My Experience at the Polynesian

[Aerinha]

I fail to see how the safety of a family is forever endangered by glass on the floor after it was cleaned up so that they have to flee the room. It is not like there was a toxic spill seeping into the carpet,,sewage spewing from the toilet and a serial killer in the room next door. Once vaccumed up the "danger" was over. And the same bad maid service cleans those rooms too. Who knows what dangers lurk there?

Should glass have been left on the floor? Absolutely not, but demanding a new room as compensation is over the top. Do you move houses every time you break a glass at home because even once cleaned up the idea that glass broke there puts your family in danger?

I mean, I agree you had a reason to be angry house keeping didn't clean up something they broke and your husband injured his foot. Not tipping would have been step one. Asking for a deduction from the bill since clearly you paid for cleaning services that were not provided would have been step two. What I am saying is, of all the things to ask for in this situation, a new room wouldn't be the most logical choice.

 

[dp911]

I have had a similar experience occur in the main building club level of the GF.

DH and I arrived back to our room to find a glass bottle of my personal (brought from home) face cream broken on the bathroom countertop and on the floor. It definitely wasn't broken before we left, so either housekeeping broke it while cleaning the bathroom, or moved it into a precarious position on the shelf and it broke after they left. Either way, it was still there when we entered.

Luckily, it was pretty noticeable since the cream was also splashed among the shards of glass so we both left our shoes on. DH went out to the concierge desk to request someone come vacuum and I grabbed a washclosh and attempted to be helpful by pushing all of the countertop shards into the trash. Of course, I'm a clutz and somehow managed to slice my finger open. DH came back just in time to see the blood beginning to gush, poor guy. I wrapped a hand towel around my finger and was applying pressure when the housekeeper came in to vacuum. The bleeding wasn't slowing down, so DH and I decided to head to the concierge desk and ask for help. We let the housekeeper know we'd be leaving the room and to please make sure to vacuum the area around the bathroom as well.

The CM at the concierge desk was sympathetic and asked if we would like an ambulance, and I declined saying I'd rather go to an urgent care facility than a full blown ER. They asked if we would require transportation, but we had a car and elected to drive ourselves there. I ended up getting 3 stitches in my finger.

We arrived back in our room around midnight and all of the mess had been taken care of. Throughout the rest of the week the CMs in the concierge lounge checked in on me asking if I needed any ice, how I was doing, etc. We never received an apology for the broken glass, my lost face cream, or my injury, however I was satisfied with Disney's response -- when they were alerted to the broken glass they quickly sent someone to clean it up, and when they were alerted of my injury they offered an ambulance or other transportation to get it checked out. It stinks that I had to spend my evening getting stitches instead of enjoying my vacation, but accidents happen everywhere - even when you've paid a lot of money for a "perfect" vacation! Now DH and I call that scar my "Wishes scar" -- partly because we were supposed to be watching Wishes while I was getting stitched, and partly because we wish I weren't a clutz!

I don't think disney would of paid for the ambulance. They would of called to have one come but it would be billed to your insurance company. Housekeeping needs to do better. If i stay less than 3 nights I never have them come on the room and just keep it tidy ourselves and just call for more towels. I do not trust them in my room.

 

[Sammyjo199]

Oh for the love of god, they were hand towels, not beach towels. He wasn't holding them on his foot until dripping wet. I stated they were solidly crimson, I didn't say I could ring them out and fill a container. I'll leave it at this, again I'm not asking for compensation. I felt there are members of this board who would benefit from hearing my experience and it was cathartic to share. If I was wrong, I can easily take the post down. I expected attacks, but I did not expect to be called a liar. I have nothing to gain from making Disney look bad. My stories not the first and it certainly won't be the last.

Did Disney ever get back to you with a response?

 

[Disbug]

I don't think disney would of paid for the ambulance. They would of called to have one come but it would be billed to your insurance company. Housekeeping needs to do better. If i stay less than 3 nights I never have them come on the room and just keep it tidy ourselves and just call for more towels. I do not trust them in my room.

