Self Extenders

[boettj]

Wow, I have never considered this to be an issue. I guess I just assumed that when I arrived there would be a room for me. I can understand both sides of this issue.

Side 1: For us, we would be flying from RI. Flights typically run us from 150 per person round trip to as much as 300. As a general rule, we rent a car. Then arrive at Disney for a much needed vacation. A trip to Disney for the 5 of us will run anywhere from 1500-3000. I am including our annual maintenance fees in this equation. To have a CM tell me that there is not room. Gee I think I would lose it at that point. I would have taken time out of work, pulled the kids out of school and make arrangements for our 2 dogs. Talk about stress on day one. Ouch.

Side 2: I can certainly understand the myriad of reasons for needing to extend. Having the flu falls under the good reasons. Nobody plans this. Other than being sick, I can not think of a legitimate reason for extending ones stay.

I pray that this does happen to anyone when they travel. The realistic part of me now knows that this exists and will take actions to help prevent this.

 

[ParrotBill]

If you gave them a credit card they will automatically put you on express check out. There is no call to be made when you leave.

In fact, for the first time we had a voicemail from the front desk reminding us we need to do nothing, just leave.

 

[donaldsgal]

I agree; that's annoying. We are usually out of our room by 9:30-10:00 on checkout day, but I always put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door the last morning to keep housekeeping away. I don't take it off until we make the last trip to the car -- which still leaves them six hours to get the room ready for the next guest.

This is what we do and I think it's only reasonable to be allowed to stay until 11 AM. I have found that housekeeping respects this and doesn't bug us with the sign out. And having 6 hours really should be enough to clean the room, as you point out.

I thought all room keys were deactivated at checkout time on the last day of a reservation? How are these people returning to rooms they should have checked out of, and using the cleaned rooms before the new folks can check in? Seems to me this should be an easy fix with electronic keys...

Now THAT option I love! Turn the keys off at exactly 11 am. Let the squaters whistle Dixie to get back in the room to get their luggage!

And then at 11:01, turn off the keys! When I first started reading this thread, that's what I was wondering. Since the rooms have electronic key cards, they can easily be deactivated. I worked at a hotel for a few summers, and all we had to do to deactivate a card was swipe a new one at the desk. This didn't even need to get handed out; just swiping the new one deactivates the old one. It would be simple to do and a great solution, IMO.

ETA: Okay, so maybe not at 11:01. And I wouldn't want to deactivate a card that then denies that guest being able to use the card for DDP, admission, etc. And I agree that not all dirty room issues are directly correlated to self-extending guests and it's wrong to assume so. Sounds like Disney just needs to inform and enforce check-out policies and housekeeping and the front desk need to be in better communication about room status.

I didn't mean to drag up this thread; it was on the front page of the forum so I assumed it was a recent discussion. Apparently it's been settled and I rehashed it all - oops! Still an interesting thread.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Well, they swipe the new cards when you check in even if the room isn't ready, and even if it's before 11AM, so I wouldn't want swiping the new cards to automatically make the others invalid. We arrived at AKV on Sunday around 10, checked in, rooms weren't ready. We went to MK until 4. Our cards had been swiped of course, and worked. All we needed was the room number.

Bobbi

 

[donaldsgal]

removed: addressed earlier in the thread.

 

[OneMoreTry]

We will be rolling in to OKW at midnight on Dec 23. I hope they have a "room in the inn." That would be a major Christmas bummer -- to take someone's room.

(We usually get there at 10am or so. this time we are flying thanks to allegiant air fares. We have no other discount airline here.)

 

[conandrob240]

Do you really think this is a common occurence? In all my years of travel and 1,000s of nights in hotels, I have heard this once and the reason was that the poor woman occupying the room had become violently ill and could barely move much less check out and fly home. Self-extenders probably account for 1% of the reason rooms aren't ready on time. The other 99% is usually that the hotel didn't have enough (or distribute properly) the housekeeping staff.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Do you really think this is a common occurence? In all my years of travel and 1,000s of nights in hotels, I have heard this once and the reason was that the poor woman occupying the room had become violently ill and could barely move much less check out and fly home. Self-extenders probably account for 1% of the reason rooms aren't ready on time. The other 99% is usually that the hotel didn't have enough (or distribute properly) the housekeeping staff.

Since I joined this forum, this is the first post I recall reading about this problem.

 

[KevGuy]

Wow people have no life other than the DIS lol, dragging up threads from over two weeks ago on the second or third page.

 

[loribell]

Wow people have no life other than the DIS lol, dragging up threads from over two weeks ago on the second or third page.

That's a little harsh, don't you think? You have to remember that with the wonderful new search feature a lot of old posts are pulled up that people do not realize are several days, weeks, months or even years old. I know there have been questions I have seen in the related thread box and have forgotten to check the date. After I post I then see that it is rather old and feel pretty silly.

 

[tomandrobin]

Wow people have no life other than the DIS lol, dragging up threads from over two weeks ago on the second or third page.

lol...wait to someone pulls a thread from four years ago!

