My Experience at the Polynesian

[MrsCobraBubbles]

This was the point I was going to make. Be careful of the response you get from calling the front desk and if you get to the front desk and they don't know what you are talking about that is because when you call the front desk from your room you are calling a call center. Just like if you call the Polynesian from home using the resort number. They may act like they are at the resort but they are not.

I have found that housekeeping has lacked in many ways at the Polynesian for the last decade or more. I'm not convinced they will ever give much effort to fix it. They have had many complaints and I have heard the horror stories from staff that use to work for housekeeping. Last trip I just put the "do not disturb" sign up so I didn't have to deal with them. Either a poor job was done or they did not even clean my room until about 6:00 pm with me out of the room since about 8:00 am.

i agree with all of this.

I don't allow housekeeping into our room when we vacation, unless the sheets need changed or we've accumulated an unusually large number of dirty towels. I will call the front desk and ask for soap, towels, etc. when we are in the room, and accept the delivery at the door. I keep the "do not disturb" sign up for the entire trip. I've rarely had a good experience with housekeeping, and usually feel the the room is dirtier than it was before they arrived, so at this point in my life I have given up. It takes 5 seconds to make the beds when we get up in the morning, and I don't like strangers touching my things. People will make fun of me, but when I stay in a hotel I bring my own cleaner--triple bagged in my checked luggage--and clean everything when we arrive, usually while my husband takes the kids to the pool. It probably takes half an hour for me to sanitize everything to my satisfaction, then I just spot clean for the remainder of the vacation. If the room is carpeted we wear shoes in the room, I pack sandals or flip flops for this very reason. I wish more hotels would make the move to all hard floors, carpets are disgusting--not only that, but apparently we now have to watch for broken glass.

Sorry this happened to you, OP. Regardless of whether Disney informs you (or the public at large) of any changes to policy, hopefully some good will come from your efforts.

 

[Nancyg56]

All I gathered from her first post was that she was not ok with Disney ignoring her attempts at communication. We don't know that we would even be having this discussion if Disney had even sent just an acknowledgment email, as the OP may not ha e ever posted here if they had.

I agree. I would have been upset that there was broken shards of glass that cut my DH, but really upset that my child could have been the one who was cut. With that said, I would have probably been okay if management had sent someone right up to properly clean the entire room. Because that did not happen, I would have been more peeved than the OP seems to be. There was plenty of opportunity for the resort manager to do the right thing, and every opportunity to make sure that the response cost Disney not one thin dime. This family missed some of what they went to WDW for, so why not provide for a FP to see the fireworks, or something they wanted to do? Free. Easy. And appropriate.


I got a phone call because I sent a nice letter to Disney. It made my day, and made me more of a WDW fan. Why there was no phine call under these circumstances is beyond me.

A lot of people have your same sentiment on these boards. And I just don't get it. Just because I'm at the most "magical" place on earth doesn't mean I'm gonna let them get away with treating me any kind of way. OP should of been given a new room. Their so called apology sucked. I've been treated better staying offsite. Part of the reason we're splitting our time off Disney property.

I think that we all have the right to our expectations, but it makes me crazy when we are told that we should excuse Disney in areas that we feel have been neglected. I love visiting WDW, and I continue to go, but I do expect to get what I paid for. If I am left with a dirty room, poor customer service or bad food, I can excuse the initial issue, but the response to my complaint should be appropriate.

FWIW - you don't have to justify anything to me. I would have flipped out, probably more than you did (cause that's who I am). I probably would have insisted that they move my room, and if I got the responses you did, I certainly would have contacted someone after the fact. If someone else wouldn't have reacted the same, that really means nothing.

Yes. If I was that angry, and I would have been, I would have gotten a response. I really would have. I do nto think anyone but the poor housekeeper who was charged with the cleanup responded appropriately.

 

[tarak]

I work in healthcare-we had a lawyer (who started as an RN and now works defending MD's against malpractice) talk about this very thing. There is a very very small percentage of people who will sue no matter what happens but most won't depending on how well they thought they were treated! All about a Dr's bedside manner, how staff handled their concerns etc (lawsuits are rarely about the unexpected outcome). As anyone who has ever worked in a hospital I have a list of personnel who are allowed to handle my care and a stricter list of who is not (seriously would rather take my chances being transported somewhere else or waiting until someone on OK list available). Yet those on the "no" list won't get sued but the excellent MD's -with the gruffer bedside manner- will. The take away is-acknowledge the complaints (you can do so without accepting liability), offer a sincere "how can I help" then follow through. Most people are actually quite reasonable when asked what they would like to see happen. In the OP's case-clean up immediately, offer of medical care and immediate offer to transport to another room would be reasonable - and without accepting liability.

