This week's episode had me question the CM room access

[Ghostridethedolewhip]

reminds me of a quote from Ric Flair involving riding Space Mountain

Hahahaha
Woooooooooooooooooo!

 

[hertamaniac]

But couldn't that have happened in the past as well? Someone pretend to be a cast member and say they have a question about your account or something anyway? I guess I don't see why this would be that much more of an issue no vs before - if it is a mousekeeper before or now and they come and knock when I'd rather them not come in I will still tell them to come back later or whatever. If anything, now it is more on my mind to be suspicious vs before

Fair and valid point.

From what I read, if a “room occupied” sign is in place, hotel employees must knock and announce themselves before entering. So my question is what if I forget to place the room occupied sign on the door, but are in the room. Does this mean an employee doesn't have to knock and can freely enter? Couldn't that lead to a mistaken identity scenario?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Fair and valid point.

From what I read, if a “room occupied” sign is in place, hotel employees must knock and announce themselves before entering. So my question is what if I forget to place the room occupied sign on the door, but are in the room. Does this me an employee doesn't have to knock and can freely enter? Couldn't that lead to a mistaken identity scenario?

My guess is they would still knock - I know when I have been to a hotel even if I didn't put the DND sign up and a housekeeper would come they would knock and give me a chance to shout "One minute!" or something. Sometimes they listen, sometimes not as much, but I would think they would still knock.

And if they get in without you letting them in then they would either be an actual CM or have gotten a universal key car somehow that would let them in

 

[FCDub]

But couldn't that have happened in the past as well? Someone pretend to be a cast member and say they have a question about your account or something anyway? I guess I don't see why this would be that much more of an issue no vs before - if it is a mousekeeper before or now and they come and knock when I'd rather them not come in I will still tell them to come back later or whatever. If anything, now it is more on my mind to be suspicious vs before

preach it

 

[Monykalyn]

This really isn't that hard, is it? If you're concerned about someone barging into your room, put the slider/deadbolt on when you're in the room. If someone comes knocking and wants access to the room, I'm sure it's reasonable for you to ask them to present ID. If you don't believe them for some reason, I'm sure it is also reasonable for you to tell them that you want to call the front desk and confirm their identity/purpose before letting them into the room. I mean, I've always assumed that a resort employee could and would access my room for maintenance or other legitimate reasons and used the slider/deadbolt specifically when i wanted to restrict their entry.

yu
Too. Much. Common. Sense.

Correct me if I'm wrong because I am honestly a naive 21 yo, but it was to my understanding Disney CMs always had a right to enter your room without any warrant. When you sign a waiver to stay at Disney hotels, you are agreeing to letting them come in more or less unwarranted. I am an RA for a college in upstate NY and when we move college students in they sign a waiver that basically allows us to do whatever is necessary to keep the residency safe. It has always been this way for most hotels and most college dormitories. Am I correct on this?

Yes but now that it's out in open more the panic and "what ifs" must start!

Mousekeeping either gets paid per room or has a quota to meet. They make notes on the rooms that they can't do and leave for next shift or later in their shift. If they can't get to a room (occupied/door sign) for a couple shifts in a row they are supposed to let leader/manager know who will then do the "security" check. There IS a procedure. But I'm puzzled by Disney inconsistency as they offer incentives for no moise keeping but then say they will be checking all rooms once every 24 hours. DCP kids were also previously in some mousekeeping roles although I've now heard that will no longer be the case.

We slept late every day on recent trip (with the room occupied sign out) and weren't out of room before noon on most days and never had issues with a "random" cm knocking on door! We also came back for later naps before heading out for super late nights and again-no issues with random cm knocking. So there's another anecdotal "no reason for panic" story

 

[MamaBelle4]

Couldn't that lead to a mistaken identity scenario?

You keep bringing up this little Chestnut, no matter what anyone says.

No, you cannot "stand your ground" and hit a Disney employee with a baseball bat, regardless of how much they startle you.

You are being given ample warning. Put up the room occupied and draw the latch if you are so concerned. If you don't and a CM comes into your room unnanounced it is your fault. This is a policy change, you are aware of it. If it bothers you so, contact guest services with a complaint.

If I were you, I'd leave out the whole baseball bat scenario. They may think you are aggressive and prone to violence and mark your room for extra security checks. Just voice your concerns reasonably and clearly with no threat of violence.

