CM’s entering resort rooms with and without RO sign

[BK2014]

There probably isn't a need to rehash situations that have already been posted on other threads unless there is new information with the newest post.

Agreed. In my opinion, there are several problems with rehashing this same discussion over and over:
1. There is already a sticky thread for actual guest experiences with this policy. If people want to hear how Disney is implementing this policy, that is the place to go.
2. The same old hypothetical questions, such as what does Disney do if I am a napping, naked, single, and/or minor guest in the room with or without the security latch engaged, are only going to be answered by actual experiences. No one on here will be able to tell you what the actual policy is that Disney has to their CMs.
3. It always seems to be the same sampling of DISers engaging in the same discussions over and over.
4. People tend to want to discount the largely positive experiences being recounted on the actual experiences thread, and focus on the (what seem to be) relatively low number of inconveniences caused.

 

[pattyw]

@Jen1995 - thanks so much for taking the time to compile information and adding questions we have to your e-mail to Disney! Can't wait to hear the response.

I'm waiting for my friends to return from their trip and discuss their experiences!

 

[Jen1995]

I have posted my experience this past March at POFQ before, and will do it again.
It was my husband and I, no children or grandkids. Upon checking in at POFQ, I informed them that my husband and I had health concerns and MUST (not WANT) rest during the afternoon due to those. They said of course, and they would inform housekeeping.
All was well for the first few days. One day we came back a little later than usual, very much in pain and fatigued. Housekeeping had not been in, so I went to the front desk to get a RO sign so no one would disturb us for a while. I explained about our medical situation to the CM, and she said a HK would bring the sign right away the No One would disturb us. I was amazed that this did happen. We rested up and were ready to go to the parks like every one else later that day.

Then the next day, same thing, no HK. We were also late again and had same problems compounded. I called the front desk, explained it all again, and was assured that HK would be notified not to disturb us. Good.........My husband fell asleep, and I was about to do so, when a knock came at the door. I didn't want to wake up my husband, so I just talked through the door. She said she had to clean the room NOW. I explained our conversation with the CM. She got very rude and angry and said, They can't say that! I need in right now!!! I had had enough, tired, hurting and not feeling well at all, so I told her No, please come back in a couple of hours after we have rested. She huffed around and left. About 15 minutes later, a man came to the door. I was in the bathroom, so he woke up my husband, who also was not well, and told him he needed to do a security check. My husband told him to come back in 15 minutes so we could get dressed. He said okay. I was Furious!!! It was no coincidence that he just happened to come back 15 minutes after HK. By that time, we were up for the rest of the day and not feeling well at all. I told my husband we would wait til 4pm and if they came back (2 hours later) before then, we would go to the manager. Well, it must not have been important, because he never bothered to come back.

I DO feel that discussions are important on this subject. Those who don't feel that way, then just respect others right to discuss what has happened to them and their fears, expectations. Just ignore or don't open the thread. Saying, not again, does nothing. Apparently there IS a need to discuss this, even with all the closed threads when this subject comes up. It needs to be discussed.
I feel that our basic expectations as guests on our very expensive vacations should count for something. What is wrong with going back to your room for WHATEVER reason without being interrupted, sometimes rudely? I don't understand it. What really concerns me is that we apparently don't have a way to verify if security really is security. They need an ID, at the least. If we run into this when we visit this December, I will demand verification that the security person is really who they say they are. Right now, anyone could say they security and enter your room. Safety used to be #1 with Walt Disney!

Did you contact Disney guest services about this? If so, what did they say?

 

[disneyseniors]

@Jen1995 - thanks so much for taking the time to compile information and adding questions we have to your e-mail to Disney! Can't wait to hear the response.

I'm waiting for my friends to return from their trip and discuss their experiences!

Yes, I will post any experiences we might have in December. Hopefully, this has been stopped or changed by then, we will see.
This does need to be reposted and talked about.
I don't understand how that bothers others? Just ignore or don't click on this thread.
It's a discussion board for all subjects, and when some things don't interest me or seem silly to me, so I just don't read them.
When a thread runs it's course, it dies out. This one has never been allowed to, for some reason.
So, lets all play nice and learn something

 

[disneyseniors]

Did you contact Disney guest services about this? If so, what did they say?

