Housekeeping “Hassles” at Disney World
We’ve previously addressed Walt Disney World housekeeper shortages in What’s Up with Mousekeeping? That prompted a lot of questions about security checks and other policies. In response, we’re taking a deeper dive into concerns about “hassles” guests are having in resort rooms. (Updated November 29, 2023.)
The latest development comes courtesy of readers who have reported departure day door knocks at around 9 am, waking them up prior to their 11 am checkout time. This prompted more people to come forward, saying they had experienced the exact same thing recently. In response, many others chimed in with skepticism, sharing that they’ve done many Walt Disney World resort stays over the years, and have never experienced anything like this.
Others suggested putting up the “Do Not Disturb” sign as a simple way to resolve the problem and as a common courtesy to housekeeping staff. As always, it’s silly to assume that just because something has never happened to you, it is not occurring. This whole conversation started last year and has continued throughout this year, too. With the return of full housekeeping at Walt Disney World and several recent stays under our belts, we thought it’d be worth revisiting this topic as of the Christmas 2023 to see how things are going…
November 29, 2023 Update: For our part, we have also experienced the ~9 am knocking on our departure day. This has happened despite having the “Room Occupied” sign on our door. (Walt Disney World no longer does “Do Not Disturb” signs.) Each time this has occurred, it has been quickly and easily resolved by one of us politely letting the housekeeper know when we planned on leaving. In every single circumstance, they were overly apologetic, and seemed sorry for “burdening” us.
Those are air quotes around burdening because it has never been a big or noteworthy thing, at least, not for us. My assumption was and is that it’s increasingly common because housekeepers are being expected to turn over more rooms due to the ongoing labor shortage. That coupled with rising occupancy numbers results in exactly this–housekeepers needing to clean more rooms before 11 am.
Last year, I’d hazard a guess that this has happened about half of the time during our resort stays. It also was unquestionably worse towards the beginning of the year and through summer, getting progressively better around Halloween and Christmas. In fact, I don’t recall it happening at all after October. (It also didn’t happen to us in 2021, but we did shorter stays then and resort occupancy was significantly lower.)
With only one month to go in 2023, we’re happy to report that this has not happened to us once this entire year. Of course, we are a sample size of one, so we’d be well-advised to point to our own sentiment at the top of this post that it’s silly to assume that something not happening to us means it’s not happening to anyone.
Nevertheless, but we can’t help but wonder if whether there’s been some relief. Revenge travel peaked last year, and Disney has stated that hotel occupancy has been lower in 2023. On top of that, staffing shortages have been resolved, meaning that there should be more housekeepers and fewer rooms to clean. Whereas last year would’ve been a perfect storm of pent-up demand, resorts reopening, and staffing shortages. (To that end, we’d love to hear further feedback from readers who have or have not experienced this–it’d be nice to have anecdotes beyond our own.)
Another thing we’d note is that housekeepers have not knocked on our door before 11 am during most of our stays. There have even been times when we’ve been running behind on checkout day and didn’t leave our rooms until shortly after 11 am. In those scenarios, not only did housekeepers not rush us out of the room, but they weren’t even lingering around in the hallways nearby. We probably could’ve stayed until closer to noon without issue. (To be clear, we’re not endorsing an informal late checkout as a strategy!)
The big reason we’re not endorsing this is because that it creates even more of a potential burden from already overburden housekeeping Cast Members. There’s a reason they are (or were) doing the early morning knocks, and it was out of necessity–not to agitate or anger guests. (It’s always a good idea to think about the why of something before being upset about it.) Suffice to say, it was not the Cast Members doing the knocking who were/are the problem.
In an illuminating Twitter thread, Ben Wszalek, former WDW Housekeeping Manager (at Grand Floridian, Fort Wilderness, All Star Movies & Sports) shared some additional context about why this is occurring based on his past firsthand experience in that role. The full thread is worth reading, but we’ll summarize some of its salient points here.
Per Wszalek, housekeepers all work one shift, 8 am to 4:30 pm. Following a morning breakout meeting, these Cast Members head to their assigned building, grab their carts, and get to work. They are assigned to clean a set number of rooms depending upon the resort tier, ranging from 16-18 rooms on average. (As an aside, I’ve heard the expectation has increased in light of the staffing shortage, but cannot corroborate that.)
Checkout time is 11 am, which is halfway through that shift, so simply waiting for all rooms to empty with the day’s departures is not a viable approach. Although some guests may leave earlier, there’s currently no way of knowing who has left and who is opting to sleep late unless Cast Members can see into the room through the window or actually witness the guests departing their room.
