GadgetRick
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2000
- Messages
- 654
Well, just got back from an 8 day stay at Saratoga Springs (SS). We had stayed there last year right after they opened and we're terribly thrilled with the place. I was unable to get into any other resort for the stay (we own at Old Key West) so I had no choice but to stay at SS. Anyway, all I can say is we were VERY dissappointed in the resort--even more so than we were last year. I figured I'd share why. I will also be writing a letter to DVC about it as well.
My wife and I were flying down to meet her parents who drove down with our (soon to be) 3 year old son. We got in on a Friday (late) afternoon and my in-laws/son got in late morning on that Friday. They checked in before us. No problem there.
We get into the room--a one bedroom--and I notice a musty smell (stronger in the bathroom). I go to use the bathroom and notice short curly hairs on the floor. Now, my in-laws had only been in the room for about 2 hours before we got in there, just so you know the timeline here. Anyway, I say something as I come out and my wife's father says he noticed the same thing when they got there. I'm a little upset as the place should (at least) be clean but I figure, no biggie, I'll just call housekeeping and get this straightened out. This is where my complaints REALLY start...
I pick up the phone in the bedroom only to find it doesn't work. Ok, a little annoyed since they could have checked it but I can see it being overlooked. So I use the phone in the living room. I get put on hold immediately. I wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. I'm on hold for at least 5 minutes when I finally give up and try the front desk.
Of course, this doesn't REALLY take you to the front desk from what I tell. Sounds like a central answering group for all of Disney World. No biggie. I get someone on the phone right away and complain about the bathroom not being clean and having a musty smell to it. I also tell them the phone does not work in the bedroom. They tell me they'll send someone over. We were heading to dinner so I figured it would be taken care of by the time we got back. It IS Disney World afterall...
Oh, I forgot to mention we had a handful of towels. Now, they KNOW how many people the rooms sleep. They also KNOW how many people are checking in. Why can't they put two and two together and put enough towels in the room for the number of people who COULD be staying there or AT LEAST for the number of people scheduled to check in? Again, sort of minor but annoying none the less.
So we go to dinner and come back. Only to find the musty smell is gone but the short curlies are still there! NOW I'm upset. I call the front desk again (wasn't waiting on hold for housekeeping again) and tell them the bathroom is STILL not clean and inform them of the short curlies on the floor. I was trying to be nice/discreet the first time. I guess that didn't work. They did finally send someone over and had it cleaned up eventually. Oh, the phone was fixed the first time. They also brought some towels for us.
Ok, I'm already annoyed at having to stay at SS since I'm not a fan of the place. I check in to find the room isn't properly cleaned. So I'm annoyed but it's the start of a nice, long Disney vacation so I just let it go and don't let it bother me again.
The next day we go get breakfast at what they try to pass off for food accomodations there. Still can't believe they didn't put a real place to eat in the place. I mean, I understand Downtown Disney is right there but, have you tried to get into any of the places over there to eat lately? If you don't want to eat early you're looking at a 2+ hour wait. Forget about reservations, unless you've made them months in advance they're tough to get unless you want to eat at 9:00! I know I can make them 180 days in advance but I don't KNOW where I want to eat EVERY day for EVERY meal that far in advance. Heck, I don't even know what I want to eat for dinner TONIGHT and it's already 4:30! This was annoying to me last year and is STILL annoying this year. I hear they're building a place (finally). About time.
So, we head to the parks and do what we're going to do. We bring our son back for a nap in the early afternoon to find they did another cleaning on the room. Ok, thanks for that after what we've been through. Only, they took our towles away again!!! So I call for more towels again. We head off to dinner and come back to find a pile of towels plopped down on the table ON TOP OF the stuff we had there! Again, seems minor but this is SUPPOSED to be a high-quality resort. I doubt they'd plop stuff down like that on top of everything in any of the other resorts. They could have taken the two steps it takes to get into the bathroom and put them in there where they belong. This one, as minor as it seems, REALLY annoyed me. It looked as if someone just ran in and threw them onto the table. Hell, even if the table were empty it would have been better but the table was cluttered with all of our stuff.
