What to do when Disney disappoints?

[bookgirl]

After 20+ wonderful Disney resort stays, we finally had an issue that warranted me calling the hotel to complain.

In a nutshell, my adult children (23 yo M and 20 yo F) stayed at an AllStar resort and entered the room at midnight (delayed flight) to find a king size bed. They call down to the front desk and are told that a rollaway will be sent right up, and that the hotel is full but that efforts will be made to move them the following night to a room with 2 doubles.

It took over an hour and a half for the rollaway to arrive, at this point bring them close to 2am. I called the front desk from home at 145am to inquire as to where the rollaway was and literally as I got the manager on the phone, my son texted to say the bed had arrived.

The manager said he was sorry that I was dissatisfied (didn't say he was sorry for the error) but the hotel was full and they automatically give King rooms when 2 adults travel together (funny, the times I wanted a king room, we could not get them!) He berated me for not requesting 2 dbl beds when I did online check in (mind you, there is no option for this).

My complaint was solely the long length of time it took to get the bed there, especially at that hour. I now see on my Disney Experience account that this is a room equipped for the deaf, though my children don't seem to have had any issues with the setup. Additionally, the hotel never followed up with them on moving the room the next day, nor did they contact them to say that no other room was available for them.

I know it's not the worst issue in the world but at the time it was rather annoying as they could not get settled in the room until 2am due to Disney's failure to provide the room as promised and delay in getting the additional bed to them.

What would you have done? Have you ever had an issue where the resort disappointed? And did they do anything to make it right?

I would have let the two adults that were there handle it. They should also be the ones to complain either in person or by email.

 

[misskerri]

WARNING: I was amused by the general air of haughty that I found pervading the Grand Floridian. The service at the GF was awful throughout our stay. I had been to the "real" Grand Floridian (the Hotel Del Coronado in California) many times and the staff truly couldn't have been nicer. It was almost embarrassing how far they bent over backward to anticipate the guests needs. Whenever I see that the GF is considered a 5 star hotel I have to laugh. Must be "Disney Stars" like "Disney Dollars"...but I digress. Except to say that it appears all level of resorts are capable of dropping the ball. And then fumbling it. And then blaming the fans.

Oh, don't tell me this. This was my concern about the GF, but we went ahead and moved our reservation from WL to GF for October, due to the pool closure. It was a significant upgrade, monetarily, and my husband thought it would be cool to stay at a monorail resort, so we took that instead of the $50/night credit to stay at WL.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I am honestly surprised that you are surprised at this. This sounds par for the course for the Disney hotels. The fact that they don't have a way to call someone at the front desk of the actual resort you are staying at, I don't care if it's the GF or a value, is absolutely insane.

To echo a previous comment, this is not a value resort issue, it is a widespread Disney hotel issue. And I don't blame any of the individual workers, whether front desk or housekeeping etc. I believe that Disney is running every function understaffed.

I have gotten awful service at their so-called "Deluxes." And let me add, I am not one of those people who whines about everything. At Disney, I only expect the basics. It got to the point where I don't ask for anything anymore at Disney onsite unless it is absolutely critical. When you stay in a true luxury hotel, you realize what a joke the Disney hotels are in terms of service.

Anyway, in this situation, I would have told my children "Oh well, that's Disney, make a wall of pillows and towels down the middle and deal with it in the morning." And I would have fully expected them to have to spend hours of their morning the next day getting a new room.

 

[nkereina]

I agree with those who said the problem stemmed from them CALLING. It's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that by pressing "front desk" on the phone in the room wouldn't get you the actual front desk, but it's unfortunately the case. In addition, from having worked in the hotel industry, the housekeeping team is staffed by very few people that time of night. Once the call center got around to phoning in the rollaway, I bet it was a while before housekeeping got the message/call. It is what it is.

Unfortunately, this is the risk taken with late arrivals. All late arrivals have a greater potential to lose out on room requests or even be bumped to another resort in an overbooking situation. Its always best to arrive early whenever possible.