The “Room Occupied” sign is a signal, but even empty rooms can still have this up, making it an inconclusive one. Presumably, this is one unintended consequence of Disney’s Magical Express ending and why there was an uptick of these incidences. Staffing shortages colliding with pent-up demand and higher hotel occupancy probably didn’t help.
Housekeepers are expected to have all of their rooms cleaned by 4:30 pm. Sometimes that’s more than the number listed above if other Cast Members have called in sick or the hotel is otherwise short-staffed. Sometimes the front desk wants those rooms ready faster if occupancy is high and guests have arrived at the resort and are waiting.
Also according to Wszalek, housekeeping is one of the only jobs at Walt Disney World that requires no English language knowledge whatsoever. A majority of housekeepers are from Puerto Rico or Haiti, many are older, and some have minimal formal education.
Wszalek put it best with this tweet: “Hskp are some of the most joyous, loyal, hard working people you’ll ever meet. Hskp offers great hours, decent pay, Disney benefits, and requires little education/experience. But it’s also an extremely demanding job. You probably couldn’t do it.”
To anyone who has interacted with housekeepers, most of this is likely obvious. As someone who drinks too much coffee, I’m often looking for their carts in the morning/midday/afternoon and asking if I can have more K-cups. Our conversations aren’t exactly long, but they are always exceedingly friendly and chipper. Same goes when we exchange morning pleasantries.
I also have enough familiarity with the hotel industry to know the condition many hotel rooms are left in. Wszalek isn’t exaggerating when he says you probably couldn’t do the job. (I couldn’t!) All of this is also why our previous post on housekeeping stressed the importance of immigration normalizing before this particular labor shortage can be resolved. Housekeeping is simply a job most Americans will not do, and hourly pay increases and hiring bonuses don’t change the calculus.
As Wszalek also points out, all of this can be a recipe for “messy interactions.” While we have never–not once–had anything but positive experiences with housekeepers, I do not doubt for a second that this happens.
You combine a language barrier with guests who might not exactly be pleasant about being woken up early and feel like they’re being pushed out of a room they paid $500+ per night for…it’s easy to envision scenarios where that ends poorly. I wouldn’t necessarily lay all of these bad interactions at the feet of guests.
However, I do think that courtesy is a two-way street. Many Americans feel that high prices buy them a certain level of entitlement, and we have observed countless interactions where angry guests berate Cast Members for circumstances outside of their control. (I’ve said this before, but all Americans should be “required” to work for a year in a service industry so they “learn” how to treat others.)
Regardless of the specifics of these interactions between guests and housekeepers, I think that misframes the issue. Whatever the problem and potential solution, the fault lies with Walt Disney World’s protocol and procedures. And as we’ve also said before, the frontline Cast Member with whom you’re interacting is not the one who implemented the policies with which you take issue, nor are they the ones pocketing the nightly room rate.
The housekeeper didn’t make the decision that resulted in them knocking on the door of occupied rooms at ~9 am. (It’s fair to say they don’t enjoy confrontation with guests or waking people up early…they’re just trying to do their job.) The root cause is management, which establishes standards, even unworkable ones, and fails to come up with creative solutions when it’s clear that there are issues.
So what are the potential solutions here? Disney can’t directly address immigration, so “hiring more” alone is not a realistic suggestion. The first and most obvious is restoring the “Service Your Way” gift card for declining housekeeping that began in ~2017 when the housekeeper shortage first cropped up.
That was discontinued when the hotels reopened two years ago. That decision made sense at the time; occupancy was low and rooms didn’t need to be turned over the same day as departure. That is no longer the case, so this incentive should be brought back ASAP. This goes against Disney’s current “philosophy” of tightening the coffers, but it’s absolutely necessary.
Second, there should be a room checkout feature in My Disney Experience. Ideally, not just a passive one that would be just as easy to overlook as removing the “Room Occupied” hanger.
Rather, a location-based prompt that pops up when guests are outside their resort area. If My Disney Experience can encourage me to Mobile Order every single time I’m near the Lunching Pad, they can figure this out.
(UPDATE: Since this post was first published, this exact feature has been added! Perhaps it has helped ease the issue, too.)
Combining those two ideas, Walt Disney World could incentivize early checkouts or use of that theoretical app feature with gift cards. Most people probably wouldn’t modify their checkout times as a result, but enough would voluntarily report when they would be leaving their room with that carrot to make a difference, and improve things for housekeepers and those sleeping in.
