OKW Housekeeping Issue

[dominiondad]

Regard the Occupied sign - I don't think the burdon of proof that the room is still being used is on the guest. If the room has been paid for thru 11:00, the presumption should be that it's occupied until 11:00 unless the guest states otherwise. If housekeeping is going in because of daily activity, fine, but they shouldn't be going in to clean the room until either the guests declares they are done or 11:00 hits. It would never occur to me to place an Occupied sign on my door if I'm not inside so I can maintain access to a room I have paid for. I shouldn't need to resort to deception. I get that there is a quick turnover. WDW needs to hire sufficient staff to make that possible. I also realize that some guests want to check in early. Likewise, there are guests that won't check in until 10:00 pm.

Disney could solve this problem by spending about $0.15 per room. Create a door hanging sign that says "Thank you, we have left" and ask each guest to hang it on the door when they leave for the final time. No new hardware, software, phone apps - just a sign their print shop could create. The system could be in place by the end of next week. ( Just did a little math - by what I could find, WDW has about 36,000 rooms on site. Within 60 seconds I was able to find a company on the Internet that will print 35,000 door hangers, commericial grade, for $1271. Thats actually about 4 cents per room). Based on my bill from an 8 day stay last week, I think Disney could find a way to come up that money.

 

[kaytieeldr]

isn't. If there/s one thing the last year or so of WDW changes has shown us, it's that they can enter the room whenever they want.

Yep. They've gotten more considerate over the last year or so, but yes.

Remember (or know as of right now) that hitting that Front Desk button never ever connects you to the actual front desk

True, but it's reasonable to expect that your message will be relayed back to the hotel. And is Housekeeping still a direct line, or does pressing that button also send you to.the Call Center?

I imagine that HK now unfortunately is directed to just go room by room down the hall regardless of who is checking in or out on a particular day.

I disagree. Especially with reports of people returning to not-yet-serviced rooms midafternoon, I'd think priority is always being given to rooms being turned over that day.

 

[kaytieeldr]

WDW needs to hire sufficient staff to make that possible.

Not as easy as it sounds. They might still br paying a bonus, to attract people who want to clean up after huests with vatying degrees of messiness.

I was able to find a company on the Internet that will print 35,000 door hangers, commericial grade, for $1271.

Not a bad idea, but getting people to place the signs can be an issue. As for printing thr signs, I'm thimking WDW does all its own printong. On all seriousness, you should suggest this guest.communicstions@disneyworld.com

 

[Jennasis]

Regard the Occupied sign - I don't think the burdon of proof that the room is still being used is on the guest. If the room has been paid for thru 11:00, the presumption should be that it's occupied until 11:00 unless the guest states otherwise. If housekeeping is going in because of daily activity, fine, but they shouldn't be going in to clean the room until either the guests declares they are done or 11:00 hits. It would never occur to me to place an Occupied sign on my door if I'm not inside so I can maintain access to a room I have paid for. I shouldn't need to resort to deception. I get that there is a quick turnover. WDW needs to hire sufficient staff to make that possible. I also realize that some guests want to check in early. Likewise, there are guests that won't check in until 10:00 pm.

Disney could solve this problem by spending about $0.15 per room. Create a door hanging sign that says "Thank you, we have left" and ask each guest to hang it on the door when they leave for the final time. No new hardware, software, phone apps - just a sign their print shop could create. The system could be in place by the end of next week. ( Just did a little math - by what I could find, WDW has about 36,000 rooms on site. Within 60 seconds I was able to find a company on the Internet that will print 35,000 door hangers, commericial grade, for $1271. Thats actually about 4 cents per room). Based on my bill from an 8 day stay last week, I think Disney could find a way to come up that money.

You should call them and tell them.

 

[dominiondad]

You should call them and tell them.

I don't get the impression WDW would care. If you read my earlier post, I did call them to ask that underwear and bras be removed from the common area outside my window. They didn't, and that would have cost them nothing. As much as folks state that Disney is trying to appease all of their guests, I personally think its more about what's easy. Its easier to not tell a guest to remove their underwear from the common areas. Its also easier to have the lowest paid member of the staff just key into the room than to set up a system to prevent confusion. Disney has over 200,000 employees and had a revenue of about $58 billion in 2018. They have plenty of resources to resolve this confusion if they want to, they don't need my help. If somebody else would like to call and claim the idea as theirs, go ahead. I waive all royalty rights.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you read my earlier post, I did call them to ask that underwear and bras be removed from the common area outside my window.

