recent stay at BWV, disappointing room

[Granny]

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.

Funny, about a year ago you could have taken this same post and inserted BCV instead of BWV.

Your DH is missing the boat if he is basing his vacation decisions on the handful of DVC owners that post issues on these threads. When someone posts that their room is fine, everyone ignores it and it drops off the page. When problems are posted many people want to comment. Just human nature. So "problem threads" get a lot more attention than the much larger number of stays that go without incident.

We've stayed at BWV several times and have not had a problem of this type. We might run into issues when we stay there this summer, but if so we'll address them with Maintenance and move on.

I would never base a decision on whether to try a resort on a few posts on the internet. But hey, that's just me. YMMV.

 

[jakenjess]

Don't be afraid to stay at BWV! We've stayed twice, along with some friends, and none of us have had any housekeeping issues. In fact, we love it so much there DH was talking about buying some points there! I think you can run into the occasional housekeeping issues anywhere. The only time we've had it happen was at OKW, when we checked in the bottom of the tubs were covered in what looked like sand, and we called housekeeping and they were there within the hour, apologized, and left them sparkling clean.

The only thing we noticed at BWV on our last trip was the appliances are starting to look a little worn, but everything was in working order and the unit was clean. There was nothing that affected our stay there in any way.

 

[Starr W.]

Don't be afraid to stay at BWV! We've stayed twice, along with some friends, and none of us have had any housekeeping issues. In fact, we love it so much there DH was talking about buying some points there! I think you can run into the occasional housekeeping issues anywhere. The only time we've had it happen was at OKW, when we checked in the bottom of the tubs were covered in what looked like sand, and we called housekeeping and they were there within the hour, apologized, and left them sparkling clean.

The only thing we noticed at BWV on our last trip was the appliances are starting to look a little worn, but everything was in working order and the unit was clean. There was nothing that affected our stay there in any way.

We'll we got him to try VWL! We're going in May. He really likes the location of SSR! Next trip is Thanksgiving so I think we'll stay put at SSR. Perhaps the next time!

 

[dismom58]

but telling both housekeeping and the board of directors is where you'll find a solution. It would be great if the dis had a maintenance site where all issues relating to all the properties could be discussed and then sent to the housekeeping departmets. If they realized how many people are aware of the problems maybe they would be addressed quicker. I also wonder if there is anywhere we can get a list of planned and in progress maintenance on our resorts. I know they post the pools and facilities that are closed but no where do they show the plan on how they maintain the units. If we knew this we would go expecting certain things to be at the end of their life span and possibly not perfect.

 

[maminnie]

Don't we have a DVC Satisfaction Manager?? Does anyone know who it is and what their e-mail is?

For those posters who have had problems, please for the benefit of others report your problems to DVC management.

Thank you.
maminnie

 

[tjkraz]

It would be great if the dis had a maintenance site where all issues relating to all the properties could be discussed and then sent to the housekeeping departmets. If they realized how many people are aware of the problems maybe they would be addressed quicker.

If people just take 30 seconds to report a problem, none of that is necessary. All a board would do is get people whipped up in to a frenzy...even moreso than they do now.

Complaining about it at the resort takes a lot less effort than complaining on a message board. On-site complaints are a lot more productive, too!

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

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.

room # was 2103

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

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?

This was the original point of my post, I was beginnning to think I was expecting to much from disney, that employees should just automatically report obvious problems in the general performance of their work seems like a no brainer to me ...BTW we did speak with a nice lady doing a survey at check out who asked us to rate the resort, we relayed our room experience (in a polite manner) and she said she would pass this along. But my original point remains that if i owned at BWV i would not think my fees were being well spent and i assume that SSR will be no different as it ages... Perhaps I am just holding disney to higher standard? but their level of customer service and the little things they did to go the extra mile, without having to be told was what attracted me to disney originally. Just my 2-cents

 

[Nadine&Scott]

We hope to stay at BWV next January. I hope we get room 2103, that should be the best room in the whole place by then.

Scott

 

[KarenP99]

We stayed at BWV this past February.

We had 3 maintenance issues (broken drawer, broken knob, exposed screw). I took the time to call, and then took another 10 minutes out of my vacation to put it in writing & drop off a the Concierge desk in the lobby.

All the items were addressed & fixed by noon that day.

People spend more time complaining on the internet about maintenance issues than it would have taken them to pick up a phone and have it fixed.

