What is going on with these Resorts?????

[lebo]

Man, I can't believe this. I was in WDW in August had Bad Reviews on POP. Now I see Bad Reviewes on All Star SPorts, POR, and GF too????????
This ain't good!!!!!!!!

[vicster]

I can add another one for POFQ and the mousekeeping. It leaves much to be desired. I don't know what's going on but it's not good.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Remember something when you read these things, people who had a good time and everything went well are less likely to start a thread on this or any other board. Also, look at all the posts in a thread and you will notice lots of positive things too.

These are big hotels with lots of guests and there will always be some negative things happening. Take it from someone who owned a hotel, and by any measure a top rated one, its impossible to not get complaints. You can provide everyone with everything they want at the speed with which they want. The best you can do is offer what you have and strive for the best and hope that you satisfy 95% plus. The other 5% or so will complain to anyone and everyone.

[vicster]

I'm not just complaining and I had a great time. I've been to WDW approximately 22 times and the original poster is correct. Things are sliding downhill. I can only think that, like everyone else, Disney has to try and cut costs. Lousy housekeeping will not keep me from going to Disney but maybe they need to take a look at things. If they can't keep up with the current resorts they have why do they keep building???

[jwallace378]

PolyDweller has a valid point...There may be 1 bad experience for every 100 positive ones. You are more likely to hear about the bad ones.

[Tinkerbella16]

Everyone has different experiences...good and bad. So I wouldn't just go by what you read all the time.

I've read the thread about the POR Dissappointment...and I stayed there for the first time last year and LOVED it!!! Nothing went wrong, mousekeeping was great, foodcourt was great, service was great, and all CM's were wonderful. I had nothing to complain about POR.

There is going to be negative things on all of the resorts...everyone has a different experience. I just read the thread about GF, the one resort everyone "wishes and praises" upon...eventhough I have no desire to ever dish out that kind of money to stay there. Even a resort like GF will get negative reviews.

[crazeedizneefinatic]

I have to say we just got back last night from POR and loved the resort. The front desk is where we had our problem. My aunt came with us this year. Her husband has been ill for 3 years and she has been his primary care giver instead of a hospital. When she left nothing was wrong and he was his usual self. Well 3 days into our trip she gets a call he was going down hill fast. We were in the MK at the time and headed for guest relations to try and book a flight home asap. Guest relations got us the numbers to several airlines to get a good time. They also agreed to reimburse her for her part of the trip and tickets since she was leaving on an emergency. They could clearly see we were all very upset. We were told to speak with our hotel manager when we got back to make the arrangements. We got my aunt a flight home and headed for POR to pack and get her ready to fly out. When we got back to the front desk I explained the situation and the girl went to get the night manager. With 1 click of his finger he cancelled us all. No park tickets, no dining no nothing. Well, needless to say I was quite upset since we still needed to eat and go back to the park once she was settled. He kept going behind a door to talk with someone. My aunt was sitting down and heard what was going on. My aunt was clearly upset and asked to speak to the person behind the door. She came out with a huge attitude and very very unsympathetic to the situation. She was quite rude and spoke very harshly to my aunt. She even mentioned in a sarcastic tone she just attended a funeral for her friend so she knows how she feels. My aunt lost it by then. She was crying and my mom took her away from the desk. They refused to get a higher manager to reinstate the things for us. They told us he was at a different property and could take hours for him to come. We were told too bad we had to come back tomorrow to be reinstated and get the credit for my aunt. My mom went down in the morning and spoke with Scott the manager and was assured the credit would happen on the check out invoice. He apologized and said he would take care of everything. Well, at checkout nothing was taken care of and no one of course knew about the situation. We were given a number to call. I don't expect anything to happen that we were told, it's a shame how they pass the buck.
Although our trip turned out okay I can say that the quality of cast members is noticeable. I cannot say I was treated outright rudely or anything but the extra special treatment that Disney was famous for is absolutely gone. I had CM's say "huh" to me, I overheard CM's in groups complaining about their jobs, I had CM's not hold the door when I was directly behind them, it's the little things. Believe me I am not complaining but this trip really put it into prespective. Disney magic is gone. It's a shame that the really good CM's are being overshawdowed by the overwhelming amount of so so or downright terrible ones. Yes, we did encounter CM's with smiles and greetings and ones who clearly liked their jobs but not many.

[Ian]

I think it's a couple things ... first and foremost, the housekeeping has been outsourced. CLEARLY they're not keeping up with Disney's standards, because the complaints about them are very, very frequent.