Again, this is not in keeping with the “spirit” of recent changes at Walt Disney World, but it would reduce friction and improve guest satisfaction for some of the company’s costliest products. Something like $10-$20 is a very small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, especially if it improves satisfaction or likelihood to return/recommend metrics.
On a tangentially related note, we’ve received a lot of questions about the “Room Occupied” signs and room inspections at Walt Disney World resorts. While we’ve never covered this on the blog, it’s actually nothing new. This policy started back in December 2017, and was first rolled out at the Polynesian Village Resort, Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Contemporary Resort, and Bay Lake Tower.
At the time, the company declined to comment on why it swapped “Do Not Disturb” with “Room Occupied” signs at that handful of hotels. Walt Disney World only indicated that they made the decision for a variety of factors, including safety, security and the guest experience.
Never wanting to ruin the illusion, Walt Disney World has still never officially acknowledged the reason for this change–even if it’s obvious based on the timing. The tighter security measures came a couple of months after the Las Vegas massacre, where a gunman gradually assembled an arsenal of weapons over the course of several days before killing 58 people from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel tower.
Shortly after that, Hilton Hotels also changed its security policy. That chain now recommends that staffers alert a security or duty manager after 24 hours of consecutive Do Not Disturb sign usage. Wynn Resorts made a similar policy change, as did many others on the Vegas strip and in other high-rise locations that now require “welfare checks” after a certain amount of time. Disneyland Paris had already changed its policy to scan all luggage upon entering its hotels via airport-style x-ray machines.
The Room Occupied hanger itself says that the “Disney Resort hotel and its staff reserve the right to enter your room, even when this sign is displayed, for maintenance, safety, security or any other purpose.”
Pursuant to this, Walt Disney World is allowing housekeeping and maintenance staff to enter the rooms on a daily basis. When the change was announced, the policy was that a hotel staffer must knock and identify themselves before entering if the “Room Occupied” sign is out. Arriving guests are/were supposed to be notified about the new right-to-entry guidelines, per the company.
Back when the “Room Occupied” sign change was made and the random security inspections began, it was a hot and controversial topic among Walt Disney World fans. Some contended that safety should be the top priority, trumping privacy and all else. Others argued that the inspections were intrusive, occurred at inopportune times, and were often not handled in a tactful way by security.
This is just a brief summary of some of the many varied arguments for and against security checks. The debates spanned hundreds of pages on Walt Disney World forums, eliciting many impassioned responses. This is hardly a comprehensive recap of the pros & cons, but I’m not particularly keen on relitigating all of that.
What I will say is that I can see both sides of this. My personal view is that security is paramount, but an unsupported cry of “security” cannot simply shut down all further conversation or counterpoints, as is so often the case. I think it’s okay to have healthy skepticism, especially given how much of America’s post-9/11 history is dotted with security theater masquerading as actual safety measures.
There’s also the unfortunate reality that many corporate policies amount to overly conservative legal liability CYA more than anything else. Of course, I cannot say for certain whether that’s the case here. Nevertheless, implementing such policies at ground level rooms in the bayou at Port Orleans Riverside within steps of the parking lot does not strike me as sufficiently narrowly tailored to accomplish any meaningful safety objectives.
Beyond the security policy on its face, there’s the human implementation. We have been subject to these security checks more times than I can count at Walt Disney World. Without fail, they almost always seem to coincide with midday breaks or afternoon naps.
They’re usually perfectly pleasant and brief, but about 1 of 10 times, that’s not the case. (Within the last year or so, we’ve had a few Cast Members politely inform us that they can’t inspect the room while it’s occupied, which is fine by us. We’ve given them a time we’d be out of the room and, presumably, they returned then.)
More than anything else, my quibbles with this policy are its ham-fistedness and inconsistency. To my recollection, we’ve never been advised of the policy at check-in. It often occurs during the middle of the day. The approaches vary widely, as does the demeanor of those doing the checks. (I don’t doubt guests are frequently rude to these Cast Members, but we have never been, and a little graciousness when demanding access to our room would be appreciated.)
If my perspective strikes you as unreasonable, that’s certainly your prerogative, and you are entitled to that opinion. My only response would be that in hundreds of hotel stays since October 2017, we have literally never had an issue with this anywhere but Walt Disney World.
The checks have occurred in other real world hotels, but they’ve never been even a remote hassle. When it comes to both of the issues in this post and so many other things, I think it’s fair to ask: why is this not a widespread issue with hotels outside of Walt Disney World?
