Wasn't Crazy About AKL Concierge...

[WDWLinda]

Yes, I know...shoot me now, all you AKL Concierge lovers out there...but we stayed there from 2/4 - 2/8 with friends and none of us were thrilled. Here's why:
- both families booked our trips in late Dec., yet no one from Concierge contacted us about PS's or anything, so we made them ourselves
- when we arrived out front in 2 cars, there was only one bellman to help us. We helped him load and push the luggage carts
- I faxed a request a few days ahead to have both rooms near each other on the 5th floor - didn't happen. We were all on the same floor, but a long ways apart
- seemed like half the times we went to the lounge, the plates were almost empty, so I felt bad taking the last item on the plate.
- they ran out of milk one day. With 2 two yr olds, this can be a problem. They didn't have more til the next day.
- we left some toys at Sci-Fi Diner in MGM so I asked the concierge guy if there was a lost & found. He told me where to check - then I asked if he could call to see if they had our stuff - he did and they did. He told me L&F was near the kennel at MK. Then I asked if they could send someone to pick it up since we didn't want to make a special trip there. He replied "Oh, I don't know if we have a runner..." Not very helpful.
- we didn't see very many animals at all from our room (#5437) - there were many times the savannah was empty. I know this has nothing to do with concierge, and maybe it was because it was cool for a day and a half, but I thought there would have been more out and about, even though they go in during the day.

There were also some good things, which I'll post on the Trip Reports site, but I think next time we'll try Poly Concierge before we write off concierge all together.

Thanks for listening - go ahead and shoot away...

~Linda

 

[dizcrazy]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear you weren't impressed with AKL concierge! But you are entitles to your opinion.

Based on what you posted, i can certainly see why you weren't crazy about it! Running out of milk? That's worse than the lack of bottled water I keep hearing about.

Hopefully you had a wonderful trip despite this disappointment?

 

[Candice30]

i agree. your review is based on your experience. sorry the animals weren't out more for you! i hope that you and your family still enjoyed the resort. i love AKL but don't think that i will ever stay concierge there. doesn't seem worth it to me but i will definitely be staying at the resort again. i love the 2nd floor (bottom). we were lucky to get a room on 2nd in the middle of the savannah. we saw animals all day long. if concierge hasn't totally turned you off to the resort, why not try another room?

 

[WDWLinda]

Yes, we still had a great trip, and I'll keep going back. I keep going over this and thinking, am I too picky? Was I expecting too much? I don't want to scare off any AKL Concierge first-timers, maybe their experience will be better. I know I scoured these pages for any review of AKL Concierge before I left and everyone else sounded like they had a great experience, so hopefully ours was the exception. Or maybe I just expected too much...

 

[Candice30]

no such thing as expecting too much from a deluxe resort and on the concierge level. it just may be that this concierge wasn't want you wanted and maybe for the other posters it was exactly what they wanted. the same is true for just about every review you read on any board. i could love a resort and someone else could have checked in to a resort and had bugs in their room or worse. don't fret over it anymore. i think that everyone will make up their own mind. i certainly appreciate your report and you should definitely be true to your own feelings.

 

[WDWLinda]

I heard that the lower floors were better for viewing. I'd try that next time. And I think we learned on the last day how to get the most out of concierge - have a nice lunch in the parks and go back to the resort for the evening, relax in the lounge, then head out to dinner. We skipped the evening snacks and wine/beer 3 out of 4 of the days, so we missed a lot, I bet.

 

[webray]

As far as the contacting goes...if you really needed some ps's before your trip, you could have contacted them. We have never, ever been contacted by concierge...from any of the deluxe resorts we have stayed at.

I have never seen only one bellperson at AKL...there are usually tons...I can't imagine them having only one. Did you all arrive in the same car...same airport van...why would only one bellperson approach two vehicles?????


When you made your reservations..if you really wanted rooms near each other, you should have put the notes in your reservation immediately when you made it. This of course would not guarantee anything, but, better than trying a few days before.

The concierge lounge is a resort privilege, I certainly wouldn't expect them to have a runner to pick up lost and found.

