Stayed at Saratoga Springs over Thanksgiving- mildewy rooms

[JessLCH]

This was our 4th stay at a DVC property (Wilderness Lodge Villas 2x, Grand Californian 1x) and third time renting through the same DVC owner. We have always enjoyed the DVC properties with no complaints or issues. While we liked Saratoga Springs overall, I don't think we will ever stay there again. While I found the bus transportation to be good and the property peaceful, the rooms had an awful mildewy, musty smell to them. The first room they gave us, we immediately asked to be changed because of the intense mildew smell. The next room also smelled mildewy but was slightly better so we stayed because it was after 10 pm at this point and my kids were so tired they were in tears. We were promised a deep cleaning and dehumidifier the following day. They DID a deep cleaning and filter change which only helped minimally. The mildewy smell was back within a day. I kept pushing for a dehumidifier and was told by housekeeping they were out purchasing one for the room, which never showed up. I didn't want to spend my vacation fighting with housekeeping and the front desk and I didn't want to go through the hassle of switching rooms again, so we gave up and just spent as little time in the room as possible. Anyone else have this problem at Saratoga Springs? I read the boards regularly and don't recall reading abut this issue before. It really was a shame because we otherwise would have considered staying there again.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I've had 5 stays at SSR in the last 2 years, 2 in Carousel and 3 in Congress Park. Thankfully, contrary to you experiences I've always enjoyed the cleanliness of the villas and I consider SSR, Kidani and BWV to have superior mousekeeping to most of the other resorts I've stayed at. SSR is one of my favorite resorts and the "only" negative I have regarding this resort, The Carousel area is too far removed from HH, The Turf CLub etc., but we love everyting else about it.

Once at OKW we encountered a damp, slightly musty smell from the carpet that had been cleaned, overly saturated in some spots and had not fully dried. It was for only one night since we were moving to a GV and by the next morning the carpet had dried. Perhaps the building you were in had major carpet issues? It's unfortunate that you had to endure those conditions, I love spending time in the villa, so this would have really been a problem for us.

 

[caitlinsmom]

We just came back from a Thanksgiving trip at SSR and had no issues except for a very loud washer dryer.
We had stayed at OKW the past two trips and I liked SSR much better. Clean room, quiet resort, great pools.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hasn't Orlando/Lake Buena Vista had a lot of rain lately? With the open corridors, maybe that helped create an odor. We've never had a problem at SSR and have stayed there a few times.

 

[JessLCH]

I guess we just had very bad luck then with TWO mildewy rooms. (First was in Paddock, second in Congress Park.) I very rarely complain about a room, but this was pretty bad. I will say we had relatives staying in another unit in Paddock and they had no issues with mildew/odor.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The only DVC room I've had bad musty/mildewy odor problems was at VB. We had 2 connecting OVIR's and both had the smell and dehumidifers running in them. We changed out of one of the rooms to another just 2 doors down and it was fine.

In my 3 stays at SSR I have had no similar issues. All of those were in Congress Park.

 

[Princess Tink]

Unfortunately we had the same experience in October. And I have extreme sensitivity to smell. I immediately contacted the front desk upon entering the room, but unfortunately there were no other rooms available (marathon weekend, opening weekend of the f&w festival). The front desk referred me to housekeeping, which after several phone calls and over an hour on the phone… they understood the issue. They cleaned the a/c filter and assured me that would fix the problem. Cam back to the room several hours later to realize the problem had not been resolved. I called back and asked for an air filer or dehumidifier as well, but seen no results of this request. We ended up having to leave the balcony door open for a few hours a day to air the room out… we did this 2 days in a row(during our midday break) and finally the odor was gone.

 

[hakepb]

Fortunately, I have not had that experience (as that could really trigger a serious asthma attach for DS). But it really does not surprise me as it sure seems the "green" motion sensing A/C and bathroom fans just seem to be a ticking time bomb in a humid Florida.

I do recall hanging swimsuits in a SSR studio bathroom and they were still wet the next day. I had to set them outside.

It may partially be decent outside temps resulting in even less HVAC. In Jambo before Thanksgiving, we would come back for a nap in a muggy, humid room (no motion is no a/c), only to wake up freezing. :/

 

[Sammie]

Stayed many times never had a problem with smells.

 

[hakepb]

Fortunately, I have not had that experience (as that could really trigger a serious asthma attach for DS). But it really does not surprise me as it sure seems the "green" motion sensing A/C and bathroom fans just seem to be a ticking time bomb in a humid Florida.

