Someone tried to ruin my first day home

[Enyak]

We got to BCV on Feb 7 about 2:00pm. We thought we drop the baggage and head back to the airport to pick up my sister and her BF. Was supprised they had a room ready to go for us. I run up to scout the location befor my wife (due in may) our 18 month daughter and my father dont have to. I enter the room no problem Ill use the bathroom then go get them. m in the bathroom and I hear someone yelling and I mean yelling hello who is in here. It kind of freaked me out. It was a maid, boy was she supprised to see me."oh this has been rented already" She goes in the freezer and pulls out a pint of ice cream then leaves. Ok, every body got to eat lunch, little wierd but if I worked there I would do it too. I go get the family. We come up to drop the luggage. Its a two bed room dedicated #354 here is the important part NON SMOKING. The spare room stinks like smoke. I check the hallway, yep no smoking sign on the door. My dad is staying in that room and he says he can smell it but it is ok we will stay. We drive to the airport as planned and I start to freak out. Who in the world would smoke in that room? I suspected the maid. we get back and all of us are sniffing around like some blood hounds. We came to the conclusion someone stayed in that room and was smoking. I call the front desk to see what they are going to do. They want us out of the room for 2 hours and the will ionize the air. We head to dinner (TU TOO Tango) come back and its better but a non smoking room I dont think so!! My dad was fine from the begining and I didnt want to change rooms, too lazy. The next day I called again and told them they failed to remove the smoke stench. I told them I want new bedding, towels and the shower curtin was a must, whom ever was maybe tring to hide their god awful habbit in the bathroom. They did all that reionized the air and even shampooed the carpet. Did very little to change the smell they are going to have to wash the walls in there. it was bad. I called again to tell them it still stinks and I had better not be blamed when the next person stays. Who ever stayed there before me should be ashamed. Next time I get a different room no matter what!!

 

[Regina]

I'm sorry that you had this experience Enyak. It's funny, we had the same problem with a studio at BCV. We walked in, I immediately smelled smoke, and the first thing I did was walk back out to see if it was a smoking room. It wasn't.

Since we were only there for two nights, we tolerated it, but it is very inconsiderate.

I hope that your stay was enjoyable in spite of this.

 

[Sammie]

I agree that the person that stayed in a nonsmoking and smoked should be ashamed, but we all know if they were, then they would not do it.

I am amazed at the number of people that post they have gotten a nonsmoking room and still smoke on the patio or balcony. I am sorry but smoke follows the person right back in on their clothes etc.

 

[wdwnut]

hi: my dh and i were at bwv for 4 days in october celebrating our 25th anniversary. the only request i had made since this was a relatively last minute trip was non-smoking. we got a room on the second floor that absolutely reeked of smoke. since bwv was full, we were assigned a smoking room. they put 2 of the air machines in there-one in the living room and 1 in the bedroom. by the end of day 3, it didn't smell so bad or we had gotten used to it. they did offer to move us on day 3 since they would've had another 1br available then.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

That would certainly ruin a vacation. Smoke smells really bother me, and make it very hard to sleep. Sorry to hear how inconsiderate some folks can be for the next guest and fellow members.

Sigh......

 

[Tagrel]

I know I would fully support DVC charging anyone who smokes in a non-smoking room whatever cost is necessary to clean that room.

Come up with the cost, and have people sign that they understand at checkin. It may not stop the problem, but if there were monetary repercussions, I'll bet a lot fewer people would do it.

 

[Nanajo1]

I wonder if the maid had anything to do with it. Shouldn't she have reported/taken care of the smoky odor?

 

[Beth]

We need to remember that, right or wrong, we've seen several reports here of members requesting smoking-rooms, but being assigned "non-smoking" rooms at check-in, handed an ash tray, and told, "go ahead and smoke - that's the only room we have."

Until the resort becomes totally smoke-free, I suspect we'll always see this problem. (And probably will continue to see it, even then.)

Sorry it put such a damper on your first day home...