Disney used to provide excellent customer service-heck as a temporary college program placement 24 years ago they invested a week in nothing but that, plus 3 days cash handling (specific to my position), plus trainer that was with me for first month on job and available as same shift for another month after that! What company invests 2 month of training for a temporary 5 month position?! Sadly-I don't think even the permanents receive that level anymore...

An apology goes really far. And in some jurisdictions, an apology cannot be used in court to argue liability. I had surgery last year and a surgical mistake was made. I can't even recall how many times the surgeon apologized to me. The surgeon who had to go in and fix things apologized. It was honestly very refreshing. I'm a practicing lawyer (going on 18 years), although I work for the state and don't deal with torts, and it never occurred to me to sue. There are many reasons for that, but the apology was very much appreciated.

 

[eliza61]

Here are my thoughts and observations.

Disney isn't perfect, they process millions of guests each year and they make mistakes.

Calls to the front desk are answered by a call center who often makes mistakes.

You are dealing with people who can make mistakes. What's important to you may not be important to them. Your DH's injury was upsetting to you and your family, to others they might of pulled out the piece of glass and moved on.

With Disney, at some point with this type of issue Disney's perception of the guest changes due to something that was said. When that happens the guest is treated differently maybe because of a potential liability action. Disney doesn't know the OP, what really happened, or what will happen next.

Once claims gets involved it's a whole different ball game, they are there to protect Disney's interest and saying that they are sorry could be used as an admission of guilt. They have policies on what they are allowed to say and do put in place by Disney legal. They want to process and close the claim and move to the next one since they probably get a few hundred thousand each year.

Bill

Here's my problem Bill, many businesses handle "millions" of guest. yet Disney seems to be the only one who can't handle basic issues or problems. Airlines, luxury hotels, cruise lines all handle millions of folks annually. Heck like I said my credit card company does a better job at problem resolution than Disney. Right now I may even put the cable company before Disney. Disney policy is " ignore" the customer until thy go away or they possible sue. lol great policy

I work for the 4th largest chemical company in the world, an industry that routinely has the potential for lawsuit and the first thing we do when getting customer complaints is fall over ourselves reaching out to the customer.

Now I know that no matter how trivial the problem I need to officially make a claim because a multi billion dollar company is incapable of handling it and if I don't make a claim they'll ignore me.

I'm having a hard time buying the "we're so big we can't respond to our customers" excuse. If you run a hotel and cant solve basic room, housekeeping and injury potential maybe it's time for new management

 

[disneynutz]

Here's my problem Bill, many businesses handle "millions" of guest. yet Disney seems to be the only one who can't handle basic issues or problems. Airlines, luxury hotels, cruise lines all handle millions of folks annually. Heck like I said my credit card company does a better job at problem resolution than Disney. Right now I may even put the cable company before Disney. Disney policy is " ignore" the customer until thy go away or they possible sue. lol great policy

I work for the 4th largest chemical company in the world, an industry that routinely has the potential for lawsuit and the first thing we do when getting customer complaints is fall over ourselves reaching out to the customer.

Now I know that no matter how trivial the problem I need to officially make a claim because a multi billion dollar company is incapable of handling it and if I don't make a claim they'll ignore me.

I'm having a hard time buying the "we're so big we can't respond to our customers" excuse. If you run a hotel and cant solve basic room, housekeeping and injury potential maybe it's time for new management

Either your handling was an error or you were handled per policy. We had and issue with bacterial food illness after eating at Disney with a hospital stay with lab tests pointing at the food we ate at Disney. We never made the accusation that Disney food made us ill, the hospital did and mentioned that they were treating others with the same illness who ate at the same restaurant.

Initially the resort management was very attentive, extra cleaning the sick room, changed our expiring admission to non-expiration, we stayed in our room until the end of our vacation after being released from the hospital. At some point things changed, the friendly people became not so friendly and weren't available. We were presented with a Disney Claims Business card.

Upon returning home we called the claims number and found out that a file had been opened on us. The CM was very specific and collected additional info, instructed us to collect our bills relating to the hospital stay and send them in. In a few weeks we received a check with a release clause printed under the endorsement signature line. The claims CM was not very friendly, more business like and never said the Disney was sorry.

Bill

 

[marinejjh]

I am sorry for the glass and your husband's foot. I have to say that they only way your going to make a statement is by not staying there. I saw your going back in December. As long as disney is getting your money there not going to change.

