Recent security issue at Disneyland Hotel???

[jodeja]

Hello All,
I've been enjoying this board so much!

Well, I was just reading some TripAdvisor reviews of the Disneyland Hotel so I could finally settle in my mind if it is worth the extra money to stay there. We stayed 1 night there last year to test it out and I absolutely loved it.
However, tonight I found it very odd and rather concerning that two separate reviews from April of this year mentioned that someone tried to enter their room with a key card during the night! They both said that they called Guest Services who confirmed it sounded suspicious and offered to get back to them and both of the reviewers said they were not followed up with.

Has anyone else heard of this? What is going on at DLH?

Here are excerpts from the TripAdvisor reviews:

Chilliwack, Canada
Apr 26, 2010
The third night someone tried to get into our room saying they were Disney security but I wouldn't let them in -- Guest services were suppose to check it out and get back to us but they never did.

los angeles
Apr 9, 2010
We ended up changing rooms when I found out that the phone was broken in the first room, which was significant for me as I was a mom alone with two kids.
Our second room was on a higher floor and was slightly nicer than the first room. All seemed well until 10:30 at night when someone opened our door using an employee's key card. Fortunately, I had bolted the door so he could only open it a few inches. I looked through the peep hole and it was a man in a disney uniform. I called down to the front desk to inform them what had happened, and they said it was suspicious and would have security check it out and get back to me, but they never did.

 

[Leshaface]

That gave me chills!

There is NO reason for a Disney employee to be opening a guests room...this is very strange...

Just like it's been stated many times on the boards...Just because it's Disney, doesn't mean it's any more safe than anywhere else...

Good thing she had her heavy bolt on...

 

[Eeee-va]

That's horrible! The earlier incident could have been an honest mistake, but I'm having a hard time imagining a legitimate reason for the second one. (Unless they're faux accounts written by the competition. )

While you have to take reviews on TripAdvisor with a grain of salt, I've seen so much bad press about the Disneyland Hotel itself on there, I don't think I'd pay the premium at this point. (Though I am awful cheap so that's not much of a condemnation.)

 

[spacemermaid]

If those are indeed real reviews, the first one sounds like it may well have been an honest mistake, though it doesn't speak very well of the hotel that it was not followed up on. The second incident is just plain creepy, though- there really is no legitimate reason, save an emergency in the hotel that required an evacuation, that a hotel employee would just open the door, especially late at night, without knocking . And it REALLY doesn't speak well of the hotel that the incident wasn't followed up on! (That is, of course, if they were real hotel reviews & not something posted by someone with a grudge against Disney...)

 

[skiingfast]

While you have to take reviews on TripAdvisor with a grain of salt, I've seen so much bad press about the Disneyland Hotel itself on there, I don't think I'd pay the premium at this point. (Though I am awful cheap so that's not much of a condemnation.)

I think trip advisor is not that good when it comes to complaints like these. I think a lot of people just bash other hotels. I knew somone that worked at a hotel and they would read their reviews and it would say somthing like Desk Person doesn't speak English, and everyone at the desk is American nuetral accents. Or Checked in 5-4 and blond person at desk didn't have bags go to the room. They'd check the schedule and no blonds had worked for the 3rd-5th. These were typically so they figured a lot more were fake as well.

Trip Advisor has had problems defending their name because of this, but how could they stop it.

 

[DizMe]

It is disconcerting to read that sort of thing.

However, there is absolutely no way to verify that it's true. There is also no way for DLH to defend itself, even if it knew about those reviews, and if it tried, people would probably say that indicated some guilt.

What better way to scare people off a hotel than to post something frightening and potentially dangerous? Something that feeds into most people's biggest fears?

So, while I would be careful about using my bolt after reading that, I am also skeptical about the whole thing. I can't see any reason for other hotels to use such a tactic as I think they all have their niche, but there are people who post phony reviews for various reasons. It's too bad because it makes it very hard to trust the reviews for a place. I like TA but I don't base much on the reviews because they've mislead me more than once about a place.

If it is true, then maybe something was done internally. Interesting that both incidents occurred in April.

As far as DLH, I don't believe there is any more of a security risk there than at any other hotel in the area, but it always pays to be cautious.

 

[onelilspark]

It's that exact reason that once I'm in my room for the evening, I put the bolt on and the metal thingy that makes it impossible to open the door past a crack. My boyfriend thinks I'm paranoid. I think I'm safe.

 

[aurorae]

The only logical thing I could think of was a maintenance employee was dispatched to work on something in a room he thought was empty (due to some miscommunication) or he went to the wrong room (maybe the right number but the wrong floor. It happens.)

 

[Dobie]

I cannot IMAGINE a professional hotel the quality of DLH NOT following up on such a concern.

The whole thing sounds fishy to me. . .

 

[Mister Toad]

I cannot IMAGINE a professional hotel the quality of DLH NOT following up on such a concern.

The whole thing sounds fishy to me. . .

I always take Trip Advisor with a grain of salt. I have found a lot of reviews that just don't compute on there. Hopefully this isn't true, cause I can't imagine that happening at any self-respecting hotel, let along DLH.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

The thing with Trip Advisor is that anyone can write a review, and have found that some posters will slam a hotel over simple, minor things, such as rude staff, the pool not being open when it should be, etc. I tend to take their reviews with a grain of salt, as you have to look at both the good and bad reviews and take an opinion somewhere in the middle to get a true pic of what a hotel is like. You can never really know what a hotel is like until you actually stay there, and the best thing that you can do is to do alot of research (such as looking at the DIS boards for the latest info about different hotels), and make an informed decision from there

 

[jodeja]

Thanks for all of your replies; they are all appreciated!
I appreciated those who validated my feelings that it was creepy to read those reviews, and sounded fishy that they happened the same month.
I also appreciated the reminder to take TripAdvisor with a grain of salt. I have posted a couple of reviews on TripAdvisor myself so I sometimes assume all of the other reviews are from people like me; I can forget that there are those with ulterior motives.
I am so hoping that we get to stay at an onsite property this summer!

 

[KAYELIZ]

The only logical thing I could think of was a maintenance employee was dispatched to work on something in a room he thought was empty (due to some miscommunication) or he went to the wrong room (maybe the right number but the wrong floor. It happens.)

I would hope that they would knock on the door a couple of times before entering the room.

 

[Somegirl]

I love Trip Advisor, but yes you do have to be wary of some of the reviews. Some people will complain about the soap smelling funny at 5 star hotel on beach in Hawaii. I don't know about you, but when I'm in Hawaii the smell of soap isn't the most important thing in the world to me.
Or there are the reviews that are obviously from hotel staff. It's usually the person's first post and they give the hotel glowing views, while the other recent reviews are more in line with the hotel's ratings.
I was booked at a hotel for our up coming Disneyland trip and started to notice that pattern, it wasn't rated very high, yet there would be a first time poster giving it 5 stars and the review seemed very fake.