Saratoga Springs...Is this normal?

Had our first stay early dec at SSR as well and unfortunately had a bad room experience. The room was in rough shape, stains and things missing along with broken items. The room was dim...but that was due to missing bulbs lol

The room was also very humid when we arrived, sheets and pillows wet to the touch. We did report everything so hopefully it’s all fixed!
 
SSR is pretty beat but when we went in 2014 it was our first experience on property at WDW and we were charmed. I don’t think I could stay there now that we have been to so many other resorts and not feel the deficiencies. That said, I think once it gets a refresh- watch out. It’s a great property with lots to recommend it. Now with Disney Springs revamp and so many awesome dining choices, SSR is in a great position to be a sought after reservation. I for one, would happily stay there once it’s been “Beach Club’d”.
 
I wouldn't. Studios have no dishwasher, and you do not get daily housekeeping. Dues pay for ongoing things like this, not buy in.

I'm here now, paper plates are fine or whatever, but then why did we get dish soap and a sponge too? Lol nothing to wash.
 


The glasses, coffee mugs, and coffee pot
Oops meant to reply to you...anyway, we have no glasses or mugs, just paper products. I used the Palmolive I was provided to get out a grease stain on a shirt last night though so at least it was useful for that.
 
I just stayed at Poly where we had glasses and mugs but no Palmolive to wash them. I also had a grease stain I wanted to get out but no dish soap to use. So I guess it's up to mousekeeping- if they are low on something they skip it.

SSR is in need of renovations and they start soon. So maybe they are low on dishes and why replenish quite yet when I guess they get all new in renovations. Maybe go with something different then and want all rooms matching.
 


Oops meant to reply to you...anyway, we have no glasses or mugs, just paper products. I used the Palmolive I was provided to get out a grease stain on a shirt last night though so at least it was useful for that.
http://www.dvcnews.com/index.php/resorts-29831/saratoga-springs-66472/guest-room-inventory-72514

You should have glasses and mugs, so please call housekeeping and ask for the missing items
(There are no more iHome clocks or Ethernet cables in any room)
 
Oops meant to reply to you...anyway, we have no glasses or mugs, just paper products. I used the Palmolive I was provided to get out a grease stain on a shirt last night though so at least it was useful for that.
Sorry I missed that you didn’t have the glasses or mugs
Looks like mousekeeping goofed
 
We stayed in a studio for 2 weeks in September/October last year for our honeymoon and I have to say we were extremely dissapointed!

Having previously stayed at SSR we had reasonable expectations, but everything seemed to have gone down hill! There were never any glasses or mugs and the paper plates and cups and plastic cutlery were never refilled, we had to call and request more on multiple occasions. When we did call and request more, the meeting that we got from the person delivering everything was unpleasant, in fact she made us feel soo uncomtable about calling and requesting more we ended up sharing plates, so that we wouldn't need to call again!
Our housekeeper was also unpleasant and got angry when we were in the room when she arrived to clean it, we tried to make sure we were out, but some days she would come at 8am and other days she would come at 5pm, so it was hard to know when she would arrive. One day when she arrived, I asked if it would be ok if we could just have 2 minutes to get ready, she said she wasn't sure if that would be ok and asked (with her hands on her hips) 'do you want your room cleaned or not?'. When the room was cleaned, some days the pillows would not have pillow cases or the bag for the paper waste basket would be laying beside, sometimes no bag at all. The bathroom always had dirty shoe prints all over the floor and on several occasions the soap products would be removed but not replaced with new ones.

While I can appreciate that all of these things are only small problems, when you get them all at once they feel a lot bigger and to be honest whenit costs so much to stay on Disney, for that 'Disney difference' I expect a certain level of service. We were left feeling unsure as to whether it would be worth staying on Disney next time, which is something we have never felt before!
 
We stayed in a studio for 2 weeks in September/October last year for our honeymoon and I have to say we were extremely dissapointed!