Ultimately, that’s where we land with both of these topics, as well as many other resort policies and protocol at Walt Disney World. For a company with such a massive room inventory and a reputation for guest service, Disney is surprisingly bad hotelier. There is minimal attention to detail from a hospitality perspective, as the focus is typically on efficiency above all else.
I love a lot of things about Walt Disney World, but do not view it as one of the world’s great operators of hotels. When you pay the big bucks for a resort at Walt Disney World, it’s for theme, location, transportation, and perks–not luxuriousness. Even the Deluxe Resorts cannot compete with similarly-situated real world hotels in that regard.
This is nothing new. We’ve been saying for years that actual high-end hoteliers such as Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, etc. easily surpass even Walt Disney World’s flagship hotels. There’s a reason Disney “outsourced” luxury to the Four Seasons Orlando. Likewise, mid-tier properties by Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Wyndham give Walt Disney World resorts a run for their money when it comes to managing hotels. The same could be said for Loews, too.
When viewed from this perspective, it’s easier to see how Walt Disney World has implemented guest-unfriendly policies at its resorts. It’s not the fault of the frontline Cast Members who are simply following the orders of their leaders–it’s a top-down problem. Management sees impressive occupancy numbers and knows that they don’t need to do better, even if there are obvious and remediable points of friction for guests.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts about the “Room Occupied” signs, security checks, and ~9 am departure day door knocks? Think Walt Disney World could come up with better and more guest-friendly solutions to all of this, or are the complainers overreacting? What have been your recent experiences with housekeeping or security in hotels at Walt Disney World–and beyond? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We had a mixed experience with housekeeping during our stay last week at Port Orleans Riverside. Every housekeeper I met was very polite and helpful. We were lucky to get early check in and the housekeepers helped us find our way around the building. After about an hour of being in our room, a housekeeper did accidentally walk in the room without even a knock, weird, but no harm done. She looked surprised and apologized as she walked out.
We had two days of housekeeping. The first day was great. However our 2nd room cleaning was only half done. Towels were replaced and garbage emptied, but bed linens were not changed and beds not made. The money we left for them wasn’t taken either, so seemed it was just forgotten about? The trash and old towels sat outside our door all night and was there when we left for the parks the next morning.
As for the 9am knockers and security checks – We are late sleepers and didn’t experience any of these. However we did have the “Room Occupied” sign out whenever we were in the room.
It was apparent that the housekeeping was understaffed. As my wife said several times during our trip, it’s takes away the “magic” we are used to experiencing at Disney. Overall we had a wonderful week at Disney, but did see less “magic”. Not just at the resort, but at the buses and in the parks too (mainly Magic Kingdom). But that is a different topic, not for here.
The whole housekeeping senerio is ridiculous! My husband and I have traveled numerous times throughout the pandemic and there is literally no housekeeping anywhere we have gone but no security checks either. IF and that’s a big IF we ever go back to Disney we would go with our daughter, son in law and their young son. What about nap time? Wake a sleeping toddler for a security check? Just another reason NOT to go to Disney. Our list is getting long NOT to go. What a shame we use to LOVE Disney, but it’s getting really hard to keep justifying their decisions.
When we stay at WDW, I call he housekeeping office to let them know we don’t need to have our room serviced when we are staying over so the housekeeper gets a small reprieve for the day. I wait until after 9am though so the assignments have already been made for the day and they can’t just add another room to the housekeepers schedule for the day. If we are still at the resort I will find the housekeeper and let them also know I have called to decline service for the day in case their lead doesn’t get the message in a timely manner. A couple bucks a day left for the housekeeper if you do get service can make a difference too. Daily is best because you may not have he same person each day. It is an extremely hard job as they typically have only 20 minutes per room and often work through lunch and breaks in order to get everything done in time.
We were at All Star Movies on March 26 when a security check occurred. It was 2;00 in the afternoon when we were changing to go to the pool. Nothing more than a quick knock and opening the door to peek inside. He said security check but not before opening the door. I called the front desk to complain but their explanation was lame at best. They need to change this policy to something better!
I’m sorry, my family are not morning people and 9AM is not early especially on check out day. So even if they did knock it would be a very small inconvenience if that.
All Disney has to do is install a deadbolt lock that works like an airplane bathroom door. When you lock it on the inside there is a little display on the outside door that goes from green to red. Letting hskp know that someone has to be in the room. Not an expensive project.
Tom-first of all, I love when you use the word calculus in your post:) I am wondering why they don’t also use MDE and ask guests to voluntarily say about what hrs they plan on being out during the day for cleaning (not just on checkout day).
