such as trip advisor, etc. I just wanted to mention that you need to take most of the reviews with a grain of salt. If you listened to all the reviews out there you'd never go anywhere.

This is sooooo true. I stopped getting onto Tripadvisor. Every hotel we've ever checked out had these awful horror stories. We stayed at the Hyatt in Maui for our honeymoon--- it was unbelievable (terrific)--- I decided to get on Tripadvisor to see what was said--- again, absolutely horrible reviews-- that's when I decided every hotel's gonna have those reviews, some legitimate, and some--- well, some people find things to complain about. I wouldn't worry about bad Poly reviews.

 

[Saphire]

I have to agree with the housekeeping part of the complaint. We have been there 5 times, and each time the housekeeping was not good. I asked to have sheets changed and it wasn't done, asked for service before 1 pm each day and would come back in the afternoon to an untouched room, sliding glass doors had prints on them from previous guests and it was never cleaned...these are just a few examples but it finally led us to try other resorts.

I must say that the results in the book can be a good thing. You can be sure the powers that be at the Poly will have to come up with a plan to improve those ratings. If people don't complain, nothing changes. It is just too bad when it scares people with a trip coming up. I still say go and give it a try. It really is a beautiful resort.

 

[PreppyPolyMom]

I was very disappointed with the Poly on our last stay. We had terrible housekeeping. They were rude, unfriendly and didn't do a good job. We had to ask for service more than twice. We would come back to our room at 3:00pm and the room still wasn't made up, this happend quite a few days.

So those reviews do not surprise me in the least

 

[disneyfan67]

I hope everyone who has had poor housekeeping issues at the Poly, writes to Disney management and lets them know. Nothing will change if they don't hear the complaints. I'll make sure to if the service isn't up to par, but I will also write and give compliments as well.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I hope everyone who has had poor housekeeping issues at the Poly, writes to Disney management and lets them know. Nothing will change if they don't hear the complaints. I'll make sure to if the service isn't up to par, but I will also write and give compliments as well.

I did both. I gave compliments where compliments were due (Kona, front desk CM's), and complained where we had issues (housekeeping and Captain Cooks being messy).

I also told them in my email that the hotel, and in particular, Samoa, was getting a bad reputation on internet message boards.

 

[Disney Padawan]

I thought their "housekeeping issues" were only recent? But it sounds like this has been going on for a while.

 

[Disney Padawan]

Also agree that, nothing will be resolved if they don't hear about it.

 

[Poly Pal]

I read the 2007 Unofficial Guide's section on resorts yesterday. The Grand Floridian also got an "F" for noise. Interestingly, the guide did not receive comments/complaints from actual guests of the resorts about noise. Rather the authors conducted their own "experiment". The Values all got "A's" for noise

The UG lists "Noise from the Speedway" as a negative at the Polynesian. In 6 years reading posts about the Polynesian on these boards, I've read only one post where someone heard noise from the Speedway while staying in the Tahiti longhouse. Personally, I have never heard speedway noise at the Polynesian and I can't see how you could hear it in your room there.

I think the UG is a good source of some information, but I believe it tends to have a negative vibe. Heck, if you followed the UG faithfully, you might never stay anywhere but at the Value resorts, never take a child under 8 to Disney and skip half of the attractions.

 

[kaysmommie]

I have to agree with the housekeeping part of the complaint. We have been there 5 times, and each time the housekeeping was not good. I asked to have sheets changed and it wasn't done, asked for service before 1 pm each day and would come back in the afternoon to an untouched room, sliding glass doors had prints on them from previous guests and it was never cleaned...these are just a few examples but it finally led us to try other resorts.

I must say that the results in the book can be a good thing. You can be sure the powers that be at the Poly will have to come up with a plan to improve those ratings. If people don't complain, nothing changes. It is just too bad when it scares people with a trip coming up. I still say go and give it a try. It really is a beautiful resort.

Can I ask what building you were in? I had the same issues as you in Samoa. I do like the location and view but housekeeping was not good.

 

[minnie61650]

I read the 2007 Unofficial Guide's section on resorts yesterday. The Grand Floridian also got an "F" for noise. Interestingly, the guide did not receive comments/complaints from actual guests of the resorts about noise. Rather the authors conducted their own "experiment". The Values all got "A's" for noise:rotfl2........:

.

I stay at the Values quite often and I have never had a noise issue at the values.
My noisest stay at Disney was a tower room on the 10th floor of the CR.
Children were running up and down the halls late at night.

This was my experience. Your milage may vary.

 

[sotoalf]

I think the UG is a good source of some information, but I believe it tends to have a negative vibe. Heck, if you followed the UG faithfully, you might never stay anywhere but at the Value resorts, never take a child under 8 to Disney and skip half of the attractions.

Re-read the sections on the Value resorts -- not complimentary at all.

 

[Saphire]

Can I ask what building you were in? I had the same issues as you in Samoa. I do like the location and view but housekeeping was not good.

