Results of "Open Letter to Disney"

OP, thank you so much for reporting your positive experience. I have been dreading our next trip in a month at POFQ because of one bad experience with so called room checks this past March.
So glad to hear the program has been modified, and we will be sure to get a Room Occupied sign asap! I am going to write to the GM at POFQ just to touch base about what we went through and our expectations this next visit.
I will share our experiences with this when we get back on 12/20. Hope they are as positive as yours.
 
Thank you so much .. what a great idea.. is it worth it tho ? We are there 6 nights at Caribbean ? Any thoughts on what it would be worth .. I’m clueless

I don't know if the amount varies by demand or resort, but last time I was there I was offered $10 per night for declining housekeeping services.

At swan and dolphin resorts you could opt out for SPG points. After the merger with Marriott I am not sure if they still do this but I will find out soon when we stay there. I always opted out.

Yes, Marriott still offers SPG's "Make a Green Choice" program. You can get either a $5.00 voucher for food/drink or 500 points. Note that 500 points in the Marriott program are worth only a third of what they were under the SPG program, unfortunately.
 
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Is there no switch on the ringer off on the phones?

Any decent hotel should be able to silence your phone. Simply dial "0" and ask for a "Do Not Disturb" to be added to the line. Doing that keeps the phone from ringing but still allows voicemail messages to arrive. When you check out, the line gets automatically reset for the next guest.

In the event of a real emergency, the hotel be able to remove the feature and cause the phone to ring. That can't happen if you unplug the phone completely. In a horrific situation (tornado in the vicinity, active shooter), the hotel would send a message to all rooms at once. You'll only get that message if the phone is plugged in.

I work mostly overnights. (I just woke up about 5pm today!) I've never had a hotel not be able to add a "Do Not Disturb" on the phone line. That includes a stay at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort a few years back.
 
Earlier this year I helped documented here, a new policy at Disney which started January 8, 2018 which began the process of putting Disney eyes into every occupied room. I shared a letter I had sent to Disney management detailing my concerns about this new policy. The policy created a rather strict implementation of entering every room no matter the implications to personal privacy.

I just ended a rather long stay at DVC's Old Key West, which began on October 21, 2018 and ends today November 9, 2018. What I learned from cast members here is sometime in July 2018 a reversal of a portion of the new policy occurred. This occurred again with the same lack of transparency the as it began.... None.

What changed was the cast members are to respect the new "room occupied" sign the same way as the old "Do not disturb" sign was prior to the institution of the new policy. Specifically not to enter a room by any cast member other than housekeeping if that sign is shown on the entry door. In many specific situations I can testify that our privacy was respected. Cast members would not even knock on the door if that sign was present unless it was housekeeping cast members.

I honestly believe this is a good compromise and provides those attending Disney a balance between security and privacy. It is obvious that Disney responded to the many who raised their concerns about this new policy and hopefully learned an important lesson.

I want to thank all those who shared their concerns while visiting Disney. Our ability to share this with the many who read this forum certainly helped.

Thanks

Rees Roberts

Three60guy
So glad you had a great stay with no interruptions. Just like the vast majority of guests who stayed before what cast members told you was a“change in policy.”
 


So glad you had a great stay with no interruptions. Just like the vast majority of guests who stayed before what cast members told you was a“change in policy.”
Why the need for quotes? Do you not believe they adjusted how they are handling this? It sounds like they (hopefully) made an important adjustment in response to guest feedback.
 
Why the need for quotes? Do you not believe they adjusted how they are handling this? It sounds like they (hopefully) made an important adjustment in response to guest feedback.
I was told by a cast member ( our housekeeper) at CBR in May that they were to respect the Room Occupied sign. If the sign was up near the end of the day they were to contact a supervisor. I very much doubt that a partial policy reversal occurred in July. Anyone can write anything on the internet. And as we all know, answers differ based on which Disney employee is asked. I seriously doubt that the policy was ever to disregard the sign. Others are free to think differently.
 
I was told by a cast member ( our housekeeper) at CBR in May that they were to respect the Room Occupied sign. If the sign was up near the end of the day they were to contact a supervisor. I very much doubt that a partial policy reversal occurred in July. Anyone can write anything on the internet. And as we all know, answers differ based on which Disney employee is asked. I seriously doubt that the policy was ever to disregard the sign. Others are free to think differently.

That doesn’t square with reports from the guests at some Disney hotels who continue to have cm’s knock and come in or knock and try to come in but are stopped when the door bangs on the engaged latch, whether the sign is up or not.
 
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Why the need for quotes? Do you not believe they adjusted how they are handling this? It sounds like they (hopefully) made an important adjustment in response to guest feedback.

I agree. I think that the policy was not well thought out, and WDW was not receptive at first to making accomodations as they implemented it. There is a lot to be said for guest feedback, especially given the inconsistent footing manner this policy began on. I am glad that there was a change in how this policy is carried out.
 
As with most Disney change in policies I wouldn't expect perfect implementation of it right away.

And maybe I missed it, but are they to honor the sign even if it is up for days at a time?
 