Having previously stayed at SSR we had reasonable expectations, but everything seemed to have gone down hill! There were never any glasses or mugs and the paper plates and cups and plastic cutlery were never refilled, we had to call and request more on multiple occasions. When we did call and request more, the meeting that we got from the person delivering everything was unpleasant, in fact she made us feel soo uncomtable about calling and requesting more we ended up sharing plates, so that we wouldn't need to call again!
Our housekeeper was also unpleasant and got angry when we were in the room when she arrived to clean it, we tried to make sure we were out, but some days she would come at 8am and other days she would come at 5pm, so it was hard to know when she would arrive. One day when she arrived, I asked if it would be ok if we could just have 2 minutes to get ready, she said she wasn't sure if that would be ok and asked (with her hands on her hips) 'do you want your room cleaned or not?'. When the room was cleaned, some days the pillows would not have pillow cases or the bag for the paper waste basket would be laying beside, sometimes no bag at all. The bathroom always had dirty shoe prints all over the floor and on several occasions the soap products would be removed but not replaced with new ones.

While I can appreciate that all of these things are only small problems, when you get them all at once they feel a lot bigger and to be honest whenit costs so much to stay on Disney, for that 'Disney difference' I expect a certain level of service. We were left feeling unsure as to whether it would be worth staying on Disney next time, which is something we have never felt before!
Out of curiosity, which section did you stay in? We have stayed twice in a Grandstand and everything was great. The last time we stayed in Congress Park and it look liked housekeeping gave up a long time ago! I wonder if housekeeping rotates or if they have an assigned section and that section can suffer from lousy housekeeping and maintenance?
 
Out of curiosity, which section did you stay in? We have stayed twice in a Grandstand and everything was great. The last time we stayed in Congress Park and it look liked housekeeping gave up a long time ago! I wonder if housekeeping rotates or if they have an assigned section and that section can suffer from lousy housekeeping and maintenance?
I'm with you here. I stayed in Congress Park this weekend and it was lackluster. And this is a more expensive section now?
 
Out of curiosity, which section did you stay in? We have stayed twice in a Grandstand and everything was great. The last time we stayed in Congress Park and it look liked housekeeping gave up a long time ago! I wonder if housekeeping rotates or if they have an assigned section and that section can suffer from lousy housekeeping and maintenance?

We were actually staying in Grandstand for the first time. We usually stay in The Springs and have never had the problem before, we were wondering if it was a problem with housekeeping in the Grandstand. Maybe there is an issue with the whole resort at the moment!
 
It’s up for a full hard good refurbishment this year (new furniture, appliances, kitchen/bathroom). The new schedule is soft goods every 7 years and hard goods every 14- it opened 14 years ago in 2004.

I think it should be more like soft goods every 4-5 and hard goods every 8-10 years personally.
 
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I read somewhere else that they only had paper cups for coffee and drinks in their studio at SSR during their last stay and no Palmolive soap either last month. They switched resorts to AKV Jambo House and stayed in a value and had glasses and mugs with the dish soap. They never thought to ask housekeeping for the real glasses and ceramic mugs.

Anyone know what is going on? Is this a trial run?
 
Since we pay for those expenses, DVC has to find the right balance between too often and too late. I think most of the issues could be improved just with better maintenance.

True, but when they cut the refurb cycle in half last time (from every 25 years to every 14 years) it increased dues by less than 1%.
 
True, but when they cut the refurb cycle in half last time (from every 25 years to every 14 years) it increased dues by less than 1%.
So, how do you know when specific resorts were last refurbed and when they are due? Is there a list somewhere?
 
Well, when they're "due" is based on last refurb.

They announced in 2015 that they were changing from every 24 years to every 14, with every 7 being softgoods.

I don't know that anyone is maintaining a central, single list of refurbs for DVC. Seems like it would be Quality Content. BLT had a softgoods in the last 3 years. BWV and BCV had a full refurb and got the new murphy beds. AKV was a softgoods. Poly is still basically new, and VGF hasn't had a refurb yet either.

OKW is doing a full refurb right now, and then Saratoga will get one.
 
It’s up for a full hard good refurbishment this year (new furniture, appliances, kitchen/bathroom). The new schedule is soft goods every 7 years and hard goods every 14- it opened 14 years ago in 2004.

I think it should be more like soft goods every 4-5 and hard goods every 8-10 years personally.
My understanding of industry standards would put a soft refurbishment every 5 years and a full refurbishment every 10 years for top resorts and decent resorts will have a 6/12 or 7/14 schedule. Historically DVC doesn't seem to have had a schedule at all, at least now they seem to have some plan.
 

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