Secondly, Disney just needs too darn many people to staff Walt Disney World. They simply can't find enough good workers to go around. They're a victim of their own success to a degree. They just grew too darn big and never seem to have considered the fact that finding 75,000 people to smile all day long for minimum wage might be a challenge. Heck, it appears to be a serious challenge just finding someone who speaks intelligible English these days.

And also I think they just don't care as much as they used to. People keep coming, Disney keeps raising prices and raising prices, and still we keep coming. Why change?

[Belster]

I have said it before and will say it again. I go on vacation, which right now with people loosing their homes and other things I feel is a blessing, and I never look for things to go wrong. I keep a positive attitude and positive comes my way. How blessed are all of us to even be able to visit WDW?

No problems here.

[dizneyfreek]

Belster...I agree 110%

[Belster]

Thank you dizneyfreak, I just feel that I see so many negative comments and nit picking, this leads me to believe that people loose site of the fact that we are so unbelieveably lucky.

Thank you for noticing.

[Tink#64]

Belster! We had to cut alot of corners to still make that trip this year! DH had just lost his job again! Second time in less than a year after working for the same company for 10 years, (which moved out of the country)! Housekeeping wasn't up to par, so we hung the do not disturb sign on the door & I picked up! I always carry windex wipes & the disinfecting wipes so it wasn't a problem! But I'm darn sure not going to tip my hard earned money to someone that's doing a substandard job! But we had a wonderful trip, never even thought about what wasn't great, actually very few things even cross my mind now, we're just always so happy that we got to return to WDW, and I guess we've just been lucky not to have a bad enough experience to give it a thought later. But some of the things that I have read, I feel awful for these people to have spent so much time & money into these priceless trips & have something really upset their their vacation!

I consider my family very fortunate for the trips that we have experienced! And I secretly (well maybe not so secretly ) hope we get to go back sooner rather than later!

[BigRedDad]

A lot of things are going downhill across the country. Each and everyone of us for the most part can see ho the global economy is affecting our finances. CMs are paid minimal salaries/wages. They experience the same issues in their lives as we do. The country was far different 30 years ago when it opened. Now, companies are in business to insure Executives get golden parachutes and protect themselves. They care very little about things below them. The same goes for WDW.

Outsourcing is housekeeping is the start. Unless it is in the contract that they can only have X complaints per day, the company has little incentive to insure 100% of the rooms are properly cared for. The owner of the company wants his piece of the pie while stiffing his employees as well.

The thing to remember is that you are on vacation, there is no happier place, and you are there to enjoy yourself. So, just let it go.

If you want housekeeping to do a great job for you, interact with your cleaning lady. Just talking to her lets her know someone appreciates the job she does, she will spend more time on your room, she will be attentive to the details. Tip her each day and if she does a great job, give her something extra the last day. A little bit goes for miles.

[bicker]

Good point; I cannot help wonder to what extent the current negative tenor of our society adversely affects the quality of service we all give each other, and adversely affects our ability to perceive and appreciate good service we receive.

[homeschool mom]

With all the previous posts, I hesitate to add this, but I'm a glutton for punishment.

On a positive note, 6 years ago our family of 7 which includes 5 children, stayed at Pop the week before Christmas. Well, all but 2 of us got some 24 hour viral thing that had us every other day. My DS who was 3 at the time got sick one night around 2 a.m. and didn't make it to the bathroom. He all over the bed and the floor. I called housekeeping and a man was there in minutes to clean everything up for us. We were very appologetic and he was very kind even though he had a terrible mess to clean up.

Fast forward 6 years to our trip just last month staying at Pop. My DS 7 unexpectedly wet the bed on our second night. I was mortified and felt terrible he had done that on one of their new mattresses. I called housekeeping and they assured me it would be taken care of. After a long day in the parks, we came back to our room and my DS turned back the bed and crawled in. He immediately jumped out and said, "Mom, my bed is still wet!" They had changed the sheets, but put them over a wet mattress. It was about 10:45 and I called housekeeping. I spoke with 2 different CMs who were both very nasty. The second one even hung up on me. Needless to say, I was furious and almost to tears.

The next morning while at Animal Kingdom, I called and spoke to a housekeeping manager who was very appologetic and wonderful! When I explained the situation, she was noticeably disturbed. She assured me the matter would be taken care of and that housekeeping knows mattresses are supposed to be changed out when something like that happens. She expressed disappointment that the matter hadn't been handled the way it should have been and said the housekeeper would be disciplined.

