VB - policy issues, towels etc.

[ppiew]

The USED to be our favorite resort - this year we encountered a multitude of failings which we informed both management and the front desk about. They do say they will be addressing the issues - but a couple of things I think owners should know about as they are policy issues.
The most ridiculous (to me) is the 'Towel Nazi' approach. We were in a 2 BR unit with 8 people (it holds 9). We had 5 bath towels and 2 tiny shampoo bottles - hardly adequate for 8 people for even 1 day!

BUT, there IS a stack of 'pool towels" with a card on top indicating that as you have 8 people you are provided with 8 pool towels - you can turn them in dirty at Eb & Flo's and receive clean ones - but this 8 is ALL you will receive. IF - you are 'short' when you check out they can/will CHARGE you for the 'missing towel.' So here I am counting towels everyday both in and out!!! Wait - it gets better! One day at the pool I went to Eb & Flo's for another towel. I was asked our unit # (gave it to them) and was told we had already been assigned 8 towels and I could have another BUT had to leave my name and then we would be required to be sure we left 9 towels upon check out! The couple with us were potential buyers - not anymore.

I was told that this policy had been introduced at HH and VB and will soon be at all DVC resorts. Frankly I think it is crazy and really don't care if I am flamed. We have been owners for over 10 yrs and have yet to steal a towel.

We had a # of other issues while there and all seemed to relate back to the cost factor. I am sure there are more ways to save $$$ than to alienate the guests.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Years ago, we stayed in a VB studio and had paper cups and not glasses, this was before that idea hit the WDW resorts. That bad idea fell by the wayside, thank heavens.

Someone has mentioned the "Pool Towel Exchange" here before as an idea whose time has come. When we stayed at one of the Marriott Orlando Timeshares, that was the rule. We learned to deal with it. I wouldn't have been happy with getting fewer bath towels as you did. Was that straightened out?

We're going to VB in June, and very much looking forward to the trip. Thank you for the heads up. I haven't brought beach towels to Vero before, but it looks as if we're going to have to.

Bobbi

 

[Deb & Bill]

A two bedroom villa at VB should have four bath towels in each bathroom. And a single bottle of shampoo for four days. If you need more, you either need to buy more or bring your own.

 

[Chuck S]

I don't see anything wrong with a pool towel exchange. It has repeatedly been ask be DVC to not take pool towels for room use at the WDW resort, the request has obviously been ignored.

As far as the towels that were initially in your room, if VB has the sleeper chairs in the living room in addition to the sleeper sofa, then you should have been provided 9 bath (distributed between the 2 bathing areas in a 2 bedroom) and 9 pool towels when you checked in.

The OP, and many other members, certainly have not stolen towels. But those that do cost all of the members money. And DVC needs to address that somehow...what solution do you suggest?

 

[scootert]

I don't have a problem with the towel exchange -- while it may be a deterrent to theft, I think it's also more ecologically sound - less laundry. In past visits we'd see folks loading up on towels and then leaving them on the beach for someone else to pick up.

 

[ppiew]

Personally, I find it rather insulting, especially when the hotel resorts at WDW have no such policy that we have run in to. Did not happen at a Sheraton in Ft Lauderdale the previous week, not at Reunion in Davenport several nights b4, not at WD Boardwalk and not at AKL.
And to answer the ? the unit slept 9 - it did have a sleeper chair in the LR. Bath towels provided were 5 total - 3 in one bathroom and 2 in the other. Re: the shampoo issue, I do bring my own, but again 2 small bottles for 9 people whether one night or multiple nights looks beyond frugal to me. To me a Disney resort is not Motel 6 but a premium product and should look like it in every way. Maybe I wouldn't have been as upset until they asked the name when I asked for an additional towel at EB & Flo's and they wrote the name in a book!!!! Geeez!!. My solution was to wash the towels in the room each night ( yes I brought my own travel TIDE along as I always do) so the towels were clean each day. Just had to watch the kids and make sure a towel came back to the room each day. This was a nuisance. Maybe others have encountered this at hotels but I have not.

Cannot towels be distributed at the pool and beach and collected at the locked gate upon leaving?

 

[schwenksvillemouse]

We had to deal with this at HHI in the summer of 07. It was a bit of a hassle, but not enuogh to ruin my vacation. I was wondering when it would hit the other resorts.

At least at HHI the towels they provides were much nicer than the cardboard type they normally provide.

