We're back-VWL report

[floridafam]

We had a somewhat stressful trip at the beginning but everything turned out alright in the end.

I will probably post at trip report but here are some details on VWL.

We checked in on Thursday 10/23 after driving over from YC. We were grateful that they had a room ready. We were in 1508-a one br lock off, first floor, non-smoking, view of the landscaping and covered walkway in front of the villas.

The condition of our room was HORRIBLE. I was ashamed and glad we didn't have any other family with us who probably would have thought we were crazy to buy points here.

The bathroom was disgusting-hair everywhere, dirty sinks, tub, etc. One of the jacuzzi jets on the tub was broken and I cut my finger. They came to replace it and replaced it with another broken one. You should have seen the brown gunk that came out of the jacuzzi jet when he took the broken one off to replace it.

The room needed a good cleaning. The tv cabinet was broken, the tiles in the kitchen were cracked and dirty. It wasn't a great way to start the trip after coming from YC Concierge where the condition of the room was wonderful.

The room was very quiet, which was a good thing for my DH as he was preparing for a triathlon that Sat. in Clermont.

Early Sat. morning the power went out and set off the smoke alarm and something else in our villa-we couldn't figure out what. To make a long story short, my DH missed his race-he had trained for months and this was a major letdown but we moved on.

We enjoyed the pools. There wasn't an empty chair to be had at the main pool so we spent most of the time in the quiet pool.

We enjoyed Roaring Forks. They do make nice quality fast food and they have great chili.

Any questions, ask away.

 

[spiceycat]

okay if this ever happens again - call housekeeping immediately - sometimes housekeeping will clean a room and not change the lock - the prior guest come back and dirt up the room doesn't call housekeeping to come clean it again and it is assigned to someone.

so call housekeeping - if they can't clean it to your satisfaction - call the manager.

you have a right to a clean room......

now housekeeping will not tell maintence about problems - so if something is wrong - yes you will need to tell maintence - but I would write a comment letter to the manager about them fixing the tub with a broken part - when ever anything is wrong with my DVC stay and I call maintence - they make sure (if I am there) -that is fixed to my standards before they leave.

you just got another bad part and the maintence person should have caught that problem before he left.

sorry your stay was not up to your standards.

 

[luckytso]

Welcome Back!!! How was YC concierge?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Well I am sorry your trip got off with such a rocky start. Although I love DVC, and will defend them to my death, I do believe the weak link is housekeeping. I am not sure if the staff is stretched too thin or what, but I do think this could be improved upon.
I did call housekeeping right away, and they recleaned the room. We started doing it ourselves, but we decided to leave it to show the housekeeper.

I am glad you put it behind you and moved on.

 

[floridafam]

I did ask to speak to the manager after the part on the jacuzzi was replaced with another broken part.

I told her the condition of our room and she seemed very sincere. I believe her name was Jennifer.

I am in no way a complainer but I felt I had to say something this time.

She listened to what I had to say and then said they wanted to clean the room and look at the tub.

They did make it right. They fixed and cleaned what they could. My kids say they want to go back to WL Concierge next time and don't want to stay at the Villas because they think they are "icky".

We have to go back in May and aren't sure what we will do yet.

 

[floridafam]

luckytso,

YC Concierge was nice. We felt the offerings in the lounge were plentiful. There was a demon child staying there our entire stay and I didn't enjoy having to wipe his boogers off my desserts but other than that, it was great.

The CM's did make sure we were always happy and were able to do some special things for us.

We had a great view and will probably go back.

 

[lenshanem]

UGH! I hope we get a clean room at VWl when we go thsi December with my parents. This will be the first time using our points and I don't wnat them to think this was money down the drain!
I know, I know but these housekeeping stories bother me!
I thought it was mainly at BCV, but sounds liek I might ahve to worry about it at VWL, too!

Regardless, I'm glad you were able to have soem fun. Really sorry about the race!

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Sorry the room was gross!!!! Hope its much better next time!!

Allison an associate

 

[MiaSRN62]

Hi Floridafam ~
Thanks for the report. Gosh....it sure sounds like they totally overlooked your room for cleaning ? I wonder if it got lost in the paperwork for the cleaning checklist that day ? Maintenance also seems like they missed the boat, so to say. That's horrible. And I'm not dissin' VWL, because had they been available when we became Members, we would surely have bought here. I love OKW, but the themeing at the WL is just breathtaking.
Glad the rest of your stay was ok. Thanks again.

 

[DisFam95]

Wiping boogers off your desserts??? WHAT?? You can;t say something as bizarre an not explain that!!

We're going in Jan with a bunch of friends and family with our points!! Hoping for a clean room!!

 

[MinnieGi]

So sorry to hear about your room condition. I'm glad after it was cleaned and repaired you were able to put it behind you. That's a shame your DH missed his race. Hope next time everything is superbly clean for all of you!

 

[ILPHIL]

What a horrible experience. And can't imagine the disappointment that your husband must have felt...all that training shot to h*** because of a freaky thing like that. OUCH!!
I don't know how I will react if we face something like that when we make our 1st trip "home" next June...

Phil

 

[floridafam]

Thanks everyone.

He did feel pretty awful when he missed it. I thought I would have to stay away from him for 2 days because he would be in a bad mood but he wasn't. He trained so hard for such a long time and paid $200 to enter the race and he doesn't get that back.