 

[tjkraz]

This was the original point of my post, I was beginnning to think I was expecting to much from disney, that employees should just automatically report obvious problems in the general performance of their work seems like a no brainer to me

EVERY manager or business owner will admit (perhaps reluctantly) that they cannot be looking over their employees' shoulders 100% of the time. No matter how hard you screen people, train them and supervise, things slip thru the cracks. When those things slip thru the cracks, it doesn't automatically mean that management philosophy has changed. It can mean that a bad apple got into the system. It can mean that someone was having a bad day and wasn't as careful as he/she was trained to be. It could be that there are other circumstances beyond the housekeeping CM's control that need to be addressed.

The CMs who staff these resorts are people, too. As much as we'd like to think that they are Disney robots, sometimes life intrudes.

Reporting problems at a resort to management gives them the opportunity to take corrective action and hopefully ensure that future guests don't have the same experiences.

As I said before, if the guest who stayed in that room before you had taken a moment to report the problems, you would now be here with another glowing report. Perhaps actions just like that contributed to your other excellent DVC stays.

Your inaction now means that it's possible there is another family occupying that same room whose trip got off on the wrong foot because of the same issues.

In a perfect world...yes, these things would be caught consistently before guests arrive. But it's not a perfect world.

 

[disneynutz]

Any problems that we perceive with Disney or DVC are not caused by the CMs, they are caused by the upper levels of management. True you can't watch over your employees shoulder 100% of the time, you shouldn't have to. If the employee doesn't follow policy you show them the door. Management must lead, set example, observe and reward or dismiss. My gut feeling is that if it's not important to a CM it's because it's not important to their boss. Unfortunately it appears that Disney has taken on the typical big corporate philosophy. (As long as we are making money, the guests must be happy, why fix it). The only way we can help them notice their mistake is to pass our problems or concerns on to Guest Relations.

Think of us DISers as Walt Ambassadors.

 

[Sammie]

Any problems that we perceive with Disney or DVC are not caused by the CMs, they are caused by the upper levels of management. True you can't watch over your employees shoulder 100% of the time, you shouldn't have to. If the employee doesn't follow policy you show them the door. Management must lead, set example, observe and reward or dismiss. My gut feeling is that if it's not important to a CM it's because it's not important to their boss. Unfortunately it appears that Disney has taken on the typical big corporate philosophy. (As long as we are making money, the guests must be happy, why fix it). The only way we can help them notice their mistake is to pass our problems or concerns on to Guest Relations.

Think of us DISers as Walt Ambassadors.

Middle management might not care, don't know them personally but the GMs at the DVC resorts do care. Problem is many times they don't find out about the problems.

As to showing the employee the door, who do you replace them with? Disney is thousands of employees short. The hospitality industry has over built the Orlando area and literally they can not find enough employees. The front line CMs know that Disney needs them and many are willing to not do an honest day's work due to the demand.

Also many are union and dismissing is easier said than done. Kinda hard to judge management as to what they do and if they don't care unless you have actually been in their shoes.

 

[Halle]

We encountered a problem with the wooden blinds at OKW several years ago. Called maintenance and someone came and fixed it. The following year we were in the same unit (actually had the same unit 6 times) and the same blind was broken in the same place again. We called maintenance again. I think that some things may get repaired but it doesn't really fix the problem...or did it just have a "band aid fix" ?

 

[DVCconvert]

Any problems that we perceive with Disney or DVC are not caused by the CMs, they are caused by the upper levels of management. True you can't watch over your employees shoulder 100% of the time, you shouldn't have to. If the employee doesn't follow policy you show them the door. Management must lead, set example, observe and reward or dismiss. My gut feeling is that if it's not important to a CM it's because it's not important to their boss.

It's not always true to blame upper mgt....if front line mgt is not made aware of problems (either by cast or guests) how can they be reasonably expected to respond to them?

 

[disneynutz]

Middle management might not care, don't know them personally but the GMs at the DVC resorts do care. Problem is many times they don't find out about the problems.

As to showing the employee the door, who do you replace them with? Disney is thousands of employees short. The hospitality industry has over built the Orlando area and literally they can not find enough employees. The front line CMs know that Disney needs them and many are willing to not do an honest day's work due to the demand.

Also many are union and dismissing is easier said than done. Kinda hard to judge management as to what they do and if they don't care unless you have actually been in their shoes.

If the GMs care and they have the ability to fix the problems then they should take the steps necessary to find out about the problems. Make it a priority that problems get reported. Increase quality inspections. I have a feeling that the GMs don't get support from their bosses. I also expect that DVC property doesn't get the same funding as other properties.