Oh, and something you don't usually hear someone complain about, what's up with the sand paper they give us as toilet paper??? How about spending the few extra dollars and give us the good stuff. I don't remember it being that bad last year.
It's also quite annoying to have to go to the front desk to the concierge. They usually have one person there and there's usually a long line of people waiting to be helped. I know they have 3 computers in that area (one time they actually had 2 people there and another helped someone else) so why not bring others out when there's a line there. People shouldn't have to wait if they don't have to. We do enough waiting on line at the parks.
I understand they can't ALWAYS keep up but almost every time I had to go there (probably about 5 times total) I had to wait. With the exception of the one time I mentioned, they only had one person there. The check-in area wasn't busy at all during these times. I have to believe they have more than one or two CMs working back there. A minor complaint but it's a complaint which could be fixed easily.
I have to say, I've had better service at a Days Inn than I received this time at SS. I didn't have bad service there last year when I stayed there. I just didn't like the resort. This year, I had bad service AND and I still don't like the resort. I won't go into the issues with bus service throughout Disney World as this isn't a SS problem. However, I will say, the bus service was the worst it's ever been on my 25+ trips to Disney World. Still not sure why Disney can't get that right...
I will say, however, I used the spa this year and, without question, it's great there. The service there was excellent. They have excellent workout facilities (if that's what you're into on vacation) and the massage services were top notch. It's a shame the rest of SS can't duplicate the service/treatment I received in the spa area.
I know all of my complaints seem minor, however, when you figure what we've all spent to get DVC points and pay our annual dues and the fact that Disney touts their DVC resorts as world class resorts, I am dissappointed. The service/treatment should be better than what I experienced. There really is no excuse for a room not being cleaned properly. I used to travel for a living and never had the issues with a dirty bathroom I experienced there. I still love going to Disney and I still love my DVC membership but I will do everything in my power to keep from staying at SS again in the future. I didn't even go into the complaints I have about the resort itself because I believe they've been beaten to death in the past. However, I did not appreciate the service/treatment there.
My wife and I were flying down to meet her parents who drove down with our (soon to be) 3 year old son. We got in on a Friday (late) afternoon and my in-laws/son got in late morning on that Friday. They checked in before us. No problem there.
We get into the room--a one bedroom--and I notice a musty smell (stronger in the bathroom). I go to use the bathroom and notice short curly hairs on the floor. Now, my in-laws had only been in the room for about 2 hours before we got in there, just so you know the timeline here. Anyway, I say something as I come out and my wife's father says he noticed the same thing when they got there. I'm a little upset as the place should (at least) be clean but I figure, no biggie, I'll just call housekeeping and get this straightened out. This is where my complaints REALLY start...
I pick up the phone in the bedroom only to find it doesn't work. Ok, a little annoyed since they could have checked it but I can see it being overlooked. So I use the phone in the living room. I get put on hold immediately. I wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. I'm on hold for at least 5 minutes when I finally give up and try the front desk.
Of course, this doesn't REALLY take you to the front desk from what I tell. Sounds like a central answering group for all of Disney World. No biggie. I get someone on the phone right away and complain about the bathroom not being clean and having a musty smell to it. I also tell them the phone does not work in the bedroom. They tell me they'll send someone over. We were heading to dinner so I figured it would be taken care of by the time we got back. It IS Disney World afterall...
Oh, I forgot to mention we had a handful of towels. Now, they KNOW how many people the rooms sleep. They also KNOW how many people are checking in. Why can't they put two and two together and put enough towels in the room for the number of people who COULD be staying there or AT LEAST for the number of people scheduled to check in? Again, sort of minor but annoying none the less.