 

[oceanmarina]

Either your handling was an error or you were handled per policy. We had and issue with bacterial food illness after eating at Disney with a hospital stay with lab tests pointing at the food we ate at Disney. We never made the accusation that Disney food made us ill, the hospital did and mentioned that they were treating others with the same illness who ate at the same restaurant.

Initially the resort management was very attentive, extra cleaning the sick room, changed our expiring admission to non-expiration, we stayed in our room until the end of our vacation after being released from the hospital. At some point things changed, the friendly people became not so friendly and weren't available. We were presented with a Disney Claims Business card.

Upon returning home we called the claims number and found out that a file had been opened on us. The CM was very specific and collected additional info, instructed us to collect our bills relating to the hospital stay and send them in. In a few weeks we received a check with a release clause printed under the endorsement signature line. The claims CM was not very friendly, more business like and never said the Disney was sorry.

Bill

Yikes!! Where did you eat? Sounds awful, sorry your trip was ruined!

 

[SnipsNSnails]

I'm so sorry that that happened to you! You should have been moved immediately at the very least. We had an injury once, my youngest DS was doing the hobby horses in the WCC during our dinner there, he was 2.5 and his feet got tangled up with the stick and he fell face first into one of the wood poles. He had quite a black and blue goose egg! Our experience was quite the opposite of yours. Of course he was crying when I brought him back to the table and the waitress immediately got us an ice pack from the first aid kit. The manager came out and took our info for the accident report, all the while apologizing. He offered immediately to transport us to the urgent care and have him seen there at Disney's expense. But we felt that he was going to be just fine with the ice pack and he told us that if we changed our mind at any point, there was a record of the accident and they would still do so. He then went and got two of the light up Buzz Lightyears that go on the special punch you can order, one for my injured DS and one for my other DS who was 5. My injured one perked up immediately and started to pretend to fly him around and I was impressed and grateful that the manager thought of my other DS as well.

 

[lmcarr49]

I am sorry for the glass and your husband's foot. I have to say that they only way your going to make a statement is by not staying there. I saw your going back in December. As long as disney is getting your money there not going to change.

Yikes! The OP is staying there again? Oh my.

 

[BugsDaddy]

Either your handling was an error or you were handled per policy. We had and issue with bacterial food illness after eating at Disney with a hospital stay with lab tests pointing at the food we ate at Disney. We never made the accusation that Disney food made us ill, the hospital did and mentioned that they were treating others with the same illness who ate at the same restaurant.

Initially the resort management was very attentive, extra cleaning the sick room, changed our expiring admission to non-expiration, we stayed in our room until the end of our vacation after being released from the hospital. At some point things changed, the friendly people became not so friendly and weren't available. We were presented with a Disney Claims Business card.

Upon returning home we called the claims number and found out that a file had been opened on us. The CM was very specific and collected additional info, instructed us to collect our bills relating to the hospital stay and send them in. In a few weeks we received a check with a release clause printed under the endorsement signature line. The claims CM was not very friendly, more business like and never said the Disney was sorry.

Bill

I think that some of this is a case of different departments, different focus and different training. When you were dealing with the front end customer service CM's and managers, their focus was on the customer, as it should be. When you start dealing with claims people and the business side of Disney, those people are in place to protect Disney financially and to avoid lawsuits. Those people are probably very matter of fact and a lot less empathetic.

 

[marinejjh]

Yikes! The OP is staying there again? Oh my.

I know right, why would you sit here and compliance about it being the worst experience and then go right back.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I know right, why would you sit here and compliance about it being the worst experience and then go right back.

I wonder the same thing. If I was that unhappy I wouldn't be going back.

 

[marinejjh]

I wonder the same thing. If I was that unhappy I wouldn't be going back.

I think it is somebody that wants some free stuff. They cleaned / vacuumed the room. Move on, it's like the restaurant that gave bad service. If it was that bad I wouldn't go back. I had a crappy room at ASM a few years back and what did we do, not go back, we will stay at a different resort.

 

[mom2rtk]

Fascinating thread.

I probably wouldn't stay there again, but I'm perplexed at the judgments here.

Isn't the prior incident over? How does that mean she's looking for free stuff?

Maybe they were given a discount on a future stay for their inconvenience?

 

[elizabethswan]

i agree with all of this.