 

[CaptainMidnight]

May I suggest communicating your concerns to:

Email at:
members@disneyvactionclub.com
subject: ATTN JACKIE LUEDERS,
DVC Member Satisfaction Manager
Jackie Lueders,
800-800-9800,

Snail mail at:
Disney Vacation Club,
Attention: Jackie Lueders,
200 Celebration Place,
Celebration, FL 34747.

 

[Poorman]

Originally posted by CaptainMidnight
May I suggest communicating your concerns to:

Email at:
members@disneyvactionclub.com
subject: ATTN JACKIE LUEDERS,
DVC Member Satisfaction Manager
Jackie Lueders,
800-800-9800,

Snail mail at:
Disney Vacation Club,
Attention: Jackie Lueders,
200 Celebration Place,
Celebration, FL 34747.

CaptainMidnight,
From what I've heard writing to Jackie Lueders does nothing. These complaints fall on deaf ears. I suspect her budget probasbly doesn't let her do what has to be done. I keep saying the dues are supposed to cover all these little problems. Also her supervisor of maintainance and housekeeping aren't doing there job as well. I know when I go on vacation to any of the Riu hotels ,the supervisor of housekeeping checks each room before they allow the next guest in. Sounds like this could be done at DVC also. Regards, Rich

BTW have you ever written to Jackie and gotten any response?

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Poorman, perhaps one of these folks can help. It's an old list that probably needs updating:

Mr. Roy E. Disney
Vice Chairman
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Mr. Marty Sklar
Vice Chairman & Principal Creative Executive
Walt Disney Imagineering
1401 Flower Street
Glendale, CA 91221

Mr. Michael Eisner
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Mr. Paul Pressler
Chairman & President
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4873

Mr. Al Weiss
President
The Walt Disney World Resort
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Mr. Lee Cockerell
Executive Vice President of Walt Disney World Operations
1375 Buena Vista Drive
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-1000

Ms. Erin Wallace
Vice President
The Walt Disney World Resort
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Mr. Karl Holz
Vice President
The Walt Disney World Resort
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Mr. Phil Holmes
Vice President of Magic Kingdom Operations
PO Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Walt Disney World Guest Communications
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

Walt Disney World Guest Relations
PO Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830


Brad Rex, VP of Epcot
Tom Wolber, VP of The Disney-MGM Studios
Phil Holmes, VP of The Magic Kingdom
Beth Stevens, VP of The Animal Kingdom.
Reggie Williams, VP of Sports and Recreation
Mark Mrozinski, VP of Downtown Disney
Keith Bradford, GM of Port Orleans Resort
Mahmud Dhanani, GM of Caribbean Beach Resort
Vince Valdes, GM of Boardwalk Resort
Sonya Deese-Byrnes, GM of Old Key West Resort
Malcolm Ross, GM of Yacht and Beach Club
Rilous Carter, GM of Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness
Rick Allen, GM of Pop Century Resort
Georgina Sussan, GM of Grand Floridian
Kent Mitchell, GM of Contemporary
Spencer Oberle, GM of Polynesian
Thea Sargent, GM of Coronado Springs
Djuan Rivers, GM of All-Stars
LodgeNorm Noble, GM of Animal Kingdom

BTW have you ever written to Jackie and gotten any response?

Actually I wront Jackie about the pool temperature at VB during the winter months. I ended up writing about the same issue three times over a three week period before hearing from her, and then I got an e-mail response and a telephone call. My third e-mail did express frustration about not hearing back. It turned out that a decision was made in january of 2001 (right after our trip) to keep the pools at a constant warm temperature (I want to say 82) so this wasn't an issue she had to convince others to make changes, only communicate back to us. Complaint management isn't an easy business, but you'd think Disney would have high standards given the customer service leadership education programs they provide others. Perhaps I just contacted her at a busy time. I did get a good answer, and the pool temperature was much improved over my last Christmas vacation to Vero.

 

[Terry S]

Sorry to hear this happened to you. I don't understand why they can't make Smoking rooms as part of the reservation system. They could tell you at the time you make your reservation if there was a smoking room available and if not, you could either try a different resort or choose to reserve and not smoke in a non-smoking room.

