Changes Coming to Housekeeping Services at Walt Disney World

[21stamps]

We had about a dozen Spiders in our linens at the Villas at the GF for our last trip. Disney house keeping's poor response to our little spider problem was not one of a well oiled machine.

Ok I would have been screaming so loudly that someone at the front desk would have heard me. I can handle lizards, palmetto bugs, even a snake in my room at Poly, but spiders or scorpions- NO. They scare me.

How did they respond though? They didn't get rid of them?

 

[jpeden]

I thought I read recently that at one point Eisner wanted to outsource all the hotels to SPG and that was one of the reasons you have the Swan and Dolphin now. If that's true, I wish they would have gone through with it. I love SPG and if I'm traveling, you'll find me in a Westin or Aloft if there's one available.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I thought I read recently that at one point Eisner wanted to outsource all the hotels to SPG and that was one of the reasons you have the Swan and Dolphin now. If that's true, I wish they would have gone through with it. I love SPG and if I'm traveling, you'll find me in a Westin or Aloft if there's one available.

Tishman was given the right to build hotels on property in exchange for their work building EPCOT Center. The Swan and Dolphin are the result of Eisner getting out of that deal.

 

[IanDLBZF]

I thought I read recently that at one point Eisner wanted to outsource all the hotels to SPG and that was one of the reasons you have the Swan and Dolphin now. If that's true, I wish they would have gone through with it.

It NEVER happened, unfortunately.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

I used to read about people putting balloons in their room at night to make sure those sensors detect movement when people are asleep. Do sensors now defeat that trick?

It would be good to know if that trick still works. If it does i know what one of my first purchases will be . Can't stand waking up in a warm room.

 

[wishiwere@wdw]

I thought I read recently that at one point Eisner wanted to outsource all the hotels to SPG and that was one of the reasons you have the Swan and Dolphin now. If that's true, I wish they would have gone through with it. I love SPG and if I'm traveling, you'll find me in a Westin or Aloft if there's one available.

Having been Marriott gold for many years now due to business travel, I'm ecstatic that they welcomed SPG into the family (Plus I can book Swan and Dolphin with rewards ) through the acquisition. So far I've been very impressed by their properties. In fairness to this discussion, I will say that for many of us, it's very difficult to look past these things. Especially when there are years that I spend more nights in a hotel vs my own house so I'm very accustomed to scanning the room and checking things for what should be decent industry standards. However, when many of my friends and family travel they mostly don't even notice these problems or perhaps even believe this might be the norm. So I'm still very happy to see they are addressing this and anxious to see the potential outcome.

 

[jakeman]

I used to read about people putting balloons in their room at night to make sure those sensors detect movement when people are asleep. Do sensors now defeat that trick?

I've always been a little skeptical of how much low flow toilets and showers help the environment. If you have to run water longer just to get as clean as in the past, is that really saving water overall? That said, I have low flow shower heads at my house. They seem to have plenty of pressure and, well, I was not given a choice.

If you know the model number you can look up real quick how to override it. It works at most of the hotels.

However, A/C in Florida shouldn't be a cat and mouse game between the guest and hotelier.

 

[COProgressFan]

It would be good to know if that trick still works. If it does i know what one of my first purchases will be . Can't stand waking up in a warm room.

Also, many of the commonly used thermostats can be overridden with a special combination of buttons you can push on the thermostat. If you do a quick search before your stay at at resort, you can often find other guests who explain how to override the thermostat, which usually works for 24 hours. In my experience, the overrides have been hit or miss though, but its worth a shot.

 

[Bandini]

Also, many of the commonly used thermostats can be overridden with a special combination of buttons you can push on the thermostat. If you do a quick search before your stay at at resort, you can often find other guests who explain how to override the thermostat, which usually works for 24 hours. In my experience, the overrides have been hit or miss though, but its worth a shot.

I use this feature in a lot of hotels during the summer, since the room never cools off when I return to it at night. There are some great You Tube videos too.