Yes, I did. We got a few phone calls after we got home; however, due to circumstances, we were not home much and never when they called. I did write to them, though, but never was able to call them back or talk with someone personally. I will if it happens again, but I am optimistic that this has calmed down and we won't have that experience again. It seems that some posters have no problems at all, and I hope that continues and this inane "policy" dies down.

 

[Lynne M]

The reason the sticky thread with experiences doesn’t allow questions or discussion is that the room check threads end up with about 90% “I don’t like it!” or “OMG, what if Disney starts doing THIS" and about 10% reports of what’s actually happening at the resorts. The thread is limited to experiences because we need a place for people to find out what’s actually going on, without having to wade through a couple of thousand rant and speculation posts.

I definitely want to keep at least one thread open for questions and discussion. The difficulty is that we always end up back at rants and wild speculation, which leads to frustration and arguments, and the thread goes right off the rails.

My personal take on the room checks is that this is not something Disney wants to do, but something they’re being required to do. By a legal department, by an insurer, perhaps at the request of law enforcement. There’s no business case for Disney to be doing this without external pressures. It costs them more money, it annoys the guests, it annoys the staff. So, given that, I don’t think customer pressure is going to make a difference here. There’s a reason they’re doing it that we’re probably never going to be aware of.

The other side of this is that everyone wants specifics. When the checks will happen. Whether the Occupied sign makes a difference. How to schedule a check for when it’s convenient for the guest. Whether or not they’ll come in anyway even if you ask them to come back later.

If you look at the experiences thread you’ll see that there aren’t any specifics. No hard and fast rules for how things are happening. That’s the nature of a security check. The minute they get completely predictable, the checks are not going to catch whatever they’re meant to catch, because the people doing the Bad Thing will simply plan around the checks. Guests are probably never going to be able to fully understand or control how these checks happen.

All of it boils down to this: It’s likely that a Disney employee will enter your room once a day. It may be at a time that’s convenient for you, it may be at a time that’s not convenient. Armed with this knowledge, you then have three choices.

• Decide that you don’t want to even take the chance that someone will enter your room, and plan to stay at a non-Disney resort from now on.

• Decide that the checks don’t bother you, you’ll roll with it.

• Decide that….you can’t decide, and you’ll try a Disney resort on your next stay and see how it goes. Maybe you’ll come back, maybe you won’t.

That’s it. All the venting on message boards that you could ever do isn’t going to give you more choices. All the arguing with fellow posters about how upset they should be isn’t going to change this policy. There’s only so many ways you can say “I don’t like this!” before it starts to get tiresome. Nobody likes it. You’re not supposed to like it. It’s a security policy that Disney has implemented and like any other hotel policy, you’re either OK with it, or it makes you want to stay elsewhere. And then, in the immortal words of Elsa….let it go.

Note: I’m not saying that y’all shouldn’t talk about this. It’s perfectly fine to have questions, and help each other gather as much information as you can. That’s what we do here. I’m just saying that after several thousand posts on the topic, there’s really not much point to arguments and rants. All of the arguments that could ever have been made….have been. All of the rants that could ever be ranted…have been. It will help to keep threads open if we try to stick to sharing helpful information, and vent your opinions and/or anger at Disney instead of at each other.

 

[dansdad]

Can we request a preferred block of time for room checks as late morning, late afternoon, early afternoon. If so is the best way to make sure the request is honored to speak in person to a resort manager, a HK Manager, or someone else

You can request, but it's only a request and may be ignored.

How can we verify that a person requesting access is a legit CM

Undo the latch and ask them to unlock the door.

Does the HK visit or the trash visit in a DVC count for the daily room check

Usually, yes. Sometimes a 2nd check happens.

If the RO sign is missing from the unit, what should we do

Contact housekeeping.

If the RO sign is up, is the protocol to knock, call and ask when a room chdckbus convenient, or something else?

Knock.

Is that a Disney wide protocol or dies it vary by resort

It actually varies by CM.