I don't allow housekeeping into our room when we vacation, unless the sheets need changed or we've accumulated an unusually large number of dirty towels. I will call the front desk and ask for soap, towels, etc. when we are in the room, and accept the delivery at the door. I keep the "do not disturb" sign up for the entire trip. I've rarely had a good experience with housekeeping, and usually feel the the room is dirtier than it was before they arrived, so at this point in my life I have given up. It takes 5 seconds to make the beds when we get up in the morning, and I don't like strangers touching my things. People will make fun of me, but when I stay in a hotel I bring my own cleaner--triple bagged in my checked luggage--and clean everything when we arrive, usually while my husband takes the kids to the pool. It probably takes half an hour for me to sanitize everything to my satisfaction, then I just spot clean for the remainder of the vacation. If the room is carpeted we wear shoes in the room, I pack sandals or flip flops for this very reason. I wish more hotels would make the move to all hard floors, carpets are disgusting--not only that, but apparently we now have to watch for broken glass.

Sorry this happened to you, OP. Regardless of whether Disney informs you (or the public at large) of any changes to policy, hopefully some good will come from your efforts.

this is exactly how we handle the room as well. thank goodness for those clorox wipes, lol. we hit everything including doorknobs and all surfaces. then it's flip flops and do not disturb. fresh towels are all we need unless we need the linens changed. keeps it much simpler in the long run.

 

[socrateze]

An apology goes really far. And in some jurisdictions, an apology cannot be used in court to argue liability. I had surgery last year and a surgical mistake was made. I can't even recall how many times the surgeon apologized to me. The surgeon who had to go in and fix things apologized. It was honestly very refreshing. I'm a practicing lawyer (going on 18 years), although I work for the state and don't deal with torts, and it never occurred to me to sue. There are many reasons for that, but the apology was very much appreciated.

I think that's a critical issue. The medical profession has discovered that admitting mistakes has reduced their liability lawsuits. I think one of the major causes of these types of lawsuits is when the company tries to cover up their mistakes. It increases peoples frustration.

If the Polynesian manager had apologized and did everything in his or her power to rectify the situation by cleaning up the mess and offering to move the family, think of how different this post would be. The OP would've commented about the great customer service they received. Big mistake IMO

 

[gdrj]

I'm going to attempt to stay out of the fray of some of the posters. Disney being evil, bad, good, caring or uncaring.

I fortunately have never had an injury at WDW where WDW was at fault in someway. I will say that when I have had issues, be it service or otherwise, I always make it a point of addressing with a CM at the front desk. If I am not satisfied with the response I ask for a supervisor. I may also call guest relations or email while still on property. By doing this I have always felt that the response was satisfactory. Sometimes its just an acknowledgement of the issue and correction.

I do appreciate the OP bringing this to the boards.

 

[heidijanesmith]

OP, I am so sorry that this happened to you. The Poly is our favorite resort and have always had outstanding and even service that has gone above and beyond there.

I totally understand your concern for more glass in the room that they eye can not see. At the least you should have been moved to a new room.

 

[Summertinkerbell]

I disagree. I would have asked to be moved to a different room, and if that were not possible, I would want an explanation as to why. My reasoning is this: A glass break can be as simple as a few pieces on the ground, or as complex as minute shards EVERYWHERE. That room needed to be thoroughly cleaned, not just quickly vacuumed, and not just the bathroom. When I break something at our house, I spend quite a bit of time cleaning, vaccuming, sweeping, swiffering, vacuuming again, etc. I get down on hands and knees and inspect the areas, but you know how things manage to bounce to places you would never expect them to. I warn everyone in the house not to go barefoot for awhile.

For liability purposes, just as far as covering Disney's own concerns, they dropped the ball. If I were the hotel manager, I would WANT TO get that family out of that room, and figure out what the heck happened and clean it up thoroughly before sending other guests in there.

Now that the moment has passed, OP, I think you did everything you can, and it appears nothing more will come of this. It's disappointing, but you have to decide if it's so disappointing that you don't want to deal with Disney resorts and/or the Polynesian again, or if it's just a "one off" and not indicative of the brand or the resort. You've certainly given them enough chances to make this right if they wanted to.

I had an issue with Hilton on our last trip - much less of an issue - but an issue nonetheless, and I contacted the GM at the hotel after we returned. They got back in touch with me within 24 hours after I initiated contact, and offered something to compensate me. I was frustrated when the issue was happening, but I was satisfied with the end result. Before anyone thinks, I hit them up for money, I didn't actually ask for anything. What they gave me was some Hilton Honors points, an apology and some advice. The apology probably would have been enough, but they kept me as a customer due to their fast, sincere response.

Things go wrong all the time. The mark of a good company is whether they will make it right.

Excellent reply.

 

[Summertinkerbell]

People in this thread with such "low expectations" is the reason why Disney feels they can get away with this crap.

Thank you.