Boardwalk Cottage Suites question

[kungaloosh22]

Well... we didn't get the balcony room, but we like our room anyways )) I didn't regret my choice for a second. It is romantic, cozy and comfortable. We didn't use the tub yet, but everything else in the room - we did.

I would not book those rooms for the concierge status: the lounge is nice and we are actually using it more then I thought we would. But the concierge service is not impressive here compared to what I experienced in Animal Kingdom for example.

But we do like the room, and the kind of "private" quite pool - it's right outside our door and there is nobody there every morning. It's nice exercise as you can do laps there.

From my perspective I would totally recommend it to a couple as romantic getaway - if it doesn't empty your bank account.

I'm so happy you're enjoying it! Sorry you didn't get the balcony... but the other rooms have the cute, private gardens, so you get that advantage instead. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[Disneytam]

Well... we didn't get the balcony room, but we like our room anyways )) I didn't regret my choice for a second. It is romantic, cozy and comfortable. We didn't use the tub yet, but everything else in the room - we did.

I would not book those rooms for the concierge status: the lounge is nice and we are actually using it more then I thought we would. But the concierge service is not impressive here compared to what I experienced in Animal Kingdom for example.

But we do like the room, and the kind of "private" quite pool - it's right outside our door and there is nobody there every morning. It's nice exercise as you can do laps there.

From my perspective I would totally recommend it to a couple as romantic getaway - if it doesn't empty your bank account.

Thank you for this feedback. My son and his girlfriend will be checking in tomorrow and I booked the cottages for them without ever having been there, but we have stayed many times at the BWI CL and really enjoy it. I also requested a balcony room for them as well so curious if they get one or not.

 

[JoieNsk]

Thank you very much to everybody for the information!! We are back, and we just LOVED our stay in BoardWalk Inn!

I think it's my favorite resort now )) Though I really love Animal Kingdom Lodge too. Bit those two have different feeling to them, so I love them both!

With BoardWalk I just loved the nostalgic decor and music. And I really loved staying in the Garden Cottage. I still feel they are overpriced even with the passholder discount- but all Disney resorts are hugely overpriced: we pay because it is Disney, and for the location and/or the view etc.

We didn't get any special sweets or treats (which we did get in April at Animal Kingdom Lodge). I can't comment on the turn-down service, as we always keep "privacy" sign on the door.

No special check in with the wine - like in Animal Kingdom. But I kind of see why is that - the lounge is not right where the concierge sits.

We ordered flowers, they were supposed to be delivered on the check in day. But they were delivered two days later. One "late" day was kind of our "fault" as we kept "do not disturb" sign on the door. But the first late day definitely was either resort (or concierge people?) fault or the Disney Flower Service (or whatever name they have) as nobody tried to deliver them. And I should have called and asked where our flowers went. But we got right away to the planned entertainment So I forgot about those flowers completely. And I guess they forgot too. Which should not be the case as it is their job.

Also I am not demanding type, so I almost never get treated "right" )) I asked the guy in the lounge to bring me a glass of wine, and I was looking for the red wine as I get headaches from white wines. But he told me they have only white wine. So I agreed to that. But after I already agreed he explained that the red wine is somewhere "other place" where he needed to walk to. And if I really wanted red wine he could bring it for me. But I was so embarrassed at this point so I just said "no", and later in the evening had a headache )) So that was a little weird interaction.

All those little things didn't matter that much. We were very happy in BoardWalk. It's just I feel that for the price they charge all those little things should not be happening maybe?

 

[JoieNsk]

But we got last day booked at Grand Floridian in Main Building - I wanted to impress my husband ) And boy did I impress him! ))

We liked BoardWalk so much that I tried to switch our last day in Grand Floridian to BoardWalk but there was no availability. So we did move to Grand Floridian. But I wish we never did ))

That's total different story, and at least I got half of the money I paid for the Grand Floridian back - as it seems, as they didn't show up on my credit card yet. But I don't think I ever again would be willing to pay for the Grand Floridian )))

 

[CogsworthTN]

But we got last day booked at Grand Floridian in Main Building - I wanted to impress my husband ) And boy did I impress him! ))

We liked BoardWalk so much that I tried to switch our last day in Grand Floridian to BoardWalk but there was no availability. So we did move to Grand Floridian. But I wish we never did ))

That's total different story, and at least I got half of the money I paid for the Grand Floridian back - as it seems, as they didn't show up on my credit card yet. But I don't think I ever again would be willing to pay for the Grand Floridian )))

Please share why you wouldn’t want to stay main building at Grand Floridian. We have always stayed at the BWI club level and love it, but DH dreams of the Grand. We always talk about booking there, but we always end up back at BWI. We love the decor and quietness the BWI has to offer and I am afraid the GF would be the opposite experience.