Can a guest request that they be present when a room check is performed

It can be requested but may not be honored.

These are good. I have a few more I've been thinking about:

What is Disney policy on entering rooms with unaccompanied minors (notably teenagers)?

They will attempt to enter. If the guests ask for them to come back when an adult is present they may agree. Case by case basis.

What is Disney policy if a female guest requests that a single man not enter the room without a female chaperone present?

They might honor that request and they might not. Case by case basis.

What is Disney policy regarding people with anxiety disorders that are exacerbated by unexpected disruptions?

There isn't one. Case by case basis.

Can they schedule a visit around when they will be out of the room?

It can be requested but may not be honored.

What is Disney policy regarding people using the latch who are in the shower, sleeping, or otherwise occupied and unable to come to the door?

Unless there's an emergency they are not supposed to enter.

How long will the CM continue to knock,

Up to the individual CM.

And do they ever bypass the latch as a matter of policy?

Unless there's an emergency they're not supposed to.

These answers come from actual housekeepers and CMs doing these checks. My Aunt was a WDW housekeeper for 14 years and still has many friends on the job. They all absolutely abhor this policy by the way.

There will never be a full published policy on this which is why these discussions are important. All we can do is share our experiences and educate each other.

Even though there is an internal policy it's only as good as those implementing it, those doing the actual checks.

 

[vinotinto]

My personal take on the room checks is that this is not something Disney wants to do, but something they’re being required to do. By a legal department, by an insurer, perhaps at the request of law enforcement. There’s no business case for Disney to be doing this without external pressures. It costs them more money, it annoys the guests, it annoys the staff. So, given that, I don’t think customer pressure is going to make a difference here. There’s a reason they’re doing it that we’re probably never going to be aware of.

The other side of this is that everyone wants specifics. When the checks will happen. Whether the Occupied sign makes a difference. How to schedule a check for when it’s convenient for the guest. Whether or not they’ll come in anyway even if you ask them to come back later.

If you look at the experiences thread you’ll see that there aren’t any specifics. No hard and fast rules for how things are happening. That’s the nature of a security check. The minute they get completely predictable, the checks are not going to catch whatever they’re meant to catch, because the people doing the Bad Thing will simply plan around the checks. Guests are probably never going to be able to fully understand or control how these checks happen.

Yes, agree with all of that. But, I don't think we should stop providing feedback to Guest Services because there are ways they can implement this and they need to understand what we are comfortable and not comfortable with, and creatively find solutions that minimize the disruption. For example, I am not comfortable with a man entering the room if I am by myself. And I also would like to be able to verify the identity of the person doing the checks. So, using guest feedback, they will have to creatively solve how to make those of us that would feel vulnerable being in the room by ourselves (women, teens, etc.) feel comfortable. They can have a security person come when the housekeeper is there. And, provide a way to verify the person doing the checks. For example, something along the lines of a section in the app, with "Meet the Housekeeping and Security team" with pictures of the team in the app. Honestly, I don't really know, but I do believe feedback to WDW is important.

 

[vinotinto]

These answers come from actual housekeepers and CMs doing these checks. My Aunt was a WDW housekeeper for 14 years and still has many friends on the job. They all absolutely abhor this policy by the way.

There will never be a full published policy on this which is why these discussions are important. All we can do is share our experiences and educate each other.

This is good info, thank you!

 

[Disneylover99]

We checked out of the Poly a few days ago. We didn’t have a room occupied sign in our room upon check in. I asked a maid in the hallway for one and she gave me one. I noticed very few people actually had room occupied signs on their doors there. I was thinking maybe they don’t put them in the rooms? Maybe mostly available upon request? Curious to know if others actually had them in their room since it was so rare to see them on the doors at all.

Anyways, I put one on my door immediately as we were unpacking and getting ready to go to a park. I left it on the door during the evening and went to the park. My husband received a text message about midnight saying they noticed the sign on our door and asked us to call housekeeping if we needed more towels. The email sounded like they thought we were opting out of housekeeping.

We didn’t respond to the email and left the sign off the following few days. Housekeeping came in while we were at the pools and made up our rooms the rest of the time we were there.