As with most Disney change in policies I wouldn't expect perfect implementation of it right away.


LOL! I know! I think this one was a disaster from the get go, and it's beginning was worse than some of the other policies they put into place. I truly am glad that there seems to be a more respectful way to implement it now.
 
As with most Disney change in policies I wouldn't expect perfect implementation of it right away.

And maybe I missed it, but are they to honor the sign even if it is up for days at a time?

No, you didn't miss it. I didn't ask but would be willing to guess anything over a full day would get a response like we saw at the beginning of the policy. Namely, insistent knocking of the door and/or phone calls. I still maintain that this is a good compromise.
 
Thanks very much for the update and the groundwork on this.

There has still been recent reports of CM's barging into rooms while people are in them. I have noticed that most of the really bad reports are at value resorts. I'm wondering if the individual resort management teams have something to do with that?

CSR is our resort of choice so it's good to hear positive reports from there.

We aren't taking our annual December 2 week trip to WDW for the first time in 10 years largely because of this policy.

Pop is such a big resort and it seems like more and more people are opting out of housekeeping. I wonder how many security people are employed there? It seems like trying to figure out whose room needs to be checked could be a logistical nightmare, or at the very least overwhelming.

We stayed for two weeks in August and observed security knocking door to door on a few occasions whether or not people opted out of housekeeping and regardless of having their room occupied sign on their door or not.
 
That doesn’t square with reports from the guests at some Disney hotels who continue to have cm’s knock and come in or knock and try to come in but are stopped when the door bangs on the engaged latch, whether the sign is up or not.
The guest experiences post has posts from people who report knocks with the sign up that occurred well after July. That doesn't square with the idea of a change in policy. I'm very skeptical of anyone who says they received policy information from Disney employees. I've tried contacting Disney about policies a few times and all you get is some nonsense about them wanting everyone to have a magical experience, etc. I don't doubt that cast members say stuff to people, but I doubt that they can speak to any type of official policy change.
 
I am sure cm’s at the resorts get things wrong when talking to guests. All I can say is to reiterate what a representative from DVC told me back in March. She suggested I meet face to face with a HK manager, ask for a window for the room check and note the name if the HK manager because that’s what she does. It worked for us in October. Not sure if that’s a change in policy or not or if that at all matters but the window I requested was honored. The DVC rep contacted me after I sent an email to Disney and DVC executive management and guest satisfaction so it wasn’t a random conversation with a CM.
 
I am sure cm’s at the resorts get things wrong when talking to guests. All I can say is to reiterate what a representative from DVC told me back in March. She suggested I meet face to face with a HK manager, ask for a window for the room check and note the name if the HK manager because that’s what she does. It worked for us in October. Not sure if that’s a change in policy or not or if that at all matters but the window I requested was honored. The DVC rep contacted me after I sent an email to Disney and DVC executive management and guest satisfaction so it wasn’t a random conversation with a CM.
I believe it’s always been Disney’s policy to conduct these room checks in the least intrusive manner. Reality does not always match up to intent. I honestly believe that the vast majority of guests at Disney resorts don’t care at all about room checks or a random knock at the door, leading to some sloppiness on Disney’s part. It’s a good thing that those of us who do care are making sure they know it and respond accordingly.
 
Appreciate the update. I did have intrusive knocking my last Pop stay in August. I will have a car my next trip so I am planning to stay offsite. We recently stayed at a Marriott resort where we could get 500 pts per night for foregoing housekeeping (for 3 consecutive nights at a time), but that tag also said something like they reserve the right to enter a room.
 
I've stayed 3 times for 8-10 nights since September of last year and never had a single knock on my door and when I stayed in March housekeeping didn't even show up four of the days I stayed.

The policy is inconsistent at best and what cast members tell any guest is also inconsistent. The policy itself has been vague and inconsistent. The stories from guests have also been inconsistent. Take it all with a grain of salt and form your own opinion based on your experience because you aren't going to find a consistent answer anywhere.
 
Except that many (us included) got phone calls when our sign was up asking if they could come over and do a sweep of the room. If one is trying to rest, nap or keep kids down ... the phone ringing and the security sweep is not different than knocking on the door. Noise will wake or disturb whether knocks or ringing so they just changed the interruption method.
Nothing in the OP's post, so experience, mentions (or, therefore, can reasonably be expected to apply to, phone calls. other posters have mentioned getting called when the room can't be entered.This is something [else] which would need to be addressed directly with WDW executives, no?
Now last time we had a letter in room from resort manager to let him know any issues ..... but I just didn't have the energy to bother about the uncleaned room, phone calls etc.
In fairness, for whatever reason you opted not to take the manager up on his offer. He can't be expected to fix what he isn't informed is broken.
Omg I thought about it my one and only value stay at Pop was when DD23 was 6 and graduating from kindergarten. That’s been awhile. It was cute then.

Two years before it opened? :confused3
 
Seeing new reports everyday that make it seem like they may have abandoned the room checks all together.

Claims of never being bothered and not seeing anyone doing room checks.
 

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