Rude awakening on check-out day

[kaytieeldr]

I didn’t read the last 2 pages, but it seems there is an easy solution...

Stagger shifts for mousekeeping.

Have less come in at 7am and move some to have them arrive closer to peak time...maybe 10 am. Send those later shift Mousekeepers to help work check out rooms. Give the earlier arriving ones a larger range of rooms to clean, knowing they have backup coming to help at 10.

It would be very similar to what some departments do in a hospital with nurses...such as the OR.

Makes sense. Tell Disney.

 

[Sue M]

Do people really want Disney to mean exactly what they say about when check in and out are? Do you really not want to be able to check in until after 3 or 4? I hope not. Or how about Disney not disturbing you until 11 on the dot but charging you for every minute you are in the room past that. 11:01? Whoops gotta charge you for that minute! No more asking for late check out, too bad so sad. Only if you pay!

I don’t want knocks on the door on check out day starting at 8:30. Esp if you have the room occupied sign out. You are indicating you are in the room. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable expectation

 

[Euby]

So as a guest who is about to stay on property at a DVC site, I'm going to do the following:

1. At check-in: Tell them that I do not want to be disturbed before 10am on check-out day.
2. Night before checking out:
   1. Call housekeeping and tell them to not disturb before 10am
   2. Put RO sign on door
   3. Make sure that security bar is over door (which I normally do anyway whenever I am in the room).

If they still knock early, I will be going to the front desk in my pajamas and having a conversation with a manager or two.

 

[snappy]

duplicate

 

[snappy]

We got an early knock on our checkout day. We said that we would be leaving at 11:00am since we had a late flight home. A housekeeping cast member sat outside our room door and waited for us to leave. I know this because I left the room to get something. She was there when I left room and was still there when I got back. When we left the room for good to catch our flight, she was still sitting on the floor on her phone.

There you go again Disney. . . Another enhanced guest experience.

 

[Karebear]

There really has to be a better way. Check in starts at 3 but many such as myself check in much later. I fly from the west coast and usually land around 11 pm and take magical express. The hotel knows (or should know via MDE) that I won’t be there till close to midnight. It would be great if they could set those rooms aside to be cleaned last, giving them more time, so that they don’t have to start knocking at 8am and disturbing people.

 

[DSLRuser]

So as a guest who is about to stay on property at a DVC site, I'm going to do the following:
If they still knock early, I will be going to the front desk in my pajamas and having a conversation with a manager or two.

Or....ignore the knocks......wait for them to come in your room....and let the bar latch keep them out.........

yell towards the door....i am still sleeping......roll over and go back to bed.

 

[snappy]

There really has to be a better way. Check in starts at 3 but many such as myself check in much later. I fly from the west coast and usually land around 11 pm and take magical express. The hotel knows (or should know via MDE) that I won’t be there till close to midnight. It would be great if they could set those rooms aside to be cleaned last, giving them more time, so that they don’t have to start knocking at 8am and disturbing people.

Absolutely! Not everyone is at the front desk at 11 am “demanding” their room. Yes, I have arrived early and have checked my luggage. I head off to eat, lay in supplies, go to a park. Invariably I get a room ready message as soon an I am otherwise occupied. The thing that gets me steamed is if they give me a room that is out if service or dirty.

 

[Ninja Mom]

So as a guest who is about to stay on property at a DVC site, I'm going to do the following:

1. At check-in: Tell them that I do not want to be disturbed before 10am on check-out day.
2. Night before checking out:
   1. Call housekeeping and tell them to not disturb before 10am
   2. Put RO sign on door
   3. Make sure that security bar is over door (which I normally do anyway whenever I am in the room).

If they still knock early, I will be going to the front desk in my pajamas and having a conversation with a manager or two.

Be sure to make a note of the name of the CM who you had this conversation with. If your requests were handled appropriately send a quick email to guest services with the name of the CM, letting them know that you received exceptional service* from that CM. (* unfortunately it seems that these days having concerns handled appropriately is 'exceptional' service).

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

The same goes for CM's who don't handle concerns appropriately, send an email with their name and a description of your conversation.

Attention Disney Apologists: Yes, it may not be that Cast Members fault that a concern was not addressed appropriately, but the chain of accountability starts somewhere so it would be worth it to have a named CM as a starting point in the effort to solve the problem as to why your concern was not successfully addressed.

Or....ignore the knocks......wait for them to come in your room....and let the bar latch keep them out.........

yell towards the door....i am still sleeping......roll over and go back to bed.

