Unfortunate Incident at Disney's Boardwalk Villas

[I Love Pluto]

I don't feel that Disney is responsible for any loss in this situation. What did Disney do wrong?

I agree with the poster who wrote about scams. How is Disney to know who is creating issues within a scam or within reality? WHY would anyone leave a purse out in the open in a room? No, I don't see blame on Disney.

I am sorry that the person lost belongings, but perhaps they should be more careful when bringing expensive things to WDW in the first place.

 

[nkereina]

If the thief got in because housekeeping was not careful, I think Disney has some blame.

What's the housekeeper supposed to do? Move their belongings into drawers so she can go into another room? Not practical. The housekeepers are required to leave the door open when cleaning, and if there's multiple rooms, that means there is going to be a time that room will be unoccupied.

I make sure my valuables are always secured before leaving the room solely because I know housekeeping will be in. I'm not accusing housekeeping of anything, but knowing a stranger will be in my room is enough for me to take the extra step to lock my purse and camera in my luggage and put the luggage under the bed or in a closet. An unfortunate lesson for these folks. Hopefully they will take the precautions next time.

 

[DebbieB]

Since the poster is a second hand party, we really don't know what happened. Having things stollen out of a hotel room is always sad, but it's not Disney's fault that camera and valuables were left out, and not locked in the safe.
Really they've done what they were supposed to do, help them get in contact with the proper authorities. They don't need to make things up to them because they were careless, sorry. I am sorry this happened to your friends.

Since they were in the room at the time (but upstairs), I would not call them careless for leaving it out. However, if they did not have the bolt on the door thrown and didn't know housekeeping came in, that part was careless. I'm always careful to lock the door when I come in.

If housekeeping does leave the door open, that's a problem with a villa. Anyone could walk in when they are in another room. They should shut the door behind them. I remember one time we were walking past a grand villa at BW and the housekeeping was standing there with the door open. We asked if we could peek in (not go in), she said no, sorry it's occupied.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Regardless of the circumstances of this particular family's loss.. this brings up a very valid point.

I like to think of any hotel room as having about the same security as a bike padlocked to a rack on the street. It's almost that bad, so I just assume it is. What's in my room usually? Well, I might have consumer electronics, passports, lots and lots of clothes and personal items of little value..

So.. whatever won't fit in the safe is *very carefully* hidden and I snap a quick picture of the room before I leave on my phone. But .. leaving stuff that's so valuable and so portable right out ... is just not a good idea. And unfortunately this thread reminds us all why.

There are so many variables.. from staff who were fired, let go or are about to quit, to who knows what poorly made, easily confused electronic lock..

I feel very badly for your friends .. I wish their first trip to Disney wasn't ruined by this turn of events.

 

[TowMater92]

My guess is the housekeepers are told to leave the door open. Think about it they are entering someones room and they don't know the person. Its probably a safety thing for the housekeepers so they can exit quickly or if they yell people will be more likely to hear them. Disney has to think about the safety of there employees just as much as the safety of the guests.

I know it probably ruined there vacation and I've stayed in the two story GV's at the BW and SSR so I can understand how it could happen. I'm sorry it happened to them at least now more people know not to leave valuables out even if there in there room.

 

[DanInDefiance]

I know this is hindsight....but even when staying at the GF club level, I always checked my oversized laptop with bell services. You never know who'll be in your room - checking it turns the responsibility over to the resort if anything happens to it.

 

[HelenParr]

Was just reading the Florida statute, and looks like max liability is $1,000 even when you leave it with the desk for safekeeping.

And to respond to earlier question, my reasoning on why I feel housekeeping is also to blame is not a legal issue, just common sense opinion: if I leave room locked, I do not expect anyone other than housekeeping to go in, or housekeeping to let anyone in. And I don't believe that's just one of those things or a matter of bad luck. It's not like Disney ( or most hotels ) say stuff like "oh, and when housekeeping comes, you can pretty much assume that people will steal stuff from your room."

Yes, I agree it increases risk to have housekeeping come. Yes, I realize I could avoid housekeeping altogether.

 

[jwwi]

So sorry to hear about this. My DH had a rather expensive suitcase taken from his room in Vegas, along with his friend's laptop. It was a horrible experience for him, and the hotel claimed no responsibility whatsoever. Needless to say he will never stay at that resort again. I would hate to feel that violated at Disney. I always put my valuables in the safe, but would not hesitate to check them with the front desk if they didn't fit in the safe. Best of luck to your friends as they resolve this issue.

 

[aubriee]

That's the thing that makes me nervous about leaving things out. The housekeepers leave the door open when they clean. With a villa, the housekeeper could be a different room and anyone could slip in and grab something near the door.

