Here now, service/staff at CBBR

acln

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 11, 2017
Today is day 7 of our 10 night stay at cabana bay for the first time. I would like I start this off by saying I’m not one for confrontation, I hate to feel like I’m a bother, I rarely send back food even if there’s a slight issue, etc. BUT I’m feeling a bit disappointed with our choice of resort right now.

The other day we wanted to do laundry with something other than the powder detergent in the laundry room. I forgot to pack some with me from home and we do not have a rental so we couldn’t just up and go without getting a Lyft/Uber/etc. Trying to make this easier on ourselves we went to the gift shop. They were sold out of detergent but said to ask front desk. Wait in line at the front desk and tell them what the store said. He gives us a very confused look and walks away to check the back. Returns and says they don’t have any either, shrugs and says nothing else, as if he’s just waiting for us to leave. Doesn’t say anything about if they would have more in stock at the desk or store, no suggestions on another option just shrugs and gives us a black stare. Couldn’t even tell us what stores are around that would have something. I know we have phones and such but DH and I walked away feeling off. Fine, we move on and just use the powder.

Then last night I waited over an hour for new towels. DH went down to ask for them originally, didn’t realize they couldnt just hand them to him then and there, housekeeping has to do it. Okay so we wait. After 25-30 mins I call front desk and ask if they are still coming. I’m waiting to take a shower, we are completely out of large clean ones right now. Front desk says they will put a rush on it. Another 20 minutes goes by and DH calls again. Woman says “wow you’ve been waiting a long time” and says they will be there soon. 15 minutes later someone knocks on the door. I answer, a man shoved a pile of towels at me while staring at a phone or tablet, I make an effort to smile and say thank you, he never looks up and just nods while walking away. A simple “sorry for your wait” or some eye contact was all I was looking for.

I am not going to compare this to “the other place” but this service is not what I was expecting. Small things, yes. But these are the two times we’ve needed extra help with something from someone and it’s left a bad taste in my mouth. I do not expect special treatment or anyone to completely bendover backwards for us, but am I wrong to expect a little more from a resort? I know this is the value one here at universal, but right now I’m feeling as though I could’ve saved two thirds of my money and gotten this service at a motel 6. Am I just nitpicking? I planned basically our whole trip, stuck my neck out and convinced DH it was worth it to stay here, and now I feel like it was a mistake. The first few days we thought the theming was so cool, everything was clean and we were happy to be here. Now I’m just itching to get out. I sincerely hope we don’t need to ask for help with anything else.

Another thing, when we checked in we payed for the rest of the reservation. I saw the payment pending on my card for a couple days but now it’s gone. No money was taken out for the room and I’m not sure why? Is it typically taken out at checkout instead? I would have rather it just be taken out when we checked in (which is what I was told would happen) so I can keep better track of what we have for spending money and such. Looks like I’ll have to take another trip to the front desk after all.
 
I wish I had some words of wisdom; I just wanted to share that you should expect human interaction & assistance. You aren't being picky or a bother; I don't think your expectations are out of line.
 
So while doing laundry I accidentally locked my wallet in there and couldn’t get back in. Called 4 times and waited 45 minutes for someone to come before a random employee let me in. DD had to wait that entire time to go to the bathroom, she’s only 7 and I really thought she was going to have an accident. After finally getting back to our room I went to front desk to speak to a manager. He gave me the direct line for the front desk (apparently I’ve been calling the wrong thing this whole time and no one could tell me? I couldn’t have been given this number at check in?) and was the first person to apologize for anything. And he clarified that the rest of the payment for my room would be charged at checkout, which is the opposite of what I was told on two separate occasions. Now my budget is so messed up, we still have two park days and food and such to pay for. I’m just really frustrated. I wish I didn’t have to hand over thousands of dollars to this place in a few days, now I can definitely say this was NOT worth it.
 
Sorry you're having such a dismal stay. Hope things will be better when we check in on 2 days.
 


Has your trip been fine up till your recent less than perfect conversations?

I hope it has..........

It’s common for the balance of a stay to be paid at the end of the trip. Every hotel we have ever stayed at in the USA has charged at checkout.........

I’m glad you spoke to a manager, if you felt strongly enough to take the time to post on a message board, I would sincerely hope you would take the time for the hotel to sort the issue out for you.

If an employee can’t answer a question, it makes sense to us to ask for someone who can answer. Something like washing powder and towels should be easy to rectify.

Universal and the affiliated hotels take customer service seriously. No need to compare to the “other place”.......

Talk to the right people and I’m sure they’ll make good what you are unhappy with.
 
Has your trip been fine up till your recent less than perfect conversations?

I hope it has..........

It’s common for the balance of a stay to be paid at the end of the trip. Every hotel we have ever stayed at in the USA has charged at checkout.........