Only they will keep knocking, and knocking, and knocking.... People have described extremely persistent (and at times rude) CM's who are intent on harassing you to get you to vacate the room or do a room check.

Not so simple is it?

~NM

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

We got an early knock on our checkout day. We said that we would be leaving at 11:00am since we had a late flight home. A housekeeping cast member sat outside our room door and waited for us to leave. I know this because I left the room to get something. She was there when I left room and was still there when I got back. When we left the room for good to catch our flight, she was still sitting on the floor on her phone.

Ridiculous. Should have snapped a picture.

 

[Babsy]

So as a guest who is about to stay on property at a DVC site, I'm going to do the following:

1. At check-in: Tell them that I do not want to be disturbed before 10am on check-out day.
2. Night before checking out:
   1. Call housekeeping and tell them to not disturb before 10am
   2. Put RO sign on door
   3. Make sure that security bar is over door (which I normally do anyway whenever I am in the room).

If they still knock early, I will be going to the front desk in my pajamas and having a conversation with a manager or two.

I apologize if someone already suggested this (didn't read the entire thread) but I would also attach a sticky post it note to the door stating that I was still in bed, that I would remove the sticky note when I get up and request that they please not knock and wake me up. I would add the time that I need to be out of the room to catch my flight (give flight time), especially if the flight time means that I will be out of the room either bit early. If leaving at 11:00 am, I would indicate that as well. I would hope that would mean that whoever comes by would have the information that they need without the necessity of waking us up if we are sleeping in.

Once up, you can take that note down and put up another stating that you are still using the room and anticipated time of departure. If they want more information they can go ahead and knock at that point. I don't mind speaking with them as long as I am awake.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

I apologize if someone already suggested this (didn't read the entire thread) but I would also attach a sticky post it note to the door stating that I was still in bed, that I would remove the sticky note when I get up and request that they please not knock and wake me up. I would add the time that I need to be out of the room to catch my flight (give flight time), especially if the flight time means that I will be out of the room either bit early. If leaving at 11:00 am, I would indicate that as well. I would hope that would mean that whoever comes by would have the information that they need without the necessity of waking us up if we are sleeping in.

Once up, you can take that note down and put up another stating that you are still using the room and anticipated time of departure. If they want more information they can go ahead and knock at that point. I don't mind speaking with them as long as I am awake.

Sorry but all of these suggestions are utter insanity. It is not the guest's job to make sure to explain every detail of our vacation to make someone else feel better or figure out how to work.
The room occupied sign means just that. I paid for a room for a defined period of time, end of story. I am not putting additional crazy person signs up to explain myself or my actions. The idea of even doing that is nuts. And if there just so happens to be a problem, then I will take it up with management.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Housekeeping knocked on our door at 9:00 on our departure day; we told them we were not ready, they said they'd come back. They did, about 20 minutes later, lol. My husband was very frustrated because we needed all the time we had available to get packed and ready to go. He told them we were not leaving until 11. They were waiting by our door when we left. (This was a Pop.)

We got an early knock on our checkout day. We said that we would be leaving at 11:00am since we had a late flight home. A housekeeping cast member sat outside our room door and waited for us to leave. I know this because I left the room to get something. She was there when I left room and was still there when I got back. When we left the room for good to catch our flight, she was still sitting on the floor on her phone.

During our last stay at Disney, our housekeeper did the same thing. She waited for 45 minutes while we finished packing up the room and moving stuff to the car. She just stood out side of our door.

I did report her.

And she convinced me that the story of the overworked Disney housekeeper is a myth.

 

[DLgal]

This has literally NEVER happened to me in over 20 WDW resort stays. The only place this happened to us was on the Disney Dream cruise ship. Steward came knocking at 6am on departure day.

How strange that this seems to happen to so many people. Is this just a DVC thing?

 

[TavieP]

Hi! We just left Boardwalk and were very frustrated by all the walk-ins by cast members. More than once, our door opened and someone walked in while people were sleeping. On one occasion, one of us was changing clothes! The units are large, and if you're asleep in the bedroom, you don't hear the little tap they give on the door. They came right in anyway, even though the "room occupied" sign was out. The biggest frustration was that on our check-out day, with the "room occupied" sign out, we had housekeeping enter our room at 8:30 AM and then seem a little irritated when we said we were not leaving until 11:00. Is this happening to other people too? I find it to be unacceptable.

I received an apology, but I'm curious if this is getting to be standard procedure. On our Trash and Towel day nobody even came until after 4:00, so why are they in such a rush to get in my room so early in the morning on check-out day? We had an absolutely wonderful vacation otherwise, but found this to be frustrating.