I posted on here a few years ago about an incident that happened to me at CBR. I was on a solo trip and came back to the room one night to find my door propped open with the trash can (not sure why she didn't just use the door jam). No way was I going in that room. I walked back downstairs and stood by the stairway, while I called and asked to be transferred to CBR security. Of course phone calls go to a call center, so it took forever to finally get transferred and then even longer for security to show up. He went in the room with me, but told me that housekeepers frequently prop doors open if they are cleaning several rooms at once and the housekeeper probably just forgot to close my door. Sure enough, when we went in the room, the bed was made and clean towels were sitting on the table, but the dirty towels were still sitting where I'd left them that morning. The housekeeper had apparently got distracted and forgot to come back and finish my room. Thankfully nothing was taken but anyone could have walked in that room and helped themselves to anything they wanted. I did call and complain to housekeeping who apologized.

 

[fla4fun]

Was just reading the Florida statute, and looks like max liability is $1,000 even when you leave it with the desk for safekeeping.

And to respond to earlier question, my reasoning on why I feel housekeeping is also to blame is not a legal issue, just common sense opinion: if I leave room locked, I do not expect anyone other than housekeeping to go in, or housekeeping to let anyone in. And I don't believe that's just one of those things or a matter of bad luck. It's not like Disney ( or most hotels ) say stuff like "oh, and when housekeeping comes, you can pretty much assume that people will steal stuff from your room."

Yes, I agree it increases risk to have housekeeping come. Yes, I realize I could avoid housekeeping altogether.

I think a lot of people just assume that no one but housekeeping enters hotel rooms. Housekeeping is not the only person who can access your room at a hotel.

Maintenance
Management
Guests with incorrectly coded and assigned keys (search for threads on being assigned an already occupied room - happens everywhere)
ME luggage delivery

None of these people will give you advance notice, and they aren't going to ask your permission. Avoiding housekeeping does not insure that your room will not be entered by someone other than your family.

I can't stress enough that if you are IN your room (as these guests appear to have been) PLEASE use the deadbolt and flip lock on the door! You don't want someone just walking in on you, whether you're just getting out of the shower, or getting dressed, or just hanging out. There are people wandering around hotels everywhere just looking for an opportunity to take advantage of someone. It isn't necessarily even hotel guests or staff - think about those bogus pizza flyers that get left in hotels all over the place. Belongings are replaceable - your health and safety, not so much. The first thing I do when I enter my room is give it a quick look over to make sure no one is already in it, and then secure both locks to make sure it stays that way.

And yes, always double check the door when you leave the room to make sure it's secure, and make sure any valuables you do have are in the safe. Don't bring anything on vacation that you can't carry with you and that you can't afford to lose.

Personally, I have never seen housekeeping working with more than one room at a time. There would be no reason to have more than one door open - one person can't be in two rooms at the same time. I have noticed more of them using the little tags on the door that say your room is being serviced and the door completely shut.

I'm sorry this happened to the OP's friends, but the simple act of engaging the locks on the door should have prevented this particular incident.

 

[graueMaus]

FYI.

I have fit the following bulky items (along with check books, keys, wallets, tickets, etc) in the safes at SSR and AKV Kidani and HHI:

17 in laptop (sometimes you need to slide it in diaganolly, but it will fit flat in the safe),
and an SLR camera

The latter will fit in these safes if you separate the lenses and body. I have a Nikon D80 with 18-70mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses and all will fit just fine separate from the body in the safe.

 

[dvcterry]

I posted on here a few years ago about an incident that happened to me at CBR. I was on a solo trip and came back to the room one night to find my door propped open with the trash can (not sure why she didn't just use the door jam). No way was I going in that room. I walked back downstairs and stood by the stairway, while I called and asked to be transferred to CBR security. Of course phone calls go to a call center, so it took forever to finally get transferred and then even longer for security to show up. He went in the room with me, but told me that housekeepers frequently prop doors open if they are cleaning several rooms at once and the housekeeper probably just forgot to close my door. Sure enough, when we went in the room, the bed was made and clean towels were sitting on the table, but the dirty towels were still sitting where I'd left them that morning. The housekeeper had apparently got distracted and forgot to come back and finish my room. Thankfully nothing was taken but anyone could have walked in that room and helped themselves to anything they wanted. I did call and complain to housekeeping who apologized.

oh my goodness. good thing you called down to security, i would be nervous if i saw that.

 

[vinotinto]

FYI.