I’m glad you spoke to a manager, if you felt strongly enough to take the time to post on a message board, I would sincerely hope you would take the time for the hotel to sort the issue out for you.

If an employee can’t answer a question, it makes sense to us to ask for someone who can answer. Something like washing powder and towels should be easy to rectify.

Universal and the affiliated hotels take customer service seriously. No need to compare to the “other place”.......

Talk to the right people and I’m sure they’ll make good what you are unhappy with.

The trip as far as the hotel is concerned has been okay. I was given an eye roll after asking a question about the buses at check in, but other than that fine. We’ve also been very busy and not in the hotel a lot up until the past two days honestly though.

If paying at checkout is the policy I’m fine with that, but I was under the impression from two different conversations we would be charged at check in and money would be taken then. I don’t have an issue with the policy, just the miscommunication.

Yes before posting I was planning to speak with a manager no matter what before I took DD to the pool. After the laundry incident I went there immediately and didn’t feel much better after but not sure what could really be done anyway. I guess I used to this board as a place to vent and maybe I shouldn’t have. I just wanted to see if my experiences were normal or not and if I was crazy for being upset.

And like I said I was NOT trying to compare. That’s just not fair at all and I understand that. I just came here expecting a certain level of service and such and felt very let down today.
We had a great time at the universal parks, the staff there were all very kind and helpful and we haven’t had a single issue there.
Maybe I’m just having a rough day here, maybe this hotel just isn’t for me, I don’t know. The next two days will be full park days so I’m going to try to just put this behind me and have fun outside of here. I did not mean to offend, I know of course everyone loves universal for a reason.
 


I found the staff there to be reasonably friendly, although I'm still a little miffed about the false information they gave me about the walking path to City Walk being closed (evidently it wasn't!) It definitely did not have that certain vibe that WDW employees give, but I found most staff to be friendly, especially at the food court (very friendly, smiley people!). I guess it's the luck of the draw if you're going to get that certain employee who acts like they have better things to do than their job. I'm sorry you had that lousy experience!
 
Sorry to hear about your experiences.

To clairify about the payment of your room. Most hotels (at least in the US) at check in will request an authorization from your credit card, meaning the hotel asks your credit card provider if you have enough funds in your account, to pay for room and tax and most of the time an incidental fee (charging privileges for restaurants, phone ect). If there are funds available then your credit card company places a hold on those funds until check out and the funds are actually transferred, if you look at your account it will show a 'charge' on your account but at this point no money has changed hands. Only when the room is checked out or you request the charge to be made to the card will the funds be transferred and an actual transaction take place.

The reason for this authorization vs actual charge is simple the credit card company charges the hotel a fee for every transaction (authorizations are not transactions) so if the hotel were to actually charge for 5 nights and the incidental fee at the beginning of your stay (1 transaction) and would have to refund the incidental fee back to you (1 transaction for a total of 2 transactions), the the hotel would be hit with 2 transactions fees from the cc company thus loosing money not something the hotel wants to do.

This is just for credit cards, if you use a debit card that is a whole different can of worms.

Again sorry about your experience!
 
I’m really sorry you aren’t having the best experience. I know that really stinks when you are spending so much money and things get a little blah.

That said, I really hope you don’t let these things cloud the enjoyment you have had and let this drag you down or ruin your memories of the trip. (I know so easy to say).

Your experiences, while annoying aren’t really anything I would consider outlandish. I don’t know what it is about calling housekeeping in off hours, but I’ve had the similar experience in several hotels where you are waiting and waiting and it takes forever for something simple like towels. Once the main housekeeping leaves for the day it’s a much smaller, mop up crew, that can get delayed if they have other urgent housekeeping situations (broken glass, growing up, etc to deal with).

The front desk guy being clueless about the soap doesn’t seem like a dealbreaker. Sounds like he could improve his social interactions but he also might have been completely confusrd that the gift shop suggested he had alternatives and I wouldn’t expect him to know when a new shipment was coming in.

It also seems like a complete miscommunication with the hotel explaining hotel holds versus hotel charges, but it sounds like the typical way hotels here bill.

All that said, sorry there were some bumps in the road. I hope the last bit of your trip goes well!
 
Here now at CBBR and the staff and service have been over the top.!!
 
Here now at CBBR and the staff and service have been over the top.!!

:thumbsup2 Hope it stays that way for you. We just checked out this morning and I’ve gotten over my frustrations. We had a great last two days at parks and I’ll leave it at that.
 
We have had the small hiccups at CB, like late towel requests. Perspective is important. At $100 per night for a suite, I can forgive an eye roll or bad answer. At $400 per night, well, we would be talking a different level of frustration.
 
I never had anything but stellar treatment when I was there. I'm a bit confused as to what you expected them to do about the laundry soap. If they were out, they were out.
 

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