Self Extenders

[Tigger031266]

4PM should be the latest you get a room. After that you should pay 5 less points for every hour the room is ready late.

 

[JimMIA]

It's so rude that people would camp out in a room that they have agreed to check out of by 11am. That said, on our check out day 8/13 we had house keeping knocking on the door at 7:30am and again at 9am which wasn't particularly polite either.

I agree; that's annoying. We are usually out of our room by 9:30-10:00 on checkout day, but I always put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door the last morning to keep housekeeping away. I don't take it off until we make the last trip to the car -- which still leaves them six hours to get the room ready for the next guest.

 

[manning]

this is a problem with disney getting the maid to start early to clean the rooms.

the guest is gone - so the maid enters the room. she only checks to see that the luggage is gone. (not the clothes in the drawer and fold up luggage here)

so she cleans the room and leaves.

an hour or so later - the guest who has NOT check out - comes back. Now it is definitely rude but not against DVC rules - and messes up the room.

this has happened to me fairly often - but we just left the room as is.

until Disney starts to change the key when the maid reports the room clean - this will be a problem.

right now Disney like other hotels doesn't change the key until the new guest arrives.

Something happened on one of my visits. The day we were to leave my key got locked out at 9:00 am and our luggage was still in the room ready to be loaded into the car and the room was not cleaned. By the time they reactivated the keys, loaded the car and taking shower due to moving fast we didn't get out of there until noon, which they allowed.

That was the stay when everything was messed up. I went to charge something to the room one day in the park. The store said I couldn't charge because I was checked out. That was three days before my checkout date. There was only my wife and me on that visit. At the end of our stay we managed to have 6, count them 6, key cards issued to us. The first two re-issued keys popped up under our door the morning after our check-in. Don't know why but they did.

The joke of it was when they said I was checked out I called the front desk and they said I had to get new keys because the ones I had were deactivated. For the heck of it I went to the room first to check and they were still active. Talk about a mess. The old story of the right hand not talking to the left hand.

 

[CarolAnnC]

I thought all room keys were deactivated at checkout time on the last day of a reservation? How are these people returning to rooms they should have checked out of, and using the cleaned rooms before the new folks can check in? Seems to me this should be an easy fix with electronic keys...

 

[Inkmahm]

I thought all room keys were deactivated at checkout time on the last day of a reservation? How are these people returning to rooms they should have checked out of, and using the cleaned rooms before the new folks can check in? Seems to me this should be an easy fix with electronic keys...

Now THAT option I love! Turn the keys off at exactly 11 am. Let the squaters whistle Dixie to get back in the room to get their luggage!

 

[Inkmahm]

Inkmahm,

I know YOU don't want points back to compensate you for getting your room late. But many people would LOVE to get the points, particularly if the penalty/reward curve were quite steep. Again, look at the number of people volunteering to get bumped at the airport.

Most guests check out on time. Mosts guests will get to check in on time. A few guests check out late and pay a huge penalty. A few guests, I assure you, will more than gladly check in a little late in exchage for a big point savings or dollar credit, so you won't have to.

I'm betting fewer people than you think would "love" points back while they are waiting patiently to get into their room to start their vacations on time. All those people getting bumped at airports could be people going HOME, not starting vacations. I never ever volunteer to be bumped, but especially not at the beginning of a vacation. My time is too valuable for that.

And the guests who WOULD like a "big point" savings may not be the ones who are assigned to the room where the previous renters are self extending. I could be assigned, or someone else who doesn't want points back as compensation for being cheated out of my room being on time. It isn't that easy to move all the rooms around once they've been assigned.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I think the existence of a policy would cause more people to take advantage of late check outs. We would also be hearing about obnoxious people who have gotten around the policy.

I think it would help mousekeeping schedule if you had to call when you were vacating a room.

If I take a "bump" on an airline it's by choice, I cannot imagine a circumstance that I would chose to be in a room much later than 4 PM if I am at WDW. I can see a time when I would book the night before we arrive, or if we have a late flight, I could see booking an extra night to help our family cope with travels.

Bobbi

 

[doconeill]

I think a good penalty would be the cash cost of the room booked at another resort acceptable to the inconvenienced party (within certain reason - no suites for a booked studio), plus a cash penalty to be refunded to the inconvenienced party (for the inconvenience), for a minimum amount of days.

"I'll take that Poly Concierge MK View and $200, thank you..."

 

[Greysword]

Ok, so many seem to agree with the $50/hour late idea. How do we get this on a ballot for the next members meeting, so it can become reality?

 

[doconeill]

Ok, so many seem to agree with the $50/hour late idea. How do we get this on a ballot for the next members meeting, so it can become reality?

