My take on mousekeeping offer

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Sounds like you don't want to do it so don't.

My take on it is that there are a lot of guest like myself that are barely even in their room so there is no need to come in every day and take 20 minutes to clean my room when it wouldn't take more than that even after several days to make it look nice for the next guest.
I don't think they will lay off many people but instead just make their work load a tad bit more manageable.

If offered the option of taking a GC I would do it in a heartbeat.
If I need something all I have to do is ask for it.
I would not take the pool towels I would simply ask for more room towels.
Also I hate feeling restrained in bed so I literally rip it apart before getting in and then they take the time to make it back up with care for me to rip it apart again. That makes me feel bad.

 

[Shanti]

Here is my take on the mousekeeping offer. Right now they are offering a gift card if you decide to get into the program. What happens if they decide to make this a "thing"? There will be no gift card and the price of the room will not go down but probably up as their prices continue to rise. How many mousekeepers will lose their jobs if they make this a "thing"? I don't use the self checkout in stores because they put someone out of a job. Will it make any difference to the environment if you take this offer? If I decide to do it I will get new towels from the pool as I like a fresh towel after every shower. Also I'm on vacation and like to come back to a room with my bed made and fresh towels and toiletries. As it is just me and DH I have to decide if this is something I want to do. Your thoughtsI'm ready.

I think it's a negative, and agree it's part of the overall downward trajectory of customer service at WDW resorts. Less housekeeping will result in less sanitary rooms due to food & wet clothes/towels being left around in some rooms for days. Yes, I know that some guests are neat, but some other guests are pigs. That's reality. Daily housekeeping at least keeps the worst effects of that piggishness in check. This will lead to an increase in bug and rodent problems, which by their nature never stay confined to only one room.

Payoffs for no housekeeping...dogs in resort rooms... Whatever happened to Disney resorts being magical places to escape from reality?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I don't think there is any chance at all of their dropping Housekeeping property wide. No way.
I would never take the offer nor would I stay at any resort that didn't provide daily service. Having someone else straighten up each day is part of vacation. I don't want to do chores I do at home on vacation. Sorry, in my world chore and vacation do not go in the same sentence. Ever.
However for those that it works for, I see no drawbacks, only pros as far as I can tell.

This is me. I like someone cleaning up after me while on vacation.

Now we may rent points next trip. I'm going to miss that daily housekeeping but it's just going to be myself and DD12 so not as much of a mess.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

I'll take the offer, for sure! I stayed at Pop this summer and only had them in my room once for my week stay. The next 3 days, when I came back for my afternoon break, they hadn't serviced my room yet so I just put my sign out and never took it off. I liked that I didn't have to worry about coming back while they were in my room, and I wasn't messy at all. I even (gasp) reused my towels! Fingers crossed they're offering it at POR this weekend!

 

[Figmentmommy]

If we're offered the incentive, we're going to take it. We're extremely neat, both of us. The only thing we *might* need is the trash taken out and that's easily done ourselves. We tend to tidy up after ourselves as we go along anyway. I can see families with children opting to keep housekeeping, but for us as two adults, we're fine.

I look at it differently. We are a family of 4 - 2 Adults and 2 kids (preteen in past years and now teenagers) we are also very neat - both kids & adults. We still like to have our room freshened up daily - beds made, fresh towels daily and garbage removed. We believe vacation is a break from these everyday tasks but we still don't leave the room a mess for housekeeping. Used towels are in one pile in the bathtub, toiletries are neatened up and out of the way, garbage is in the pail or in a bag near the pail. Our room is not any more messy just because we have children. I would require daily housekeeping even if it was just DH and me. I would never want to give it up -It's just part of staying in an overall vacation mood.

 

[writerguyfl]

Opting out if housekeeping for some monetary incentive has been a trend in the industry for a while now. Disney was slow in trying it. One of the main reasons they finally decided to offer it is because they can't find enough housekeepers as it is.

As you note here, this isn't anything groundbreaking. Starwood Hotels has been doing this with their "Make a Green Choice" program since 2008 or 2009. Other hotel chains followed suit. If anyone is wondering, every single Starwood Hotel still offers free daily housekeeping service for every single guest.

As I see it, this is just a part of a move by Disney to adopt the best practices of traditional hotel chains. Disney is behind the curve when it comes to their hotels. That's not necessarily a bad thing. They can choose to copy the best programs/services from other hotel companies. For example, things like online check-in, mobile devices as room keys, and reward for waiving housekeeping are all programs used in other hotels.