I did think the text was kind of strange and wondered if others had received one.

 

[disneyseniors]

The reason the sticky thread with experiences doesn’t allow questions or discussion is that the room check threads end up with about 90% “I don’t like it!” or “OMG, what if Disney starts doing THIS" and about 10% reports of what’s actually happening at the resorts. The thread is limited to experiences because we need a place for people to find out what’s actually going on, without having to wade through a couple of thousand rant and speculation posts.

I definitely want to keep at least one thread open for questions and discussion. The difficulty is that we always end up back at rants and wild speculation, which leads to frustration and arguments, and the thread goes right off the rails.

My personal take on the room checks is that this is not something Disney wants to do, but something they’re being required to do. By a legal department, by an insurer, perhaps at the request of law enforcement. There’s no business case for Disney to be doing this without external pressures. It costs them more money, it annoys the guests, it annoys the staff. So, given that, I don’t think customer pressure is going to make a difference here. There’s a reason they’re doing it that we’re probably never going to be aware of.

The other side of this is that everyone wants specifics. When the checks will happen. Whether the Occupied sign makes a difference. How to schedule a check for when it’s convenient for the guest. Whether or not they’ll come in anyway even if you ask them to come back later.

If you look at the experiences thread you’ll see that there aren’t any specifics. No hard and fast rules for how things are happening. That’s the nature of a security check. The minute they get completely predictable, the checks are not going to catch whatever they’re meant to catch, because the people doing the Bad Thing will simply plan around the checks. Guests are probably never going to be able to fully understand or control how these checks happen.

All of it boils down to this: It’s likely that a Disney employee will enter your room once a day. It may be at a time that’s convenient for you, it may be at a time that’s not convenient. Armed with this knowledge, you then have three choices.

• Decide that you don’t want to even take the chance that someone will enter your room, and plan to stay at a non-Disney resort from now on.

• Decide that the checks don’t bother you, you’ll roll with it.

• Decide that….you can’t decide, and you’ll try a Disney resort on your next stay and see how it goes. Maybe you’ll come back, maybe you won’t.

That’s it. All the venting on message boards that you could ever do isn’t going to give you more choices. All the arguing with fellow posters about how upset they should be isn’t going to change this policy. There’s only so many ways you can say “I don’t like this!” before it starts to get tiresome. Nobody likes it. You’re not supposed to like it. It’s a security policy that Disney has implemented and like any other hotel policy, you’re either OK with it, or it makes you want to stay elsewhere. And then, in the immortal words of Elsa….let it go.

Note: I’m not saying that y’all shouldn’t talk about this. It’s perfectly fine to have questions, and help each other gather as much information as you can. That’s what we do here. I’m just saying that after several thousand posts on the topic, there’s really not much point to arguments and rants. All of the arguments that could ever have been made….have been. All of the rants that could ever be ranted…have been. It will help to keep threads open if we try to stick to sharing helpful information, and vent your opinions and/or anger at Disney instead of at each other.

In all due respect, I haven't seen anyone arguing with fellow posters about how upset they should be? We are stating real concerns, worries, which have been passed up the chain. The "arguing" that goes on is from the same ones who are all upset that there is a thread about this. How fair is that? Someone or someones don't like a thread so lets all complain that it isn't needed. THAT's where the "arguing" comes from, and not from those of us who are trying to discuss the subject and give real life experiences. If that is not okay with the moderaters, then that is the way it is, I guess. I would hope that we can discuss any subject with discussion on Both sides, without heated arguments. No one wants that. We want to understand what is going on. Not one experience seems to be the same; each CM handles it differently, no one is on the same page on this, and that is frustrating for guests.
Thanks for your viewpoint, and I hope we can have this thread open til it dies it's own death.