 

[FCDub]

If this is also such a concern, might be best not to stay at a resort with this policy. Save the stress and just take your business elsewhere. The policy is the policy.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

But couldn't that have happened in the past as well? Someone pretend to be a cast member and say they have a question about your account or something anyway? I guess I don't see why this would be that much more of an issue no vs before - if it is a mousekeeper before or now and they come and knock when I'd rather them not come in I will still tell them to come back later or whatever. If anything, now it is more on my mind to be suspicious vs before

I usually wouldn't open the door to anyone but now that you know someone may came in the room or they will barge in I would be more likely to open the door.

 

[Meglen]

I usually wouldn't open the door to anyone but now that you know someone may came in the room or they will barge in I would be more likely to open the door.

I won't be opening any doors. I will unlatch the door but if they are cm they can open it with the master key.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This policy lends itself to opening the door to strangers since most people may know that at some point during their stay a cast member may be knocking on their door and asking to come in.

No. A Cast Member may be knocking on a door to advise they're coming in. There should be no need whatsoever for a guest to let them in.

Any CM so authorized would have a key.

So my question is what if I forget to place the room occupied sign on the door, but are in the room. Does this mean an employee doesn't have to knock and can freely enter

That's on you. Without the sign, or a response from a room occupant, a CM won't know the room is occupied

 

[disneysteve]

have there been any account of CMs knocking at night while guests are sleeping? Sure while napping in the middle of the day it’s possible but I feel you should be aware of that during the day that someone could possibly knock on your door.

Sorry, I didn't mean at night. I would hope that at night, nobody is knocking on doors unless it's an emergency. But during the day, that's entirely different. You've got guests from all over the world whose internal clocks may be on different time zones. They may still be sleeping at 10am when housekeeping makes their rounds. Plus it's Disney World. How many people go back and take a break mid-day and take a nap? I've done that many times. And when our daughter was young, she napped during the day. The last thing I'd want is someone waking her up to make sure we don't have an assault rifle with us.

Again, I have NO PROBLEM with them checking the room daily. My only issue is with them eliminating the DND sign that would allow me to designate a time when I don't want them coming in or knocking to do that check.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Correct me if I'm wrong because I am honestly a naive 21 yo, but it was to my understanding Disney CMs always had a right to enter your room without any warrant. When you sign a waiver to stay at Disney hotels, you are agreeing to letting them come in more or less unwarranted. I am an RA for a college in upstate NY and when we move college students in they sign a waiver that basically allows us to do whatever is necessary to keep the residency safe. It has always been this way for most hotels and most college dormitories. Am I correct on this?

It's always been that way. I do not think for a moment anyone is saying anything of the opposite.

The difference here if you want to use your experience as an RA is if you were required to do a check of everyone's room unannounced and unplanned every single day and someone was required to do a check of your room every single day. That's what the change is. It's not that people are saying now Disney has the rights to go into my room it's that people are saying now they will be going into my room daily if I choose to decline housekeeping.

 

[tcufrog]

Closing the latch only works if everyone in your party is in the room. Dad could be back in the room with younger kid(s) who are napping while Mom and older kid(s) are still in the park. When they come back they can't get in without waking the nappers up. Or maybe Mom is still asleep when Dad goes out for his run. Just a few reasons why closing the latch is not necessarily the solution.

That’s why texting exists. You take a shower you text your spouse and let her know and then text when you’re done. When you nap you put your phone on vibrate and lay next to you. When your spouse texts you asking to be let in the vibration will wake you without waking the kids. This is what I do.

Again, I have NO PROBLEM with them checking the room daily. My only issue is with them eliminating the DND sign that would allow me to designate a time when I don't want them coming in or knocking to do that check.

What’s the point of room security checks if they can be scheduled?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That’s why texting exists. You take a shower you text your spouse and let her know and then text when you’re done. When you nap you put your phone on vibrate and lay next to you. When your spouse texts you asking to be let in the vibration will wake you without waking the kids. This is what I do.

You're right about texting but that only works for people who a) text and b) what about international visitors?

FWIW my step-father-in-law just upgraded in 2017 to a smart phone but he does not have texting period. He doesn't need it and doesn't want it. Between the two of them he's the one in and out of the room all the time; she would be the one staying in the room majority of the time and needing to let him back in.