I have fit the following bulky items (along with check books, keys, wallets, tickets, etc) in the safes at SSR and AKV Kidani and HHI:

17 in laptop (sometimes you need to slide it in diaganolly, but it will fit flat in the safe),
and an SLR camera

The latter will fit in these safes if you separate the lenses and body. I have a Nikon D80 with 18-70mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses and all will fit just fine separate from the body in the safe.

The OP is a good reminder to not let your guard down just because you are in WDW. OP, I'm so sorry to hear you lost your camera! BTW, not all the safes WDW are large enough to fit a laptop. At the Beach Club, we have had the old, small safes with the key. We were able to fit a kindle, and a single camera lens, but definitely not a laptop and not the camera body (measurements were approximately: 6'' tall X 10'' wide X 2''deep. Not big at all.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

First of all; sorry this happened! These things tend to not be about "just" stolen goods, but feeling unsafe realising someone was in a place with ill intent where you did not expect it.

I am with those who wonder what was expected from mangement. I mean, might be me but I really think people have too high of an expectation raising out of the norm experiences they read about others having as the norm. This was a bad situation, but things were done that should be done and assume will continue to go from there (like checking systems to see who went in and out etc.)

By all means take up the subject with disney after getting home and communicate about it. Ask what might not be clear, state what one is looking for, be realistic, calm and open. But also it can be beneficial for them to ask themselves if expectations and sentiments are/were valid or perhaps also coloured by emotions of the moment and clowded by reading up on other pixiedustmoments and confusing it a bit too much for a standard what to expect.



In general; loads of folks can be in your room. Keep it in mind!


From a very personal p.o.v.; I've been here at WDW for over 3 weeks now. First so many days were at BWV. I had the unfortune to run into an unexpected scary situation. Sometimes things happen. Folks were amazing, did whatever they could but did I expect any...... "make things right and take away the sour feeling"? No. Did that happen when we talk about it in a fashion it always seems to be talked about? No. They did it in a much more important way; not by showering me with stuff but by doing their jobs and much more than that. By being there. I can buy my own stuff if I want it that much, but the practicle help and human interest and empathy could never have been bought and had an unbelievable bigger impact. Because of this incident, my planned trip is down the drain. An hour a day outside is big already. Again something that IMHO is not something peachy but hardly validates me to expect any "disney should make this better for me". Yesterday someone decided not to sprinkle me with pixiedust but to almost drown me in it**. And you know what? The way it was done in for me is much less valuable than the motivation behind the actions. It again showed a high level of empathy. Totally not needed, not expected, leaves me feeling left in between humbled, over the moon and embarrased. But it not happening wouldn't have had any negative impact on how I view the way those involved dealt with my situation.




** which I guess also already comes down to p.o.v. and expectations, as I know I view it as beyond big guesture but know sadly many nowadays even expect this in simplest situations to happen

 

[LWatson]

Someone posted pretty much something exactly the same a year or so ago in CafeMom. I mean "they did nothing" and a few other things sound word for word what was said.

 

[CanadianGuy]

This story at ABCNEWS.com made me think of this thread this morning:

A report by ABC News showing how easy it was to break into certain electronic door locks used by major hotels has prompted the Holiday Inn chain today to announce a drive to "expedite" efforts to fix the locks.

The ABC News report included a visit to the Holiday Inn Express Times Square on 39th Street, where we checked in to a room and demonstrated a major security flaw that allows guest doors to be opened without a hotel-issued key.

The problem centers around a particular model of hotel door lock made by Onity, a company which describes itself as the, "Worldwide Leader In Electronic Locks." However, on one of its most popular models sold to hotels globally, hackers claim to have discovered that the company left a security port uncovered that allows them to open any of the locks with a universal key of sorts.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

That this happened is really sad, especailly at WDW.

However after reading the posts,the debating if the folks should have put valuablies away in the safe or drawers, if mouskeeping should have closed the door, or if Disney needs to do something, The one thing I found missing..........

is the guy or gal that was the thief!

Part of our sociaty..........part of life today.........but that is the real problem!

AKK

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Housekeeping only comes a couple times when you are in the villas (unless you pay the extra fee for a daily visit), did they know they were coming that day?

That stinks, I would be very upset to lose all the pictures. I don't think WDW will do much if anything, and nothing will replace their lost photos.

This is a good reminder to always bolt the door and never leave valuables out if you are not present. The camera/purse would have been safe if up in the bedroom with them.

 

[vicki_c]

Housekeeping only comes a couple times when you are in the villas (unless you pay the extra fee for a daily visit), did they know they were coming that day?

I've skipped many pages of this thread, but wanted to say that this is only true for DVC stays. If you have a cash regular reservation, you get housekeeping everyday.