Maid Service at Unreasonably Early Hour?

[vhoffman]

I've never had this problem at WDW, however, it seems to be a common problem at other hotels and I wonder if anyone else has had the same problem and what they did about it.

This has happened many times, at many different hotels. The housekeeping knocks on your door in the morning, usually around 8 am, sometimes earlier. Well, I don't like to get up at the crack of dawn while on vacation. Usually they knock several times then if they don't get a response they let themselves in with the pass key. Of course, I've learned to keep the inside bolt on while in the room, but that doesn't prevent me from being wakened up well before I desire, just to tell them that I don't want the bed made up, I'm still in it. The "Do Not Disturb" sign doesn't help, oftentimes they just knock anyways, or they go to another room and call to see if you want maid service. Like as though that doesn't disturb you! Most hotels have a check out time about 11 am, and a check in time of around 3 pm. That block of time is to clean the rooms, not when paying guests are using them.

We just came back from an overnight trip at a Hampton Inn where the housekeeping (or someone?) started trying to get into our room at 7:45 am. No one knocked or said "Housekeeping", I just heard someone fiddling with the door and realized to my horror that we had forgotten to lock it or put the bolt on (we ALWAYS do, just forgot that once). Just as someone was about to turn the handle, my 7 year old son jumped up and slammed the bolt shut. I called the front desk and asked if housekeeping was making its rounds at that hour, and the little gal at the desk said she didn't know. I asked to speak with the manager, but she said the manager wasn't there, did I want her to call me? from where? Who was running the place? Well, 3 times between 8 am and 10 am housekeeping (?) tried to get in to our room. The last three times they knocked, but never said "Housekeeping". Each time they tried to open the door with their pass key but we had the door bolted. Each time we called the front desk but got the same answer, they "didn't know" if housekeeping was making rounds. We finally had a manager call us who graciously offered to extend our check out time by one hour for our inconvenience. I told her that hardly compensated us for having our rest disturbed and our morning miserable with someone trying to beat down our door every half hour. I reminded her of Hampton Inn's guarantee "If we can't make it right, your stay is free." Well, we kept calling the front desk telling them that we didn't want maid service at that time and they kept coming back anyways, so they weren't doing anything to "make it right". They agreed to write off the charge. However, it still made for a miserable start to our day. I would rather pay for an acceptable stay rather than have a free miserable one.

Has anyone else had problems with maid service wanting in to your room while you're in it? It seems to me the only rooms they should be cleaning that early in the morning are the ones that have checked out. The rest can wait until check out time, that's what its there for. What can you do to keep someone from barging in, other than the "do not disturb" sign and putting the bolt on? You still have to wake up to tell them that you don't want your bed made up, you're still in it!

 

[mjmcca]

I ahve found that disney suusally tries to clean the room early. I think that is because many people head out early to the parks and then come back to the room for a nap in the early afternoon. I ahve found that if mousekeeping found you in your room once at a certain hour they didnt try again at that hour.They always knock first.I always forget to put the do not disturb sign on the door so i dont knwo if they honor that or not.

 

[wildcatwmn]

We were at DVC HHI this past weekend, and it was quiet after Thanksgiving, cool, cloudy, definitely NOT a beach day where you jump out of bed at 7:00am to go jogging, and housekeeping came and knocked at 8:30 on a SUNDAY morning. We had gotten in late the night before and forgot the "Do Not Disturb" sign, but fortunately had the bolt on and I was half awake, so I got up after they knocked a THIRD time and told them we were still in the room.

I agree, this is not necessary. If housekeeping wants to clean rooms early, the front desk should provide a list of what rooms have been vacated. If the room has not been checked out of, then someone is still there, especially on a Sunday morning.

 

[CaipiraBob]

I posted my experience with "Maidzilla" at the Polynesian concierge on a thread yesterday.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=687923

No, you are not the only one. In the stay I related to here, we had one terrific maid, and then we had "Maidzilla", who could not read and had knuckles of iron when she knocked. If you have ever been woken from a deep sleep from some who has partially opened the door to you room but is now trying to break past the bar that keeps it from opening, you can share the joy of that particular moment. I was very nearly her last.

 

[DVCconvert]

I usually put out the "do not distrub" sign. CM's are not supposed to knock if the sign is out (if they need contact, they can leave a message on your voice mail without making the phone ring). When we leave the room for the day, I take the sign in. Never had a problem. Turn-down service can also come as early as 4PM, when we go back to the room for a park break before heading out to dinner, we'll do the same thing.

HTH

 

[dzneelvr]

We had an overly "ambitious" maid at ASMo this summer. He was not able to speak much English when we attempted to communicate that our kids were still sleeping and we didn't need the service so early. But like the other posters, once we remembered to put out the DND sign, it was remedied. I guess they are used to some families getting going at the crack of dawn....now that our DD and DS are teens, we have a bit different schedule.
Rooms were very clean and well cared for so that's what counts.

