recent stay at BWV, disappointing room

[Disney MAINEiac]

We just recently returned from our first ever stay at BWV. This marks the 3rd different resort we've tried. SSR & BCV being the previous 2. Overall it was great trip and the following did not spoil our trip, just as owners of a dvc contract it concerns me.

We were quite disappointed with the overall maintainence of the room. Brooken door panel on a bathroom cabinet, brooken door to the laundy unit (1-bdrm unit we stayed in), brooken trim for the curtains on the sliding doors going to the balcony, black mold on tile in bathroom shower/toilet, cracked grout in shower tiles and other little things that just gave the room a rundown appearance. This is definitely not what we have come to expect from DVC. Is this what we have to look forward to when SSR gets a little age on it? It does not appear that the maintainance fees are being put back into the rooms.

Now i know i will hear did we report these items to the front desk? No! these conditions were so obvious that a blind housekeeper should have caught them and reported it. bottom line if they were properly maintaining these rooms it would never get to this condition.

 

[Sammie]

Yes the housekeeper should have noticed and reported this to housekeeping, but since it is obvious they didn't, and you care enough to mention it here; why did you not let maintenance or a housekeeping super know about it, so it could get fixed?

I am sorry but I just do not understand that rationale.

 

[Boston5602]

Now i know i will hear did we report these items to the front desk? No! these conditions were so obvious that a blind housekeeper should have caught them and reported it. bottom line if they were properly maintaining these rooms it would never get to this condition.

Maintenance at BWV has told me they can save some money by not fixing these type of things. They know its ok because so far no one has complained, they think we must not mind these conditions. <sarcasm>

I never let the resort know about these type of things before I bought , I had no vested interest. Now I let them know because , well I own 0.4705 % of a unit there. I also want to try to minimize the problems for owners checking into the same unit after me.

 

[fishermouse]

Maintenance at BWV has told me they can save some money by not fixing these type of things. They know its ok because so far no one has complained, they think we must not mind these conditions. .

Whoever told you that should be out looking for a JOB, I would fire him/her, this is not information you share with a customer, true or not. More than likely it was easier to give you an answer like that then address the issue. IMHO
Just an added note I stayed at BWV in Jan and saw no housekeeping issues, other than a leaking pipe in the 4th floor hall that was being fixed. Although BWV is not my favorite resort it has nothing to do with the overall conditions. IMO ALL housekeeping issues should be brought to the attention of the front desk, if you can live with it for your vacation report it at check out, especially MOLD it can make some children sick.

 

[diznyfanatic]

Now i know i will hear did we report these items to the front desk? No! these conditions were so obvious that a blind housekeeper should have caught them and reported it. bottom line if they were properly maintaining these rooms it would never get to this condition.

See, I don't get this. These problems were obviously not taken care of properly by housekeeping the first time, so why would anyone assume they would be taken care of later if not reported?

We'll be staying at our BWV home for the first time in two weeks and will be disappointed if we receive a room in this same condition.

Actually, I wouldn't want ANY member to have to experience a poorly maintained DVC room so the five minutes it would take to report it at the front desk is something I consider a responsiblity of membership.

Had the person prior to you reported the issues and ensured they were corrected, perhaps you wouldn't have been disappointed.

 

[WDWorld2003]

Sorry your room was not up to the standards we should all expect from DVC. We've stayed at SSR, BCV and the BWV (our home) is the only resort we've had housekeeping issues at. We've only been there twice and both times there were several issues.

We had large stains on the sheers, a large gooey stain on the bedspread (yuck) and a few other minor things. We reported them and they were taken care of but these were all obvious and should have been taken care of before our arrival. They shouldn't wait until someone complains - who wants to complain on vacation?

BWV is still our favorite resort in spite of these issues because of the BWV view, the location and the general atmosphere. I hope when we arrive in less than two weeks I don't have to call housekeeping or maintenance for obvious things. I just want to enjoy it!

 

[wdwfan1]

We also just returned from BWV. The room was clean and neat--no housekeeping issues at all.

The new couch did seem hard. It was not as comfortable to sit on as the older ones. But it was new and clean.

