Renting BLT Questions.. Towels & TOTW

[Hagrid xox 65]

We'll be in a BLT Lake view studio in Nov/Dec this year. I know there is no daily mousekeeping - but we'll get towels after 4 days. Does this mean we'll have 4 days worth of towels? And we can't just request additional towels, correct? We'd have to pay $20ish for towel service? Also I have read conflicting information regarding the Top of the World lounge/viewing for Wishes. We are not DVC owners, we're renting points via David's service. Will we be allowed up onto the viewing area/patio? I've read that an actual DVC owner must be present, and I've also read that people have just scanned their MB's and that worked - and also it sounds like there are stairs leading directly to the patio - not the lounge. We're not looking to break rules. We were initially super excited about the TOTW so it's a bit of a blow to find out we may not be permitted up there.

Thank you for any clarification

 

[Psychodisney]

You will get one set of towels per person for a studio. I've known some members you have taken some pool towels (maybe speaking from experience). You could always wash them I guess. No experience with TOTWL rule breaking though.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Does this mean we'll have 4 days worth of towels?

You get towels that you can reuse. You don't get a big pile of towels sufficient for daily fresh towels.

And officially, TOTW is for DVC members and their accompanied guests. The DVC contract says that if the DVC member is making a reservation on behalf of someone and doesn't take money for it (gift), the non-Club member is eligible for some or all of the privileges the Club Member would typically receive, but that a renter is not. Member benefits cannot be extended to renters, per the contract.

The issue is how to enforce that. Some of the people at TOTW screen for a DVC card. Some do not. But officially, since TOTW is a member benefit, and renters do not receive the benefits given to members, a renter technically isn't supposed to be permitted into TOTW the way the contract reads.

 

[crisi]

Taking towels from the pool would be breaking rules.

Your choices are to wash towels (in a one bedroom or bigger this is no big deal, you throw the towels in when you leave for the park, throw them in the dryer when you get back - in a studio, its harder), pay for a towel pack, or reuse towels.

DVC just went to the effort to give us all new member cards, my guess is that they'll be enforcing member benefits much more closely in the future.

 

[Andyman33]

Taking towels from the pool would be breaking rules.

Your choices are to wash towels (in a one bedroom or bigger this is no big deal, you throw the towels in when you leave for the park, throw them in the dryer when you get back - in a studio, its harder), pay for a towel pack, or reuse towels.

DVC just went to the effort to give us all new member cards, my guess is that they'll be enforcing member benefits much more closely in the future.

can I ask why many dvc members(and I am one) make a big deal out of taking towels from the pool area? I understand that a rule is a rule, but there are MANY rules bent around here but people continue to bring this one up like you personally are paying for them to be washed. It would be my assumption that if a pool towel was found in a room that it would basically be sent with the dirty pool towels from the pool to be washed and wouldn't be part of housekeeping's budget that DVC would have to pay anyways. Am I wrong?

 

[GrnMtnMan]

So there's a rule book somewhere that says that pool towels have to stay inside the pool fence?

 

[DenLo]

In a studio you get 4 towels, 4 wash cloths, 2 hand towels and 1 tub mat. And they replace them all every four days. You can purchase and Towel package for like $6 or $8. Or wash your towels for free in the laundry mat. You need to provide the detergent.

As to using pool towels, they belong at the pool. The reason that the pool towels are not used in the rooms is simple, paying for the laundry bill. Member dues only pay for the standard set of towels in the room every four days. The pool towels are a different laundry and different expense.

 

[crisi]

So there's a rule book somewhere that says that pool towels have to stay inside the pool fence?

Pools are for use at the pool and are supposed to be put into the pool towel return when you are done.

More importantly, a clue is that in if Disney wanted you to just use pool towels, they wouldn't have the option of having a package or would give you free towels instead of having you pay for a package. If you are ever doing something to get around paying for something, chances are that yes, its part of the rule book.

 

[crisi]

can I ask why many dvc members(and I am one) make a big deal out of taking towels from the pool area? I understand that a rule is a rule, but there are MANY rules bent around here but people continue to bring this one up like you personally are paying for them to be washed. It would be my assumption that if a pool towel was found in a room that it would basically be sent with the dirty pool towels from the pool to be washed and wouldn't be part of housekeeping's budget that DVC would have to pay anyways. Am I wrong?

Because we are personally paying for them to be washed.

Think about it this way, the pools towels are different, they have that weaved stripe. Even if they were washed the same (they apparently aren't) and came out of the same budget (they don't - at resorts that share facilities with hotels, the accounting for shared services like pool is very different than cleaning and laundering a DVC room which is always a DVC expense), there would still be the additional cost of having someone working to separate the towels as they come out of the laundry (I'm assuming Disney has automated linen folders, one of the reasons why they have to separate the towels)

 

[Sammie]

We don't use pool towels as bath towels for one thing they are laundry differently and I would not want to use them as a bath towel. We don't take them from the pool deck and always put them in the pool hamper. For one thing I am sure there is a room towel inventory and a pool towel inventory and for loss recovery that needs to be separate.

