Ranking the resort concierge

[Bdadis]

Just would like to get everyone's feedback on the different concierge services. Who has the best food offerings? the nicest lounge? best staff? How you rate and rank each one?

 

[TammiMcMan]

Best food
1. GF, a little on the gourmet side, love the additional afternoon tea service
2. Poly, nice Asian flare with Chef Dick doing presentations (don't know if he still does this)
3. AKL, Zebra domes from Boma and smoothies, enough said

Best lounge
1. Poly, good size, nice view
2. CR Atrium club, brand new overlooking the MK
3. GF main building, good size great for people watching
4. BWI offers a beautiful view of the Boardwalk area and Illuminations

Personally, my rankings would be
1. GF Main building
2. Poly
3. CR, either floor now that they've redone the 12th
4. AKL, some changes coming for 2007 though
5. GF Sugar Loaf
6. BWI
7-9 Interchangeable, BC YC and WL due to much smaller lounges, not such great views

 

[betterlatethannever]

Just would like to get everyone's feedback on the different concierge services. Who has the best food offerings? the nicest lounge? best staff? How you rate and rank each one?

Never been to the GF so can't rank it.

1.CR (14th floor) so few people on the floor, it seems you are in your own private lounge. (haven't stayed on the 12th)
2.AKL
3.BWI
4.Polynesian (was there last year after the renovation, was much better on our 2000 visit). I can't believe I am saying this but there are too many tables/chairs in the lounge now. If the lounge is crowded, the chairs end up being back to back and others can't get through.
5.WL (haven't been to the renovated louge)
6.BC
7.YC
8.Swan

Tammi, your comment about the BWI having a good view of the Boardwalk area. Doesn't it look out on the quiet pool? I agree about the view of Illuminations.

Tammi, what are the changes coming to the AKL lounge next year? You probably have mentioned it before but I missed it.

Ed

 

[TammiMcMan]

Tammi, your comment about the BWI having a good view of the Boardwalk area. Doesn't it look out on the quiet pool? I agree about the view of Illuminations.

I meant the rooms offer a nice view and you can see Illuminations from the lounge balcony.

Tammi, what are the changes coming to the AKL lounge next year? You probably have mentioned it before but I missed it.

It's my understanding that they are going to take a few of the rooms on the 5th floor and make them DVC model rooms. Deluxe concierge will be a category up on the 6th floor and is priced still at $435/night in value season. A secondary category of standard view concierge will be added. These rooms will accomodate 4 and be located on other floors. The price is $325/night in value season. The lounge is also scheduled for a rehab, but I haven't heard any dates announced yet.

 

[Demosthenes]

I have not stayed at the re-vamped CR concierge, so this is based on prior stays.

1. CR 14th floor. The size of the lounge compared to the number of guests is wonderful. Best food, hands down, of any of the concierge lounges. Also, the best view of any lounge. All of the food comes from the California Grill, and it is wonderful. The CR/GF IPO is the best on property. They don't know how to say "no." The on-site personnel is very good, though some people complain that they aren't always in the lounge. The rooms are huge, and are the most convenient rooms of any concierge lounge.
2. Poly. The food is good, but the service is great. They work miracles getting you into restaurants, and pay attention to the family's needs better than other lounges. As an example, my son is a big fan of buzz, and was telling our check-in host all about it. That night, when we returned to the room, there was an autographed picture of Buzz waiting for him. The lounge has a great view as well. The rooms are not the most convenient.
3. GF RPC. The lounge is great, and while it doesn't feature the great view that the CR and Poly have, it is very comfortable and quiet. The food here is ok. Unlike TammiMcMan, we have never really cared for some of the food offerings here. Some of it is frankly kind of weird. The rooms are extremely convenient to the facilities of the hotel.
4. AKL. The AKL lounge is nothing special, but the service is very good, and I love the juice they offer in the lounge. I don't like that you can end up with a pool view; you should be able to pay for the savannah view room if you want it.
5. BWI. The innkeeper's club would be higher up if only they would rehab the rooms. You have a great view of Illuminations from the balcony, and the lounge is spacious and never seems crowded. The service is quite good, and food is tasty as well.
6. WL. Now that they have a new lounge, the WL finally has a respectable concierge service. The food is still nothing to write home about, but it isn't bad at all. Like the CR, they have Krispy Kreme donuts in the morning, which I really like. The rooms are fine, but the balconies suck. You can't sit on the balcony and look out on the courtyard because of the dormer style of these balconies.
7. GF Sugar Loaf Concierge. These rooms are extremely convenient to the facilities of the hotel, especially the boat dock, pool and marina. The food is good (again with the weird stuff though), but the lounge is way to small and very loud.
8. BC Concierge. I only stayed here one night before we moved to the YC (at the time there was no YC concierge, and we preferred to give it up for the nicer rooms of the YC than to stay in the BC concierge). We were not impressed with the staff service, and the lounge was sort of run down. We have a bad taste from this stay, and have no desire to go back.
9. Club Dolphin. Ho hum. Basically, all you get is food offerings. That is not what concierge is all about, and if it was, this would be a real disappointment. The lounge is often closed, and the offerings aren't great. The lounge is also pretty small (though we were there for a New Year's trip, so the place was packed.)