Grand Floridian- bad changes with cutbacks

[The Land and Sea Guy]

Not to top any stories here, but last year I stayed in the GF (dec.)and in the middle of my stay we came back to the room at around 10:00pm and our bathroom plumbing was taken apart. We could not use the either sink and plumbing parts were scatered all over the floor. I went down to talk to the front desk and they said they would send some to the room to fix it. Two men arrived very quickly and were in our room until close to 1:00am fixing the sinks. I have two daughters 5 and 7 and we waited in the room until they finished to use the bathroom and go to bed. The next day, I wrote a letter explaining what happen and gave it a cm at the front desk to give to the manager - I never heard a word from them! I think sometimes you just have to go be a jerk to get any satisfaction. What I mean is, go down to the front desk and embarrase yourself as well as the cm to square up on the situation and haggle with them until you get something in return.
I have stayed at the GF 3 times and on the same trip as mentioned above, I saw a lady ck in one night. Her resevations were not until the next day. The cm told her there were no rooms available. She took up about 10min. of his time and then demanded to speak to the manager. Well, he told her the same thing. But, she was NOT moving after about 10 min with him, he gave in and the lady got her room. I believe Disney doesn't want to make a seen and gives in if your a jerk. I believe Disney should have given me a nights stay free min. for what happened. Believe me, I have not forgotten this experience. If I had to do over, I would go down to the front desk and ask for the manger and make him come to my room and give an onsite explanation! I would have been upgraded to lodge tower. LOL

 

[hallie]

Try the AKL next time! We were there in April and it was immaculate. Everyday we were at the pool there were at least 2 people who just went around cleaning up after people and picking up old towels, garbage, arranging chairs etc. In the 2 weeks we were there we never saw even a drop of garbage on the ground and it was during Easter so it was packed!

When we first went to our room, I guess our bellman saw or made a very small, tear in the carpet behind the door. Because a manager like CM came knocking on our door and said someone was coming immediately to fix it, we lol because we didn't even see it! We then told her that there was a light bulb missing and she apologized and a replacement bulb and carpet repairman came within 5 minutes! He repaired this little tear, we didn't even see, in just a few minutes and then the CM came back and apologized again. The funniest part about it was we never had any complaints at all, we fell in love with the place at first sight.

I'm so sorry about your stay at the GF what happened is totally unacceptable for the *Flagship resort* of Disney or even a value resort at that!

I would definitely recommend the AKL for your next stay, it is by far the highest quality resort I've ever stayed at. The old Disney standards of top notch quality are alive and well at the AKL!

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Awww Hallie now you got me wanting to stay at the AKL again - I love that resort - the standards were beyond excellent

 

[BELLA1]

The AKL is beautiful, and Immaculate. IT is the newest of the DISNEY hotels and they are keeping it up very nicely. We never had a problem there .

I also think that at PEAK times when the parks are more crowded...they have more staff on duty and things are kept up better. During the slower periods they cut back to save $$...and it shows.

 

[Straughn]

We went back to the GF last February after having stayed at the WL for 5 years. While our room was always clean and neat, we generally thought the the overall condition of the property and the service was not as good as it had been in the past. Granted 5 years is a long time, but as other posters have commented, this is the premiere hotel on property and should set the standard, not fall below it.

We noticed the trash cans around the property were not dumped regularily, the tables in the Gasparilla's were not cleaned as quickly, room service trays I saw in the hall on my way out in the AM were still there when I returned hours later, and that it was later and later each day before our room was made-up. We attributed a lot of this to the staff cut backs that we heard so much about after 9/11. We saw more stains on carpet in the public areas and in general, the furniture was showing wear. It may be time for a major renovation of the public areas. Our room was fine. As a meeting planner, I am used to evaluating hotels on their condition and the overall appearance in the public areas was not acceptable for the price they charge and the image they want to project. If I had been on a site inspection, they would not have passed.

The biggest complaint we had was the very, very slow service at the front desk, all the time every day. The clerks did not seem as knowlegable and often I could have answered the questions better than they did. On more than one occasion, we saw 2-3 cast members working with one guest, while the line of people waiting for assistance got longer and longer. When there are only 4 cast members working the front desk and they have to check guests in/out, answer questions and perform many of the duties formerly handled by the concierge/guest services, it takes time. They clearly needed more and better trained help.

We will be back at the WL next month and are curious to see if we encounter similar problems there.

 

[colleen costello]

Can someone tell me more about this Gaylord hotel? It sounds amazing! Do they have a website so I can daydream? We are going to stay at OKW in March and I would love to drive over and check out this new place. Can you visit and shop there even if you are not a guest at the time?

Thanks!

 

[lisajl]

Try this link...



http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylordpalms/index.cfm



Lisajl

 

[colleen costello]

Lisajl, thanks. That is the place I was thinking of. We passed it last year when we left WDW property to go to the ocean for a day. I thought it looked like a castle! It is so big and SO close to the WDW line. I am going to go drool over the website now!

 

[bat4less]

we have stayed at the gaylord resorts in the past- not in orlando- and they are always well kept and immaculate ad the service in conc is excellent- never had a problem at all any of the gaylord resorts

 

[DemoBri1]

Sounds to me that maybe Sago Cay might be the bigger problem at GF than the entire GF itself. Maybe Disney needs to think about taking a look at this building and see if maybe something isn't going wrong internally here.

I have never stayed at GF, so I can't comment on the conditions and level of service either. My DW, DD, DS, and I are scheduled to take our first DVC trip in December. It will be interesting to see how well the BCV hold up after having been online for a year and a half.

I am one of those who will go down and complain if I feel that I am being slighted in the least. I am just hopeful that maybe USF will raise the bar enough that our friends in Anaheim will take notice and maybe do something to rectify the "perceived" decline in quality and service.