By the way, Jackie Lueders has been very helpful to me in the past.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Another one who received a nice response from Jackie. Phone call promptly to discuss the problem (although from what I've seen on these boards, issue wasn't resolved-I blame that on VWL, not Jackie). She also sent me a note and a very nice DVC beach tote bag.

 

[ReneeQ]

I agree, that's my biggest DVC complaint, Smoking and Non-Smoking should be GUARANTEED. When making your reservations, if you want nonsmoking and there are none available (or vice versa) you will have to pick another date.

 

[DVC-LEROY]

Regarding smoking - they really need to do something - about the rooms and about everywhere else on Disney property. We were there this month (2/9-2/14/03). We didn't have a smoking problem in the room - but I couldn't believe the nerve of people smoking in the hallways on non-smoking floors, in the public restrooms, around the parks - hiding their cigarettes as they walked by - it was unbelieveable. I never saw as much I did on this visit. I'd love to see people asked to leave the parks for not using the designated areas and I'm all for letting DVC management know that there should be a charge to people smoking in non-smoking rooms. I would not be able to stay in a room where the previous occupants were smoking. I think I'm going to let Jackie know my feelings on this also. If we don't complain - we can't expect anything to change.

 

[Disney Doll]

I just walk around WDW in a "Magical Mickey Bubble". I never see anybody smoking inside buildings unless they are smoking buildings. I never see anyone hiding cigarettes on elevators or anywhere else. I never see anyone walking down the hall with a cigarette, ever. I go at weird times though that aren't as crowded, so maybe that's why???

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by DVC-LEROY
Regarding smoking - they really need to do something - about the rooms and about everywhere else on Disney property.I never saw as much I did on this visit. I'd love to see people asked to leave the parks for not using the designated areas and I'm all for letting DVC management know that there should be a charge to people smoking in non-smoking rooms. I would not be able to stay in a room where the previous occupants were smoking. I think I'm going to let Jackie know my feelings on this also. If we don't complain - we can't expect anything to change.

Very well said DVC-Leroy.

 

[Nanajo1]

Folks who walk around the parks smoking are a real danger. The cigarette
is usually held down at their hip level which is child face level and speaking from experience ECV level. Last January I was nearly burned a few times by folks walking around the parks smoking. I would just like CM is ask them to extinguish the butt and go to a designated area.

 

[Betty X]

Do these rooms not have smoke detectors? if a smoke alarm went off in a non-smoking room because someone was smoking then that would solve the problem wouldn't it?

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Do these rooms not have smoke detectors? if a smoke alarm went off in a non-smoking room because someone was smoking then that would solve the problem wouldn't it?

Interesting thought, kind of like the airplane bathrooms, huh? Yes, that would solve the problem. Water starts spraying out in the room which would actually put the cigarette out, unless the smoker was able to shield it from the spray. Of course, then they would probably be hanging all thier wet clothing out on the balconey to dry and we're back to the "Clampetes go to Disney" problem, but I think that is less of a concern than not bieng able to properly breath while trying to sleep because a smoker has violated the non-smoking room agreement.

I tried to get a chuckle in there, but really it's probably a good idea. I know the non-smiking restrictions are very difficult for smokers, but it's also not right to have an expensive stay ruined for non-smokers by stench left over for the next guest, some of us really cannot breath well under those conditions. A habit for intended pleasure causing others harm doesn't seem right to be favoring the pleasure over the harm it causes others (not to mention the health issues.)

Let me confess. Folks, I'm bias. I work in a center conducting extensive cancer reseach. I see the detrimental effects of cigarette smoking every day, and talk with people who wish they would have never gotten hooked. So my sympathies aren't with the smoker, I've had too many of them tell me they wish they would have gotten the message earlier and listened, but now it's too late. So that's my predudice view on this issue. I know it's a little off topic for this thread, but I thought I'd go ahead and confess my bias.

Have a healthy happy vacation at your favorite WDW location.