So we go to dinner and come back. Only to find the musty smell is gone but the short curlies are still there! NOW I'm upset. I call the front desk again (wasn't waiting on hold for housekeeping again) and tell them the bathroom is STILL not clean and inform them of the short curlies on the floor. I was trying to be nice/discreet the first time. I guess that didn't work. They did finally send someone over and had it cleaned up eventually. Oh, the phone was fixed the first time. They also brought some towels for us.
Ok, I'm already annoyed at having to stay at SS since I'm not a fan of the place. I check in to find the room isn't properly cleaned. So I'm annoyed but it's the start of a nice, long Disney vacation so I just let it go and don't let it bother me again.
The next day we go get breakfast at what they try to pass off for food accomodations there. Still can't believe they didn't put a real place to eat in the place. I mean, I understand Downtown Disney is right there but, have you tried to get into any of the places over there to eat lately? If you don't want to eat early you're looking at a 2+ hour wait. Forget about reservations, unless you've made them months in advance they're tough to get unless you want to eat at 9:00! I know I can make them 180 days in advance but I don't KNOW where I want to eat EVERY day for EVERY meal that far in advance. Heck, I don't even know what I want to eat for dinner TONIGHT and it's already 4:30! This was annoying to me last year and is STILL annoying this year. I hear they're building a place (finally). About time.
So, we head to the parks and do what we're going to do. We bring our son back for a nap in the early afternoon to find they did another cleaning on the room. Ok, thanks for that after what we've been through. Only, they took our towles away again!!! So I call for more towels again. We head off to dinner and come back to find a pile of towels plopped down on the table ON TOP OF the stuff we had there! Again, seems minor but this is SUPPOSED to be a high-quality resort. I doubt they'd plop stuff down like that on top of everything in any of the other resorts. They could have taken the two steps it takes to get into the bathroom and put them in there where they belong. This one, as minor as it seems, REALLY annoyed me. It looked as if someone just ran in and threw them onto the table. Hell, even if the table were empty it would have been better but the table was cluttered with all of our stuff.
Oh, and something you don't usually hear someone complain about, what's up with the sand paper they give us as toilet paper??? How about spending the few extra dollars and give us the good stuff. I don't remember it being that bad last year.
It's also quite annoying to have to go to the front desk to the concierge. They usually have one person there and there's usually a long line of people waiting to be helped. I know they have 3 computers in that area (one time they actually had 2 people there and another helped someone else) so why not bring others out when there's a line there. People shouldn't have to wait if they don't have to. We do enough waiting on line at the parks.
I understand they can't ALWAYS keep up but almost every time I had to go there (probably about 5 times total) I had to wait. With the exception of the one time I mentioned, they only had one person there. The check-in area wasn't busy at all during these times. I have to believe they have more than one or two CMs working back there. A minor complaint but it's a complaint which could be fixed easily.
I have to say, I've had better service at a Days Inn than I received this time at SS. I didn't have bad service there last year when I stayed there. I just didn't like the resort. This year, I had bad service AND and I still don't like the resort. I won't go into the issues with bus service throughout Disney World as this isn't a SS problem. However, I will say, the bus service was the worst it's ever been on my 25+ trips to Disney World. Still not sure why Disney can't get that right...
I will say, however, I used the spa this year and, without question, it's great there. The service there was excellent. They have excellent workout facilities (if that's what you're into on vacation) and the massage services were top notch. It's a shame the rest of SS can't duplicate the service/treatment I received in the spa area.
I know all of my complaints seem minor, however, when you figure what we've all spent to get DVC points and pay our annual dues and the fact that Disney touts their DVC resorts as world class resorts, I am dissappointed. The service/treatment should be better than what I experienced. There really is no excuse for a room not being cleaned properly. I used to travel for a living and never had the issues with a dirty bathroom I experienced there. I still love going to Disney and I still love my DVC membership but I will do everything in my power to keep from staying at SS again in the future. I didn't even go into the complaints I have about the resort itself because I believe they've been beaten to death in the past. However, I did not appreciate the service/treatment there.