 

[donaldsgal]

...I didn't mean to drag up this thread; it was on the front page of the forum so I assumed it was a recent discussion. Apparently it's been settled and I rehashed it all - oops! Still an interesting thread.

I posted this on page 14.

Wow people have no life other than the DIS lol, dragging up threads from over two weeks ago on the second or third page.

Had you read the thread and not simply posted a sarcastic remark, you'd have seen I already apologized. Thanks for your post.

That's a little harsh, don't you think? You have to remember that with the wonderful new search feature a lot of old posts are pulled up that people do not realize are several days, weeks, months or even years old. I know there have been questions I have seen in the related thread box and have forgotten to check the date. After I post I then see that it is rather old and feel pretty silly.

Thanks, loribell. You're right on these points, but I also just appreciate having someone NOT insinuate I have nothing better to do than drag up old issues.

 

[loribell]

Thanks, loribell. You're right on these points, but I also just appreciate having someone NOT insinuate I have nothing better to do than drag up old issues.

Your welcome!

 

[MickeyCrazed]

Wow people have no life other than the DIS lol, dragging up threads from over two weeks ago on the second or third page.

These type of comments make me proud to be a member of the DIS!

 

[BroganMc]

These type of comments make me proud to be a member of the DIS!

I'm still trying to figure out what a "self-extender" is. Is it someone who doesn't leave at check out time by an hour or two (thus delaying housekeeping) or someone who refuses to leave the room at all. Somehow I just can't imagine an SSR manager allowing the latter or throw up his/her hands by saying it "happens all the time".

I get these mental images of a fully-armed family (with pots & pans as shields) barricaded behind the sofa and threatening to drown Mickey if anyone dares cross the threshhold.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

What I think is the funniest thing is the guy who's harshing us for being on the Disboards, is, um, on the disboards himself!

And perusing 15 pages of a rather esoteric subject!

Let's make fun of his un-disney name, shall we?

FWIW, I think if people weren't such pigs in their room we'd all be able to get into our rooms earlier. My husband's like, why can't OUR house be this clean?!

Heh, to which I reply, start tipping better and it will!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm still trying to figure out what a "self-extender" is. Is it someone who doesn't leave at check out time by an hour or two (thus delaying housekeeping) or someone who refuses to leave the room at all. Somehow I just can't imagine an SSR manager allowing the latter or throw up his/her hands by saying it "happens all the time".

I get these mental images of a fully-armed family (with pots & pans as shields) barricaded behind the sofa and threatening to drown Mickey if anyone dares cross the threshhold.

To me, a self-extender is anyone who doesn't leave the room on the last day of their reservation by 11AM. DVC doesn't offer late checkouts. They have chosen to extend their reservation without any authorization to do so.

 

[Sammie]

What I think is the funniest thing is the guy who's harshing us for being on the Disboards, is, um, on the disboards himself!

Yes that is amusing, isn't it. It happens frequently on Net forums. Someone is rude and then someone is rude to them for being rude.

Or in this case someone comments that to comment on old threads must mean one has no life and yet they comment on that same old thread, hence they must have no life either.

Or the one I like the best is the thread traffic director that at some point in the thread, one person decides it is time for the discussion to end. Was not sure it was debate that was being moderated.

 

[robinb]

We were supposed to move into our villa at OKW on New Year's Day. However, about 4:30 when we were finally told that our room was ready, we drove over to the building and found the housekeepers frantically trying to clean the villa which was a total disaster. The previous guests either did not answer their phone or door or had gone out to the parks and not vacated the resort. Until the manager finally told them they had to leave NOW. They did get charged points for an extra night's stay (hope they weren't renting from a member) and our room was ready by about 5:45. The housekeeping staff really hustled, especially since they were all supposed to be off at 4PM. And they had other villas in the same situation. I think the manager told me that they had at least 5 or 6 who had not vacated and the place was booked.

Which New Year's Day was that? We checked into OKW on New Year's Day 1/1/06 at 11:00 AM and then went to the parks. I called around 2:30 and was told that our Grand Vila was ready, so we arrived at around 4:30. It was not. It wasn't ready until 8:30 and the poor housekeeping manager was still cleaning when we entered the room. Not only did the previous guests overstay, but they also trashed the place! The manager was ready to rip his hair out, but he was very nice to us and compensated us for our inconvenience.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Which New Year's Day was that? We checked into OKW on New Year's Day 1/1/06 at 11:00 AM and then went to the parks. I called around 2:30 and was told that our Grand Vila was ready, so we arrived at around 4:30. It was not. It wasn't ready until 8:30 and the poor housekeeping manager was still cleaning when we entered the room. Not only did the previous guests overstay, but they also trashed the place! The manager was ready to rip his hair out, but he was very nice to us and compensated us for our inconvenience.

That was the same day as us. We were told that they had several guests who did not check out as they were supposed to that day. I guess we were a bit luckier than you. Our's was trashed, too.