 

[larryz]

Just so you are aware, most elements of sustainably are greenwashing. Where efforts to be green are actually efforts to increase the bottom line and do little to improve the environment and, in some cases, do more harm to the environment .

That may be so, but it doesn't hurt the environment to wash sheets and towels a little less frequently. If the company saves some money by so doing, more power to them.

The Las Vegas Hilton (now known as the Westgate Las Vegas hotel, no longer affiliated with Hilton) used to give guests a daily credit coupon (I think it was $15) if they would willingly forego maid service -- ostensibly for the environment. If they can comp a guest cash, you can bet (no Vegas pun intended) they've split the difference, which would put my cost estimate in the $30 to $40 per room cleaning.

 

[larryz]

We had about a dozen Spiders in our linens at the Villas at the GF for our last trip. Disney house keeping's poor response to our little spider problem was not one of a well oiled machine.

Maybe they were casting for a Disney version of Charlotte's Web...

 

[rael ramone]

That may be so, but it doesn't hurt the environment to wash sheets and towels a little less frequently. If the company saves some money by so doing, more power to them.

The Las Vegas Hilton (now known as the Westgate Las Vegas hotel, no longer affiliated with Hilton) used to give guests a daily credit coupon (I think it was $15) if they would willingly forego maid service -- ostensibly for the environment. If they can comp a guest cash, you can bet (no Vegas pun intended) they've split the difference, which would put my cost estimate in the $30 to $40 per room cleaning.

Assuming that the LVH had a casino attached to it, they could have been assuming that 'they will get that credit back'...

 

[rael ramone]

Hotels are a unique case. No one changes their sheets every night at home. I agree that it was nice to have fresh sheets every night at a hotel years ago, but in retrospect it probably was a waste of time and resources. It does save hoteliers a ton of money, which I'm sure they love. But what started off as changing sheets every other night to help save the earth, got stretched out to changing sheets every fourth night to make the accountants hap...I mean, save the earth. The "Environmentality" part only goes so far and then it just becomes about money. There's nothing wrong with having sensors make sure the a/c isn't blasting an unoccupied room, but there is a problem when you wake up sweltering because those sensors don't detect movement, and are locked out to prevent you from setting the air below 72 degrees.

I remember when I was younger our family went to stay at a Days Inn on 192. The AC would only work if it was 'unlocked' with the room key, and we rightfully went elsewhere... Walking into a hot room, even at that low price point, is always unacceptable. Always.

Considering that I've seen it suggested that the optimum sleep temperature is 65 degrees, a 'broken' unit (IMHO if it isn't at the desired temperature at every microsecond you are in your room it's broken) is likely going to make the sheets require daily changings...

I'm sure the mold common to the area loves hot humid rooms that have guests reuse towels...

 

[larryz]

Assuming that the LVH had a casino attached to it, they could have been assuming that 'they will get that credit back'...

And they did. And they did.

 

[I am Timmy]

This reminds me of our last stay at Pop where they didn't replenish the plastic cups or ice bucket liner for two days. I called the line and after explaining why we needed these things when they went someone we got 1 liner and two cups. The next day no liner and no cups so I went to the lobby and the girl there was super nice but referred me to the food court for drink cups. Luckily a manager overheard the conversation and when I retold he story she said they didn't have the items there but she'd have them delivered to the room. By the time I got back my wife had a bag with 5 liners and 20 cups. Slight overkill on the cups but it really shouldn't be that much work for 3 cent items.

Yeah, I just walk up to the cleaning carts and grab as much as I want on my own. It's raining towels by the time I'm done! You name it, I grab it.

 

[I am Timmy]

We had about a dozen Spiders in our linens at the Villas at the GF for our last trip. Disney house keeping's poor response to our little spider problem was not one of a well oiled machine.

NO. Just no. Arachnophobes unite!

 

[larryz]

NO. Just no. Arachnophobes unite!

You have nothing to lose but your webs...