The cookware saga

[dianeschlicht]

I'm sure all of you have had an experience with trying to get something from either mousekeeping or maintenance at at DVC resort. Sometimes it's a launguage barrier that hinders your request, and sometimes it's just a confusion that happens when information gets transfered to too many people before the task gets completed.

Normally, I check all items in the kitchen when we arrive so I'm not surprised when I go to make a meal with something not there. For some reason, I forgot to do that on Wednesday when we arrived. I suspect that something in the back of my mind felt that since this was a newly renovated unit, everything would be there. WRONG. Unfortunately, I didn't find that out until I went make our oatmeal Thursday morning. I don't do instant oatmeal (I think it tastes like sawdust), and it's no big deal to cook "real" oatmeal. The problem I had was that I opened the cupboard to get out the pan, and all that was there was a stock pot and 2 fry pans! I've had an issue where I've found pans in usual places before (like the oven), but that wasn't the case this time. There just weren't any! Okay, so skip the oatmeal idea and agree on toast instead.

I did call mousekeeping and ask for at least a middle size saucepan. About an hour later, they show up with a very tiny little pan. Hmmm..Okay, I realized the English challeneged person I spoke to probably confused "middle" with "little". So....That evening, I had to call again to make sure I'd have one for the next day. This time I get another fry pan! The joke is that there was already 2 fry pans....didn't need another. In fact all we had after two calls was 2 fry pans, a stock pot, and a tiny pan. Okay...try again. This time DH calls and gets a gentleman on the line who speaks English as a first language. I'm quite confident that by the next day I'll have a pan to make oatmeal in. We get home from the parks last evening, and still no pan. Before I had a chance to call again though, a knock came on the door about 9 PM. It was a housekeeper with a whole new cookware set! She explained that they were having a hard time figuring out what I had and what I needed. I brought her in so she could see that we had very little! She left me the whole new set of cookware and took the few old pieces in the unit with her. DH and I had a good laugh at how inefficient things work around here. I did ask her how it happens that the cookware is missing, and she said people help themselves to it. Amazing.... I also asked her how housekeepers miss things like that. She said often they "borrow" housekeepers from the hotels, since DVC is often more in need of extra housekeeping staff than the hotels (which aren't always full), and they aren't familiar with cleaning units with kitchens. Perhaps that is why we sometimes read complaints here about people finding kitchens not cleaned properly.

Okay, so now that the problem is identified, and the housekeeping staff KNOWS the problem exists...why don't they correct it???? It just points out to me that there isn't a lot of staff training or overseeing going on.

 

[DVCSAMNH]

Okay, so now that the problem is identified, and the housekeeping staff KNOWS the problem exists...why don't they correct it???? It just points out to me that there isn't a lot of staff training or overseeing going on.

I have wondered over and over again why there seems to be no inventory checklist used before each guest checks in. And it also seems like there is no real cleaning checklist either.

It seems like if they consistently used the inventory checklist they might be able to start charging some folks for the 2 qt saucepans that "jump" into their luggage.

Seriously, you can afford a Disney vacation but you steal a pan.

 

[joandegennaro]

Sorry to kinda highjack a thread but since OP is a OKW veteran and I haven't even made my first trip down as a DVC owner I thought I would ask a question reguarding kitchen supplies. We plan on using a studio and bringing our own limited supplies for limited cooking in the unit. If I forgot some utensils would I be able to "borrow" them from mousekeeping while staying in a studio or would I have to go out to purchase? Is it even allowed?

TIA

 

[backyardponder]

Sorry to kinda highjack a thread but since OP is a OKW veteran and I haven't even made my first trip down as a DVC owner I thought I would ask a question reguarding kitchen supplies. We plan on using a studio and bringing our own limited supplies for limited cooking in the unit. If I forgot some utensils would I be able to "borrow" them from mousekeeping while staying in a studio or would I have to go out to purchase? Is it even allowed?

TIA

A studio only has a microwave. If you are asking about glass or other microwave save cooking equiment, nothing standard is supplied. I don't know if you can request them or not.

 

[Tamar]

Is that why the fry pan is big enough to cook a dozen eggs? So it doesn't get stolen?? I've always wondered why a 1 bd would have such a big pan and not a normal size one.

Glad you finally got the right pan, Carol!

 

[joandegennaro]

A studio only has a microwave. If you are asking about glass or other microwave save cooking equiment, nothing standard is supplied. I don't know if you can request them or not.

.

I'm thinking more if I forgot say a spatula to use for eggs in my electric griddle kind of thing. I have limited cooking appliances that I know others use in a studio, crockpot, griddle, electric skillet. I was just curious if I forgot something (which can easily happen these days) if I could ask mousekeeping even though I'm in a studio.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Did you see Jim Lewis' article in the latest Disney Files? He mentions a member who calls maintenance and housekeeping when they arrive to get problems fixed. JL says he wished more members would do that and he appreciates those that do. My question is shouldn't the staff find those problems before the members check in?

Just like the cookware. Someone on the staff should check the villas at least once a week or every other week to see what is broken, what is missing, what needs fixing, what problems are coming up. It would save issues like the BLT studio problems. So the gouges, tears, AC problems would be fixed before the member even moves into the villa.

And they should swap resorts so they don't get too comfortable with the missing tile in the bathroom. Or the dirty grout in the shower. Or the missing pulls on the drawers.