Do you know that Disney didn't contact the room occupants? Or is it possible that they did and were ignored? Anybody inconsiderate enough to hang undergarments like that might not care that they werr advised oyhrrwise

 

[dominiondad]

Do you know that Disney didn't contact the room occupants? Or is it possible that they did and were ignored? Anybody inconsiderate enough to hang undergarments like that might not care that they werr advised oyhrrwise

WDW went to the room and knocked, nobody answered (notice they didn't enter the room). WDW then left a message on their phone. When I called several hours later to complain again, I was told there was nothing they could do because WDW has a policy that they can't touch guest's property. As a result, the underwear stayed until the guests arrived later that night. This is why I'm a little spun up on this matter. In my case, WDW took a very hands-off approach, but in the case of entering a room to clean, WDW seems overly aggressive.

To clarify (because its been raised elsewhere), I really dont care about bathing suits, towels, or a wet t-shirt hanging outside. It does appear to be a violation of disney rules, but it doesn't bother me. In this case, it was multiple pairs of lacy and animal print woman's underwear, bras, and mens tighty whity underwear. It even feels gross just typing it.

 

[nkereina]

When I was in college (25 years ago) I worked in housekeeping at a local hotel. It was nowhere near as grand a scale as even one Disney resort, but it was still fairly large. Each morning, we got a list of rooms we were responsible for cleaning, with notations as to who was checking out and who was staying over. Back then, there was a Please Clean Room sign available. We started with those. Then onto rooms that had checked out.

As the day went on, we would get updated lists from our manager letting us know who had checked out. At official check out time, we could do any rooms that were left. I would have no reason to believe that at some point over the last 25 years, managers somehow lost the ability to update housekeepers as to who had already checked out. I know not everyone does check out, but some do.

So no, it's not "very elementary" for everyone.

The problem with this is that at Disney, guests are not required to notify the front desk that they are checking out. They can simply just leave. They do not have to settle a bill because a credit card is required during the check in process, and folios are emailed to the guest at the end of their stay. Management has no way of knowing who exactly has checked out prior to 11am, unless the guest gives them the courtesy of notifying the front desk, which I think people rarely do - especially at Disney where everything is automated and made convenient. But presumably, you are right that they do have a way of being updated as to who exactly has notified the desk that they have left. And presumably, housekeepers clean those rooms first. Maybe on the day of the OP's instance, they had completed those already or they hadn't received notice of any rooms vacated. We have no way to know this.

It should also be mentioned that an erroneous entry by HK on a check-out day is something that rarely happens, I would assume. I don't read reports of this often. Its not like this is a frequent recurring problem - this was honestly an innocent mistake by HK.

 

[snappy]

I have read reports of HK waiting outside units ready to start cleaning at 8 am, DVC and non DVC. It would help everyone if Disney has a system to alert them which guests vacate early so those would be cleaned first. It would be a win for everyone.

 

[maxiesmom]

Calling the front desk at a Disney resort just gets you the call center. Lots of room for things to get miscommunicated that way.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

My daughter and her family stayed at OKW over the weekend. They were in the process of packing up the car this morning to leave and they left the room to run an errand. BTW This was way before 11am ,which is listed as check out time. They came back to the room, again before 11am, and the housekeeper was finishing up cleaning the room! Her reasoning was she saw them leave and figured they had left, even though some of their belongings were still in the room AND it was before 11am. They filed a complaint with the hotel manager but I’d like to know is this common practice? Anyone could claim there was valuables or money missing from the room and I don’t think the housekeeper would have a leg to stand on! Anyone else have this happen?