There is a great way to get additional qualified employees. Increase their pay. Disney is known for not paying well. They continue to increase the use of contract labor to save a extra buck. As a result their quality continues to suffer.

Just because a employee is a union member doesn't mean that they shouldn't be expected to maintain a proper work ethic. They should be subject to the same fate as a non member if they are not doing their job. The difference with a union represented employee is that it sometime takes a little longer to say goodbye. My judgments are based upon working for a Fortune 100 company and running my own business. I also attended the school of hard knocks.

 

[Sammie]

If the GMs care and they have the ability to fix the problems then they should take the steps necessary to find out about the problems. Make it a priority that problems get reported. Increase quality inspections. I have a feeling that the GMs don't get support from their bosses. I also expect that DVC property doesn't get the same funding as other properties.

There is a great way to get additional qualified employees. Increase their pay. Disney is known for not paying well. They continue to increase the use of contract labor to save a extra buck. As a result their quality continues to suffer.

Just because a employee is a union member doesn't mean that they shouldn't be expected to maintain a proper work ethic. They should be subject to the same fate as a non member if they are not doing their job. The difference with a union represented employee is that it sometime takes a little longer to say goodbye. My judgments are based upon working for a Fortune 100 company and running my own business. I also attended the school of hard knocks.

If you increase their pay, are you willing to pay for that increase. Many would not be. Because we all know it will be passed on to the guest. And yes your right in that DVC properties do not get the same funding for repairs and such as resorts but that is due to the fact that is dues oriented.

 

[MickeyCrazed]

There is a great way to get additional qualified employees. Increase their pay. Disney is known for not paying well. They continue to increase the use of contract labor to save a extra buck. As a result their quality continues to suffer.

Most times I would agree with you. But there was a big point I meant to, but forgot to, address in my last post. And it has to do specifically with contract labor.

A couple of months ago, a lot of people were up in arms because the BW valet employees were going to be replaced with contract workers. However, during my last few stays at the BW, spanning several years, I noticed a major decrease in service regarding the valet.

Years ago, there were never cars stacked up at the valet. As soon as someone dropped off their car, an employee would drive it away, and run back up to the valet stand.

However, over the years, I noticed that they would allow arriving cars to sit there until another customer would come to request that their car be picked up. Then one of the valet guys, or girls, would jump into a car that was parked there for a while, drive that down and park it, and pick the other car up. This was causing a huge back up at valet. So bad, that even during slow times of the year, it could take up to 30 minutes to drop off our car. It was really fusterating.

I'm happy to say, during our last trip which was during President's Day week, the old service had returned. There were no more back-ups at the valet stand, even though it was one of the busiest weeks of the year. I think in this case, contact workers might have really helped improve things at the BW.

I will be interest to know what you all think.

 

[maminnie]

When one reviews the number of complaints at a given resort, it is only fair to consider the size and occupancy level of that resort. According to my 2002/2003 Member Guidebook BWV has 383 units, BCV has 208, and WL has 136. BWV is almost two times as big as BCV and almost three times as big as WL. Although complaints regarding maintenance and housekeeping issues are not acceptable at any DVC resort, a larger resort would potentially have more reported issues. (It is my understanding that all three of these resorts have high occupancy levels most of the time.)

No matter where you own, do your fellow DVC owners a favor and report any problems that you have had so they are hopefully taken care of.

maminnie

 

[disneynutz]

If you increase their pay, are you willing to pay for that increase. Many would not be. Because we all know it will be passed on to the guest. And yes your right in that DVC properties do not get the same funding for repairs and such as resorts but that is due to the fact that is dues oriented.

We shouldn't have to pay for Disney's increased costs. The corporate world of today has embraced the greed business plan. Instead of running one business well, they spend billions of dollars buying other businesses which are only run so so. They get so big that they loose their focus and their ability to stay in touch. Their incessant desire to grow takes priority over running the business. They cut costs to the bone, payroll, benefits, service, maintenance, while bragging and posting record profits. Soon in their effort to make even more money the businesses loose their individuality. This is happening at Disney now. No longer will we see unique items for sale at the different resorts or parks. All of the imported items for sale will be branded "Disney Parks" not Magic Kingdom, or WDW. The same exact item will be sold everywhere. The same thing is happening at the restaurants. Reduce the number of unique menu items and sell the same food at multiple restaurants to cut costs. Offer the Guests the DDP so they don't notice.

Thanks for letting me vent. I guess I'm just frustrated because I don't want to see the Disney families' vision and hard work become another Enron or MCI.