A Question Before I Complain ... But I Might Anyway!

[Moms]

We just returned from a four night stay at The Beach Club. It was our first stay there but we are familiar with the general area as we have stayed at Boardwalk for our last six or seven visits. We love BWI but couldn't get a room so I was hoping that Beach Club would be a reasonable alternative but we were disappointed.

When we arrived at the resort our room was not ready ... it was about noon and that's fine, but for what it is worth it was literally the first time we have ever not had our room ready when we arrived ... and we have often arrived well before noon. We have stayed on property about twenty times, moderate and deluxe and I know that we have no right to expect the room before 3:00 but it was notable in our experience.

That was not the problem though ... it was housekeeping. We generally get up early and hit the parks at rope drop then return to the hotel in the afternoon for a nap or a visit to the pool before dinner and another park for the evening. We have often in the past come back to the room and had it in the middle of being serviced so we (for the first time) requested early service when we checked in. We told the cast member anytime before noon would be fine and that was that. Now the room was always serviced when we returned in the afternoons but ...

Towels were sporadically replaced .. we hung up the towels we were willing to use again and folded the ones needing replacement and placed them on the edge of the tub. It was not a big deal but two (of four) days the dirty ones were taken but not replaced.

The initial set of toiletries were never replenished ... we even requested in writing (with the tip) more shampoo but ... nothing. I generally bring all the toiletries I need with but this was a short trip and we knew that the Disney products were good so ... we ended up buying shampoo in the gift shop. The toilet paper and kleenex were not replenished either ... we managed to make it with the one plus two extra rolls that were there when we arrived but we were down to the last little bit on the last roll when we left.

There were two burned out light bulbs when we checked in and they were still burned out when we left. The chain on the ceiling fan was broken off and sitting on the dresser when we arrived and it wasn't replaced until the third day ... not huge deal but not in keeping with our experience with Disney.

We try to be conscientious and keep our room tidy to make the servicing easier, we always tip the housekeeper and dutifully place the "occupied" sign out when we are in the room. Could it be that they were not happy with out request for early service? I know they start early so "before noon shouldn't have been an issue.

I now have the usual post-visit survey and will certainly note the issues, but wonder ... has Disney cut back on amenities? I know some hotels provide toiletries only once ... but didn't think Disney had gone that route. Should I complain? I did not complain while we were there because sometimes that backfires and none of the issues was that big a deal ... just not what we have come to expect from Disney.

 

[dansdad]

This is a very familiar sounding experience at every WDW lately.

 

[DLgal]

There is a button on the phone that says Housekeeping. Next time, use it and ask to speak to a housekeeping supervisor and let them know about your problems. You can ask specifically for more toiletries and towels using this button as well. They will deliver them right to your room within minutes. I'm not sure why you didn't address these things during your stay.

 

[Hoodie]

Did you call housekeeping to report the broken lights or ask for toiletries? They are usually pretty responsive. If you didn't notify the housekeeping manager directly, I'm not sure the fault lies with them.

 

[jacknsally19]

We were just at Beach Club in January and I noticed that our toiletries were not regularly replenished, which annoyed me slightly. However, it didn't annoy me enough to complain. I think there is a bit of a tipping point for when people bother to say something. So I can understand not saying anything during your trip.

Personally, I would let WDW know that you were disappointed. I wouldn't necessarily expect any compensation given that the trip is over. But as someone that loves WDW, I truly want them to be the best and keep up their game. Plus - I love the Epcot resorts so selfishly I really want to make sure they are in top condition

 

[Sue M]

I would absolutely put these things on the survey. But I agree, it would have been much better to have addressed these at the hotel by either phoning housekeeping or going down to the desk. It is annoying, and really these things should have been done without having to ask for what should be automatic. I’ve noticed a decline in my room being serviced to. On last visit in Dec. toiletries and coffee service & cups were not being serviced. It seems I was continually calling or stopping at front desk. Ridiculous.

 

[Sue M]

Did you call housekeeping to report the broken lights or ask for toiletries? They are usually pretty responsive. If you didn't notify the housekeeping manager directly, I'm not sure the fault lies with them.

Imo inadequate housekeeping is the hotels fault. It isn’t the guests fault the room wasn’t serviced properly.

 

[bumbershoot]

Do write in.

But next time, call Housekeeping while you’re there.

 

[undertheradar]

Why didn't you stop at the front desk and request the items that needed to be replaced? If you had time to purchase shampoo in the gift shop, you had time to get it rectified at the front desk.