 

[ellbell]

In all due respect, I haven't seen anyone arguing with fellow posters about how upset they should be? We are stating real concerns, worries, which have been passed up the chain. The "arguing" that goes on is from the same ones who are all upset that there is a thread about this. How fair is that? Someone or someones don't like a thread so lets all complain that it isn't needed. THAT's where the "arguing" comes from, and not from those of us who are trying to discuss the subject and give real life experiences. If that is not okay with the moderaters, then that is the way it is, I guess. I would hope that we can discuss any subject with discussion on Both sides, without heated arguments. No one wants that. We want to understand what is going on. Not one experience seems to be the same; each CM handles it differently, no one is on the same page on this, and that is frustrating for guests.
Thanks for your viewpoint, and I hope we can have this thread open til it dies it's own death.

Respectfully disagree about the arguing. In previous threads the arguing has been started because people feel like Disney shouldn't be allowed to do this and get upset when they are informed that Disney can do whatever they want on their property and start hurling what ifs about being assaulted in their rooms and bringing in what they perceive as "law" and their rights to privacy.

 

[lorigacc]

Just got back from both Grand Floridian and Boardwalk split stay. I kept the RO hanger on the door when we were in the room. No one every walked in, and knocked every time. The knocking drives me a bit crazy, but it's something I just have to deal with.

 

[ShayBells]

My mom had expensive jewelry stolen at a non Disney hotel once by a maid. It put her off maid service for life and she’s very paranoid about it. We would be the opposite of most people. I don’t care if they have to come in I would just rather be present. I don’t need anyone cleaning. Not that I don’t trust people, but I don’t trust people. Her paranoia leaked to me unfortunately. Seems like a major overstep of privacy. Would it make me not stay at Disney? No but it’ll make me use the inroom safe more.

I wonder though if they hear a shower running if they’d come back later or check the room anyways while your showering behind the door none the wiser.

 

[HopperFan]

Yes, agree with all of that. But, I don't think we should stop providing feedback to Guest Services because there are ways they can implement this and they need to understand what we are comfortable and not comfortable with, and creatively find solutions that minimize the disruption. For example, I am not comfortable with a man entering the room if I am by myself. And I also would like to be able to verify the identity of the person doing the checks. So, using guest feedback, they will have to creatively solve how to make those of us that would feel vulnerable being in the room by ourselves (women, teens, etc.) feel comfortable. They can have a security person come when the housekeeper is there. And, provide a way to verify the person doing the checks. For example, something along the lines of a section in the app, with "Meet the Housekeeping and Security team" with pictures of the team in the app. Honestly, I don't really know, but I do believe feedback to WDW is important.

THIS^

They are the only hotels I know that are doing this. Are they the only hotel with this specific problem?

They likely don't have to do what they are doing, the way they are doing it. They are likely doing it the cheapest way possible, which impacts the guests.

I DO feel that discussions are important on this subject. Those who don't feel that way, then just respect others right to discuss what has happened to them and their fears, expectations. Just ignore or don't open the thread. Saying, not again, does nothing. Apparently there IS a need to discuss this, even with all the closed threads when this subject comes up. It needs to be discussed.
I feel that our basic expectations as guests on our very expensive vacations should count for something. What is wrong with going back to your room for WHATEVER reason without being interrupted, sometimes rudely? I don't understand it. What really concerns me is that we apparently don't have a way to verify if security really is security. They need an ID, at the least. If we run into this when we visit this December, I will demand verification that the security person is really who they say they are. Right now, anyone could say they security and enter your room. Safety used to be #1 with Walt Disney!

THIS^

If the policy is not a bother to you, if you don't want to read the stuff ... don't open the thread.

When folks want to have a convo about Chef Mickey, I don't get on and say "who in their right mind would spend a penny on that disaster" .... I move on. Now if someone asks which meal to drop I vote. When folks want to ooh and ahh over GF, I don't post how bland and boring and overpriced, not even a good pool ....... I move on. We get it, we get that this doesn't bother many. So why come here? There are so many threads to read and participate in, I just don't get why folks feel the need to blast an OP or others. There is no need to tell people how to think and what to discuss ... if it's of no interest, don't participate.

When you have a real concern, a real desire for information - and it's hard because the whole purpose of these checks is to catch the guests off guard, therefore no rules - you keep asking. You keep hoping at some point someone will give you an answer. You hope it has changed.