 

[Judique]

Maintenance at BWV has told me they can save some money by not fixing these type of things. They know its ok because so far no one has complained, they think we must not mind these conditions.

I never let the resort know about these type of things before I bought , I had no vested interest. Now I let them know because , well I own 0.4705 % of a unit there. I also want to try to minimize the problems for owners checking into the same unit after me.

Boston, I'm assuming you are being tongue in cheek with your first statement, but the idea is on the money - if no one speaks up - stuff won't get taken care of. I've been pretty lucky most of the time, but when we find a problem we make the call or we put it in writing. Most of the time we are calling for lightbulbs and burned out remote batteries.

 

[tjkraz]

Now i know i will hear did we report these items to the front desk? No! these conditions were so obvious that a blind housekeeper should have caught them and reported it. bottom line if they were properly maintaining these rooms it would never get to this condition.

And apparently the previous occupant felt exactly the same way about it as you did. If he/she had taken 2 minutes to pick up the phone and call maintenance, YOU would never have experienced those issues. Your inaction made it that much more likely that the next guest in that room had the same disappointing experience.

If you felt that the resort staff was negligent for not addressing the issues prior to a guest's arrival, you should have asked to speak to a manager. That gives you the opportunity to personally communicate both the issues with your room that need to be addressed AND that there is an apparent training issue with the staff that should be investigated.

Merely posting about it on an Internet message board isn't going to get you any satisfaction. What's next...a harshly-worded email?

 

[DebbieB]

What was the room # with the problems? I'm staying in a 1 bedroom next month.

I can never understand why someone complains here instead of to someone who could do something about it. If you didn't want to complain there (which is the best choice), you can always e-mail member services.

 

[JTimber]

Merely posting about it on an Internet message board isn't going to get you any satisfaction. What's next...a harshly-worded email?

ITA.

I don't get the point of simply posting it here???????? WE can't do anything for you. Maintainance could have corrected those situations.

Nobody is perfect even Disney. I have had problems from time to time and you know after a simple phone call all were corrected. What more can we expect from any company???????

Please have some pride of ownership and some compassion for future guests by reporting the problems immediately so they can be rectified.


Jay

 

[disneynutz]

We should hold Disney to the Walt high standard that we expect. It shouldn't matter if it's a DVC property or a non DVC property. In my experience and after reading the Boards to seems that the DVC properties are not maintained to the same standards as other properties.

What's your opinion?

 

[tjkraz]

We should hold Disney to the Walt high standard that we expect. It shouldn't matter if it's a DVC property or a non DVC property. In my experience and after reading the Boards to seems that the DVC properties are not maintained to the same standards as other properties.

In many ways it's the nature of the beast. Based upon the houskeeping schedule we agreed-to, DVC rooms go up to 7 days between servicing. The resort staff then has only 5 hours (11am to 4pm) between guests to clean that many days' worth of mess.

DVC resorts are also designed to be at or near 100% capacity. When the other resorts run 80-90% capacity, they still have dozens of vacant rooms most nights. They can use that excess capacity to give rooms extra attention if it's needed. DVC has to plan significant rehabs more than 11 months out (since it impacts the number of reservations they can accept.) If they have 250 rooms and 250 arriving guests, the ONLY thing they can do is make a best effort to get all 250 rooms in livable condition.

In our DVC stays we've never had anything more serious than a burnt-out lightbulb or a broken toaster upon arrival. One time our dishwasher started leaking in the middle of the week. In every single case we reported the problems to maintenance and it was resolved in an acceptable timeframe. Even the dishwasher was replaced while we were at the parks--no questions asked.

In my opinion, the resort's responsiveness to maintenance issues is a lot more important than nit-picking the room's appearance upon arrival. Saying "they should know better" doesn't fix my problem. A 30-second phone call does.

 

[edk35]

BWV today....and tell them the room they were in. That would at least get the ball moving. Shoot post your room number here and I will call. This is just stupid. I think we should all let the resorts know when there is an issue. Things probably do slip through the cracks and there are probably employees that don't always do a good job either. I know I would want the issues taken care of..or move me please.