 

[JoieNsk]

Please share why you wouldn’t want to stay main building at Grand Floridian. We have always stayed at the BWI club level and love it, but DH dreams of the Grand. We always talk about booking there, but we always end up back at BWI. We love the decor and quietness the BWI has to offer and I am afraid the GF would be the opposite experience.

I think we just got unlucky. You should try to stay there anyways. As you might still have nice experience. It's just when you pay the price they charge you have high expectations.

I stayed there once before and it was very nice.

 

[JoieNsk]

I can tell what happened.

I just feel a little embarrassed like not that much happened and I am making big deal out of nothing.

But I know how much did I pay. My husband has no idea. He is afraid to ask I think But even he was feeling like whatever was happening should not be happening - in any hotel. much less in the hotel which Grand Floridian claims to be.

 

[JoieNsk]

When we checked in In Grand Floridian we were told the room was not ready - which we didn't get surprised by as it was not 3pm yet, it was around 12pm. We were asked if we needed any tickets or anything and we indicated that we were not going to the parks, just would wait for the room to be ready. And we were just told - they would text you as soon as the room was ready.

So we patiently waited till about 2 pm. When we went to the concierge and asked what was happening with the room. The lady told us that it was not 3pm yet, but that room should be ready by 3pm as this was the official check in time. So we left and came back at 3pm.

The lady was not there but there was a guy. When I asked him what was happening with our room he told us the room was not ready (no apology or anything like that). I asked him was that because I asked for a special room it was taking so long (I did request the turret room). He just shrugged his shoulders: "They are working, your room just happened to be in the end of their list" (?!). No apology again. I was a little shocked. But he started calling somebody asking about clean rooms. So we left again feeling like we would get the text couple minutes later.

Well - we came back at 4pm as I started to wonder if they misplaced my phone number or something. The guy again shrug his shoulders and told us that the room was not ready. My husband asked him - you knew how long does it take to clean the room, you knew how many rooms needed to be cleaned - was it possible to let us know so we would not waste our time waiting around? The guy just shrug his shoulders - again, no apology - "our housekeeping starts cleaning the rooms at 8 and they can only do so many rooms, we are full at capacity". I told him - the official check in time is 3pm, we understand the room might not be ready before that time, but it should be ready by 3pm. At least that is how that works with Hyatt, Hilton and any other hotels where we stay.

The guy shrugged his shoulders - again, it must have been his favorite move - and told me: yes, check in time is 3pm, but we can not guarantee rooms till 5pm (?!). At that point I was really upset and told him that for the price we are charged here the management should be able to hire enough of housekeeping to get the rooms ready on time. I also told him that no other hotel we stayed before (I can tell you - never in my life I paid so much money for any hotel room as I paid for this room in Grand Floridian) treated us like that. That we did have similar problem at Hyatt and they gave us 50% discount for the first day. After that the guy told me - "I can do that". I told him - O'K, I get the money and give me the clean room - any clean room. If there going to be a price difference - I want to be reimbursed for that too.

We left after that and about 5 minutes later got a text "your room is ready..." with the room number. It was other Deluxe King room - the one on the second floor. So they obviously had the clean room of the type we paid for.

 

[JoieNsk]

So we finally went to the room, the room was nice with the great castle view. It was about 4.30 pm already.

But I was so upset at that point that I secretly went to the bathroom and cried a little - I didn't want my husband to notice as he would get even more upset - for me.

I hate conflicts, I hate to ask for stuff. But I felt so stupid for paying that type of money and getting into the situation like we got into.

I swear - in any Hyatt or Hilton they would have apologized 100 times and offered something to make us feel better. With Grand Floridian the guy didn't even apologize - he just kept shrugging his shoulders. And he needed some suggestions from me of how to deal with the situation.

I work at the hospital. And our management is pretty adamant about customer service. We are being constantly told - if the patient is upset, even if you are not the reason for the patient to be upset, - you should say: "I am so sorry! What can I do for you?!" That phrase can make a world of the difference.

I guess Disney management doesn't train Grand Floridian Concierge stuff in that way. As we obviously weren't treated like that.

 

[CogsworthTN]

I think we just got unlucky. You should try to stay there anyways. As you might still have nice experience. It's just when you pay the price they charge you have high expectations.

I stayed there once before and it was very nice.

You did have a bad experience. Oh, my what the run around on getting a room. The price difference is what keeps us from ever booking there. We are afraid we would have such high expectations that we would be disappointed. BWI is adult oriented, smaller resort, love the CM’s, love the decor/music, and the location to us is perfect. We love being able to walk to two resorts and the Boardwalk at night is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing your experiences at both resorts. Right now we have two trips booked for 2018 and they are both are at BWI.

