A complaint: lack of housekeeping

[lowlight]

Hilton has what is called Housekeeping Your Way. "For your comfort, we want your stay to be as undisturbed as possible. Guests at any of Hilton’s 18 brands have the opportunity to tailor their housekeeping experience to their individual comfort level. Guests visiting our hotels in some regions around the world, as well as guests at all Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts, will receive daily housekeeping. In the Americas, most Hilton properties are implementing a flexible housekeeping policy, with full deep cleanings prior to check-in and daily housekeeping services available upon request. To schedule, simply call the front desk. Additional amenities such as linens and toiletries are available upon request."

We enjoy housekeeping but really don't want it every day. I prefer privacy, I don't want to have to tidy up the room (which I do when housekeeping comes), hide my valuables, clean up the bathroom counter some, etc every day. I don't need towels replaced every day or my bed made every day. I do need more shampoo, toilet paper, etc at some point, and towels eventually would need to be replaced.

We absolutely know others do (like I mentioned) want daily housekeeping and a lot done during that and there's no problem with that. For Disney several years ago you can tell they tried to implement a more flexible option with introducing opting out of housekeeping and getting an incentive. The pandemic spurned that into something else but still. Not every hotel company has to be seen as they are just trying to see how little they can do on the housekeeping front before guests revolt because you know what? Not every guests wants the same things. The solution would be to offer different levels for people but Disney isn't a hotel company they have like what 30+ resorts and they are primarily a theme park experience. An ideal world they could offer a variety of options to suit guests though. I don't personally like their all or nothing decline on the housekeeping but know it's them trying to keep it simplified.

It's been proven through a ton of scientific research that you can help determine choices people make depending on whether you set the default to opting-in or opting-out By setting the default to require opting-in to daily housekeeping, as opposed to setting the default to opting-out of daily housekeeping, they know that few people will take the extra step of opting-in whether they want it or not, creating less demand. Read this, it explains better than I can.

https://medium.com/@alphaspath/opt-in-vs-opt-out-psychology-61b974e39ee2

 

[CaptainAmerica]

By setting the default to require opting-in to daily housekeeping, as opposed to setting the default to opting-out of daily housekeeping, they know that few people will take the extra step of opting-in whether they want it or not, creating less demand.

They haven't done this.

 

[lowlight]

They haven't done this.

I was responding to the quote I inserted in my post in reference to Hilton.

 

[MommyMouse143]

At Boardwalk in August, we did have issue with no one emptying the trash. When we saw it was soon going to overflow, I called front desk and asked where can I bring my trash. I thought perhaps there was a "garbage room."

They told me they would send someone. I expected them to come maybe within an hour or 2. Literally within 5 minutes of hanging up, someone knocked on the door. They emptied the trash, put in a new bag, and also replenished any toiletries we needed. Actually they told us to take whatever we needed (TP, towels, etc).

Even though I had to call, I was impressed with how prompt they were. It was also not nearly as busy as it is now, so perhaps that plays into it.

Just like others have mentioned above, all industries are hiring and having serious issues finding people. I know in the engineering/tech industry they cannot find people - these are good jobs, not minimum wage jobs, and they cannot find people to even interview. People have moved across the country and worked from home no matter where they are, so now if the company needs them to move to a certain location, they need to be incentivized. That's just 1 piece. Now with inflation, everything costs WAY more than it did 1 year ago. To expect companies to come up with wages to match inflation is unreasonable. Businesses are created to make money - they will pass cost on to consumer. They may have to be competitive to attract talent, but they can only go so far.

On a walk back to Yacht from HS one night in July we ran into folks at the Boardwalk who said they had been receiving trash removal and new towels. This was so frustrating to us since we weren't over at yacht, even upon request. Seems like the standard varies so much from hotel to hotel.. week to week.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's been proven through a ton of scientific research that you can help determine choices people make depending on whether you set the default to opting-in or opting-out By setting the default to require opting-in to daily housekeeping, as opposed to setting the default to opting-out of daily housekeeping, they know that few people will take the extra step of opting-in whether they want it or not, creating less demand. Read this, it explains better than I can.

https://medium.com/@alphaspath/opt-in-vs-opt-out-psychology-61b974e39ee2

Goodness peeps. It was to illustrate what other companies have out there as in a response to your comment about Disney and that they are trying to get away as little as possible until people revolt. Not every wants to revolt, and in a situation like Hilton where they give you a preference to let them know what you want the people fine with it aren't going to revolt. There's no need to go over what I gave with some fine tooth psychological comb and you're speaking to someone with a psychology degree. I don't care to psycho-analyze hotel decisions. I gave what another hotel's company policy is that's it.