 

[smitch425]

All of these "put pillows between them" comments are crackin' me up. These "kids" are grown adults, not 3 year olds. If they couldn't tolerate 8 hours in the same large space without something physically dividing them, perhaps an entire vacation together wasn't the best idea.

 

[PrincesCJM]

My mom and brother stayed at POR last November ( and will again this November) and my mom specifically requested 2 beds, being afraid if this exact situation.

 

[ArwenMarie]

All of these "put pillows between them" comments are crackin' me up. These "kids" are grown adults, not 3 year olds. If they couldn't tolerate 8 hours in the same large space without something physically dividing them, perhaps an entire vacation together wasn't the best idea.

Well they obviously weren't comfortable sharing a bed if they were looking for a rollaway this late at night. So yeah, throw some pillows and towels between you and call it a night.

 

[Luv2Run]

OP - were you the one who booked/paid for their stay? Because that's the only reason I can imagine you would feel entitled to file a complaint about their situation, since you were not technically a guest of the resort. If they really, truly feel slighted by this incident, then they should be the ones to make the complaint, not you.

 

[Minnesota!]

Sorry but I would have split the bed with my brother. Especially if it was that late.

I'm confused. This isn't your stay...how can you be disappointed in Disney, and how can you complain on behalf of other adults staying at the resort? They're grownups...if they're not satisfied with the services they're receiving, they should be the ones handling it. JMHO.

I don't see the need to complain here - I would have gone to the lobby and requested a new room, and if one could not be given that night, I would have crawled into the king bed, said good night to my brother, and set the alarm to be up early to go request a 2-bed room.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

If I had a problem after the fact, I would contact Disney via email and lodge a complaint.

I have found it best to deal with any issues in person at the time it is happening. so that they can resolve the issue to my satisfaction while I am still there. I haven't had an issue at a Disney property but I did on a non-Disney vacation. I presented myself back to the front desk and asked for their help in resolving our room issue and they did and they made it right for us. I can assure you if the front desk agent would have been snippy with me, I would have escalated my issue to their supervisor and on up.

I can see why you, as a Mom, are disappointed your children's trip started off less than ideal with them getting the wrong bedding. No parent wants to see their kids unhappy. It sounds like they have been to Disney quite often. I totally agree they should have been the ones to handle this issue, in person, on their own.

Now that it is after the fact, your options are to write or call Disney.

 

[rwdavis2]

I am honestly surprised that you are surprised at this. This sounds par for the course for the Disney hotels. The fact that they don't have a way to call someone at the front desk of the actual resort you are staying at, I don't care if it's the GF or a value, is absolutely insane.

To echo a previous comment, this is not a value resort issue, it is a widespread Disney hotel issue. And I don't blame any of the individual workers, whether front desk or housekeeping etc. I believe that Disney is running every function understaffed.

I have gotten awful service at their so-called "Deluxes." And let me add, I am not one of those people who whines about everything. At Disney, I only expect the basics. It got to the point where I don't ask for anything anymore at Disney onsite unless it is absolutely critical. When you stay in a true luxury hotel, you realize what a joke the Disney hotels are in terms of service.

Anyway, in this situation, I would have told my children "Oh well, that's Disney, make a wall of pillows and towels down the middle and deal with it in the morning." And I would have fully expected them to have to spend hours of their morning the next day getting a new room.

The Hard Rock at Universal puts almost all WDW hotels to shame. Service, amenities, restaurants, pool, etc.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

. I assume my son called the front desk

It may say you are calling the front desk, but you are not. You are talking to a call center. If you want to speak directly to the front desk at any WDW resort you have to physically go there.

 

[dansdad]

My mom and brother stayed at POR last November ( and will again this November) and my mom specifically requested 2 beds, being afraid if this exact situation.

Unlike at the All Stars, at POR a king room is a bookable category. So unless your Mom specifically booked a king there's nothing to worry about.

 

[fbb]

Thank goodness my mother never knew my whereabouts or activities at 2:00am when I was 23.

 

[sotoalf]

Was it ever thus? I've been staying in Disney hotels since 1985 and am trying to think of when if ever pushing the button on the room telephone got you the front desk. It's clearly not the case at Marriott or Hilton hotels: pushing a button on the room telephone transfers you to someplace in the hotel.

