Mouse keeping--is this just an issue at Poly?

[nursejackie]

We have problems at OKW, because we rent DVC points we only get towel and trash service every other day, and a full service every 7 days but we always have to chase this full service. We stay for 16 nights or more so expect this twice but still have to chase it each time, and even then it takes a day or two for them to give us what we are entitled to. We're not so bothered about the cleaning, but we don't want to sleep in the same bed linen for the whole stay, we wouldn't do that at home! It's the same every year.

 

[mousefan73]

We would love if they serviced our rooms at 3pm. We are late sleepers and most times they are waking us at 9am! Or in the room when we come back from breakfast. We are late in the day starters.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have problems at OKW, because we rent DVC points we only get towel and trash service every other day, and a full service every 7 days but we always have to chase this full service. We stay for 16 nights or more so expect this twice but still have to chase it each time, and even then it takes a day or two for them to give us what we are entitled to. We're not so bothered about the cleaning, but we don't want to sleep in the same bed linen for the whole stay, we wouldn't do that at home! It's the same every year.

Are you paying for extra cleaning? Normally, with 16 nights you would get full cleaning on day 4, trash and towel on day 8, full cleaning day 12, trash and towel on day 16. If you have one reservation for 16 nights, that how it works. But if you have two or more reservations, each reservation starts a new cycle.

 

[BayouQueen]

Seems like since WDW resorts have many guests with children, who do need a quiet place for an afternoon rest or nap, it's pretty important to get the rooms in order. Maybe Disney needs to pay more to attract and keep more and better housekeeping staff?

Personally, wherever we travel, I make the beds (quickly & sloppily!) and do a quick room "pick-up" so that it's a pleasant place to be, knowing that we may not see a housekeeper for awhile. But somebody here said they call to let housekeeping know they are out of the room. That's a really great idea. In the old days the door cards used to flip over from "privacy please" to "please service the room." Because of thieves, they don't do that anymore, so giving a heads-up to housekeeping does make a lot of sense and would help them plan their work more efficiently.

 

[Minnesota!]

We had spot-on housekeeping at AKL last week. I noticed a LOT of trays left in the hallways. They were there at night (after dinner) and stayed through the night, and were there when we left in the mornings, but housekeeping grabbed (most) of them during their rounds that morning/afternoon.

They cleaned the carpets AND deep-vacuumed TWICE in my 7 days there (like a ride on steam cleaner thing...). Our room was always clean, fresh, and even when we didn't request new towels, we got them.

I don't care what time my room is cleaned, as long as it is cleaned before I go to bed. Crawling into an unmade bed is skeevy to me. And, on vacation, I don't want to make it myself.

 

[BayouQueen]

We had spot-on housekeeping at AKL last week. I noticed a LOT of trays left in the hallways. They were there at night (after dinner) and stayed through the night, and were there when we left in the mornings, but housekeeping grabbed (most) of them during their rounds that morning/afternoon.

They cleaned the carpets AND deep-vacuumed TWICE in my 7 days there (like a ride on steam cleaner thing...). Our room was always clean, fresh, and even when we didn't request new towels, we got them.

I don't care what time my room is cleaned, as long as it is cleaned before I go to bed. Crawling into an unmade bed is skeevy to me. And, on vacation, I don't want to make it myself.

We had really fabulous service at AKL, too. My guess is that each resort has its own "personality," depending on the management team in place.

 

[goofyintoronto]

During my stay at the all stars resort last trip, I noticed the same thing....i'd come back to the room in the afternoon to find the maid cleaning my room. Happened twice or three times I believe. Sure its annoying, but hey, what can you do.

 

[Spencer Wright]

We had really fabulous service at AKL, too. My guess is that each resort has its own "personality," depending on the management team in place.

They start real early which is good for rope drop people, which probably describes a large chunk of people on this board.

 

[Yarbogash]

I've never been in a hotel (worldwide) where hotel rooms aren't finished by 3-:30. The staff starts early and completes their work by check in. All of the work...not just new check ins. Disney gets this wrong, very wrong. They want you to spend time at their resorts. They want you to buy DVC. Their service must be top notch for people to consider buying in. Sloppy hallways, trays left, and rooms that aren't cleaned within a reasonable time frame won't attract repeat customers or potential buyers.

And I am advocating for both the workers AND the consumer. One does not exist without the other. Human error? No problem. Repeat problems occurring to many customers? Problem.

Well said.