 

[HopperFan]

It seems to be a theme now with housekeeping .......... we have noticed a severe drop in quality at the value level and it's all relative ... I am paying way too much for what I get so I would at least hope for decent housekeeping. The more you pay the more you should expect.

To those saying use the phone, housekeeping buttons seem to be disappearing on the new phones in newly renovated rooms so all calls are going to call center. Our new room did not have one. I would walk to the front desk and make my complaints there. I mean why should you complain to housekeeping about the job they are doing to only have it swept under the rug (pun intended) ...... you need to complain to other departments who can not only help you but report it to hotel management.

No guest should have to supervise the housekeeping at the hotel, to gather all the items they neglected to leave in the room nor request from management that work that is expected to be done, actually be done.

Disney has a housekeeper shortage and it seems to be getting worse. Last year they were offering $500 signing bonuses, now since the new security check system put on them, it's up to $1250 ... so maybe they are losing them even faster. With the word that the unions are battling for the new contract and getting Disney to pay out the promised tax cut bonuses .... that they are withholding, I would not expect this to improve.

I think what you experienced sadly could become the norm. For whatever reasons, Disney can't hire enough housekeepers - and that seems to have impacted the quality of the work ...

 

[lsyorke]

Since when is it the guests responsibility to get basic housekeeping services? I'm on vacation, I'm not calling housekeeping every day to get basic things like towels. It sounds like they are so busy "checking" rooms, there's no one left to actually clean them. Sorry, I give Disney a pass on a lot, but housekeeping isn't one of them. Every day there's more reason to save money and go offsite to a 5 star hotel!

 

[Shellyb84]

Sorry to hear you had issues at BC. We've had issues at resorts before but never really with housekeeping, and never at BC either.

 

[AngiTN]

You don't mention if you called to ask for additional items when they weren't left as you asked, in writing. Why didn't you? I for sure would have done that before going to buy some. I'm highly confused by this choice you made. I gotta admit
It's possible your housekeeper did not speak, or read, English.
No clue about the towels or the fan chain but you really should have called to ask for any items you needed. This is what we do on any trip and have always gotten them (and then some) without hesitation.

ETA - I am sorry, I forgot to address the main question, I would write a letter, or make a phone call, to mention that basic items were not replenished during your stay and that you'd like to let someone in management know so that whoever was servicing your room can be retrained on what is to be left each day. That's all I'd address.

 

[fla4fun]

I have stayed at BC several times, and only had horrible housekeeping once. I did go to the front desk and discuss it with them after checking in to a huge bag of garbage in the middle of the floor, and then situations similar to the OP’s. Unfortunately, although it’s not the guest’s responsibility to police housekeeping, if you don’t say something, how will the housekeeping manager know if someone is slacking? Once we reported the issue,we didn’t have any further problems.

I will say that leaving a note for your housekeeper may not work, as English is not always their first language. We tried that once many years ago at CR, and found if we drew a picture of what we wanted (in our case, we drew a vacuum and an arrow to the area they kept missing) and that worked right away.

 

[AngiTN]

It seems to be a theme now with housekeeping .......... we have noticed a severe drop in quality at the value level and it's all relative ... I am paying way too much for what I get so I would at least hope for decent housekeeping. The more you pay the more you should expect.

To those saying use the phone, housekeeping buttons seem to be disappearing on the new phones in newly renovated rooms so all calls are going to call center. Our new room did not have one. I would walk to the front desk and make my complaints there. I mean why should you complain to housekeeping about the job they are doing to only have it swept under the rug (pun intended) ...... you need to complain to other departments who can not only help you but report it to hotel management.

No guest should have to supervise the housekeeping at the hotel, to gather all the items they neglected to leave in the room nor request from management that work that is expected to be done, actually be done.

Disney has a housekeeper shortage and it seems to be getting worse. Last year they were offering $500 signing bonuses, now since the new security check system put on them, it's up to $1250 ... so maybe they are losing them even faster. With the word that the unions are battling for the new contract and getting Disney to pay out the promised tax cut bonuses .... that they are withholding, I would not expect this to improve.

I think what you experienced sadly could become the norm. For whatever reasons, Disney can't hire enough housekeepers - and that seems to have impacted the quality of the work ...