Don't we first have to get the fact that we need a ballot to vote on, on the ballot? Hey, wait a second...

 

[ACDSNY]

I know our keys worked past 11AM on our check out day last May at SSR. We had a 9AM appt at BBB that ran late and we waited over 45 minutes for a bus at DTD to get back to the Grandstands. No bus ever came so we walked back which made us about 20 minutes late. I figured we'd have to have a staff member open the room once we got there, but too my surprise the key worked. We were already packed and ready to go so we called bell service as soon as we got in. Normally we're checked out early.

 

[kimberh]

June 2006, we tried to have a extended stay at a Flordia Hotel, we were told, no. I put the "Do not disturb sign" on the door on the last day, too. Tired of being woke up early when I always check out before 11:00.

 

[KevGuy]

I say cut the key access off at 11am sharp, if your too sick or something to move call an ambulance and go to the hospital, but get out!! The DVC management seems to be the problem by allowing this. If your vacation ressie time has ended and there is no availability for that or another room, get out! I know stuff happens but oh well too bad. We should be compensated highly for that type of inconvienience with cash and a free night too if you wait more than 4 hours past check in time. Does your mortgage company care if your late with their payment, no you pay a late fee and most likely take a hit on your credit report. A strictly enforced policy needs to be implemented and enforced. I've tried to extend vacations by a day or two previously other places and if there was no room or vacancy to do it, I left on time and wasn't mad!! I didn't plan to stay longer originally so there was nothing I could do, I left on time and thanked them for trying to help me out. I really don't see how people can "extend" themselves without consulting the management first.

 

[3DisneyKids]

I love the idea of having the keys automatically "time out" at 11am on check-out day. With an electronic key system, this sounds like it should be farily doable.

However, the problem is still the folks aren't LEAVING the room. They decide to sleep in till 10, make a huge breakfast, take showers, pack, etc....because their flight doesn't leave till 4pm or whatever. So, if they aren't leaving the room, then not being able to get back in is a non-issue.

Not sure what the best fix is here, but I agree, there needs to be something in place with a significant penalty.

 

[ParrotBill]

Few hotels are willing to go to the trouble to do the eviction. We arrived at an hotel near the Orlando Airport and were told the same thing.. guest did not check out as scheduled and we were moved to another hotel. But the room was free that night.

 

[mjy]

This has also happened to me and it is very frustrating. But, maybe we're going about it the wrong way.

Instead of complaining to the management, when we are told that our room just isn't ready, do the following:
1. Request your luggage
2. Begin unpacking in the lobby
3. Tell the management that you would like "Do Not Disturb" signs for the front door and side doors.

That might get them moving!

 

[dianeschlicht]

I know a lot of timeshares operate on a very STRICT check in and check out schedule. On top of that, many of them REQUIRE that the people vacating the unit must put ALL dishes and siver ware in the dishwasher and start it before leaving the room. Some even require that teh beds be stripped. On top of that, the check IN time is RIGHT at 5 PM and not before. Many of them have remote check-in, but no access until that time. Same goes for check out, and there is an immediate charge if the unit is vacated on time.

 

[Safari Queen]

Sickness is the only excuse for failing to vacate on time, and it better be serious. We're ALWAYS out no later than 11:00. I've heard that people often just go off to the parks, leaving their stuff in the room, then return so they can shower and change before a late flight. This is a level of selfishness I can't imagine. We call them "the people who live alone in the world."

 

[tjkraz]

I've never vacated late and wouldn't have a problem with penalties. But I have to say that even with posted penalties, the judgement will be left to the resort to decide whether to apply them based upon the circumstances.

In this instance, we have absolutely no idea what the circumstances might have been. We don't even know if the violator was a DVC member or not. As I pointed out a couple pages ago, Disney has been relocating people from AKL to SSR due to AKV construction issues. I would imagine that people who found out 6 weeks ago that they were being relocated against their will might not feel too compelled to play by Disney's rules.

But even if it is a DVC member I'm reluctant to draw any conclusions based upon the information provided.

Maybe I'm just being soft today, but in this case I'll pass my torch and pitchfork to someone else. If there were new posts on this issue appearing weekly perhaps I'd feel differently, but I can't remember the last time someone told a similar story.

Right now I can think of about a dozen things that would be higher on my list of things that deserve attention by DVC and/or resort management.

 

[tomandrobin]

Funny that this post is going on now. Our kids just got back from a four day stay at Saratoga. They arrived at SSR around 10:30am. They had requested and recieved a room in the Springs section. They did not get thier room until 6:30pm that night. Apparently the previous guest decided to go to the park, come back and shower, and left around 3pm!

How outrageous that nothing was done to penalize the other guests how over extended thier vacation at the expense of the next guest.