DisFam95,

This little boy that was staying at YC Concierge while we were was a HORROR and he would always walk in and sneeze all over the food and stick his fingers in the cupcakes and then pick a different one. His parents were too busy reading their papers and eating to ever notice anything he was doing.

 

[CK1]

Originally posted by floridafam
One of the jacuzzi jets on the tub was broken and I cut my finger. They came to replace it and replaced it with another broken one. :mad

Gee, you would think if they were going to go through the effort to replace your finger, they would at least give you an un-broken one....

 

[MiaSRN62]

and paid $200 to enter the race and he doesn't get that back.

That's really a shame. Not only is this a personal disappointment for your husband, but a monetary loss as well. You would think that WDW (because of the power loss) would reimburse at least some of that ? Was it brought to the attention of anyone at WL that your husband was supposed to race ?

Gee, you would think if they were going to go through the effort to replace your finger, they would at least give you an un-broken one....

LOL CK1

 

[floridafam]

MiaSRN62,

No, I didn't mention it to anyone at WDW. It was a major disappointment and I thought my husband would be VERY upset for days but he really had a great attitude about the whole thing and moved on much faster than I thought he would.

Had he gone ahead with the race he probably would have injured himself or something and that would have been worse in the long run.

Plus, he went up to Clermont to pick up his bike that night because you have to rack it the night before the race and he said everyone was saying to hime "you're done already", "wow, you're already picking up your bike, great job". So, he got to have his moment of glory I asked him if he told the volunteers that he never made it to the race and he said he couldn't because it just felt too darn good that they thought he had such a great time. I had a good laugh after he told me that. I wanted to scold him for not saying anything but I figured he deserved to feel goof for a few moments after everything that happened.


LOL, CK1.

 

[ErinC]

Ohhhh floridafam this is my worst nightmare! I show up with my DH, Parents, SIL , 3 kids and we get the yuckiest room at VWL. I am soo sorry for you. This is just gross. I'm glad you made the best of it, I'm not sure I would handle it so well. I guess this is what room ready has done for us, "we'll just put you in someone else's dirty room, so you don't have to wait!"

I guess Nick hasn't seen your post about the YC booger kid or he would have found an appropriate smilie! I sure hope that your next trip has better results. Out of curiosity, other than the bathroom, what was the shape of the rest of the room. Did it appear that these things had been this way for awhile? Obviously the jets on the tub didn't get that way overnight. Well I guess I'd better go hunt that post about how to clean the jacuzzi tub..... Better yet, maybe I can teach my 8 month old how to shower before we leave in 3 weeks!!!

 

[floridafam]

The condition of the room was as follows:

Light bulbs out in the lamp by the couch in the living room and one by the bed.

Hair on the bathroom floor with a large amount in the room where the toilet is.

Broken jazuzzi jet. Still broken, I suspect.

Two inches of dirt and dust behind the bathroom door to the room where the toilet is. It looks like they just slide the door open to clean and never open it while they are inside that room to clean.

Broken tiles in the kitchen-about 5 or 6.

Milk spilled on the wall between the kitchen and the living room where the waste basket is.

TV armoire-sp? handles were broken.

Carpet was dirty and looked like it is rarely cleaned well.



Good things-
The room was very quiet even though it was near the front of the resort. I never heard the flush of a toilet upstairs like I did when we stayed in the regular part of the lodge.

I didn't think I would like the view but it was pleasant and nice to be able to sit out on the patio and look around at everything going on.

They did come and do a cleaning after I said something but there was still hair on the floor, the area behind the door hadn't been touched and there was still milk on the wall. I think all they did was put some dishes in the dishwasher and then wiped off the sinks and made up the beds.

None of this ruined our trip and we realize it happens but they are really in need of some decent housekeeping at VWL. You would think that they would be able to do something so simple as keeping a room clean.

They did knock on the door on trash and towel day and tell us we were scheduled for a full cleaning. I said that it was only T and T and she pointed to our name on the list and said I have you down for a full cleaning. We had the words VIP written next to our name so they must have known that we complained.

That's about it. It really didn't bother us that much but I am glad we didn't have any other family with us. Had my Mother been with us I never would have heard the end of it.

 

[ptrbryant]

This kind of report just stuns me! We're renting points to try out a studio VWL in Jan. and my DH would have a HUGE fit if things were in that shape for the price they expect. I mean, at a Ramada Inn, you expect cleanliness and basic comfort and usually get it. How could "basic" cleanliness get overlooked like this? Has anyone ever heard back from management after one of these horror stories?
Karla B.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Originally posted by floridafam

Milk spilled on the wall between the kitchen and the living room where the waste basket is.

floridafam, I am not trying to excuse your issues with housekeeping. After all, we have had our share as well.

I just wanted to touch on the above quoted issue-
I did not see your particular situation, so I could be wrong here, but... Every VWL villa we have had, has had 'white drips' on the lower portion of the breakfast bar area. I too always thought it was spilled milk. On this trip I started cleaning it, and it wiped of fairly easily. I think spilled milk would be 'stuck on'. My FIL suggested it may a cleaning solution that had not been rinsed properly, then dried to a whitesh color.
I have no idea if his theory is correct, but it made sense after looking at some of the places we found the 'white drips'.