It's hard to be someone who loves Disney and Disney hotels but find yourself questioning if you should stay there. Luckily for me I go often, I know the area and I have an AP (free parking) so this moving me offsite has not been as hard as for others. I feel completely unwelcome by Disney. I don't need to come here and discuss it, but others do ........... just let them.

 

[Jen1995]

The reason the sticky thread with experiences doesn’t allow questions or discussion is that the room check threads end up with about 90% “I don’t like it!” or “OMG, what if Disney starts doing THIS" and about 10% reports of what’s actually happening at the resorts. The thread is limited to experiences because we need a place for people to find out what’s actually going on, without having to wade through a couple of thousand rant and speculation posts.

I definitely want to keep at least one thread open for questions and discussion. The difficulty is that we always end up back at rants and wild speculation, which leads to frustration and arguments, and the thread goes right off the rails.

My personal take on the room checks is that this is not something Disney wants to do, but something they’re being required to do. By a legal department, by an insurer, perhaps at the request of law enforcement. There’s no business case for Disney to be doing this without external pressures. It costs them more money, it annoys the guests, it annoys the staff. So, given that, I don’t think customer pressure is going to make a difference here. There’s a reason they’re doing it that we’re probably never going to be aware of.

The other side of this is that everyone wants specifics. When the checks will happen. Whether the Occupied sign makes a difference. How to schedule a check for when it’s convenient for the guest. Whether or not they’ll come in anyway even if you ask them to come back later.

If you look at the experiences thread you’ll see that there aren’t any specifics. No hard and fast rules for how things are happening. That’s the nature of a security check. The minute they get completely predictable, the checks are not going to catch whatever they’re meant to catch, because the people doing the Bad Thing will simply plan around the checks. Guests are probably never going to be able to fully understand or control how these checks happen.

All of it boils down to this: It’s likely that a Disney employee will enter your room once a day. It may be at a time that’s convenient for you, it may be at a time that’s not convenient. Armed with this knowledge, you then have three choices.

• Decide that you don’t want to even take the chance that someone will enter your room, and plan to stay at a non-Disney resort from now on.

• Decide that the checks don’t bother you, you’ll roll with it.

• Decide that….you can’t decide, and you’ll try a Disney resort on your next stay and see how it goes. Maybe you’ll come back, maybe you won’t.

That’s it. All the venting on message boards that you could ever do isn’t going to give you more choices. All the arguing with fellow posters about how upset they should be isn’t going to change this policy. There’s only so many ways you can say “I don’t like this!” before it starts to get tiresome. Nobody likes it. You’re not supposed to like it. It’s a security policy that Disney has implemented and like any other hotel policy, you’re either OK with it, or it makes you want to stay elsewhere. And then, in the immortal words of Elsa….let it go.

Note: I’m not saying that y’all shouldn’t talk about this. It’s perfectly fine to have questions, and help each other gather as much information as you can. That’s what we do here. I’m just saying that after several thousand posts on the topic, there’s really not much point to arguments and rants. All of the arguments that could ever have been made….have been. All of the rants that could ever be ranted…have been. It will help to keep threads open if we try to stick to sharing helpful information, and vent your opinions and/or anger at Disney instead of at each other.

I'm glad DISboards isn't going to censor discussion on this topic. I think that many posters wish that were the case for some reason, and I truly don't understand how this topic is somehow less worthy of discussion than the endless debates on whether Disney Dining Plan is worth it.
However, I think some people are not correct about the legal basis behind this policy. No law has been passed requiring Disney to do this. They are also the only hotel system implementing a policy in this manner. Ask any in-house lawyer and they will tell you that these things are not black and white at all. It is not only reasonable but imperative as a society that we feel free to question having basic privacy removed without a cogent explanation. Moreover, Disney has a long history of changing policy relative to guest demand so it is also useful to continue contacting guest services. If these forums can be helpful for people to gather their thoughts and concerns so their letters and phone calls are more persuasive, all the bettter.
One last comment (before I would really like to move back to our original discussion about what to ask Disney, which keeps being interrupted): I am disappointed that several posters have been accusing others of "hysteria" around this issue. Safety and privacy are not small things. They are not unimportant things. And while people differ on how much they require to feel comfortable, that does not mean that it is ok to gaslight others or belittle their concerns just because they feel differently about something. There are women who have been victims of abuse who have a very legitimate concern about men they don't know demanding access to their hotel room. There are people who for cultural reasons are extremely uncomfortable with someone disturbing them while they are in a state of undress. These are entirely legitimate concerns and I think anyone who feels the need to mock or silence those airing such concerns would be better off on another thread discussing something else.