I had this happen in Whistler Canada before (obv not Disney lol). Our check out time was 11am. My husband left pretty early for the airport because he was flying to Toronto for work, but I still had half a day to kill. I said goodbye to him, changed into my swimsuit, and went to the pool. When I got back (just before 10am). I was locked out of the room and my stuff was gone. Housekeeping had come, turned over the room, and put all of my stuff in "lost and found". I had to go to the front desk to get it all back, get a room key that worked, and then go BACK to my room (which, again, had already been turned over) to shower and change for my trip to the airport. The housekeeping dude was at the room across the hall and kept basically side-eyeing me because I think the front desk person chewed him out. I threw the bolt on the door while I was in the shower to be safe because I felt super awkward! IMO there is NO reason for housekeeping to go into the room before check-out time. I'll be gone before check out, but for goodness sake don't go in there at 9am and take my stuff OUT if check out is at 11!

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

I have read reports of HK waiting outside units ready to start cleaning at 8 am, DVC and non DVC. It would help everyone if Disney has a system to alert them which guests vacate early so those would be cleaned first. It would be a win for everyone.

Totally agree with this. I feel like it shouldn't be too difficult to have a "I've checked out" button on MDE. Maybe even incentivize it a tiny bit somehow, like they do with skipping mousekeeping, so people remember to do it if they leave much earlier than the normal check out time.

 

[snappy]

They should put checking out on the ap. They seem to want us to do everything else via the ap. And they know who and what time you are departing via magical express already.

 

[gwynne]

Totally agree with this. I feel like it shouldn't be too difficult to have a "I've checked out" button on MDE. Maybe even incentivize it a tiny bit somehow, like they do with skipping mousekeeping, so people remember to do it if they leave much earlier than the normal check out time.

They could add a button to the app, I often check out from Hilton properties via their app.
But, Disney's IT is not exactly reliable.
At WDW, I'm happy to just use the room occupied sign. When we leave, we take the sign off the door. Easy peasy.

 

[snappy]

yea Disney IT leaves a lot to be desired. But you need to use MDE if you have any hope of riding the top rides via fast pass. Everyone seems to be on MDE constantly at WDW, not unlike everyone on their phones taking the subway or Uber in Manhattan last week.

 

[maxiesmom]

They should put checking out on the ap. They seem to want us to do everything else via the ap. And they know who and what time you are departing via magical express already.

The trick would be getting people to use it. I mean, when you are just used to leaving with no muss and fuss why bother going to the ap and checking out?

 

[snappy]

I liked another poster’s suggestion above to give an incentive to guests who do on line check out. If it helps HK work more efficiently seems like incentivation would be in disney’s best interests and good business practice in any case. And it sounds like other hotel brands have gone to checking out on an ap, so it might be “industry practice” like the parking fees Disney added a while back.

 

[nkereina]

I have read reports of HK waiting outside units ready to start cleaning at 8 am, DVC and non DVC. It would help everyone if Disney has a system to alert them which guests vacate early so those would be cleaned first. It would be a win for everyone.

I would imagine they do - every hotel I have worked in has this capability. It only works as well as the number of guests who formally check out, and then the front desk physically updating the system as such.

Another thing to keep in mind (generally speaking) is that housekeepers work in blocks. For example - if they have a 50 room block, there may only be 2 rooms due to check out on a given day. It would make sense that HK are encouraged to get those rooms turned over ASAP because they take the longest to clean and the hotel knows an incoming guest may be waiting for it. The rest of HK's day is spent keeping tabs on guests that are not checking out so they can get in to clean when they are out of their room.

 

[snappy]

Other than removing the trash daily, all HK does for DVC units booked on points is a towel and trash on 4th day, a full clean on the 8th day if guests stay that long, per DVC guidelines. No idea how many DVC units at OKW are booked on cash which would be cleaned daily but I assume fewer than on points. DVC/Disney doesn’t disclose that info as far as I know.

HK sometimes mistakenly varies from the above schedule for DVC units booked on points especially at certain resorts. Not sure if it’s an issue RE individual HK or the overall “system” Disney uses.

 

[crvetter]

units booked on points is a towel and trash on 4th day, a full clean on the 8th day if guests stay that long, per DVC guidelines

It’s trash and towel on day 4 for stays less than 8. If your stay is over 8 it’s full cleaning on day 4 then trash and towel on day 8 then continues to alternate after that.