We have stayed in Tahiti, Rapa Nui, and Hawaii. We had housekeeping issues in all three. Most surprising was that we had to ask for turndown service in Hawaii, and 4 out of seven nights didn't get it. Turndown service is supposed to be automatic in the concierge buiding. But to still not receive it when requested is poor customer service. The last time we were at the Poly was 2004, so the issues we had were indeed a long time ago. I find it interesting that people are still talking about it. They deserve that poor rating, hopefully something will now be done.

We have tried other resorts as well...Contemporary, Yacht Club, Wilderness Lodge, and Coronado Springs. Housekeeping was just fine.

 

[simonkodousek]

We just got back from the Polynesian, and we did experience a few problems regarding noise and housekeeping. I would have to say, the noise bugged me the most. We could hear people talking in the hallways, the boat outside, and the sprinklers at night. As for the housekeeping, we left $5.00 every day as a tip. One of the days, we returned to our room and the tip was gone, but the room wasn't any different than when we left it.

 

[kikiq]

I read the 2007 Unofficial Guide's section on resorts yesterday. The Grand Floridian also got an "F" for noise. Interestingly, the guide did not receive comments/complaints from actual guests of the resorts about noise. Rather the authors conducted their own "experiment". The Values all got "A's" for noise

The UG lists "Noise from the Speedway" as a negative at the Polynesian. In 6 years reading posts about the Polynesian on these boards, I've read only one post where someone heard noise from the Speedway while staying in the Tahiti longhouse. Personally, I have never heard speedway noise at the Polynesian and I can't see how you could hear it in your room there.

I think the UG is a good source of some information, but I believe it tends to have a negative vibe. Heck, if you followed the UG faithfully, you might never stay anywhere but at the Value resorts, never take a child under 8 to Disney and skip half of the attractions.

Maybe they meant the noise grades the opposite direction...F meaning very little noise therefore not good for kids? and A meaning lots of noise so if your kids are noisy it's a great place to be.

The last time we stayed at the Poly we had a GV facing the speedway. I didn't hear the speedway in the room but if we sat on the balcony late in the morning/early afternoon, we could hear the speedway, wasn't loud, just not a very island sound...well maybe if you lived in downtown Honolulu, but not a tropical setting sound.

 

[marivaid]

We were at the Poly 2 days ago and the only problem we had was with 'Ohana. We did have to wait a bit for the room to be ready on our first day but that was expected since we got there at 1pm. We had a room in Tokelau which is the building I'd asked for.

Our room was very clean and always done by the time we came back from the parks for our break around 1pm. Our toiletries were restocked every day, we had towel animals every day too. Didn't request turndown service so I can't comment on that. The staff was very friendly and helpful.

Yes we could hear the boat coming in at night (that is, the one night we wer back before 11pm) but we are now at the Boardwalk where we hear at night some beep beep sound, like a truck from a construction site, NO idea where it's coming from but it's much more annoying than the Poly boat.

We completly fell in love with the Poly.

 

[BrianD]

The only major issue we have had at the Poly was the mousekeeping. The same issue with the room not being cleaned until 3:30. Also, on our last time at 'Ohana we noticed the service going a bit downhill, and we have not been able to go back since the menu change. I fear what it may be like now. Other than that, the Poly seems like they are really trying to kick it up a notch with ALL of the refurbishment that the entire resort has received over the last 5 or so years. Now they are just shooting themselves in the foot with bad service. Oh, and adding a hot tub would be great! (And I've already heard about how it doesn't fit with the true Polynesian theme. Well neither does the monorail but that doesn't mean it doesn't add to the experience.)

 

[paulag]

We stayed at the POLY 6/24-6/30. I requested Tokelau and we got it! We had no problems at all with mouse keeping or noise. Extra towels each day, mouse keeping timed cleaning our room when we were out (one day, we were only out for an hour or so), restocking of toiletries. Our room was as spotless as possible with 3 kids under 7- they did a great job cleaning around the kids' STUFF. The family is refusing to stay anywhere else. For some reason, there was no fan in our bathroom. It was not a problem, but was odd.

 

[luvthemouse71]

When I read that the OP's comment were about things written in the Unofficial Guide, I would take those with a grain of salt. I always think when reading their reviews about the hotels, restaurants and etc they are a little to negative about their comments and ratings. As for the negative posts about the Polynesian there are always going to be people with posts like that, however you can say that about all the Walt Disney World Resort Hotels that are on property.

I agree, I value input from other guests, but to a degree. People are different and for good or for bad, WDW is one of those places that you have to experience first hand to form your own opinion. I find the UG a bit negative as well and I find the blurbs from guests to be annoying at best and misleading at worst(one person complained about the RAIN of all things and you would think KRR was filled with acid instead of water, the way some people whine about it...). I myself was going to stay at a deluxe(either the poly, CR or WL) and just couldn't see spending the money-I'm a Moderates girl...POR is my favorite