I do recall hanging swimsuits in a SSR studio bathroom and they were still wet the next day. I had to set them outside.

It may partially be decent outside temps resulting in even less HVAC. In Jambo before Thanksgiving, we would come back for a nap in a muggy, humid room (no motion is no a/c), only to wake up freezing. :/

 

[hakepb]

Sorry dp

 

[CRSNDSNY]

What floor were you on?

This was our 4th stay at a DVC property (Wilderness Lodge Villas 2x, Grand Californian 1x) and third time renting through the same DVC owner. We have always enjoyed the DVC properties with no complaints or issues. While we liked Saratoga Springs overall, I don't think we will ever stay there again. While I found the bus transportation to be good and the property peaceful, the rooms had an awful mildewy, musty smell to them. The first room they gave us, we immediately asked to be changed because of the intense mildew smell. The next room also smelled mildewy but was slightly better so we stayed because it was after 10 pm at this point and my kids were so tired they were in tears. We were promised a deep cleaning and dehumidifier the following day. They DID a deep cleaning and filter change which only helped minimally. The mildewy smell was back within a day. I kept pushing for a dehumidifier and was told by housekeeping they were out purchasing one for the room, which never showed up. I didn't want to spend my vacation fighting with housekeeping and the front desk and I didn't want to go through the hassle of switching rooms again, so we gave up and just spent as little time in the room as possible. Anyone else have this problem at Saratoga Springs? I read the boards regularly and don't recall reading abut this issue before. It really was a shame because we otherwise would have considered staying there again.

 

[JessLCH]

What floor were you on?

I believe it was either the 3rd or 4th floor in Paddock (but so were my inlaws right around the corner with no smell). Then we moved to 2nd floor in Congress Park which was slightly better that first room but still pretty bad. Don't think the floor level had much to do with it.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I believe it was either the 3rd or 4th floor in Paddock (but so were my inlaws right around the corner with no smell). Then we moved to 2nd floor in Congress Park which was slightly better that first room but still pretty bad. Don't think the floor level had much to do with it.

Interesting. I thought perhaps you were ground floor and subjected to more water. Though, being on a higher floor under the premise that heat rises, perhaps it is a ventilation issue?

The only issue we had similar was the smoke smell from one of our stays in Congress Park. It was either building 3 or 4 and it had once been the smoking building. We smelled it bad when the heat kicked on.

 

[LarryM]

I had that problem last January. I was thier marathon week. For me the problem was caused by the outside temp being low 30's and me not using the AC or Heat. When I woke up the water was condensing on the inside of the patio door and just running down to the carpet. I actually wrote a letter and suggested that they use better building materials, specifically a double pane patio door that way the water would'nt condense on the inside.

 

[hakepb]

Odd. I know I thought SSR patio doors did a really nice job of noise reduction, and thought they were double pane.
I do think that even good windows will condensate some if the indoor humidity is high. (Even foam cups of Coke condensate on a humid day)

 

[kendzee94]

Never had a problem at SSR, WL, OKW, AKV or BWV. We did, however have a huge issue when we went in August at the Dolphin a few years back. They came and wiped down the walls, and the mildew reappeared the next day. After a few days, we just gave up!

 

[Sammie]

I had that problem last January. I was thier marathon week. For me the problem was caused by the outside temp being low 30's and me not using the AC or Heat. When I woke up the water was condensing on the inside of the patio door and just running down to the carpet. I actually wrote a letter and suggested that they use better building materials, specifically a double pane patio door that way the water would'nt condense on the inside.

They are double pane and not running the heat/ac would cause inside condensation.

 

[kimszath]

If you're one of those folks (like me) who hates coming back to a room that's had no air running all day, tie a mylar balloon to a chair, or just weight it with something, and move it in front of the motion sensor--maybe 5-10 feet back. Turn the fan on to keep the balloon moving. It worked for us all but once... trying to remember which property we coulnd't fool....

 

[biim85]

We had the same problem in late Oct. Initially in the Paddock area as well, but were moved toa buidling right behind the Grandstand Station that seemed much better maintained and had no smell at all. It turned out to be a really nice stay. Usually stay at OKW but they were full and I was dreading having to stay somewhere else, but I will definitely stay again. I felt their attempt to make our stay enjoyable was much better than the half butt effort that they'd made at BLT last year when our room was literally in fested with mosquittos and the bathroom looked like someone from the housekeeping staff had had a bad burritto in there.