When we got back to the room that night, there was a new, dry mattress on the bed.
If that would have been my first time at Pop, I probably wouldn't have ever gone back or recommended it to others. However, I know the level of service that is available there, so I will return.

[lawgirl]

I've noticed that everyone seems to have a different perspective and different expectations. When I was researching a recent trip to Kauai, I read alot of reviews of the Hilton Kauai...some were good, some bad. Some complained about room cleanliness, etc... I was nervous about booking, b/c of the mixed reviews. I'll have to say it is the best resort I have ever stayed in. The room was great, service was great, dining was great. It made me wonder if someone else in my shoes would have felt it was as great as I did. Probably not.

It is disappointing to see a gradual downturn in the magic...but society as a whole is seeing a gradual decline in manners and caring about things in general. We go to restaurants, shopping, even business dealings, where the service is just awful...it wasn't like this 10-15 years ago. People just don't care anymore, and unfortunately, WDW has to hire so many people, that they end up with alot of people that don't care about keeping up the magic-they just need a paycheck.

That said, its always refreshing to run into a CM who does care. I always try to focus on that one person who does still take the time to do a good job, rather than the countless others who don't.

I also think sometimes we need to realize that working at WDW is a job...and that all CM's, managers, etc...are human, and have bad days, get tired, etc...I try and give them a little grace and mercy. They must deal with so many rude and unhappy people day in and day out, that they start to act that way themselves.

[Lynn J Mc]

I will admit I have been spoiled at DW. I wrote the "rant" about GF. We have always been treated like royalty at DW since we started going the year it opened when I was 4. This past trip the customer service level was just down and not only for us. We heard lots of complaints on our trips to the parks on the monorail and buses. It is just heartbreaking. I just think they need to slow down the growth until they get a handle on their staffing issues. I bet Walt is spinning in his grave. It is still my favorite place on earth - so we will continue to go, and they will continue to raise prices.

[MNNHFLTX]

Outsourcing is housekeeping is the start. Unless it is in the contract that they can only have X complaints per day, the company has little incentive to insure 100% of the rooms are properly cared for. The owner of the company wants his piece of the pie while stiffing his employees as well.

I've questioned this before without a definitive answer, but I can find no confirmation that housekeeping at WDW is outsourced. Bell and valet service are outsourced at some resorts and I believe Disney World was considering outsourcing housekeeping on the night shift, but backed off on the plan after the union protested. In any case, there should be no excuse for poor service, whether it is outsourced or not. Having just returned from a trip to Disneyland I was favorably impressed with the cast members there, compared to some of the experiences I have had in recent trips to Disney World. I tend to think that the sheer size of the Disney World resort has made keeping standards up to par a very difficult thing. Are there exceptional cast members there? Of course, but there are probably also a significant number of employees there who are not truly vested in their job or the Disney traditions.

[Seasonscraps]

For every negative post about a resort; there are probably 10 positive reports. It's the negatives that generally stand out for people. Check out the trip reports forum for some nice reviews of the resorts and vacations.

Overall, I think Disney has over sold the Magic. Through extensive marketing they elevated the expectations guests have to a level they are not able to achieve with outsourced labor and employees earning lower wages.

[Janmac]

I agree that there are some folks who are not going to be satisfied no matter what. I once heard that among guests or customers, there are about 5% who are hare to put up with, 5% who are absolutely wonderful and the rest are not very memorable.

There are also those CMs/employees that are having a bad day or perhaps are training. Or maybe aren't a good fit and will be soon moving on. They contribute to a bad review from an otherwise normally satisfied person.

We too only get to visit WDW every 3 years or so and try to focus on the positive. We hardly ever see inappropriate clothes, smokers, abusive parents, or any of that sort of thing. We just like to bask in the magic.

It is hard to ignore brown smear (not a stain) on the outside of the toilet and cigarette butts on the balcony of the room of the deluxe resort you just checked into.

In the case of this visit, despite DH's efforts (he's never met a stranger & doesn't go into the parks, so he's around the room all day) there was no interacting with the housekeepers on the floor. They weren't having it.

When talking to someone at Disney's Executive offices I mentioned the outsourcing of housekeeping and was told they are not outsourced. Perhaps there is some semantics at work here.

The person at Disney's Executive offices wasn't very interested in much other than was I happy with the complimentary one night stay that he was offering.

A couple of trips ago I was chatting with a CM at a water park. I said as guests we didn't feel much magic any more. He said CMs didn't feel very magical either. Especially when efficiency experts examine your job and tell you how many minutes it should take to change into or out of your costume.

Apparently complimentary stays are more efficient than supervising or training.

Jan