It seems many have the goal to derail and shut down every thread on this topic, which is distracting and, frankly, bordering on juvenile. I highly doubt Disney would want any of their guests being treated with disdain by other guests either IRL or online. I'm asking nicely to please let those who want to talk about it be able to talk about it.

 

[Jen1995]

We checked out of the Poly a few days ago. We didn’t have a room occupied sign in our room upon check in. I asked a maid in the hallway for one and she gave me one. I noticed very few people actually had room occupied signs on their doors there. I was thinking maybe they don’t put them in the rooms? Maybe mostly available upon request? Curious to know if others actually had them in their room since it was so rare to see them on the doors at all.

Anyways, I put one on my door immediately as we were unpacking and getting ready to go to a park. I left it on the door during the evening and went to the park. My husband received a text message about midnight saying they noticed the sign on our door and asked us to call housekeeping if we needed more towels. The email sounded like they thought we were opting out of housekeeping.

We didn’t respond to the email and left the sign off the following few days. Housekeeping came in while we were at the pools and made up our rooms the rest of the time we were there.

I did think the text was kind of strange and wondered if others had received one.

That is a very weird text to receive at midnight. I have to keep my phone on for work reasons, and I would be pretty upset to wake up to some midnight towel request. This kind of thing is exactly what we are trying to figure out from Disney - it is policy to send texts in the middle of the night or was this a rogue CM? just knowing that piece of information would empower you enough to know what to even do about it in the future.

 

[dansdad]

That is a very weird text to receive at midnight. I have to keep my phone on for work reasons, and I would be pretty upset to wake up to some midnight towel request. This kind of thing is exactly what we are trying to figure out from Disney - it is policy to send texts in the middle of the night or was this a rogue CM? just knowing that piece of information would empower you enough to know what to even do about it in the future.

That happens when a text gets "stuck" in Disney's system. Can't tell you how many room ready texts I've gotten in the middle of the night or even 4 days after checking in.

 

[Jen1995]

That happens when a text gets "stuck" in Disney's system. Can't tell you how many room ready texts I've gotten in the middle of the night or even 4 days after checking in.

Thanks- that makes sense!

 

[Jen1995]

You can request, but it's only a request and may be ignored.



Undo the latch and ask them to unlock the door.



Usually, yes. Sometimes a 2nd check happens.



Contact housekeeping.



Knock.



It actually varies by CM.



It can be requested but may not be honored.



They will attempt to enter. If the guests ask for them to come back when an adult is present they may agree. Case by case basis.



They might honor that request and they might not. Case by case basis.



There isn't one. Case by case basis.




It can be requested but may not be honored.



Unless there's an emergency they are not supposed to enter.



Up to the individual CM.



Unless there's an emergency they're not supposed to.

These answers come from actual housekeepers and CMs doing these checks. My Aunt was a WDW housekeeper for 14 years and still has many friends on the job. They all absolutely abhor this policy by the way.

There will never be a full published policy on this which is why these discussions are important. All we can do is share our experiences and educate each other.

Even though there is an internal policy it's only as good as those implementing it, those doing the actual checks.

Thank you very much for sharing this information. It is very surprising that so much is left to individual CMs here. It seems like a very risky move for both the guests AND the individual CMs. It puts a lot of potential liability on the little guy.

Think about it: if something happens that is unsafe and the CM missed it, they can say it was his fault for not implementing the policy optimally. Additionally, if a CM does something that does harm a guest in some way, Disney can also point to the CM and say that was his fault, not that of the company. Without written rules and guidelines to follow, the CM is left high and dry.

I can see why they would hate it. And it is certainly part of an ongoing theme in the experiences threads that different CMs are telling us what is and is not "supposed" to be what happens.