 

[FirstNo]

I've never had this problem at WDW, however, it seems to be a common problem at other hotels and I wonder if anyone else has had the same problem and what they did about it.
[snip]
Has anyone else had problems with maid service wanting in to your room while you're in it? It seems to me the only rooms they should be cleaning that early in the morning are the ones that have checked out. The rest can wait until check out time, that's what its there for. What can you do to keep someone from barging in, other than the "do not disturb" sign and putting the bolt on? You still have to wake up to tell them that you don't want your bed made up, you're still in it!

The only time I have ever had a problem was at SoG. I distinctly remember it was one afternoon and I had come back to take a nap. I usually had housekeeping make up the room every other day (just me in there) and this was not one of those days. I ALWAYS called housekeeping when I left in the AM to let them know I did not want service or to let them know when I wanted the room cleaned by. This day, it was about 130-2pm and I was napping. I heard a knock and didn't even have time to get out of bed before she was trying to come in. Luckily, like the original poster, I ALWAYS use all the locks available to prevent any one from the outside coming in. I wasn't a happy camper (yes, the DND sign was on the door) and called management to complain (this was the second day in a row that housekeeping screwed something up....at this point, I don't remember what that other thing was but it got me a free night).

I've stayed in hotels in Europe and Japan. In WDW, Vegas, CA and across the country. SoG is the only hotel I've had that kind of housekeeping problem with.

 

[Sherrynny]

As a manager of a hotel, in a previous life, I can tell you that housekeepers are assigned a certain number of rooms that they have to clean. It doesn't matter how many rooms check out, if none are in the section of a particular housekeeper, that housekeeper has none to clean. They usually don't help each other, as no one can be sure that they can reciprocate the next time. One suggestion is to notify the front desk, or call housekeeping, and tell them what time you would like service. They will then note it on the your housekeepers assignment sheet. That should solve your problems, it works for me.

 

[Sleepy]

When you have a 9 hour day....16 rooms and a one hour lunch....clocking in at 8am means you start cleaning rooms at 8am. Even 30 minutes is not enough time to sufficiently clean those rooms. The above poster is right. only the maid assigned the room will be the one to clean the room and considering there is always one person who calls in, that means even more than 16 rooms in a day. Shame on the maid who barges in on a do not disturb sign. Other than that, it;s pretty common to clean rooms at 8am. Until people complain about housekeeping clean times, their schedule will not change. Don't blame them. Not their fault. They are just doing their job.....even on Sundays. My block of rooms were always full and usually consisted of extended stays, so going to the vacant rooms was not always possible and of those who were vacating that day, they don't usually leave at 8am. What's a housekeeper to do?

 

[vhoffman]

What's a housekeeper to do...

The paying guests should not have to adjust their schedules for the cleaning staff. Seems to me the management could figure out something, especially if, like in our case, the guest had called the front desk three times and siad we do not want maid service that morning. The management should know which rooms are vacant and assign cleaning staff to them. If a room is occupied and the DND sign is on, that's it. The staff shouldn't be knocking every half hour to meet some pre-assigned quota of rooms to clean. That's what tha block of time between check out and check in is for, to clean the vacated rooms. If they can clean vacated rooms during that time, they can use that time to clean the rooms of stay over guests as well. And it certainly doesn't take 30 minutes to clean a room--I've seen cleaning crews tackle a room in 10 minutes. Any time I put a DND sign on the door and tell management I don't want the cleaning crew in during the morning, I demand my money back for that day if I'm harrassed by the cleaning staff anyways. They really can figure out a way to let a paying guest enjoy the use of his room without barging in whenever it suits their schedule for cleaning.

 

[ccotis]

The only problem I have had with any housekeeping was that we came back to our room after a long day at around 5:30 and the room was not cleaned. This was at the Grand Cypress. With this in mind, I like the sound of a maid tapping at our door. If we are not ready to leave, I just let the housekeeper know when we will be leaving.

 

[lark]

Just to be clear, are people saying that they've put out their do not disturb signs and housekeeping at Disney has still woken them up to clean the room?

I've never had this happen anywhere, let alone disney. I'd have to think this is a rather rare occurance, but maybe I've just been lucky.

If on the other hand, the complaint is that housekeeping wakes you up when you forget to put out a do not disturb sign, I guess solution seems pretty simple -- Don't Forget!

 

[pooh6890]

There has only been a few times that housekeeping has knocked on our door as early as 8:00....besides, you can hear them in the hallway early anyway. The only thing that does bother me is almost every single time we have our last day there and checkout is 11:00, the maids have constantly knocked or wanted to know when we are leaving. That is the morning we can sleep in and get ready and pack and I am not leaving until 11:00 if I so choose. I tell them in a nice way that we will be leaving by 11:00 and they usually leave us alone.

 

[LibertyBelle]

I just have to share a funny story on this one...