Maybe not a Housekeeping button but there a button to use to call for something. To request things. I've used it and it works. And if you walk to the lobby to buy something you can walk there to ask for more toiletries. Should you have to? No. But I would sure do that before I buy it

 

[HopperFan]

Maybe not a Housekeeping button but there a button to use to call for something. To request things. I've used it and it works. And if you walk to the lobby to buy something you can walk there to ask for more toiletries. Should you have to? No. But I would sure do that before I buy it

Completely agree there is a button ....... but it should be noted that as they make renovations they may have cut off your ability to talk to Housekeeping and now your call will just go to the call center. I've stopped using the phone in the room because my issues were never addressed that way. Now they may not do this at deluxe resorts.

 

[Jennasis]

Your complaints are valid and should be voiced to WDW. Except for the room ready at noon thing. Our room has NEVER been ready before check in over the last 17 years. Our last 5 years worth of trips have had us wait past check in too at every resort level.

 

[AngiTN]

Your complaints are valid and ahpuld be voiced to WDW. Except for the room ready at noon thing. Our room has NEVER been ready before check in over the last 17 years. Our last 5vyears worth of trips have had us wait past check in too.

Excellent point. By no means would I mention that my room was not ready at noon. It's not even notable that it wasn't ready.

 

[Sue M]

Maybe not a Housekeeping button but there a button to use to call for something. To request things. I've used it and it works. And if you walk to the lobby to buy something you can walk there to ask for more toiletries. Should you have to? No. But I would sure do that before I buy it

Completely agree there is a button ....... but it should be noted that as they make renovations they may have cut off your ability to talk to Housekeeping and now your call will just go to the call center. I've stopped using the phone in the room because my issues were never addressed that way. Now they may not do this at deluxe resorts.

I have used that button “Resort Services” with success, but only because I knew the front desk extension. When I checked in I requested a clock. Later that day the CM from desk phoned me back and left a message saying they no longer had clocks and left the Front Desk Ext # incase I needed anything else. It did indeed connect to Front Desk.
My friend in adjoining room just using the resort service button couldn’t get thru.
I have read a thread that the new button does connect to off site call centre incl housekeeping.

 

[scrapquitler]

We just returned from a four night stay at The Beach Club. It was our first stay there but we are familiar with the general area as we have stayed at Boardwalk for our last six or seven visits. We love BWI but couldn't get a room so I was hoping that Beach Club would be a reasonable alternative but we were disappointed.

When we arrived at the resort our room was not ready ... it was about noon and that's fine, but for what it is worth it was literally the first time we have ever not had our room ready when we arrived ... and we have often arrived well before noon. We have stayed on property about twenty times, moderate and deluxe and I know that we have no right to expect the room before 3:00 but it was notable in our experience.

That was not the problem though ... it was housekeeping. We generally get up early and hit the parks at rope drop then return to the hotel in the afternoon for a nap or a visit to the pool before dinner and another park for the evening. We have often in the past come back to the room and had it in the middle of being serviced so we (for the first time) requested early service when we checked in. We told the cast member anytime before noon would be fine and that was that. Now the room was always serviced when we returned in the afternoons but ...

Towels were sporadically replaced .. we hung up the towels we were willing to use again and folded the ones needing replacement and placed them on the edge of the tub. It was not a big deal but two (of four) days the dirty ones were taken but not replaced.

The initial set of toiletries were never replenished ... we even requested in writing (with the tip) more shampoo but ... nothing. I generally bring all the toiletries I need with but this was a short trip and we knew that the Disney products were good so ... we ended up buying shampoo in the gift shop. The toilet paper and kleenex were not replenished either ... we managed to make it with the one plus two extra rolls that were there when we arrived but we were down to the last little bit on the last roll when we left.

There were two burned out light bulbs when we checked in and they were still burned out when we left. The chain on the ceiling fan was broken off and sitting on the dresser when we arrived and it wasn't replaced until the third day ... not huge deal but not in keeping with our experience with Disney.

We try to be conscientious and keep our room tidy to make the servicing easier, we always tip the housekeeper and dutifully place the "occupied" sign out when we are in the room. Could it be that they were not happy with out request for early service? I know they start early so "before noon shouldn't have been an issue.

I now have the usual post-visit survey and will certainly note the issues, but wonder ... has Disney cut back on amenities? I know some hotels provide toiletries only once ... but didn't think Disney had gone that route. Should I complain? I did not complain while we were there because sometimes that backfires and none of the issues was that big a deal ... just not what we have come to expect from Disney.

I would let them know that you are disappointed. BUT.... if you had these small issues, why wouldn't you have just let them know when you were there? On our trip in January, we didn't get toiletries one day, and as soon as I returned to the room that afternoon and saw that they weren't' replaced, I called. And they brought them within 15 minutes. It's far more effective to ask to have a problem (even a small one) resolved at the moment than after you return home.