 

[Chuck S]

Personally, I find it rather insulting, especially when the hotel resorts at WDW have no such policy that we have run in to. Did not happen at a Sheraton in Ft Lauderdale the previous week, not at Reunion in Davenport several nights b4, not at WD Boardwalk and not at AKL.
And to answer the ? the unit slept 9 - it did have a sleeper chair in the LR. Bath towels provided were 5 total - 3 in one bathroom and 2 in the other. Re: the shampoo issue, I do bring my own, but again 2 small bottles for 9 people whether one night or multiple nights looks beyond frugal to me. To me a Disney resort is not Motel 6 but a premium product and should look like it in every way. Maybe I wouldn't have been as upset until they asked the name when I asked for an additional towel at EB & Flo's and they wrote the name in a book!!!! Geeez!!. My solution was to wash the towels in the room each night ( yes I brought my own travel TIDE along as I always do) so the towels were clean each day. Just had to watch the kids and make sure a towel came back to the room each day. This was a nuisance. Maybe others have encountered this at hotels but I have not.

Cannot towels be distributed at the pool and beach and collected at the locked gate upon leaving?

They could control it in the fenced pool area, but it would be difficult on a public beach. Especially if people are insulted to show their room card and leave a name for the beach towel.

Housekeeping should have been informed immediately that they had not left enough bath towels in the room initially. The master bath should have had 5 and the 2nd bath 4.

We've seen members walk off with a lot of items, which led to then being discontinued, at OKW. Including the cloth napkins and placements, salt & pepper shakers, etc. DVC has a responsibility to protect our assets, and if a towel exchange does the trick, I'm all for it, including writing names in towel books.

 

[disneymom2one]

We just stayed at Vero (and loved it). The towel thing wasn't a big deal and I think it cut down on the "saving" of chairs where people walk off and leave towels at the pool. We kept careful track of the towels and made sure we left ours in plain view, neatly stacked, when we checked out.

I did see staff taking towels off pool chairs every once in awhile and wondered if those people would get charged at the end of their stay.

 

[ppiew]

No I am not insulted to show my room card. I am not insulted to give my name either. I find it demeaning to need my name after seeing my card after giving my unit # and then having to place my name in a book as though I were borrowing an item. Yes, unfortunately, people do take many things that aren't nailed down - but what about the silverware and all items in the unit? I am all for protecting assets - it is only MY opinion that the towel business is not appropriate in a resort the caliber of those at DISNEY. Enough said

 

[DisDaydreamer]

No I am not insulted to show my room card. I am not insulted to give my name either. I find it demeaning to need my name after seeing my card after giving my unit # and then having to place my name in a book as though I were borrowing an item. Yes, unfortunately, people do take many things that aren't nailed down - but what about the silverware and all items in the unit? I am all for protecting assets - it is only MY opinion that the towel business is not appropriate in a resort the caliber of those at DISNEY. Enough said

I think the towel issue (loss of) is greater at the beach resorts. I can't remember an end of the day at the beach when I didn't see scores of towels just left all over the beach. Some get recovered, many don't.

It's difficult to compare a timeshare to a hotel. The hotel business builds the losses into their pricing. At DVC (the specific resort) owners have to pay for the losses through maintenance fees and those fees are considerably higher at the beach resorts to start with. So the owners are paying an unfair share of the losses.

It must be a pretty significant problem for DVC to make this change. I for one couldn't wait for VB to adopt the program after we experienced it at HHI. One of my pet peeves is the reserving of chairs and tables with a bundle of towels draped over them.

I know VB tried for a while to police the situation, but even early in the morning you have a dozen or so (adults mostly) swimming in the pool and the lifeguards would try to keep track of how long the towels were sitting unused by those in the pool. I guess it wasn't working.

I like the new towels. They are much bigger and much more plush (certainly not what you would find at a Motel 6) and I am willing to be held responsible for each that I am borrowing in order to have them.

I think in time they will perfect the program to be less awkward and still effective.

Hope you don't feel like anyone is flaming you here. I don't think anyone has intended to.

 

[delaneyc52]

Vero has the highest monthly maintenance charges of any Disney Vacation Club resort. As an owner I understand that whatever they do to keep those charges down is ok with me. I've seen a lot of abuse and while towels may seem minor to some, it racks up money like crazy. Disney being Disney will work through the negative and make it a positive. As for me, I will work with the new towel system and continue to bring my own beach towel as well.