I think some of you can't understand that not everyone has the same preferences than you. Some are fine without daily housekeeping, some would like some of it but not all, some are dissatisfied with the level provided but don't need top to bottom service either. It's unfathomable sometimes hearing people talk.

 

[lowlight]

Goodness peeps. It was to illustrate what other companies have out there as in a response to your comment about Disney and that they are trying to get away as little as possible until people revolt. Not every wants to revolt, and in a situation like Hilton where they give you a preference to let them know what you want the people fine with it aren't going to revolt. There's no need to go over what I gave with some fine tooth psychological comb and you're speaking to someone with a psychology degree. I don't care to psycho-analyze hotel decisions.

I think some of you can't understand that not everyone has the same preferences than you. Some are fine without daily housekeeping, some would like some of it but not all, some are dissatisfied with the level provided but don't need top to bottom service either. It's unfathomable sometimes hearing people talk.

Sorry I should not be a jerk, I don't like jerks. Apologies.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Deleted in consideration of PP's deletion

 

[lockets]

While we are on the topic of staffing I was wondering if anyone could help with my post below. If so please comment directly at that link as I don’t want to hijack or cross pollinate this post so to speak. It’s gotten lively up in here lol!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-sales-jobs.3874280/

 

[lockets]

Re housekeeping staffing I almost wonder if there’s enough HR recruiters and trainers, and if not if that’s creating a bottleneck that cascades to the jobs that need to be recruited taking more time. Just a random thought. I have no idea if there’s any impact there or not.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I just came off a Disney cruise my room was made up twice a day it was refreshing and nice to come back from a days activity to a clean room

 

[k5xs]

Housekeeping starting wage is up 13%.

Great. Terrific, even.

And now Disney should apply what would be a minuscule portion of their record park profits raising wages sufficiently to attract the staff they need to restore service to the level Disney guests have a right to expect at the prices the guests are now paying.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Re housekeeping staffing I almost wonder if there’s enough HR recruiters and trainers, and if not if that’s creating a bottleneck that cascades to the jobs that need to be recruited taking more time. Just a random thought. I have no idea if there’s any impact there or not.

Training is a problem in a few ways. One, Disney is thorough. They train on all sorts of "Disney-ness" that goes beyond just how to make a bed and dust a lamp shade. That slows things down. The other issue is that training results in doubled-up labor where you have two workers cleaning one room, often slower than an experienced working doing it by him- or herself.

And now Disney should apply what would be a minuscule portion of their record park profits raising wages sufficiently to attract the staff they need to restore service to the level Disney guests have a right to expect at the prices the guests are now paying.

DPEP Operating Income in 2021 was $471 million.

DPEP Operating Income in 2019 was $6.8 billion, with a "b".

Yes, Q1 FY22 was strong, but, as we've discussed, hiring takes time.

 

[HopperFan]

I'll share this complaint with the hotel as well, but I wondered how others feel on this subject. I recently stayed five nights at Art of Animation, and our room was not cleaned a single time. No beds made. No sheets changed. No floor swept. No bathroom wiped up. The only service we received was to have two visits where someone switched out (weirdly) SOME of the towels, left us more coffee, and emptied the trash. By the last night, I actually took a washcloth to bed with me to wipe the floor grit off my feet before going to sleep.

I had heard that housekeeping has been minimal since the pandemic started, but I had no idea it was so bad. I travel a lot, and this is the first hotel I've been to in the last year that has not provided actual housekeeping. I believe that if Disney can't get enough housekeepers, they should either (a) sell fewer rooms, or (b) provide a significant discount for this lack of basic service.

What are your thoughts?

I agree with you. With the rates that Disney charges, while they have removed most the extra perks that came with it, the least they can do maintain the perks directly related to your room and the high rate you paid. Especially given that at Disney I might be at theme parks ALL day thanks to long lines and crowds ... and last thing I want to do is clean my room, call for towels etc.

Yes it is their policy right now, but the full information is fairly tucked away on the website, easy to miss. It should arrive as a special information email - like they have done for other temporary missing amenities - to each reservation. My guess is - this is their end game and they are just going to ignore it.