 

[AngiTN]

As you note here, this isn't anything groundbreaking. Starwood Hotels has been doing this with their "Make a Green Choice" program since 2008 or 2009. Other hotel chains followed suit. If anyone is wondering, every single Starwood Hotel still offers free daily housekeeping service for every single guest.

As I see it, this is just a part of a move by Disney to adopt the best practices of traditional hotel chains. Disney is behind the curve when it comes to their hotels. That's not necessarily a bad thing. They can choose to copy the best programs/services from other hotel companies. For example, things like online check-in, mobile devices as room keys, and reward for waiving housekeeping are all programs used in other hotels.

I've said about other practices that Disney adopts (and I find puzzling) they've run hotels way longer than me (which is for zero days) so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt to think they've given it a little research/thought. Maybe the fact that they are slow to adopt things means they give things more thought than even I realize. Then again, maybe I'm giving them way more credit than the deserve. But I do see things on their Resort/Hotel division that seem to make a lot more sense than a lot of things I see in the Parks division. I tend to have more hope with the Resorts in general.

The one thing I wish I could figure out, I always thought the rule was hanging towel = a towel I want to reuse yet every single time I hang my towel and every single time they take the towel anyway. I don't want to give up daily housekeeping but I would not mind their leaving our towels behind, if we have hung them for reuse. All in all it's a little thing but it is a puzzle.

 

[reking96]

Sorry.. out of the loop a bit. What’s the offer? I’m going in December... will it be offered at check in? Adult, solo traveler so nit much housekeeping to do. Thanks!

 

[AngiTN]

Sorry.. out of the loop a bit. What’s the offer? I’m going in December... will it be offered at check in? Adult, solo traveler so nit much housekeeping to do. Thanks!

A discount in the form of a gift card upon arrival, $25 I think, though I'm not sure about the amount. Only offered at some resorts. I believe most of the Value resorts are included, and a few Mods. Do not believe any Deluxe are

 

[reking96]

A discount in the form of a gift card upon arrival, $25 I think, though I'm not sure about the amount. Only offered at some resorts. I believe most of the Value resorts are included, and a few Mods. Do not believe any Deluxe are

Thanks!

 

[CrazyHare]

The amount lately has been reported as $10 per day not including checkout day.

 

[writerguyfl]

I've said about other practices that Disney adopts (and I find puzzling) they've run hotels way longer than me (which is for zero days) so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt to think they've given it a little research/thought. Maybe the fact that they are slow to adopt things means they give things more thought than even I realize. Then again, maybe I'm giving them way more credit than the deserve. But I do see things on their Resort/Hotel division that seem to make a lot more sense than a lot of things I see in the Parks division. I tend to have more hope with the Resorts in general.

I worked in hotels for over a decade before relocating to work at Walt Disney World. Most of my time working for Mickey was at the Disney Reservations Center. What struck me when I started was how different many of the policies were when compared to the two "normal" hotel chains I'd worked. Honestly, a lot of the differences weren't for the better.

As I wrote, many of the changes that have been made in the Resorts Division are copies of existing programs or policies at other chains. The current Senior Vice President of Resorts took over that role in August 2014. My educated guess is that he is the person making these changes. He may be implementing best practices from outside Disney.

I tried searching online to see if he was promoted from within Disney or if he came from another chain/hotel group. His name (Josh D'Amaro) does pull up several Disney positions he's held. But, I can't figure out if he has any history working outside Disney. So, I have no idea why he presumably decided to copy other hotel chains.

The one thing I wish I could figure out, I always thought the rule was hanging towel = a towel I want to reuse yet every single time I hang my towel and every single time they take the towel anyway. I don't want to give up daily housekeeping but I would not mind their leaving our towels behind, if we have hung them for reuse. All in all it's a little thing but it is a puzzle.

Little things like that are annoying, aren't they? I never worked at any of the Resorts, so I don't have any insight.

 

[Disneykarem]

If we accept the gift card offer, how/where do we get new towels and toiletries? How is trash handled?

