Paul Stupin
New DVC Member
- Joined
- May 8, 2016
Couldn’t agree more! None of these are deal breakers. They’re nitpicks. Sorry that you were occasionally misinformed. Sorry about the mix up with the key cards. Re the elevators, there’s a panel on either side of the door in each elevator. When we were there last week, we noticed that occasionally our floor button didn’t work as well, so we‘d just hit the button on the other panel three feet away. Sorry that the fabric was damaged on 2 of the approx. 500 lounge chairs.We just completed an Aulani stay last week and we were not impressed. We've been DVC members for over a decade (BLT) and have fairly reasonable expectations. Most of the issues with our stay weren't "huge", but they were annoying.
Multiple times we entered an elevator and couldn't get a certain floor's buttons to work. Not the end of the world but certainly the level of maintenance I expect based on how much we're paying.
I found many staff members to be less informed than I would have expected. More than once we asked cast members about character schedules, only to be told "check the app!". It took a few days until we found out the app isn't always accurate, and that there's also a phone number you can call to hear the character lineup for the day.
We were misquoted operating hours on a handful of occasions.
We were sent to the wrong room, then were told to hand in our key cards after our first stay in a split stay, only to be asked why we didn't keep our key cards when we checked in again.
We encountered 2 pool chairs where the fabric had been completely ripped off at the bottom.
None of these were deal breakers and there were plenty of positives. We enjoyed Olelo room very much, as well as the character experience at Makahiki. The poke bowls at Ulu were oustanding. It all worked out just fine.
However, it was definitely not an over-the-top experience. I'd be hard-pressed to spend over $1,000 a night (or that equivalent in DVC points) unless I heard reports that the service levels had improved.
To me, no vacation experience is perfect and this is the kind of small stuff you just have to roll with. But, as they say, you can always “vote with your pocketbook” and never go to Aulani again!