What has happen to Boardwalk?

[CarolynK]

The car unloaders at BWI/BWV are not cast members, they are an outside contractor. Sometimes you get good service, sometimes you don't.

Bill

I know, but CM is faster to type than "outside contractor."

 

[Halle]

We stayed at AKV Jambo House and we were greeted by a CM.
DVC members since 1993, we have experienced just about everything other members have posted.
Jambo House- chameleon in the sink.
Vero Beach- chameleon's in the room.
BLT- room finally ready at 6:30...get to the room, opened the door with MB only to find previous guests belongings in the room. I feel that was the worst experience.
It can be frustrating at times but there is no other place we'd rather be.
So sorry Op had a less than magical experience.

 

[crisi]

We stayed at AKV Jambo House and we were greeted by a CM.
DVC members since 1993, we have experienced just about everything other members have posted.
Jambo House- chameleon in the sink.
Vero Beach- chameleon's in the room.
BLT- room finally ready at 6:30...get to the room, opened the door with MB only to find previous guests belongings in the room. I feel that was the worst experience.
It can be frustrating at times but there is no other place we'd rather be.
So sorry Op had a less than magical experience.

Frankly, it isn't Disney unless you have a little lizard in your room sometime during your stay.

 

[bumbershoot]

BLT- room finally ready at 6:30...get to the room, opened the door with MB only to find previous guests belongings in the room.

UGH. ugh ugh ugh. To wait all that time...

 

[tgropp]

Actually, official check in time is after 4pm. Could be 5, 6 or 7. Our latest was at SSR, 7:30.

Bill

There is absolutely no excuse for this. All rooms should be ready by 4 at the latest. That gives you a room for 75% of the day which is not asking much. How can rooms to be ready in a 5 hour turnover? If there is a problem, hire more people. Beach Club is the absolute worst

 

[gojoe]

By the way I had food I wanted to keep cool. It was almost 90 Saturday.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

There is absolutely no excuse for this. All rooms should be ready by 4 at the latest. That gives you a room for 75% of the day which is not asking much. How can rooms to be ready in a 5 hour turnover? If there is a problem, hire more people. Beach Club is the absolute worst

The end of August I had a room ready text for BCV on my phone before I got on my flight connection in SLC at 9:30 am (so before noon in FL). Could have knocked me over with a feather. BLT and BCV I don't think I'd ever gotten a room before 5PM or so.

 

[planningalways]

Just returned from BWV also. Can't speak of valets/bells services because we never use them after an especially nasty encounter with the "head valet" many years ago. We had a split stay at BWV and our room ready text for our first room came in at 4:30. The second room was ready at 1:30. Here is something we learned on a prior trip. The cleaning person is the one who sends the initial room ready text. On our previous trip, we got our text, proceeded to the room, open the door and the cleaning lady was still in there. She was very apologetic....she explained they just started a new notification system and when she completed one room, she accidentally hit a wrong number when doing the notification. She was really upset but we told her not a big deal, we had to go get the rest of our things from the car and we were not about to report the incident to any one. So I imagine that sometimes the cleaning staff "forgets" to send the notification. And when someone goes to the front desk to complain they haven't gotten a text, the CM contacts the staff to ask what gives?

Our experience last week overall at the BoardWalk was excellent, from the front desk, to the CM's you pass in the hallways, to the pool staff to the people in the stores....along with both rooms being spotless. We, too, took the bus to AK for our second day there, as we did drive the previous day but it took us over 45 minutes to get thru the toll booth, join a very long line of cars and get parked.....all the way out in Dinosaur or giraffe. Pandora has given AK a new life. I think we waited 15 minutes for the bus.

Sorry you had a bad start to your stay. Next time will be better I'm sure.

 

[Dano1182]

The condition that guests leave a room also have an impact on room readiness.

We always tidy up the room before we leave to make it easier for mousekeeping to prepare for next guest.

Also if when you leave make sure you check out . They need to know the room is ready to be serviced . I know some people just leave and do not check out .

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm not seeing where there is a problem. I do think setting your bags down, assuming someone will realize you need, and then yelling help is passive-aggressive at best.

 

[gojoe]

I'm not seeing where there is a problem. I do think setting your bags down, assuming someone will realize you need, and then yelling help is passive-aggressive at best.

This is it am I'm done. So sorry I started this here. Boardwalk is my home resort and I love it. But I have notice the level of service (not all areas) is not up to years past. Because we have moved closer our stays are grab a weekend night here and there. We have stated at AK (both), BLT, Poly and Saratoga. We have found the level of service in these other resort better than Boardwalk. These are our opinions and if you feel different fine. I have not told you your opinion is wrong.

Side note: I read a news story in a local paper (travel section) a hotel canceled their contract with a bell and valet service after losing a Star. The management admitted it had a responsibility to monitor vendors level of service.

 

[maxiesmom]

This is it am I'm done. So sorry I started this here. Boardwalk is my home resort and I love it. But I have notice the level of service (not all areas) is not up to years past. Because we have moved closer our stays are grab a weekend night here and there. We have stated at AK (both), BLT, Poly and Saratoga. We have found the level of service in these other resort better than Boardwalk. These are our opinions and if you feel different fine. I have not told you your opinion is wrong.