Thanks

 

[Princess_Lisa]

I’ve been reading some posts of people not getting into room until way past 3:00. And not getting housekeeping even though they haven’t opted out. It just sounds like a reduction of staff.
With few exceptions I’ve always gotten my room early. I drive up to WDW from Ft Lauderdale where I stay first to visit family. So I arrive early. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.
But Nov I’m flying directly to MCO. Coming from west coast I won’t land till 4:30 so no worries about room ready this trip wish we could get room ready texts. Must be sooo cool.

I also wonder how many that have gotten in rooms later have completed online check in and what they gave as their arrival times, is there is any connection?
We got a room assigned very late earlier this year. However, this was after MDE started to pick up on flight times if you'd provided the arrival info to ME. Our flights arrived at 9:30 PM and we got room assignments really late that trip, well after 3:00. I believe they put us in the area that was one of the last to the be cleaned because during our stay our rooms were never cleaned before 3:00. Since they knew our arrival time they knew it was no problems to put us in a room that late. I've noticed that many of my room ready texts come in near the time I enter as our arrival time (when we haven't used a ME time)

I only stayed on site a once (split stay) back in August, but never received a room ready at either Resort. I completed online check in for the first Resort and told them something like 7 PM. Still no room info in MDE when I got back from the park at 11 PM. They had a room for me right away, but for some reason it just never showed up in MDE and I did not get any alerts. For the second Resort, online check in disappeared from MDE about the day before, so I couldn’t do it at all. No alerts or room info in MDE for that one either. Kinda defeats the point of online check in when you have to wait in line at the front desk to find out what room you’re in.

 

[Nohal]

Here(AS Mo) now and decided to decline housekeeping. We are here for 6 nights and got an e gift card for $50. After 3 days I called for more of everything. They brought more of everything enough to last me till the end if my trip. I like that I can leave stuff out (pills, jewelry, etc). I have an 11 day trip in January and depending on the amount offered or if this is still a thing I'll decide when the time comes

 

[fla4fun]

Here(AS Mo) now and decided to decline housekeeping. We are here for 6 nights and got an e gift card for $50. After 3 days I called for more of everything. They brought more of everything enough to last me till the end if my trip. I like that I can leave stuff out (pills, jewelry, etc). I have an 11 day trip in January and depending on the amount offered or if this is still a thing I'll decide when the time comes

I would still caution you not to leave valuables out. Just because you declined housekeeping doesn’t mean no one will be in your room. There could be a mixup on the housekeeping , or there could be a maintenance issue that requires access to your room, or management could be conducting a review or a guest could mistakenly be assigned to an already occupied room (it has happened before). Even leaving a do not disturb sign out is not a 100% guarantee that no one will access your room. This goes for any hotel, not just at Disney.

 

[Lady Hiss]

Here's my problem with it: other guests' 'housekeeping' habits may not jive with mine. While Disney housekeeping will clean the room between guests, I wonder how many bugs may have moved in during the previous guests' stay due to unemptied trash, food left lying around, etc. I wonder how housekeeping will be able to handle those issues.

 

[HachiBitto]

I apologize ahead of time if there's a newer thread for this subject, but is this still a thing? I'm going solo for a week in May, and I have two beds in my room, so I'll have more beds, sheets, etc. then I'll ever need to be replenished.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

Here is my take on the mousekeeping offer. Right now they are offering a gift card if you decide to get into the program. What happens if they decide to make this a "thing"? There will be no gift card and the price of the room will not go down but probably up as their prices continue to rise. How many mousekeepers will lose their jobs if they make this a "thing"? I don't use the self checkout in stores because they put someone out of a job. Will it make any difference to the environment if you take this offer? If I decide to do it I will get new towels from the pool as I like a fresh towel after every shower. Also I'm on vacation and like to come back to a room with my bed made and fresh towels and toiletries. As it is just me and DH I have to decide if this is something I want to do. Your thoughtsI'm ready.

agree 100% I knew I would agree from the post's question . For lack of better word

 

[Tksolomom]

I would still caution you not to leave valuables out. Just because you declined housekeeping doesn’t mean no one will be in your room. There could be a mixup on the housekeeping , or there could be a maintenance issue that requires access to your room, or management could be conducting a review or a guest could mistakenly be assigned to an already occupied room (it has happened before). Even leaving a do not disturb sign out is not a 100% guarantee that no one will access your room. This goes for any hotel, not just at Disney.

There is a daily room check now, so your room will be entered once a day regardless of if you have declined mousekeeping or not. It is not safe to leave your valuables out.