 

[Dean]

This is standard fare for timeshares to make the guest responsible for the towels and it is an appropriate policy. Some allow a towel exchange for pool towels and others do not. Some resorts are even more aggressive and in some cases, they try to set it up so that you are charged unless you can prove you returned them. We had this happen to us in MX a few years ago, fortunately I had the receipt where I'd returned them in my pocket.

 

[DVCconvert]

I just wonder why you could not have your KTTW card swiped and get 5-10-20 extra towels, which if you did not return would be billed to your account?.

My DW and I have on almost every occassion grabbed more than 2 towels for the 2 of us to either sit on, wipe the table off with or have handy beachside.

 

[Dean]

I just wonder why you could not have your KTTW card swiped and get 5-10-20 extra towels, which if you did not return would be billed to your account?.

My DW and I have on almost every occassion grabbed more than 2 towels for the 2 of us to either sit on, wipe the table off with or have handy beachside.

I don't know anywhere offhand that gives more towels than the unit will allow when they leave them for use in the room as the numbers are the method of inventory for those towels and whether to charge anyone. The only ones I know that allow extra do it where they check them out and keep your card or have you sign or similar or they just have them out for usage. Many of those that just put them out have a policy not to take them back to the villa. I know of no one that both provides them in the unit and has them for check out but I'm sure someone must. The issue is that towels cost money, I'm told by resort managers that laundering pool towels is more expensive than regular towels and that there are personnel costs involved.

 

[DVCconvert]

I.......The only ones I know that allow extra do it where they check them out and keep your card or have you sign......

Which is what I've said above, as far as for extra pool towels.

......The issue is that towels cost money, I'm told by resort managers that laundering pool towels is more expensive than regular towels and that there are personnel costs involved.

I agree, and their more expensive to add to inventory. But just as if you steal towels from a unit you'd be charged, if extra pool towels were available with a KTTW card - any non accounted for towel could be charged for at check out.

 

[Anjelica]

I didn't realize it was like this at VB - and at first glance seems a bit much but after reading through the posts I understand why it is done.

I did have one thought that ran through my head as I read the posts - does anyone think this will result in other guests "taking" towels from chairs/beaches because they themselves have misplaced their alloted amount of towels? Will this possibly create a scenario where people will get their towels swiped?

 

[schwenksvillemouse]

I didn't realize it was like this at VB - and at first glance seems a bit much but after reading through the posts I understand why it is done.

I did have one thought that ran through my head as I read the posts - does anyone think this will result in other guests "taking" towels from chairs/beaches because they themselves have misplaced their alloted amount of towels? Will this possibly create a scenario where people will get their towels swiped?

I had the same concern in HHI when they first implemented it there. We are pretty good about not letting towels lay around or hogging chairs, but I'm sure it has happened to some people if they are careless.

 

[dvc_john]

This pool towel policy exists at many other timeshares, including some Marriott's and some Sheraton/Westin's I've stayed at.

Some of the benefits of this policy:
Reduced 'reserving' of pool chairs
Reduced leaving towels on chairs when people leave the pool area (when newcomers can't tell which chairs are being used, and which have been vacated, but still have towels on them)
Reduced theft of towels
Reduced laundry costs (and therfore less wear and tear on towels)
Reduced pool usage by unauathorized people (since they don't have access to resort towels, they tend to stand out if they use personal towels or no towels)
Reduced overuse of pool towels (I've seen a single person use as many as 8 towels at a time: 1 for the back of the chair, 1 for the bottom of the chair, 1 for each arm rest, 1 for a pillow, 1 to cover their legs, and 2 extra in case they get wet!)

I've also noticed that resorts that have this policy tend to have better quality pool towels.

 

[donald...really]

Some of the benefits of this policy:
Reduced 'reserving' of pool chairs
Reduced leaving towels on chairs when people leave the pool area (when newcomers can't tell which chairs are being used, and which have been vacated, but still have towels on them)
Reduced theft of towels
Reduced laundry costs (and therfore less wear and tear on towels)
Reduced pool usage by unauathorized people (since they don't have access to resort towels, they tend to stand out if they use personal towels or no towels)
Reduced overuse of pool towels (I've seen a single person use as many as 8 towels at a time: 1 for the back of the chair, 1 for the bottom of the chair, 1 for each arm rest, 1 for a pillow, 1 to cover their legs, and 2 extra in case they get wet!)

ITA. I have been waiting for them to institute this policy for years because of the reasons mentioned above. Seems like a good solution.