I feel lucky - we also stayed at the Boardwalk last week, but the Villas (maybe that's the difference?) - but we were lucky not to have any clashes with Mousekeeping/security checks. One morning we didn't leave the room until after noon and we did get a couple of back-to-back phone calls asking when we'd be vacating it (one would've sufficed but it was no big deal) - we told them after 2, and that worked fine. On checkout day we left at about 11:10, without any interruptions.

 

[pattyw]

During our last stay at Disney, our housekeeper did the same thing. She waited for 45 minutes while we finished packing up the room and moving stuff to the car. She just stood out side of our door.

I did report her.

And she convinced me that the story of the overworked Disney housekeeper is a myth.

I wonder if the housekeepers just don't care if they ARE reported. I mean if they can't hire enough of them even after they keep increasing bonuses, they know that their jobs are not in jeopardy no matter what they do or don't do!

 

[AngiTN]

There really has to be a better way. Check in starts at 3 but many such as myself check in much later. I fly from the west coast and usually land around 11 pm and take magical express. The hotel knows (or should know via MDE) that I won’t be there till close to midnight. It would be great if they could set those rooms aside to be cleaned last, giving them more time, so that they don’t have to start knocking at 8am and disturbing people.

Sure, for those who fly in. But not everyone flies in. So it's impossible for them to schedule all the rooms based on arrival times of the incoming guest.
Otherwise, I have often wondered when I have a late flight and we still get a room ready quite early. I ask myself, I wonder if anyone is arriving early and would like to have a room and is left waiting without one.

I feel lucky - we also stayed at the Boardwalk last week, but the Villas (maybe that's the difference?) - but we were lucky not to have any clashes with Mousekeeping/security checks. One morning we didn't leave the room until after noon and we did get a couple of back-to-back phone calls asking when we'd be vacating it (one would've sufficed but it was no big deal) - we told them after 2, and that worked fine. On checkout day we left at about 11:10, without any interruptions.

You should feel lucky, based on the reports. It is the Villa's that are reporting the most early interruptions. Not just BWV but all DVC. The Resort side has fewer

 

[maxiesmom]

Sorry but all of these suggestions are utter insanity. It is not the guest's job to make sure to explain every detail of our vacation to make someone else feel better or figure out how to work.
The room occupied sign means just that. I paid for a room for a defined period of time, end of story. I am not putting additional crazy person signs up to explain myself or my actions. The idea of even doing that is nuts. And if there just so happens to be a problem, then I will take it up with management.

And from the sounds of it any homemade notes will be ignored anyway.

And anyone who thinks putting a homemade note up or even the Room Occupied sign up will keep housekeeping from knocking is fooling themselves. I'm not a fan of this policy, but I'm also a big believer in dealing with what is, not with what I wished things would be. The sign is only to alert that there is a guest in the room, period. Anyone treating it as a Do not Disturb sign is not doing themselves any favors. Reports are someone will knock, and will keep knocking until you answer. You can either move off site, spend your time fighting with or trying to ignore whoever is knocking, or understand Disney really means it when they say they will enter your room, even with the sign up.

 

[pepperandchips]

Is this just a DVC thing?

No, it has happened to me many times in both DVC and "regular" rooms. The worst I can think of was at Coronado Springs (knocks started prior to 8:00 am) and the most recent was at the Polynesian on June 3. It was club level and the Room Occupied sign was on the door.

 

[Roxyfire]

And from the sounds of it any homemade notes will be ignored anyway.

And anyone who thinks putting a homemade note up or even the Room Occupied sign up will keep housekeeping from knocking is fooling themselves. I'm not a fan of this policy, but I'm also a big believer in dealing with what is, not with what I wished things would be. The sign is only to alert that there is a guest in the room, period. Anyone treating it as a Do not Disturb sign is not doing themselves any favors. Reports are someone will knock, and will keep knocking until you answer. You can either move off site, spend your time fighting with or trying to ignore whoever is knocking, or understand Disney really means it when they say they will enter your room, even with the sign up.

Yes exactly, that's why the awareness is 99% of it. There's nothing wrong with answering the door and telling them to come back later. As to the complaints from others about them hovering, who cares if they sit outside your door and wait for you? That's on them, not your concern how they spend their working hours or how WDW Resorts manage their employees. It should not have any effect on the speed at which I vacate the room. It's like that old adage, the closer you get [to my car bumper] the slower I drive.