We were at the Grand Californian at Disneyland. We ALWAYS put out the DND and dead bolt the door. Around 2am the fire alarms went off and they evacuated the entire building. Somehow in the evacuation or DND was lost... no big deal right. Well, we were so tired that when we were allowed back into the hotel we forgot to put the Dead bolt on... I woke up about 8:30am and heard noise in the bathroom, when I went to investigate it was in fact the housekeeper cleaning the bathroom. I was like um... Hi there, we are still here in the room (we sleep with the TV on so one would think she would notcie that). And her reply was I know that I was just cleaning the bathroom, I will be back for the bed later... It took all of my will power not to bust out laughing because she thought this was ok. I was very polite and said no that's ok. You don't need to come back.

I agree though, I hate being woken up at the crack of dawn... But as mentioned at WDW if you have the DND sign out they are not supposed bother you (they could get in trouble if they do). The only time they will is if the room is on the list for check out and it is after 11am, or you did not answer your wake up call.

 

[vhoffman]

There's been times I've had the DND sign on and the cleaning staff calls me from another room to see when I want the room cleaned. As though that doesn't disturb me! I still say that's what that block of time between check out and check in is for, to clean the vacant rooms and the rooms of stay over guests. In many cases its 11 am to 3 pm, or four hours--half a day. I've arrived at hotels early and been told the room isn't ready and I have to wait. They don't jump for my convenience, why should I for their's? And I've had the cleaning staff wake me up talking at the top of their lungs, shouting from one room to another, like as though the whole place was empty. I had that happen at the Mirage in Las Vegas. I wrote a letter of complaint when I got home. They gave me an offer they thought I wouldn't take advantage of--instead of refunding part of the bill, they gave me a free upgrade for our next visit. Well, we did go back. They had a special for standard rooms for $69 per night, and we got upgraded to a fantastic suite that normally goes for about $400 per night. The joke was on them, we hardlly left the room, it was like a second honeymoon. Ant the cleaning staff somehow seemed to figure out how to clean the room without annoying us to death! Shows it can be done!

 

[skondo10]

We have been lucky and have always had excellent mousekeeping service while at Disney, in any resort that we have stayed at, whether it be a value or a deluxe. My DS 22 always sleeps in very late at disney (1:00PM)! We always leave the DND sign on our door and we've never had a mousekeeper try to knock or anything. They usually will leave a message on our phone later on in the day telling us that they noticed our DND sign was still on our door and if there was anything we needed to call mousekeeping. I think they get used to your routinues as I noticed that mousekeeping usually does our room around 3:00PM. This works out great for us because my DS is up and we don't come back to the room for a rest during the day.

 

[cmonroe]

We have been lucky and have always had excellent mousekeeping service while at Disney, in any resort that we have stayed at, whether it be a value or a deluxe. My DS 22 always sleeps in very late at disney (1:00PM)! We always leave the DND sign on our door and we've never had a mousekeeper try to knock or anything. They usually will leave a message on our phone later on in the day telling us that they noticed our DND sign was still on our door and if there was anything we needed to call mousekeeping. I think they get used to your routinues as I noticed that mousekeeping usually does our room around 3:00PM. This works out great for us because my DS is up and we don't come back to the room for a rest during the day.

Wow! He sleeps until 1pm at Disney??

 

[Disney Doll]

I was thinking the same thing...I could NEVER sleep till 1PM at WDW!!!! Ah, youth...

I've never had a problem with Mousekeeping at WDW. I always put the DND sign on the door, and we don't get disturbed at all. Even on check-out day, I don't seem to have a problem.

I've actually never had a problem with housekeeping at any other hotel I can think of either. Of course, in general we are out the door early on vacation, so that may be why.

 

[Shannon G]

On our first trip to WDW, DH and I (before he was actually DH) stayed at ASMo. Maybe it was because they had just opened a couple of days before and had new employees, but Mousekeeping did try to get into our room despite the DND sign being on the door. We were still sleeping (it could not have been very late, I don't sleep late at WDW) and Mousekeeping knocked. I called from the comfort of my bed to please come back later. Apparently she didn't hear me and knocked again. So I repeated, louder (shouted actually) to please come back later. Apparently our Mousekeeper could not hear, since she then knocked once more and tried to open the door. The bolt was on, but I did jump out of bed at this point, and ask her to come back later. Luckily, we did not have this problem on any other day, or on any other trips there. However, I was annoyed that she knocked and woke us up when the DND sign was hhanging on the door. What's the point of giving us that sign to use if you're just going to ignore it?

 

[beattyfamily]

The only issue I had like this was on our last trip at the BWV. It was our last day, so it was check out day. We did not have the "Do Not Disturb" sign out because we were waiting for room service.

Room service was suppose to come between 8:00 - 8:30 and somewhere in that time, I think around 8:10a, the door knocked. I, of course, thought it was room service. It was the maid asking if we were checking out. I said yes, at 11:00a. She said ok, sorry and left.

That's it. Never had an issue before that. I guess I've learned from this thread to use the "Do Not Disturb" sign at all times, unless we leave the room.