Really like to defend shoddy cleaning on multiple housekeeping complaint posts, eh? OP, for the record, many many people agree with you that it’s very poor form of Disney to provide such subpar cleaning services in their hotels. And I don’t get trying to justify Disney’s poor record on housekeeping considering how high their prices are. I also completely disagree that Disney is transparent about this issue. I and many others I’m sure booked our room through a Disney agent and I received zero notice that housekeeping would be so minimal and bad when the room was reserved. I also just reviewed the reservation terms on the September 2020 booking I had made (which was postponed several times to now April 2022) and there’s zero mention of housekeeping issues. If I didnt happen to see other complaining posts about it on the board, I would’ve been very startled to arrive at Poly in two months and realize that was the case.
People shouldnt have to worry that their room won’t be adequately cleaned during their stay when they’re paying hundreds (or even a thousand or more) per night to stay at a Disney hotel—this shouldn’t be a controversial opinion

I've been back to Disney World three times since re-opening, July & November 2021 we stayed in Marriott Vacation Club so there was zero expectation of housekeeping but our units were perfectly clean and well equipped on arrival. I could request extra supplies. Last month I stayed at Hilton Homewood Suites in Lake Buena Vista for a week (1 bedroom unit). Because Hilton has stepped away from housekeeping and left it up to individual hotels I expected nothing. I especially expected nothing because they are operating in a "tough to hire Housekeepers" city. WELL, our suite was perfectly cleaned top to bottom every day. Clean towels, replenished all supplies, floors clean, beds made ... seriously the best housekeeping I've had in 5 years. The hotel was full and I had no glitches. If they can clean my room, Disney can clean rooms. It's a choice Disney has made.

 

[dreynolds1982]

I like how people continue missing all of the posts saying that this is not JUST a Disney problem. This is a problem everywhere (staffing). And as anyone who has had to hire staff lately can tell you (myself included), no....just paying people more money isn't helping. And yes, inflation, gas prices, food costs, home costs, etc are outpacing income EVERYWHERE and businesses, not just DIsney, can't keep up. It's easy to just say "well so and so should just pay people more money!" but that's not how things work. My company has increased hourly rates and salaries across the board to try and attract employees and it hasn't helped at all. And even Disney can't just pay people infinite amounts of money. Esp given how many people they employ.

This is not to let Disney off the hook, as I don't know all the ins and outs of why their housekeeping services are what they are (but really, no one else here does either) BUT it is to say anyone just trashing Disney about this just simply isn't considering all the facts.

 

[maxiesmom]

I like how people continue missing all of the posts saying that this is not JUST a Disney problem. This is a problem everywhere (staffing). And as anyone who has had to hire staff lately can tell you (myself included), no....just paying people more money isn't helping. And yes, inflation, gas prices, food costs, home costs, etc are outpacing income EVERYWHERE and businesses, not just DIsney, can't keep up. It's easy to just say "well so and so should just pay people more money!" but that's not how things work. My company has increased hourly rates and salaries across the board to try and attract employees and it hasn't helped at all. And even Disney can't just pay people infinite amounts of money. Esp given how many people they employ.

This is not to let Disney off the hook, as I don't know all the ins and outs of why their housekeeping services are what they are (but really, no one else here does either) BUT it is to say anyone just trashing Disney about this just simply isn't considering all the facts.

It seems that when people don't like something, you can't use logic. Some people want to wish things back to the way they were, or demand things go back. You can't use logic. They won't hear it or accept it.

 

[Jen81NYC]

I like how people continue missing all of the posts saying that this is not JUST a Disney problem. This is a problem everywhere (staffing). And as anyone who has had to hire staff lately can tell you (myself included), no....just paying people more money isn't helping. And yes, inflation, gas prices, food costs, home costs, etc are outpacing income EVERYWHERE and businesses, not just DIsney, can't keep up. It's easy to just say "well so and so should just pay people more money!" but that's not how things work. My company has increased hourly rates and salaries across the board to try and attract employees and it hasn't helped at all. And even Disney can't just pay people infinite amounts of money. Esp given how many people they employ.

This is not to let Disney off the hook, as I don't know all the ins and outs of why their housekeeping services are what they are (but really, no one else here does either) BUT it is to say anyone just trashing Disney about this just simply isn't considering all the facts.