If you are removing towels from the pool I would recommend at least return them there.

As to rules being broke except the towel one, I can assure you not by me.

 

[Andyman33]

But my point is exactly this. Don't you think the pool towels are just dropped into the pool towel hopper by mouse keeping when they clean the room? I personally bring back towels to our room as they are frequently wrapped around me or my kids as we go back to our room. Sometimes I will walk back and drop them off sometimes I won't. Do I feel bad for not being cold as I walk to my room as the ac blasts frigid in the hallway? Nope. Do I feel bad to have someone else return them for me (housekeeping whether they put them back at the pool or in the central towel area) nope. I'm on vacation

 

[Sammie]

I don't know whether housekeeping sorts them or not. We take swim cover ups to change into after toweling off.

As to being on vacation, I do have a different mindset as a member paying dues for everything that gets done over staying as a cash guest.

I know every other timeshare we have ever stayed at, we had to bring our own pool towels. They were not provided and you were not to take the ones from the unit to the pool. I am sure some did, but not us.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

Pools are for use at the pool and are supposed to be put into the pool towel return when you are done.

Can you point me to a policy statement or an actual rule book where this is spelled out? I ask because a perfectly reasonable use of a pool towel would be to wear one back to your DVC unit after swimming, to prevent water from dripping on the floor and endangering other people. Or to keep a child warm on a breezy evening on the walk back into the building. I'd be surprised if there was a specific policy somewhere that forbade this practice since it would not be considered an abusive use of a common amenity by a so-called reasonable person.

Because we are personally paying for them to be washed.

I'd say we are all generally paying in for the pool towels, not exactly personally. We don't get charged more or less, depending on how many pool towels we use. We do get personally charged more if we choose to have extra housekeeping services. Pool towels are provided as a common amenity, and as club members, we don't get to pick and choose which common amenities we pay for.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

As a side note, back when I stated going to Atlantis, they would account for every pool towel you 'checked out'. When you went to a towel hut, you'd be asked for your room number and they'd write down how many towels you requested. When you were done for the day, you brought the towels back to towel hut and they'd write down how many you returned. Supposedly they would charge $25 for unreturned towels.

Eventually they did away with this, as it was a pretty chintzy thing to do at a luxury resort.

 

[Andyman33]

And in my opinion a deluxe resort is a pretty luxurious accommodation

 

[crisi]

And in my opinion a deluxe resort is a pretty luxurious accommodation

And DVC isn't a Deluxe Resort. Its a timeshare. Where the actions of one member can cost another.

 

[Sammie]

As a side note, back when I stated going to Atlantis, they would account for every pool towel you 'checked out'. When you went to a towel hut, you'd be asked for your room number and they'd write down how many towels you requested. When you were done for the day, you brought the towels back to towel hut and they'd write down how many you returned. Supposedly they would charge $25 for unreturned towels.

Eventually they did away with this, as it was a pretty chintzy thing to do at a luxury resort.

They probably just raised prices to cover it and now everyone pays for them. It just like at Perkins restaurant they used to have those Smuckers jelly dispenser on the table. People took so many they had to stop that and now just bring out two on your plate.

 

[Andyman33]

And DVC isn't a Deluxe Resort. Its a timeshare. Where the actions of one member can cost another.

It's a complex timeshare. And the argument was over taking pool towels to the room increasing cost. Unless I'm proven wrong I'm sticking to my guns that housekeeping doesn't wash those towels just puts them in the pool towel bucket from my room to the same bucket another person takes the towels from the pool area to.

 

[rlovew]

It's a complex timeshare. And the argument was over taking pool towels to the room increasing cost. Unless I'm proven wrong I'm sticking to my guns that housekeeping doesn't wash those towels just puts them in the pool towel bucket from my room to the same bucket another person takes the towels from the pool area to.

They may just put them back in the pool bucket but DVC fees cover the washing of pool towels as well as room towels so if you are taking pool towels for room use instead of paying for the laundry of towels with a towel packet you are essentially raising members dues but "stealing the pool towels" instead of paying for your own laundry. DVC has decided that you only need fresh towels every 4 days and those that want more have to pay for them by themselves instead of asking the rest of the membership to do that- taking pool towels does make a difference in our total dues cost.

 

[Andyman33]

Rlove. Are you sure pool towels are in that budget? How do they decide at a resort like bwv who is on timeshare and who isn't? Again we use the pool towels at the pool but frequently take them back to the room as the hallways are crazy cold it seems. I know a different use than the bathroom towels. And for what it's worth I find using a bath towel for four days more than adequate. That's why I love this board. So much info. Thanks!