Side note: I read a news story in a local paper (travel section) a hotel canceled their contract with a bell and valet service after losing a Star. The management admitted it had a responsibility to monitor vendors level of service.

If you had said you asked for help and they turned up their nose at you, that would be different. That would be both rude and poor service. Dropping your bags and assuming someone should know you need help? That is something else.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney is known for moving managers, too often IMO. We get a great manager, things start improving and they move someone else in. We have to remember that what's important to us, may not be to Disney. While our experience is important to us, budgets and profit are important to Disney. A certain level of guest dissatisfaction may be acceptable if their numbers are being met.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If you had said you asked for help and they turned up their nose at you, that would be different. That would be both rude and poor service. Dropping your bags and assuming someone should know you need help? That is something else.

I actually think Bell Service could have done better. Their main job is to assist with luggage and they really ought to be greeting an inquiring as the person arrives - assuming that not all of them are busy which according to OP was not the case. There really shouldn't be a need to go grab them in any way -either by calling out to them or walking over to them.

 

[gharter]

Sorry for your bad experience. We stayed there earleir this month and had no issues. We drove up in our rental car and someone came over to the car before we got out to se if we needed help with luggage. it was taken to bell services. We had checked in online so had our room already. I parked the car. Bell services took our luggage to the room and it was up there before I got back from parking the car. We had a similar experience last year. All I can imagine is you caught them on a bad day. FYI, similar experience at AKL.
Checking out at both and checking our bags to the airport was equally easy. A really nice service to have.

 

[suebeelin]

I'm sorry BWV is not as wonderful as it was in the past. Your experience is very much your experience, and even if we may react differently, it is IMO not my place to criticize your legitimate criticism. I like BWV bc of the proximity Hollywood and Epcot, and we just deal with the crappy bus to AK or MK. I do, however, get annoyed when the room is disgusting. We found pubic hair in the bathroom at BWV once, as well as crumbs on the floor. Suffice it to say, I was pissed at that. Thankfully, they just gave BWV a makeover, and everything seems clean again, but it was getting gross a few years ago.

 

[Judique]

I've owned at BWV for 17 years and it has always had some of these issues.

I think it was just a bad beginning for you this trip. The valets/bell guys usually annoy me by being too fast to be grabbing my things! And when I arrive I have a personal issue I need to attend to and there they are doing that welcome home thing and all I want to do is find the closest bathroom. (TMI I know!)

Now I sort of sneak in but those dang magic bands hear you coming! I will park as I always have a car and walk up. I never do online check in since they compromised my credit card a few years back.

Sometimes I'm there early morning, noon, middle of the afternoon. And once it was late evening. Sometimes my room is ready or sometimes not, but rarely do I get the texts.

Whatever the situation, I love me some Boardwalk Villas and I will be checking in this Saturday coming and I can hardly wait to get out of Maryland and go to Florida for a little bit!

But, sorry it wasn't right for you this time. Next time may be a whole lot different!

 

[IrishEye]

There is absolutely no excuse for this. All rooms should be ready by 4 at the latest. That gives you a room for 75% of the day which is not asking much. How can rooms to be ready in a 5 hour turnover? If there is a problem, hire more people. Beach Club is the absolute worst

Hire more people is higher maintenance fees. I travel quite often and have to say the more famous the destination the later the rooms are ready. I am premium program traveler with most all hotel chains and even though I get preferential room assignments it is hit and moss getting into a room before 4pm. That means for the general traveling public they would be later than me. You will notice at Boardwalk they begin cleaning later than they used to, so many complaints from members who did not want to be bothered by Housekeeping knocking on their door early to see if they had left. Perhaps someday when they make us swipe out of the building with our magic bands it will notify housekeeping and they can target rooms.

 

[planningalways]

Our room last week was close to the housekeeping area....they started rolling their carts out at 8 a.m. We always have a later flight for our return home so we don't "check out" at the desk because sometimes the magic bands won't work in certain areas (like the guard gate....we usually get gas across the street Saturday mornings and it can be pretty impossible to get back in to the BoardWalk parking area because people start lining up to check in or sneak in during food and wine). However, we always call housekeeping when we are leaving the room and we make sure we remove the "do not disturb" sign from the door. We also gather the towels and empty the fridge and run the dishwasher.

On a visit last month as my friend and I were getting ready to leave, I opened the door and a housekeeping manager was standing in the hall getting ready to take a picture of our door/room number and do not disturb sign. She told me this is how she keeps track of people checking out. Good idea, as not everyone remembers to call housekeeping upon leaving. I guess she then alerts the staff that such and such room is still occupied or not occupied.

 

[Mazz519]

I am a owner at Boardwalk as well, can honestly say we never had a bad stay or service while staying there.... Im sure there are a lot of people who do receive bad service while staying there but I would bet the numbers are minimal... we have been very lucky.... Im not a fan of Disney Transportation especially when I want to be at a specific park for a specific time... I will always drive there and park and leave earlier to make sure Im there in time