 

[Nadine&Scott]

I just don't understand the rationale of posting complaints on this board but not telling someone at the resort. We had some issues the needed to be addressed on our last stay at VB. We did not get the satisfaction we thought we deserved from the front desk CM or the night manager. We waited until the next morning and explained the situation to the day manager. He bent over backwords to correct the situation, and we were immediately put back into that magical disney frame of mind for the rest of our vacation.

Our customer satisfaction with Disney has been very high and at the time when we have had problems we speak up and the problem is usually addressed to our satisfaction and many times above our expectations.

On our stays at non-Disney resorts "many of them very nice places" we usually start seeing the flaws "both in service and maintenence" after just a few days and by the end of our stay we are ready to go home. At Disney we feel more at home the longer we stay and don't want to leave the magic. But even Disney is not perfect and we need to let them know when they don't meet their own high standards.

Scott

 

[maminnie]

DisneyMaineiac:

Did you check to see if another one bedroom villa was available? If one wasn't available why didn't you request to have the unit cleaned and some of the minor maintenance issues fixed ASAP? (Some of the more complicated maintenance issues might have had to be done after you left.)

The first thing I do when my family arrives at any hotel or DVC property is inspect the room to see if it meets my standards for cleanliness and if everything appears in good working order. If it does not, I am on the phone immediately to the management and/or housekeeping department.

A few years ago at one of the DVC properties, the unit was not properly cleaned. To just give you an idea we were greeted by crushed cookies on the carpet at the entrance, the floors in the kitchen and bathroom looked dirty and had hair and debris on them, etc. The housekeeping department send up a crew and cleaned the entire two bedroom villa for us and apologized.

As others have said if you do not bring problems to management's attention it may not be fixed for the next person. As a benefit to all DVC members, I would strongly suggest that you contact the resort via e-mail or letter and let them know of the problems you had. These type of housekeeping and maintenance issues are not acceptable.

maminnie

 

[MickeyCrazed]

We own at both the BW and WL.

BW used to be my favorite resort, but the housekeeping issues and lack of friendly service at the resort recently (within the last few years) has really soured me towards staying there. If it wasn't for that darned beautiful Boardwalk view, I would probably consider selling my contract and buying into BCV.

However, my opinions are based on the most popular rooms types. (Standard and Boardwalk view which probably have nearly 100% occupancy every night.) Maybe if I stayed in a Preferred View room my experience would be different. I'm curious of what room type the OP had.

I do agree that housekeeping has a really hard time cleaning those rooms in the limited amout of time that they have to do so. So for the most part, they do a fantasic job with the resources that they have.

I told DH during this last trip, that I am so disappointed with the lack of maintenance at BW, I would actually welcome an increase in dues if DVC would guarantee me that those dollars would be allocated towards improving housekeeping and maintenance. I thought I would never say that!

 

[DVCconvert]

Now i know i will hear did we report these items to the front desk? No! these conditions were so obvious that a blind housekeeper should have caught them and reported it.

If the house next door to you were on fire would you not bother to call 911 because "someone else should have" ?

 

[Dizholic]

We also just returned from BWV. The room was clean and neat--no housekeeping issues at all.

The new couch did seem hard. It was not as comfortable to sit on as the older ones. But it was new and clean.

Thank you it wasn't just me. We just returned from a week at BWV, and thought the couch was very uncomfortable. Hard as a rock actually.
We had a very strange issue, and maintenance came to our villa a couple of times. The drapes in the bedroom would not close. They were short by about eight inches. Each time someone came in, they would pull, and tug, and each time I would say, they were not wide enough. Finally, someone came in and said they just had new drapes installed, and agreed with me that someone ordered the wrong size. LOL! They offered to put the old drapes back, but I said if they didn't mind me pinning them closed, I didn't mind the new drapes.
None of this ruined my stay though.

 

[Starr W.]

Why do we usually get these threads about BWV? I know in my short time here, it seems BWV rooms are the ones most reported "dissapointed". Nor do I see the benefit of complaining here then calling housekeeping/front desk to let them know about the problem. Kind of like my DD used to say "Don't curse the darkness, turn on a light."

It honks me off, that my DH reads these threads(he's a big lurker) and has decided that no way is he going to stay at BWV because of the maint./housekeeping issues.