Also if I have the deadbolt/chain on can they get in? If I am in the shower I am not going to frantically find s towel. They can wait.
They can get past that. They will enter your room whether you’re decent or not. Frankly it’s appalling and only a matter of time before this creates some sort of predatory or voyeuristic problem when they hire the wrong security guard and give him or her permission to enter rooms when guests, including children, are indisposed.
Liz, despite what Matt said you will most definitely notice if security is trying to get past the deadbolt. It is very difficult to do and involves a lot of jiggling and occasionally hardware. As a hotel manager I can tell you we have done it twice in the 10+ years I’ve work at hotels, and my coworker has worked 30 years in hotels and has only had to do it four times. Budget properties and or motels are a different story, as a chain is much easier to remove. This only works if you actually use the deadbolts though. Hope that makes you feel safer!
There was an article on allears (I think) that said they were testing the MDE checkout feature at RIV and CBR.
If we are at a resort where the front desk is on the way out we will usually stop and tell them we are leaving.
Fabulous story. I was once a housekeeper at Pop Century and worked my way to be a manager at The Grand Floridian . I no longer work there. I have a special place in my heart for the housekeepers and will defend them 100% . They have anywhere from 14 to 18 rooms to clean between 8 and 4:30 and sometimes more if they are short handed. The same people complaining about housekeepers disturbing them are the same ones complaining about their rooms not being ready at checkin. Housekeepers are the hardest working people and get the lowest pay. They clean anything from vomit to feces and some people are disgusting . I used to wonder if they kept their houses in the same condition.
Disney could simply have a sign that politely asks that on the last day of your stay when you exit please leave the curtains wide open so staff can see you’ve left.
Not the perfect solution but I think it would help out a great deal and it costs nothing except the initial cost of the sign.
Only works Mickey 1928 if the windows are on the door side. Our room at AKL the windows were on the animal park side. Give the giraffes walkie-talkies? 😉
I don’t see why housekeeping and the security check can’t happen at the same time. The guard can follow the maid from door to door and inspect the room while she’s making the beds. No other hotel, not even in Las Vegas, have this visible security procedure you describe in your blog post.
Housekeeping is no longer done daily. The security checks are done on days when housekeeping has not been in the room.
I just got back a few days ago and my check in didn’t occurred till just after 3 (officially check in time). I go to my room at 6pm (3 hours after I arrived) and put up the occupied sign to shower and received a knocked as I frantically grabbed a towel bc someone is saying “security check” this seemed extreme. My sign was up for 30 minutes and my check in was less than 4 hours prior.
Also, the light cleaning that doesn’t include making a bed, every other day, is very weak. Disney needs to fix these things, but won’t bc ppl keep paying.
The person doing the security checks has no idea what time or day you checked in. They just go down the line of rooms and check every room.
Last trip we had 2 security checks while I was in the room. First time a nice young lady who was very polite, asked if there were any problems and took notes on the tile in the accessible shower that sends water out into the bathroom. Second time was a male voice. I was alone (70 year old woman). Asked if he could come in and do a security check. I said no. Not until my husband was back. And took a deep breath to start screaming rape if the door opened. Would have too. While raising my metal cane with the rubber tip pulled off. This old lady takes no guff from anyone. Bet that one word gets this moderated out. 😉
Next time the in room lock goes on even if it means hubby will wake me up.
We received the softest mouse tap at ~9am on our OKW departure date. But we were nearly out of the room for a 10am Topolino’s ADR. They were so apologetic and I wish we could have communicated that we’d be out shortly. Or formally check out (bell services?). We frequent timeshares, so we’re used to no service during the week and about 50% looking for our early departure. Most common, housekeeping will set all the new linens just outside the door. Clue! I have no complaints, as we were also looking for the room to be ready early on arrival and sat around the pool until 4:05 (Garden Grocer delivered right at noon for 12-4pm window). I have often said the same thing, every human should work 3 months in the service industry (waiting tables) to understand!
We’ve experienced these 9am (or earlier!) wake up knocks on checkout day, and I agree it’s a product of poor WDW processes. In one instance (at Boardwalk) the housekeeper stood outside our room for an hour after her initial knock, waiting for us to leave.
My other observation with WDW housekeeping is the lack of leader presence and visibility. In retail, F&B, Park Ops, etc leaders are everywhere… but the housekeeping team appears to function more independently. They may not have the skills or experience to problem-solve how to work most efficiently.