 

[JoieNsk]

You did have a bad experience. Oh, my what the run around on getting a room. The price difference is what keeps us from ever booking there. We are afraid we would have such high expectations that we would be disappointed. BWI is adult oriented, smaller resort, love the CM’s, love the decor/music, and the location to us is perfect. We love being able to walk to two resorts and the Boardwalk at night is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing your experiences at both resorts. Right now we have two trips booked for 2018 and they are both are at BWI.

I can tell you - we did like BoardWalk Inn much better than Grand Floridian. It just have more relaxed feeling to it.

And Grand Floridian was so crowded that whenever we were downstairs we felt like we were at the railway station.

 

[Hopefully]

So we finally went to the room, the room was nice with the great castle view. It was about 4.30 pm already.

But I was so upset at that point that I secretly went to the bathroom and cried a little - I didn't want my husband to notice as he would get even more upset - for me.

I hate conflicts, I hate to ask for stuff. But I felt so stupid for paying that type of money and getting into the situation like we got into.

I swear - in any Hyatt or Hilton they would have apologized 100 times and offered something to make us feel better. With Grand Floridian the guy didn't even apologize - he just kept shrugging his shoulders. And he needed some suggestions from me of how to deal with the situation.

I work at the hospital. And our management is pretty adamant about customer service. We are being constantly told - if the patient is upset, even if you are not the reason for the patient to be upset, - you should say: "I am so sorry! What can I do for you?!" That phrase can make a world of the difference.

I guess Disney management doesn't train Grand Floridian Concierge stuff in that way. As we obviously weren't treated like that.

I’m sorry you were disappointed and upset.
But in my opinion there is a HUGE difference between a customer and a patient.

 

[JoieNsk]

I’m sorry you were disappointed and upset.
But in my opinion there is a HUGE difference between a customer and a patient.

In a way - yes, of course.

But in a way - both are customers. And there is such a thing as customer service.

I felt like we got pretty bad customer service in Grand Floridian that time.

And we did stay in the hotels before. So I kind of have some experience with what to expect from the hotel customer service.

Is there such a thing - "check in time is 3pm, but we can not guarantee the room till 5pm"? I never heard about something like this before. So basically - "we took the money for the room but we are not giving you the room - even though you paid for it".

I felt like the guy just didn't know what to do and was just making stuff up right in front of us.

 

[JoieNsk]

Overall all this trip felt like not "normal" Disney experience. I felt like the staff was overwhelmed or something?

One of the Minnie Van Drivers told us that there were a lot more people around this year than normally in the beginning of December. He thought it was because of the hurricane - that a lot of people re-booked in December because they needed to cancel their trips in October.

 

[Hopefully]

In a way - yes, of course.

But in a way - both are customers. And there is such a thing as customer service.

I felt like we got pretty bad customer service in Grand Floridian that time.

And we did stay in the hotels before. So I kind of have some experience with what to expect from the hotel customer service.

Is there such a thing - "check in time is 3pm, but we can not guarantee the room till 5pm"? I never heard about something like this before. So basically - "we took the money for the room but we are not giving you the room - even though you paid for it".

I felt like the guy just didn't know what to do and was just making stuff up right in front of us.

I believe that they tell you your room will be ready after 3. They do not guarantee all rooms to be ready AT 3. I know for certain this is true of the DVC Villas.

 

[JoieNsk]

I believe that they tell you your room will be ready after 3. They do not guarantee all rooms to be ready AT 3. I know for certain this is true of the DVC Villas.

Well... Nothing about 5 pm was mentioned to us before 4 pm. And the lady we talked at 2 pm even specifically told us that the room should be ready by 3pm.

That's exactly the point my husband made: could not they just give us an idea right away that the room was not going to be ready till 5pm? Or whatever time? We were kept under the impression like the room was going to be ready any moment.

By the way - when you book the room 5pm is never mentioned anywhere. But the 3 pm is indicated as check in time for the hotel. I even googled the check in time for Grand Floridian - to make sure.

This was not the villa, this was the room with so-called "club service".

I feel stupid mentioning the cost point so many times. But this is the reality - the price you pay sets up the expectations. If you book the room in Motel 6 you expect certain level of service. And when you book the room in Grand Floridian you expect a little different level of service.

This was bad management. Like I told the guy - for the amount of money they charge they should be able to hire enough of housekeeping people.

This was bad customer service: if I was working there I would have apologized right up front - first. And the second I would try to make suggestions - what can I do to compensate you for the inconvenience? Instead I needed to tell the guy - give me any clean room, give me a discount etc. I felt like an idiot.

To tell the truth too - I really feel strange protecting my point of view in this situation...

Anyway. I don't have high expectations about Grand Floridian anymore )) Even though it was just one bad experience. It was enough for me to feel stupid paying so much money for even the possibility to be treated like that.