As a guest and from working in hotels back when I was in school my experience has been a decent hotel will be aiming to have all rooms serviced before 4pm. A good 4 or 5 star hotel should be aiming for before 3pm where possible and servicing according to requests.
At a really good hotel where they are truly on the ball the servicing happens as soon as you go out for the day.
In Orlando I've had that kind of service only at the 4 Seasons and the Hilton on I Drive.

 

[Jennasis]

If anyone is running into a situation where trays and stuff are left in the hallways for hours or even days, grab your camera and snap a photo then head to the front desk and ask for the manager. Then forward the photo to Bob Iger's email and if you are on twitter post them on there. I am fairly certain it will be remedied.

 

[LowesChevy]

We stayed this past February and two of five days it had not been done. It was the weekend so likely different CMs were cleaning the room. DM called most mornings, but of course the mornings we didnt phone were the days they didn't arrive till late late afternoon. No real worries, I ask for towels and trash service. At the Beach Club if you happen to have one of the rooms at the end of the hall you are usually last on the cleaning list as well. Location can factor in and different staff will take over on other days. As @Deb & Bill mentioned for DVC units especially, they will clean the checkout rooms first to make room for new guests.

As OP have mentioned it really does help to call housekeeping before you step out in the morning and let them know you would like an early cleaning. We head back to the room after lunch, so it is nice to get back and be able to fully relax.

 

[Mousefan mom]

NOOOOOO That's maybe the saddest thing I've heard all day! Tell you what, if we are both staying at the Poly at the same time I will come and clean your room for you. Anything to help regain the Poly Love!!
You are so sweet! Don't get me wrong, love the resort, but we paid so much to stay, and noticed a lot of these types of thing this trip we have not in previous Disney visits. We did not get our room request, we got a new waiter at Ohana and it took over 2 hours to have dinner, noodles were brought out cold, he forgot the Carmel sauce for the dessert, etc. I know "first world problems", but it all added up and we paid nearly 50 percent more to stay at the Poly than we had previously. I hear they are raising it even more soon, adding more room categories (which make more rooms even pricier), etc. At first we thought maybe they just cater much more to DVC, but it was the DVC members telling me about this new contracting out if housekeeping, and how those in the bungalows (which are the most expensive) were getting skipped. When they came in, the job was done well...just more sporadic about service.

The next time you stay there, which you will of course because I'm going to clean your room, try the boat to MK instead. We ended up never taking the monorail our last trip. The boat was so much more fun. It took longer for sure, but felt more like a ride and less like transportation.

NOOOOOO That's maybe the saddest thing I've heard all day! Tell you what, if we are both staying at the Poly at the same time I will come and clean your room for you. Anything to help regain the Poly Love!!


The next time you stay there, which you will of course because I'm going to clean your room, try the boat to MK instead. We ended up never taking the monorail our last trip. The boat was so much more fun. It took longer for sure, but felt more like a ride and less like transportation.

 

[tgarre06]

We just got back from the Poly too and our rooms were never serviced before 3pm, sometimes not even until 5pm. I didn't love it. What I disliked even more was how disgusting the hallways and elevator were.

I agree that I was less than impressed with the cleanliness and condition of the hallways when I stayed there a few years ago.

 

[CrankyDad]

Hotel GM here.. Not to be blunt, but the average guest does not know what it takes to clean rooms and the time. Each attendant will get over 16 rooms to clean in a day. Their "board" will be a mix of check outs and stay overs. It is a balancing act to try to make everyone happy. You have to deal with late c/o, special requests, people that pop the DND then remove and demand service right away.

It is very common to not get to all the rooms by 3-4pm. They have to focus on more arrival rooms on some of the days, leaving more stayovers (ie your room while at the park) which in turn means you might not get the room refreshed till later in the day.

It is a huge job folks.. Try to be patient with them! But no matter what, room should be cleaned to standards.. don't accept less with that

 

[dina7]

Definitely not just a Poly issue. We had the same thing happen the past few years at the Yacht Club and Grand Floridian! We would return in afternoon for a break and room not serviced. At Yacht Club it was after spending the morning at Stormalong Bay & wanting to shower. Went up to room & saw ours wasn't done, but housekeeping working on nearby rooms. Thinking ours would be done shortly, I made mistake of waiting in the lobby thinking it would be any minute that our room was done. Well 45 minutes later our room was cleaned...just ridiculous. After our trip I spoke to someone at Disney about it & she said that for any stay at a Disney Resort, you can call housekeeping & request to have room made up in a.m.