Reedy Creek EMT would have transported him to the hospital and Disney would have refunded him for a return trip by taxi. This has happened in our family twice. Once from the Poly and once from Hollywood Studios... We never received a bill for anything other than the Emergency Room Charges... We were told to take our receipt to the front desk of our resort to get reimbursed for the taxi ride back; sounded like this is a common practice.

 

[Disbug]

***Not saying the OP did this*** but reading the responses makes me think about how litigious and otherwise whiny our society has become. This is a relatively minor issue and as far as Disney is concerned it may not have even been their doing - but because its Disney we expect them to provide us something for free. When we don't get our freebie we get all kinds of crazy and think about suing them? Huh? Assuming 1200 rooms at Poly thats about 3,600-4,800 people they see every week - assuming 5% of those have problems that's ~10,400 complaints a year for one resort - they cannot possibly offer free vacations etc to them.

They did fail because they didnt vacuum the room immediately but thats about all they did wrong here.

I have a love/hate relationship with this response...lol! On the surface it seems like a "minor" issue and there are tons of people that do create situations deliberately in order to be compensated. However, based on the OP's description, I think they had a case...her DH bled like a stuck pig (as quite a few towels were bloodied). The glass went deep and created a puncture wound. Puncture wounds are hard to clean and susceptible to becoming infected (including bone infections). So if the floor & glass had the right bacteria on it, he could have had a serious medical complication from this. Also, the next person inhabiting the room is going to have potential glass shards still in the carpet, but now one has to hope housekeeping has a protocol for sanitizing a floor that has been bloodied... (Anyone remember blood born pathogens?)

Other issues, which have merit are the stress and discomfort this experience created for that family. If you have ever walked on a cut foot (esp. puncture wound), you know that is painful. Now both parents are also stressed because it interrupted their vacation in a major way; their "sanctuary" is no longer a safe and happy place, it has proven to be a hazard of unknown quantity (evidenced by all the glass later found in the carpet). It creates a worry in their minds, when the whole point is to escape for a short time and just enjoy your family. Adults can cope and put on shoes, slippers, flip flops, but you don't want to to risk your kids getting cut. I think management could have nipped this in the bud with immediate concern and care for the family. The housekeeping supervisor did this. I think moving the family to another room was NOT an unreasonable request. They just wanted to get back to enjoying their vacation... (Putting soap box back in the laundry room!)

 

[leebee]

Yes, but I got better customer service from the Homewood Suites in Macon, GA.

Funny, I got better customer service from Homewood Suites, too! Coming up from a late breakfast, our room cards didn't work. DH went and had them recoded, but they still didn't work. Maintenance came, let us in, "fixed" the lock, gave us new cards. As we were leaving a couple hours later, the deadbolt popped open and wouldn't close, so we couldn't leave the room. Maintenance came, said they'd get the job done, so we headed to the beach. Returned 5 hours later, STILL locked out, and now maintenance cards didn't work either! Security let us in, we changed for our evening plans, and off we went, with maintenance AND security working on the door. Returning that evening, we got new cards. Upon entering our room, there was a bottle of wine and some cupcakes in the room. Nice, I thought. Even nicer was when they comped us a night's rate at checkout the next morning!

Then there was the time we stayed offsite at the NikiBird. I got sick.. I think it was from the seafood newburgh at 1900 Park Fare. (not sure... but that was all I could think of as I was miserably sick from both ends, for HOURS). It was just DD and me- she was probably about 9 at the time. When the housekeeper came in the morning, I was too sick to have her in the room, just asked for towels and some toilet paper. Imagine my surprise when management arrived at the room with some tylenol, Immodium, and Pepto! Even more surprising was a few hours later- early supper time- when they delivered some chicken noodle soup for me and a kids chicken nugget meal for DD! I thought they were incredibly kind to do this... and all at no charge.

THAT's the kind of customer service one USED to get at Disney... but apparently no longer. Imagine- a discounted offsite hotel providing better service than Disney!

 

[starousse]

Just got back from the Poly and the absolute worst Mousekeeping by far.