I agree with many of your comments. As an Orlando resident (DVC/Annual Passholder) we are at WDW frequently. It has been increasingly obvious that to us anyway it is not Magical.
There should be a balance between guest experience and making $.
For now the needle has moved to dollars.
Hi, Tom!
Fantastic article. And, yes, housekeeping is a job Americans refuse to do, no matter how much money you throw at them.
Anyway, this is being tested at Riviera and, I assume, coming to other resorts.
https://dvcnews.com/resorts/riviera-resort/riviera-resort-news/5259-riviera-testing-check-out-feature-in-mde-app
More reasons I won’t be giving Disney any more money. I had an AP for years and averaged 8 to 10 trips to WDW per year, but it’s gotten out of hand and I’m done. The lack of service is inexcusable, especially considering the ever increasing costs. I know most fans will give their money to the mouse hand over fist even if they have to start bringing their own ice for their sodas, but enough is enough as far as I’m concerned.
I can’t say that the guest experience for us has been anything but marginal. I’ll predicate that by saying we spend approximately 70 nights a year on property primarily at Deluxe resorts and I’m aware that this amount of time allows for more issues. As a business traveler, I’d argue a Marriott or Hilton experience far surpasses a Disney Deluxe on average. Referencing the aforementioned challenges, our primary problem with housekeeping has simply been not receiving it or receiving very poor cleaning and room upkeep. It doesn’t help that I am fairly thorough but I’ll confirm that I can find left over “food” in 75% of WDW hotel rooms (100% of rooms have Cheerios). I receive the knock almost every visit and sometimes every morning. I’ve also experienced tactics such as, “if you do not exit the room by time x, no housekeeping” and “you were in room, so I left towels at the door. No cleaning” And “I’m sorry they didn’t come but no housekeeping is available after x hour but tomorrow you’ll be first.” Overall, the lack of checkout times entered into the app and app checkout or housekeeping incentives is simply a corporate fail and continued confirmation that guest experience is a very low priority. More egregious is probably the fake inspection. Have you observed this? Based on observation, there is a 0% chance they would “find” anything. Is there a reason room cleaning (not that it happens) can’t count as inspection? I have never been anything but overly gracious about “inspections” but a good 60% of the time our experience has been one that was extremely rude and intrusive- I have been bodily knocked as they’ve barreled into my room with me in a towel out of the shower. I sleep late and this really raises their ire and insights aggression when they knock on the door. But it has also spanned the gamut of a wave of the card on the door to clear it without them entering the room or a barely walking into the room inspection by some very friendly CMs. Overall it should be as non-intrusive as Hilton- have literally never know when they visit or just eliminate this CYA practice that has 0 basis in safety.
If you can tell your resort when you plan to check in I don’t know why you can’t tell them when you plan to check out. Most people know when they are leaving. I’ve never been in the room past 0500 am on checkout day since I’m flying back to the west coast. There should be a way to let housekeeping know the room is empty without them having to guess.
We checked out of CBR on Saturday morning and I received a notification on the MDE app and was able to tell them om the app that we had checked out and left the room. We left around 730am to drive back to Michigan. So hopefully they are doing something proactive to get information from anyone who is checking out early.
Oh wow, that’s awesome to hear. I’ve never received anything like that, but have no reason to doubt you–I wonder if they’re already testing out something to resolve this!
Cowabunga dudes and dudettes! February had no issues with housekeeping and no knocks on the door. Maybe b/c the room we were in was so far from everything else on the planet housekeeping couldn’t get there before we we out and about. All of the staff were pleasant and could not have been more accommodating. On the “CYA” concerning Vegas tragedy, it is still too easy to walk into a resort with a firearm. Even as a legal concealed carrier it concerns me that there is a lack detection devices as we enter from the parking lot into our favorite resorts at WDW. Management has their hands full keeping evil people from doing terrible things. Understand they are trying to make sure the place is safe for everyone, and in today’s society we know that is close to impossible.
I don’t disagree with you about that. What I do think is that safety measures need to be tailored to meet their actual goals, and not just exist for the sake of avoiding legal liability.
For example, Disneyland Paris has actual bag scanners that x-ray everything as it enters each hotel. The entire resort has a secure perimeter as a result, and this actually has stopped bad actors.
Walt Disney World is obviously different and has much more “porous” borders, for lack of a better term. It makes complete sense to have this policy (and perhaps more) at monorail resorts. I don’t think the same can be said for Port Orleans, Old Key West, and many other locations on property. It’s simply so easy to circumvent to the point that it renders the policy wholly ineffectual.