We booked in Oct for Memorial day week, which was about 8 mos. out. We had enough BWV points to book Sun-Thur, but waited until the 7 mos window to add the weekend nights with OKW & HH points. We are a family of 4, 2 teens, one of each sex. We usually get a 2 bedroom so they each have their own bed. On a whim when booking I asked if the GV was available since we had wanted to stay in one since joining in 1996. We had the points due to a cancelled trip last summer and had banked points, so we decided to splurge. We figured by May we would have some family/friends join us or let the kids bring friends.
Due to several unexpected events, the main one being my daughter getting Mono and being very ill most of the spring, it ended up just being the 4 of us. We thought the extra space would be nice since our plan was to relax and enjoy the week at a slow pace. When we booked airfare , it worked better for us to fly in on Sat. so I booked a 1 bdrm for that night. A week before we left the GV became available so we added on that night so we wouldn't have to move and could just settle in for our stay.
Onto the problems... We arrived about 4:30 Sat afternoon and checkin went great. We were assigned 5037. I was hoping it was the one level on that floor, but we passed it on our way to our room. Our luggage arrived quickly and my daughter took the first room upstairs. It had a little private balcony and a balcony that opened up to to living area downstairs. She kicked off her shoes to start unpacking and immediately came down to tell us that the carpet was wet. We went up to look and we could see that it was wet in the hallway and the entire vanity area in front of the bathroom was wet. Not just damp from like a carpet cleaning, but squishy wet.
I called housekeeping and they came in about 15 mins. The guy asked where the problem was and we said upstairs in the first bedroom and he immediately said " oh thats because that bathroom overflowed last night " He said all he could do was put large fans up there to dry it and it would probably take all night. We weren't crazy about that so we said no thanks we'll see if there are any other options. I went down to the front desk and asked to speak to a manager. The CM there asked what the problem was and went to the back.She said there is no other room to put us in which I was expecting since there are so few GVs and that a housekeeping manager was coming up to speak with me. Soon Jan, a very friendly mgr. came and when I explained the problem she said she would have to come look at it to see what they can do. She asked if we would like to go out to dinner while they took care of it. I politely explained that our plans were to go grocery shopping for the week and settle in the room for the night. She and another housekeeping manager, Debbie, arrived at the room and were both completely surprised at how the room was ever cleared for check-in. They said they didn't want to hold us up any longer because its now been over an hour and 1/2 dealing with this. Jan said that she had our room credited with $100 for dining to use anytime. Debbie said she would have someone bring up a large floor mat to cover the vanity area so it could be used for the night and to call when we left the next day for them to come pull up the carpet and dry it out. I explained that our plan was to sleep in and didn't know when we would get moving and that we are not park commandoes and wouldn't be out all day. She said it would only take a couple of hours.
So while we were out they did come put down a very large door mat.
I called Sunday around 10:30 when we left for MGM. We returned around 2pm planning to relax and go to the pool. When we walked into the room, which is a vaulted 2 story , we could hear fans blowing and there was a very sickening smell. It was a deodarizer or disinfectant of some kind. It was very overwhemling and nausiating. There was a fan blowing over the vanity area and the carpet was almost dry but the smell was unbearable. I went down to the front desk while the rest headed to the gym because they couldn't stay there. I actually got the same CM that I had last night and she was familiar with the situation. She called housekeeping to let them know what was going on. I asked to also speak to a resort manager. I spoke with Jackie. She was great. I explained all that had happened and she called and spoke with Jan, the housekeeping manager. She said Jan was going up to check on the room. I told her I was just upset that we were ever put in that room in the first place. Someone knew what had gone on there. She agreed and said unfortunately there was not another GV to put us in. I understood ,but just wished they had said when we checked in that there was a problem and could we stay in another room for one night while they fixed it. It cost 118 points for that night and we couldn't stand to be in the room. She offered us a dining credit. I said that Jan had already done that. She said she would give us another one. I said thanks, but I wasn't really wanting anything just to be able to use the room we paid for and that hopefully someone could find out why it was ever given to us so it didn't happen to anyone else. She then said you are right, I am going to email member services and have them credit you the nights points. I was so surprised. That is was a very generous solution. I thanked her for her help and then went back to the room. Jan and housekeeping were there. They pulled up the carpet and were drying it out further. She said they had used an extractor and the smell was some type of chemical disinfectant. They opened up the balcony doors and turned on the ceiling fan to try and air out the room. They brought up a box of baking soda to help abosrb the odor too. She said she would be back in about 30 mins. to check on things. We went down to the pool and when we returned they were putting the carpet back down and removing the fans. The odor still lingered , but was at least tolerable. It took a few days to leave completely.
We feel everything was handled very well by both housekeeping and resort management. It just was a pain to deal with and started our trip out on a very sour note.
A few of the other issues were not really in anyones control. The room was very acoustic and it had double doors. Whenever anyone passed by in the hallway talking it sounded like they were right there in the living room. And for some reason many parents have no problem letting their kids run screaming down those long halls. We also had our privacy please sign taken off the door one night.
Sorry this is so long, just wanted to explain in detail how things were handled and why these issues were serious to us. I know people have different vacation styles so for some it wouldn't bother them at all, but we were there for the room so it mattered to us.
. It sounds like they stepped up and fixed them, but it took way too long! I'm not surprised to hear that they used disinfectant as it appears that the water was probably from a used, overflowed toilet. Did they offer you a smaller unit? Since there were only 4 of you could have "made do" with one or two bedroom.
. You're right, they should have told you about the problem with the room before you checked in.