So for last year's stay at GF, when we returned around 1:00 & room was not made up, I called to request morning room makeup. It wasn't a problem after that until midway through our stay on our non park day when we slept in. Then the following day it went back to late housekeeping. Again had to make a request by phone to housekeeping.

 

[dina7]

Hotel GM here.. Not to be blunt, but the average guest does not know what it takes to clean rooms and the time. Each attendant will get over 16 rooms to clean in a day. Their "board" will be a mix of check outs and stay overs. It is a balancing act to try to make everyone happy. You have to deal with late c/o, special requests, people that pop the DND then remove and demand service right away.

It is very common to not get to all the rooms by 3-4pm. They have to focus on more arrival rooms on some of the days, leaving more stayovers (ie your room while at the park) which in turn means you might not get the room refreshed till later in the day.

It is a huge job folks.. Try to be patient with them! But no matter what, room should be cleaned to standards.. don't accept less with that

Btw, I am not in any way blaming the actual housekeepers for this. I blame Disney for not hiring ENOUGH housekeeping staff. Rooms should be serviced BEFORE 5:00 pm, especially at a place like Disney World, where many guests return to their rooms in the early afternoon.

So yeah, I will be patient with the housekeeping staff, but not with Disney, especially with the prices they charge for rooms!

 

[Mousefan mom]

Definitely not just a Poly issue. We had the same thing happen the past few years at the Yacht Club and Grand Floridian! We would return in afternoon for a break and room not serviced. At Yacht Club it was after spending the morning at Stormalong Bay & wanting to shower. Went up to room & saw ours wasn't done, but housekeeping working on nearby rooms. Thinking ours would be done shortly, I made mistake of waiting in the lobby thinking it would be any minute that our room was done. Well 45 minutes later our room was cleaned...just ridiculous. After our trip I spoke to someone at Disney about it & she said that for any stay at a Disney Resort, you can call housekeeping & request to have room made up in a.m.

So for last year's stay at GF, when we returned around 1:00 & room was not made up, I called to request morning room makeup. It wasn't a problem after that until midway through our stay on our non park day when we slept in. Then the following day it went back to late housekeeping. Again had to make a request by phone to housekeeping.

Good to know. I had never thought to call. I will make sure and do that in the future. The room was always serviced very nicely when it was done, and I always leave a tip, but I was just a little surprised to see it take so long. This is our 7th WDW trip, and this is the first time we have had an issue. We paid over $550 a night for our room...(the most we have ever paid to stay at Disney), so frankly I guess this may have added to my disappointment when I would come back to the room, and find no one had came in. First world problems...but we saved up for this trip.

 

[Yarbogash]

Hotel GM here.. Not to be blunt, but the average guest does not know what it takes to clean rooms and the time. Each attendant will get over 16 rooms to clean in a day. Their "board" will be a mix of check outs and stay overs. It is a balancing act to try to make everyone happy. You have to deal with late c/o, special requests, people that pop the DND then remove and demand service right away.

It is very common to not get to all the rooms by 3-4pm. They have to focus on more arrival rooms on some of the days, leaving more stayovers (ie your room while at the park) which in turn means you might not get the room refreshed till later in the day.

It is a huge job folks.. Try to be patient with them! But no matter what, room should be cleaned to standards.. don't accept less with that

Good, thoughtful response but I'd argue while 16+ rooms per cleaner can be standard at some hotels imho that should not be the standard at a place like the Poly. The number can vary just based on individual staff preferences (some cleaners I knew could do 20+ and were happy to do it) but for comparison many luxury properties assign 10 or even 8 rooms per cleaner. Whatever number they are going with sounds like it's not always working out.

 

[Anniefrances]

I would add to the discussion that if you are staying at a deluxe resort it is possible to call and request turn down service. I did this on the days that my kids slept in late and we had the privacy tag hung on the door until mid-afternoon. We found that we actually prefer having our room serviced this way - it's so nice to return late at night with the extra touches of the chocolates and the dimmed lighting along with the freshly cleaned room - for which I was happy to leave a generous tip.

 

[flortlebap]

Not just a Poly issue. Our rooms are usually clean, but on the odd occasion when we've returned at 2:30-3, they haven't been cleaned. It's no biggie - we just request no mouse keeping that day and they're usually back early the next day we can live without it for one night as we're obsessively tidy people anyway!