Also though to be honest now you're trying to corrdinate a lot of things. Ok a shower..well now you've to make sure you're only taking so long if you've got a person out there waiting on you to undo the latch (who knows what the activity they are doing)..napping well same thing but the added layer of if you're in deep enough sleep you may not hear your phone. I set two+ alarms on my phone when I need to be awake (be it a nap or going to bed at night) in order to ensure I get up. My sister-in-law sleeps through everything and has to set at least 10 alarms). Plus you've got to time it where the other person waiting on you isn't just killing time in random areas just so the person can be awake to open the latch. It's like you would be figuratively left out in the cold until the other person finished their nap, finished in the bathroom (because yeah you need to do that too if you're supposed to use the latch 100% of the time), finished their shower, etc.

No doubt some traveling parties have a system down and works for them. But not every system will work realistically with every traveling party.

 

[disneysteve]

What’s the point of room security checks if they can be scheduled?

So do you think a hotel guest should have no way to indicate, "Hey, my kid is napping right now. Please don't knock right now unless it's an emergency"?

If so, we'll have to agree to disagree on that point.

I guarantee that if Disney actually does this, you're going to start to see a bunch of homemade signs that say "Baby sleeping. Please don't knock right now." And the next step will be nicely made signs and magnets to that effect being sold on Etsy.

 

[MrKnight]

As a professional who works in the hotel industry, let me clear a few things up.. It's important to understand that when you stay in a hotel room (any hotel for that matter) you are staying on private property and you are paying the business owner to allow you to stay in that room as a GUEST, the business owner has the legal right to enter that room without your consent at any point in time and also has the right to evict a person from their property even if its a paying guest. Laws that apply to housing/renters DO NOT apply to hotel guests. You cannot "stand your ground" in a hotel room, this would be illegal and you would be subject to criminal charges if you injure another person and/or cause damage to the property while doing so, not to mention, the hotel management would be within right to immediately evict you from their property and in the case of WDW more than likely you would be banned from WDW property.

With that said, I would NOT recommend barricading yourself in your room (the door stopper suggested by some pp is NOT a good idea) and/or bringing anything into your room that even remotely resembles a weapon.. The fact that some posters on here actually believe that it is perfectly ok to bring a "baseball bat" into their hotel room for "defense" is a frightening thought.. IMHO if you are truly that concerned about the new DND policy and/or have an issue with CMs entering your room while doing THEIR JOB to service you as a guest then I would suggest considering staying at another resort that does not have this policy and/or staying outside of WDW property.

In addition, to the OP, as stated by pp, if you are seeking REAL legal advice then I would recommended consulting with an actual attorney or legal entity. An online public forum is not the best place to seek legal advice.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So do you think a hotel guest should have no way to indicate, "Hey, my kid is napping right now. Please don't knock right now unless it's an emergency"?

If so, we'll have to agree to disagree on that point.

I guarantee that if Disney actually does this, you're going to start to see a bunch of homemade signs that say "Baby sleeping. Please don't knock right now." And the next step will be nicely made signs and magnets to that effect being sold on Etsy.

*note to self, start Etsy store*

 

[maxiesmom]

So do you think a hotel guest should have no way to indicate, "Hey, my kid is napping right now. Please don't knock right now unless it's an emergency"?

If so, we'll have to agree to disagree on that point.

I guarantee that if Disney actually does this, you're going to start to see a bunch of homemade signs that say "Baby sleeping. Please don't knock right now." And the next step will be nicely made signs and magnets to that effect being sold on Etsy.

Is there a guarantee anything like a child napping sign will work?

Has anyone e-mailed Disney and brought up that scenario and asked how they would deal with that sort of sign? Or how they expect people to rest uninterrupted?

 

[disneysteve]

Is there a guarantee anything like a child napping sign will work?

Has anyone e-mailed Disney and brought up that scenario and asked how they would deal with that sort of sign? Or how they expect people to rest uninterrupted?

That's a great question. I have no idea. Certainly if I checked in to a hotel and there was no DND sign, I'd call the front desk or stop down there and ask to have it replaced.

And keep in mind that 99% of Disney guests have no clue this is even happening. We're all sitting around talking about it but it will come as a total surprise to the typical visitor who isn't plugged into the whole fan community. How are they going to feel when staff comes knocking on the door?

 

[MrKnight]

And keep in mind that 99% of Disney guests have no clue this is even happening. We're all sitting around talking about it but it will come as a total surprise to the typical visitor who isn't plugged into the whole fan community. How are they going to feel when staff comes knocking on the door?

This is a valid point. As with any new policy, more than likely they will have to post signage at the Front Desk, place letters in the rooms, and/or give out letters upon check-in explaining the new policy. I'm sure there will be growing pains, especially with guests that are not aware of the change, I wish the resort CMs the best, I am sure they will have to have extra managers available to step in when necessary.