 

[maxiesmom]

THAT's the kind of customer service one USED to get at Disney... but apparently no longer. Imagine- a discounted offsite hotel providing better service than Disney!

Imagine if someone posted Disney did that---suddenly there would be thousands of people "sick" in their rooms.

 

[Disbug]

Imagine if someone posted Disney did that---suddenly there would be thousands of people "sick" in their rooms.

Aww, come on, lol! No one wants to waste precious vacation time pretending to be sick at Disney!

 

[olive]

Just got back from the Poly and the absolute worst Mousekeeping by far.

We just got back yesterday - our trip was a split Poly/YC. We have stayed at Poly a bunch of times and the mouse keeping was disappointing this time. We were at the front desk several times. I was pretty annoyed. YC - where we were staying for the first time - had much more professional mouse keeping service. The rooms were actually consistently cleaned for a start and the staff we encountered were not complaining openly about patrons in the hallways (as I heard at the Poly after asking for the second time that stained sheets on a bed since check in please be changed so we could use the bed). Perhaps one or two of the cleaning staff at Poly are just not performing up to standard. The responses we got from the hotel were usually courteous but on one occasion pretty unsatisfactory and unprofessional. Our situation was not as serious ever as an injury due to a mouse keeping oversight, but seems a common theme (you don't know what you are going to get). I would still stay at the resort again, but I know service issues can be a crap shoot and once something escalates beyond the hotel, I have no idea how or if a response would be forthcoming from anyone higher up (even if that isn't appropriate or satisfying).

 

[LvsTnk]

Thank you OP for posting this I really appreciate it

 

[Summertinkerbell]

I have a love/hate relationship with this response...lol! On the surface it seems like a "minor" issue and there are tons of people that do create situations deliberately in order to be compensated. However, based on the OP's description, I think they had a case...her DH bled like a stuck pig (as quite a few towels were bloodied). The glass went deep and created a puncture wound. Puncture wounds are hard to clean and susceptible to becoming infected (including bone infections). So if the floor & glass had the right bacteria on it, he could have had a serious medical complication from this. Also, the next person inhabiting the room is going to have potential glass shards still in the carpet, but now one has to hope housekeeping has a protocol for sanitizing a floor that has been bloodied... (Anyone remember blood born pathogens?)

Other issues, which have merit are the stress and discomfort this experience created for that family. If you have ever walked on a cut foot (esp. puncture wound), you know that is painful. Now both parents are also stressed because it interrupted their vacation in a major way; their "sanctuary" is no longer a safe and happy place, it has proven to be a hazard of unknown quantity (evidenced by all the glass later found in the carpet). It creates a worry in their minds, when the whole point is to escape for a short time and just enjoy your family. Adults can cope and put on shoes, slippers, flip flops, but you don't want to to risk your kids getting cut. I think management could have nipped this in the bud with immediate concern and care for the family. The housekeeping supervisor did this. I think moving the family to another room was NOT an unreasonable request. They just wanted to get back to enjoying their vacation... (Putting soap box back in the laundry room!)

You clearly have empathy for others...something which seems to be lacking in some people.

 

[Summertinkerbell]

I fail to see how the safety of a family is forever endangered by glass on the floor after it was cleaned up so that they have to flee the room. It is not like there was a toxic spill seeping into the carpet,,sewage spewing from the toilet and a serial killer in the room next door. Once vaccumed up the "danger" was over. And the same bad maid service cleans those rooms too. Who knows what dangers lurk there?

Should glass have been left on the floor? Absolutely not, but demanding a new room as compensation is over the top. Do you move houses every time you break a glass at home because even once cleaned up the idea that glass broke there puts your family in danger?

I mean, I agree you had a reason to be angry house keeping didn't clean up something they broke and your husband injured his foot. Not tipping would have been step one. Asking for a deduction from the bill since clearly you paid for cleaning services that were not provided would have been step two. What I am saying is, of all the things to ask for in this situation, a new room wouldn't be the most logical choice.