Animals are never out between 12pm and 3/4pm..this is their check up time..so if you were looking for animals...say, at your baby's nap time...wasn't going to happen. Other than that..plenty of animals..and they are rotated between the savannahs so that everyone gets a chance to look at them. AKL does a great job with this.

As far as the milk...well, yes, they could have ran downstairs to the restaurant and brought some up....again, if milk was a huge issue, I am sure you could have purchased a bottle in Mara.

 

[ducklite]

Sorry you wree disppointed. I can see your point in some of your complaints, although I also think that perhaps you were expecting a bit much with others.

We've stayed at the AKL concierge twice and have always been very pleased with their service. We're going back for one night next week before moving to the BWV, hopefully we'll have the same great experiences we've always had there. Hopefully your experience was isolated.

I think you hit the nail on the head though--late afternoon and early evening are wonderful times in the lounge--too bad you weren't able to fully take advantage of them during most of your stay.

Anne

 

[karebear1]

Webray- I can understand most of the points you made- but to say that the Concierge Lounge is a priviledge is wrong. She PAID to use concierge services. Because she paid- it becomes an obligation on the part of the hotel to provide those services. When booking concierge- the least the resort should do is inform people if they should contact concierge for arrangements or if concierge will contact them. There are lots of people that book concierge that have never used concierge before. They would not know the protocol involved in doing concierge. In my opinion- there was a lack concierge services provided for this person. SHe really got no more then a savannah view room. I'd write a letter expressing my experience to the AKL. WHen AKL first opened- it was by ALL accounts a wonderful resort. A lot of what I read now indicates to me that it is going downhill fast at least in the service area.

 

[MsLefty]

Originally posted by webray
Animals are never out between 12pm and 3/4pm..this is their check up time..so if you were looking for animals...say, at your baby's nap time...wasn't going to happen. Other than that..plenty of animals..and they are rotated between the savannahs so that everyone gets a chance to look at them. AKL does a great job with this.

The animals are rotated? I don't understand. I thought each savanna housed specific kinds of animals all the time. I know, for example, the Arusha Savanna is the only one with zebras and we saw zebras on that savanna every day of our stay. Can you explain further?

 

[WDWLinda]

Originally posted by webray
As far as the contacting goes...if you really needed some ps's before your trip, you could have contacted them. We have never, ever been contacted by concierge...from any of the deluxe resorts we have stayed at.

I have never seen only one bellperson at AKL...there are usually tons...I can't imagine them having only one. Did you all arrive in the same car...same airport van...why would only one bellperson approach two vehicles?????


When you made your reservations..if you really wanted rooms near each other, you should have put the notes in your reservation immediately when you made it. This of course would not guarantee anything, but, better than trying a few days before.

The concierge lounge is a resort privilege, I certainly wouldn't expect them to have a runner to pick up lost and found.

Animals are never out between 12pm and 3/4pm..this is their check up time..so if you were looking for animals...say, at your baby's nap time...wasn't going to happen. Other than that..plenty of animals..and they are rotated between the savannahs so that everyone gets a chance to look at them. AKL does a great job with this.

As far as the milk...well, yes, they could have ran downstairs to the restaurant and brought some up....again, if milk was a huge issue, I am sure you could have purchased a bottle in Mara.

Contacting before your stay - I've read about many people who had this happen, so I don't think I was expecting too much here. I have no problem making my own PS's, but then why do I need a concierge?

Lack of bellperson - 2 of them did approach each of our 2 cars, then the first guy waved off the second bellman after he heard we were traveling together. He shouldn't have done that.

Rooms together - we didn't make the reservations together so we couldn't have noted it at that time. I've had faxed requests honored before at the moderate hotels, so I thought we'd get lucky this time, especially since we were staying concierge.

Lost & Found runner - With what I paid for concierge, he should have offered to call on my behalf, not have me ask him, and at least checked if there was someone to go pick up the stuff - not give me an ambiguous answer. Again, I've heard of the concierge staff doing stuff like this, so I don't think I was out of line.