Where I work, I lead a team of employees on a weekly inspection of one floor of our hospital. We check out cleanliness, missing/broken items, utility issues, anything the staff tells us about. We look for infection control issues. We look for patient and occupational safety issues to keep people from being hurt. Then the department that needs to fix the problem has two weeks to get it done. We hit every area of the hospital at least twice a year and this includes every building on the grounds, the parking lots, the grounds and all of our offsite facilities.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I totally agree, Deb, and I'm going to contact Member Satisfaction when I get home to discuss some of those very things. When we first bought DVC, we never had issues with missing items, and things were always in great shape. That just has not been the case for the past couple of years.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Is that why the fry pan is big enough to cook a dozen eggs? So it doesn't get stolen?? I've always wondered why a 1 bd would have such a big pan and not a normal size one.

Glad you finally got the right pan, Carol!

The fry pan is that big because the 1 bedroom can also be a 2 bedroom. Oh, and I'm Diane, not Carol. We are both fromj Minnesota though!

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

There are inventory checklists inside the kitchen cabinet doors -- that's what I use to do my inventory when I arrive -- much like Diane. I want to know what I'm supposed to have so if it's not there I call Mousekeeping to at least request it...even if I don't plan to use it. I don't want to be charged for it.

Diane -- have a great time. We've started talking about our next trip but it's still too far away!

I have wondered over and over again why there seems to be no inventory checklist used before each guest checks in. And it also seems like there is no real cleaning checklist either.

It seems like if they consistently used the inventory checklist they might be able to start charging some folks for the 2 qt saucepans that "jump" into their luggage.

Seriously, you can afford a Disney vacation but you steal a pan.

 

[supersuperwendy]

I had no clue there was no spatula in our kitchen at Kidani until the egg I was making needed to be flipped! Are spatulas supposed to be in the kitchens? I would think so!

 

[dianeschlicht]

I had no clue there was no spatula in our kitchen at Kidani until the egg I was making needed to be flipped! Are spatulas supposed to be in the kitchens? I would think so!

Yes, they are supposed to be in there, but at Kidani, the "spatula" they leave for you is actually a skimmer and of no use for flipping anything! I always make pancakes, and I couldn't find a spatula for that purpose when I went through the check list on arrival. I called for one and they brought the same skimmer that was already in the drawer. When I explained that it wasn't flat enought to get underneath a pancake to turn it, the housekeeper looked at me with this blank "deer in the headlights" look. I supect she has never made anything herself, much less pancakes. Anyway...I went out and bought a good pancake turner and put it in my owners locker for the next time we stay at AKV. I've needed it every time there, because I discovered all the units there have skimmers that they call spatulas. OKW has a great pancake turning spatula!

 

[mkunichi]

I enjoyed reading this thread so much I decided it needed to be bumped!

One fascinating part of it (hey, no disparaging remarks about what I find fascinating!) is that different DVC resorts have different cookware inventories. I never knew this and now I'm wondering whether to start a thread documenting the cookware and utensil inventories at the various resorts...

 

[gdrj]

I would think some of the challenges in properly stocking the villa's

1- Most likely staffing, hiring turnover has to be a challenge
2- In Season to turn a Villas over with checkout at 11 (plus the late checkout like me) and checkin at 4 stretches the staff.

I'm excusing it or accepting it, and we can say we pay a good amount in maintenance, but bottom line housekeeping is not an easy position to fill with highly qualified/ motivated people.

With all that said we have had pleasant experiences with the staff over the years and also had to request a complete cleaning of unit after the first day, or room change due to cleanliness.

 

[disneynutz]

If we have a room problem we give the Mousekeepers or Maintenance one or maybe two tries to make it right. After that, I am at the Front Desk talking to a Manager.

If the Manager doesn't know that there is a problem, how can they have the opportunity to correct the problem? Mousekeeping and Maintenance get so many calls 365 days a week that all they care about is putting in their hours and getting paid.

I also follow up with Member Satisfaction and provide them with the names of all involved.

Bill

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I be-bopped over to this thread...and saw the name Jim Lewis. That's a blast from the past.

Here's a question -- Is this problem as bad as it was under JL?

 

[Chuck S]

I be-bopped over to this thread...and saw the name Jim Lewis. That's a blast from the past.

Here's a question -- Is this problem as bad as it was under JL?

I think theft of easily carried items has always been a problem. It has very little to do with who is in charge of DVC and more to do with the personal values of the guests. In the early pre-JL years, OKW lost having placemats and cloth napkins because they disappeared into think air too often to replace.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We very often don't have the food storage containers. This happened most recently at BLT in a 1 bedroom. We never got them in spite of calls. Earlier in the month I needed them at AKV Kidani, and they did come!

 

[karrit2000]

We tried to get a cereal/soup bowl so Mom could heat up her oatmeal in the Microwave of a Studio. They brought us a huge mixing bowl instead. Once they knew what we really wanted they said they would come back later with it but they never did. Trying to microwave oatmeal in those disposable bowls is quite dangerous. And mousekeeping never replenishes that disposable stuff during our stays without us having to call for more.

Oh the stories I could add to this thread.

 

[Caren]

On our last BLT stay, when we called about a missing paring knife, they brought us a steak knife and explained that they didn't have any more paring knives. Decent knives are going into the locker on our next trip.