Okay, so clearly you have never had to deal with broken glass on tile. It shatters, and tiny shards of glass go EVERYWHERE. You can vacuum till the cows come home and still find glass days later. Glass in a rug? Even worse. It could take several vacuuming sessions to effectively remove all traces of glass.

These people have very young children...

I can tell my 17 year old to put on slippers and be cautious. You can't do that with much younger children. Her husband was injured. If it had been a little one, the results could have been tragic...yes, I said, "tragic."

I agree on not tipping being part of the equation & a deduction from the bill if I was not given the proper results. However, since there were young children staying in the room, a new room should have been given to them immediately, period.

I really don't understand why people cannot empathize with the OP.

 

[maxiesmom]

Okay, so clearly you have never had to deal with broken glass on tile. It shatters, and tiny shards of glass go EVERYWHERE. You can vacuum till the cows come home and still find glass days later. Glass in a rug? Even worse. It could take several vacuuming sessions to effectively remove all traces of glass.

These people have very young children...

I can tell my 17 year old to put on slippers and be cautious. You can't do that with much younger children. Her husband was injured. If it had been a little one, the results could have been tragic...yes, I said, "tragic."

I agree on not tipping being part of the equation & a deduction from the bill if I was not given the proper results. However, since there were young children staying in the room, a new room should have been given to them immediately, period.

I really don't understand why people cannot empathize with the OP.

I can't get on board with moving a child who is already sleeping as being a good thing. If it was me and they made that offer I would think they were crazy. To me it says you were inconvenienced, now lets make it worse and have you change rooms. Pack everything up, wake up your sleeping child, and move! Not to mention glass gets broken all over the place--stores, hotels, restaurants. They clean it up and go on. There is no need to evacuate the premises.

And no, a cut foot is not "tragic". Painful and inconvenient and a pain in the rear, yes.

 

[MrInfinity]

IMO (and it's only my opinion) it was an accident. Human error in dropping it and then in not cleaning it up well. Even if you were going to say not cleaning it up well was due to laziness instead of oversight, there will still be no way to prevent it from happening to another guest in the future. Mistakes happen sometimes. Is that what someone wants to hear when they are on the short side of the mistake? Probably not. But I certainly don't think that there's going to be a policy change put into place because of a broken glass that wasn't cleaned up well. Nor do I think a broken glass requires a room change, monetary compensation or anything else. All I think it requires is cleaning up the mess and an apology (which she admittedly got.) That's just my opinion. Others' opinions may be different and that's fine. I wouldn't come home though and devote almost three months of my life to this if all I wanted was to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else in the future because I don't believe something like this is preventable.

Yeah I would not have spent 3 months writing so many emails about what she described as a tiny piece of glass. We don't know who broke the glass. It could have been a previous guest who attempted to pick up most of it, but left some tiny bits unnoticed. After all you had to be on hands and knees with a flashlight to see them. Housekeeping could have come cleaned but not see it either due to them being small and wearing shoes.

So I don't understand what the OP was going for. Didn't want compensation, just a policy change? It's not like you're going to get a hotel process wherein a cleaning person has to get down on hands and knees with a flashlight and do a close inspect of every floor.

Management did apologize, but again there isn't really much they chould do beyond that. It was a tiny cut, non-emergency, and they got a 1st aid kit there in 5 min. That is pretty responsive. I'll bet hundreds if not a thousand ppl get cuts at WDW every day.

I wouldn't want to change rooms. That's a headache of it's own. Once it's vacuumed it's as good as any other.

OP missed the parade and fireworks by their own choice. They got the 1st aid kit in 5 min. At that point,, they could have gone to the parade and dealt w this later. Instead they went to the front desk and stayed home while housekeeping vacuumed. I would have showed the medic the glass on the floor, said we're going, and expect it to be cleaned up by the time we get back.

Service industries I've worked for have not had to document the breaking of a glass.

The moral of the story BE CAREFUL is good, but applies to anywhere not just the Poly. It was not realistically preventable. I feel bad for them getting hurt, but they could have not let it impact their trip so much.