Lack of animals - there were not "plenty of animals" outside our room, and the resort did not do a great job rotating them. I'd say on 2 -3 occasions I saw 3 - 4 wildebeests, that was it. We saw the giraffe once. And we saw 1 - 2 zebra occasionally. I was disappointed, but that has nothing to do with the concierge.

Lack of milk - if I had to run down to Mara for it myself, again, what am I paying the concierge for?

 

[newmousecateer]

Points nicely made WDWLinda...sounds to me like you didn't need concierge.....doesn't sound like they did much (or anything) for you. Sorry about the experience.

 

[tink2]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I must say, we visited AKL this past Nov.- not concierge- but regular savannah view and we were disappointed as well. The resort itself is beautiful. THe only thing I would change about the building is to have larger rooms and thicker walls. The service, however, left a lot to be desired. Check-in was a night-mare, the castmember knew nothing about the resort and was quite rude when I kept asking questions- check-in took 4 hours! Anyway, I requested bed rails, which was on my reservation. None in the rooms. Called and asked for some and were promised they'd be delivered within two hours. Left for Downtown Disney and returned about 5 hours later- no bedrails. Called again- never saw them that night. Called next morning and finally they were delivered. When the rest of my family arrived- they were told not unload in the unloading zone- under the canopy. The man told them where to park and they did. Two minutes later, another cm comes yelling at them telling them not to park there- they should be under the canopy. They told him they were asked to park there- he said absolutely not. So they went under the canopy from which they were moved. Then they could not find a bellman to help them with their luggage. They even asked one and he said he was too busy! Hauling the luggage to the room, they passed another bellman and no offer- he didn't ask this one though. They arrived later than us. When the cm gave me the room numbers, they were all on the same hall. When my brother checked in- he was given a different room than what we were told. He asked about this and was moved to our hall. He gets to the room and it is filled with smoke. So, he calls and is moved to a different room. Bellman will be up in 5 minutes to relocated you- yeah right! 30-40 minutes later bellman shows up. I realize they may have been busy, but don't say someone be there in five minutes if they can't-especially if they are going to be that long. Anyway, not a way to start a magial vacation! Our mousekeeping was great- she straightened up our room, arranged DD and dS toys, and left one towel animal. My brothers' was terrible. The trash wasn't emptied one day, no new towels another, and nothing 'special'- not that it is expected, but at a deluxe you would expect at least the toys to be placed nicely on the bed. Anyway, the resort itself is beautiful- but I agree with the poster that said the service is beginning to go downhill. I know we will not be returning- we go an upgrade from POFQ, and still like POFQ better! We were so excited to stay here, and now we wish we would have chosen a different deluxe!

 

[twinmomplus2new]

I Would fully expect milk to be available for my children.
If they had run out, it would make sense for them to run downstairs and get it. And it baffles me given the staff interaction I have had there...


As far as lost and found. i would not expect a runner. But it would seem that when the packages are delivered to the resorts from that particular park, They could have very easily arranged to have it delivered with the packages. Very strange that was not suggested..

I had one grouchy CM at AKL probably the same guy you had.

I am sorry you had a bad experience and would only encourage you to try again. It usually is a wonderful lounge.

 

[Sally Bradley]

I loved the AKL, but I gotta tell you...I had some real issues with their valet parking. Of all the times we came and went, most of the time I had to go to the counter and wait...and wait...and wait... to either pick up or drop off. Not very efficient considering they charge you $6 a day...and expect a tip besides. A couple of times I considered grabbing one of their uniforms and doing the valet parking myself...the tips would have come in handy!

 

[CarrieAP]

I have never stayed at concierge level in WDW, but it does sound very disappointing. Given the premium cost is seems perfectly reasonable to expect premium service. Otherwise what would be the benefit of paying the extra money? After all, you sure don't make it up with the food.

Service at AKL was superb in all aspects last May (including unique towel and animal displays daily). Hoping they iron out any problems by the time we arrive there in a few months. Being such a beautiful resort it is shameful to have stays there tarnished by poor service.