 

[L&Lfan]

The Hard Rock at Universal puts almost all WDW hotels to shame. Service, amenities, restaurants, pool, etc.

So does Portofino Bay! Now THAT's a deluxe hotel and THEN SOME!

 

[jtowntoflorida]

And as for me fighting their battles, they did call to initially get the bed sent up and also made a follow-up to ask about the delay. I had access to a different phone number that I thought might expedite the bed delivery. And I can certainly be disappointed in Disney, as can anyone who might feel that any corporation did not live up to their expectation or agreed upon terms.

I think a complaint from a non-guest isn't going to go anywhere.

Thank goodness my mother never knew my whereabouts or activities at 2:00am when I was 23.

 

[maxiesmom]

Okay, then a 10 minute walk. Really doesn't make much difference in my point. As a grown adult, I would not have sat in a room 5, 10, even 15 minutes away from a resort manager and waited for nearly two hours for a bed while my mom in another state tried to fix my problem. Personally, I would have told my brother to stay on his side of the bed and dealt with it in the morning, but if for some reason sleeping with him was impossible, I would have waited 15 minutes for the bed and headed to the desk after that. I certainly wouldn't be looking for any type of compensation. It isn't Disney's fault they arrived so late at night and did not list on the reservation that they wanted two beds.

This!

And I have to say if they are not fully capable of dealing with an issue about bedding without help from home, then they have no business vacationing together. What if something went truly wrong, as in one of them needed medical care?

OP--there is no issue for YOU to call and complain about. If there is complaining to be done, it needs to be done by the people who had the problem. Calling and saying your adult kids are there and had an issue with bedding is going to sound laughable at best. They are adults. They need to deal with it.

 

[lustergirl]

This is why I won't stay at a value again. On our last stay at Pop, we got in at 11:45pm with DS1 (he was actually turning 2 the following weekend and we were celebrating his bday). We ordered a stroller from Magic Strollers and requested a pack-n-play. I asked at the desk where our stroller was and they said it was in the room. They also assured me that the pack-n-play was there also. The CM that checked us in was really rude, and was arguing with the guest in front of us before checking us in. After she gave us our KTTW cards I asked if DS could get a birthday button, she sighed and pulled it out. I said that I guessed they forgot to put it in the reservation and she said, "No, I figured since he's half asleep you'd be more concerned with getting him to bed and less concerned with getting a button". I re confirmed that the stroller and pack -n-play we're already in our room and she said, "that's what I said, didn't I?" Too tired to address her behavior I walked away. Get to the room and there is no stroller or pack-n-play. I called bell services and asked about the stroller and they said they had it. I asked if they could bring it to the room and they said no, just get it on your way out to the parks in the morning. I told them that we had an early morning ADR and didn't want to mess with it and the guy said, "fine, you come and get it". So I walked down to the lobby, asked about the pack-n-play and they said they'd send it right over. Walked over to bell services and stood outside for 10 minutes and no one came. Walked back to the lobby to get someone to help me and they walked me over and when they finally came out you could see that there were three CM's back there just standing around talking. The guy then brings the stroller and says, "have fun with that, it's heavy, haha". I was LIVID! Get back to the room and still no pack-n-play. It doesn't come until 1:30am, after several calls to housekeeping. When the lady shows up, she just walked into the room, no hi, no where do you want it, no goodbye, nothing. I spoke to the manager and he didn't seem to care. At that point I was done. Emailed Guest Services and after we got home she made it right again, but never again will I step foot onto a value property. It's not for us. It was the worst customer service I've ever experienced at any hotel, and we travel several times a year.

You will find bad customer service at any level of resort you stay at. They don't just the bad customer service people working at a value resort because of the lower prices.

 

[LegoMom3]

You will find bad customer service at any level of resort you stay at. They don't just the bad customer service people working at a value resort because of the lower prices.

Exactly. I've had one of my most magical stays at All Star Music, and in turn have received very rude behavior from a check-in CM at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Luck of the draw who you will have to deal with on any given day, at any resort, Disney or not!

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