Brian

 

[Misti]

I'm not discounting anyone's post but I'd like to offer my opinion. I've always found the GF to be absolutely immaculate. I've stayed at the GF at least twice in the last 10+ years. Even before the resort-wide renovation, I found the rooms to be extremely well kept and I never encountered so much as a speck of dirt/dust/hair/mildew, anything like that. The condition of the room described in the original post sounds very much out of character for the GF. But, I truly believe that is an isolated exception more than the rule.

During our stay in early December, I was really impressed with Housekeeping. In fact, I found that the evening turndown was doing even more than usual in terms of cleaning the room, etc. So, the room seemed spotless all throughout the day/night. "Little" things were taken care of daily. For example, the toliet paper holder was replaced if the roll was less than half way full, extra tolietries left if they saw that one of the bottles was already open, extra washcloths left when they saw we used them quickly, etc.

I did notice the situation about guests leaving food/cups etc on the tables near the quiet pool. But, I also noticed the lifeguards going out of their way to keep on top of it as best as they could. It's a shame that guests can't clean up after themselves in this respect. While there is a bar there, this area is hardly a main food service area and I wouldn't expect them to have CM's at the quiet pool for constant clean-up. They do have staff to clean/arrange the chairs, clean the tables, etc in the late afternoon.

So, again, I'm just offering my experience to you. It certainly differs from some of the posts here but I'm not discounting their experience in any way.

 

[patsal]

I hate to sound like too big a snob, but I felt that since the code rates have been so very good, most of the deluxe hotels are attracting a caliber of people who do not respect the property as much as they should (would if they had to pay a higher rate). Please don't misunderstand--ignorance does not know an income level. That being said, however some people treat things poorly because others are there to clean up after them. I will never understand this. If you make a huge mess clean it up, if you can't clean it up call and ask for help or at the very least leave a note. Additionally with cutbacks, I don't think the cleaning is being done properly or else there would not be so very much mold growing all over the place. As huge a Disney fan as I am, I must admit my Portifino Bay stay has yet to be topped by a Disney Resort. My last DVC visit the carpets were not vaccumed either. This was maddening, but easily resolved. As for feces on a door--that is never acceptable, if all else fails go to the lobby and bring a manager up to the room so they can experience your complaint first hand!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

This is all going in my trip report... but since this thread is so popular I thought I'd add some info here.

We just returned from the GF last night. We had room #7329 in Conch Key with the BEST view of MK and the castle possible (in my opinion). Just beautiful. However, our housekeeping was horrible. Really horrible. And I'm not just saying that because we didn't get towel animals or whatever... I'm talking basics like no toilet paper, no shampoo, no Q-tips, no washcloths or handtowels, I don't think those items are too much to ask for, do you?

The first day we actually had pretty good maid service. But the other days went downhill fast! They only left shampoo once on the first day and never left it again. I had to hunt down the cart and ask for some EVERY dang day. Now that is rediculous. Also we didn't have toilet paper on 2 occasions and came back to the room several times with no towels. In fact they didn't even enter the bathroom area because the tip was still laying on the counter with the empty kleenex box I wanted filled (which never was). We called housekeeping every day and they would bring the missing items up to our room, but no big apologies... most of the time they were non English speaking people. (no offense but when a guest is unhappy you should send someone who can at least SPEAK to them about the problem!!) The 3rd night a guy came with towels around 10:00pm and gave the excuse that the maids were still working on it! Uhhhh... at 10 pm they are still working on it??? Give me a break.

My husband did finally speak to the manager but he didn't seem to really care and gave him a quick brush off.

We might stay at the GF again someday, but maybe try concierge... maybe that is where all the good housekeepers are??? Actually, I think we might split our stay. Maybe 2 nights at the GF while we take in MK, and then move over to YC.


Our housekeeping at the Yacht Club was fantastic! So I know it's possible for Disney to have great service... but sometimes you just get a dud. Someone who doesn't care and does a half-a$$ job. We had horrible service at the GF Cafe, 50's Prime Time, and Sci -Fi... but had great service at Coral Reef, Chef Mickey's, Ohana, and Crystal Palace. It's the luck of the draw. Maybe Disney isn't paying these people well enough?? I don't know. But I totally agree that off property resorts (like Portofino Bay) are blowing away Disney resorts with their fantastic service and extra emenities. Disney needs to take some lessons.

I still love WDW, but it's sad to see the decline in service.

 

[colleen costello]

I am always amazed what I learn here! From these boards I know LITERALLY what to look for when entering a hotel room -- bedbugs in the mattresses, suspicious stains on the comforters and poop on the bathroom doors! LOL! Seriously, you hear it all here! When we hit Florida this March I will carefully check our OKW room. I will spray the bedspreads with the new Lysol fabric disinfectant and I will check the mattresses for any signs of bedbugs (small reddish-brown stains). I will make sure bathroom surfaces are clean. THEN I will make time for an afternoon over at the Gaylord Palms, which sounds amazing, to see for myself how it compares to DVC! My friends make fun of me for spending so much time reading about WDW, but where else but these Boards can a traveler become so prepared?

I am hoping that our OKW 2-bedroom is nicely cleaned, and if it is not, I will speak to a manager and report back here. In the meanwhile, isn't it fun to live vicariously through all our friends here?

 

[Deb & Bill]

We just got back from 8 nights at OKW. Our room was perfect in every way.

PS - How do you know it was feces? Might it have been something else? Chocolate pudding or Hershey bar? Did you have it analyzed?

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

A 2 bedroom villa at OKW is awesome! I think they clean those villas better because they don't clean them as often. The 2 times we've stayed there our villa was spotless and perfect. And it's nice not worrying about housekeeping because you don't have any! LOL