I really don't want to keep belaboring this point so this is the last I'll comment on this but I want to reiterate again that minimal housekeeping is not actually something that "everywhere" is doing; there are numerous examples in this thread of people having very different experiences in non-Disney hotels, including in the post right above yours. I am happy to hear full service is returning to deluxe resorts right now but in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, Disney is taking an unusually long time to ramp up housekeeping again, even if just on demand (because I understand not everyone would want it even if available).
I don't know why people keep mentioning the labor market, as if people dissatisfied with Disney's level of service are too misinformed or ignorant to know that Covid has affected many businesses and the hospitality industry in general. People know that! Yes, it's harder to hire people! No that still doesn't excuse charging hundreds of dollars (or a thousand!) a night and making minimal effort made to help maintain the cleanliness of guest rooms during guests' stays (a key benefit of hotels versus airbnbs for many people, although I know not all). And people comparing Disney to other companies (like their own) are doing Disney a disservice--it's Disney! It's an inherently cool company to work for and it should be easier to recruit for than many other companies! There are lots of cool and unique perks Disney can theoretically provide employees that your average Joe Blow company can't use to entice workers! If you find housekeeping a total non-issue and think it's justifiable that Disney doesn't provide much of it for whatever reason, totally fine, but I wish there was less dismissiveness of people who value a different experience and who aren't pleased with Disney's failure to prioritize it better.

 

[k5xs]

Training is a problem in a few ways. One, Disney is thorough. They train on all sorts of "Disney-ness" that goes beyond just how to make a bed and dust a lamp shade. That slows things down. The other issue is that training results in doubled-up labor where you have two workers cleaning one room, often slower than an experienced working doing it by him- or herself.


DPEP Operating Income in 2021 was $471 million.

DPEP Operating Income in 2019 was $6.8 billion, with a "b".

Yes, Q1 FY22 was strong, but, as we've discussed, hiring takes time.

And Disney parks realized a profit of $2.54 billion, with a "b," in the most recent quarter. Two and a half billion. In one quarter.

 

[RamblingMad]

And Disney parks realized a profit of $2.54 billion, with a "b," in the most recent quarter. Two and a half billion. In one quarter.

They can pay more.

I'm also hiring folks, and I can say that paying market or slightly better has been good enough. I'm not seeing as many applicants. But I'm having no trouble filing positions.

 

[Marthasor]

That has not been my experience, pre- or post-COVID. But I certainly acknowledge that it's a sentiment that's "out there." I won't pretend to be an expert on every single category of labor at Walt Disney World, but I can say with 100% certainty that their housekeeping pay is in line with industry standards in Central Florida, and that (pretty much) the entire industry has significantly increased wages the past two years to keep up with (and even exceed) general inflationary trends.


This gives Disney way too much blame and way too much credit. The labor shortage is not unique to them, it's being felt nationwide across all sorts of industries. One of my responsibilities at work is recruiting software engineers and financial analysts, and we can't find enough of those people, either. DISNEY isn't having a staffing shortage, the entire planet is having a staffing shortage.

We traveled to Mexico in October 2021 and stayed in a resort we have stayed in twice before, pre-covid. The level of service offered in Oct. 2021 far exceeded anything we experienced pre-covid - full housekeeping every day, full wait and bar staff, pool/beach service, concierge, transportation, etc. After staying at WDW twice prior to going to Mexico plus a few other domestic trips (PA, Wyoming, MA), I was actually shocked by the level of service they provided - so I'm not sure this is an international problem.

Extremely unacceptable. If they're going to limit service to "trash and towels, every other day," they sure as heck better meet "trash and towels, every other day."


This is the part that bothers me the most, honestly. They're legitimately just lying to us. The reason we don't have daily housekeeping isn't "for the health and well-being of our cast and guests blah blah blah." It's because they don't have the staff, and they should come up with some PR-flowery way of explaining it. I'm not even telling them to stop blaming COVID. They can blame COVID all they want. But it's the impact that COVID has had on the labor market, not because they think their housekeepers are going to get infested with plague if they make your bed.

Totally agree. The "health and safety" reasons regarding lack of housekeeping are ludicrous as I pointed out in my first post where I noted the staff at YC wouldn't make my bed but touched my toothbrush . . . Disney's excuses as to why their phone wait times are too long are ludicrous as well - anyone who has called DCL, ABD, WDW (particularly around the actual 50th anniversary date) or Starcruiser lately surely heard the phrase "due to the excitement around" (fill in the blank) to excuse the multiple hours-long hold times. Sure, it's our fault because we are excited. No - it's because they don't have the staff to answer the phones. Why lie? Would it upset guests if they were just honest about the situation? I'm not sure.

 

[DisneyDar]

If you can get service offsite for less, why pay the Disney premium? I don't buy it's hard to hire if offsite hotels can provide the service. Let's call this what it is: cost cutting.

And where did you hear off site hotels are staffed up, cause they're not.