Awesome video!

Cool video, CP. Thanks for persisting.



Ok, now that enough time has passed, I will reveal the Dark Side of the Disneyland Hotel stay. Not enough to ruin anything, but enough that I wrote a rather scathing letter to the hotel on July 27. I know they received it (because my injury claims handler mentioned it), but I've received no response from Disney as of today, August 23. Pfft.

Theft, insult, threats and contempt -- best relayed by my actual letter:

My party and I were recent guests of the hotel, July 15 through 19, 2010, and had the occasion to stay in the Presidential Suite (formerly the Marina Suite), which we chose for its historical relationship to the theme of a Disneyland birthday event we held in the suite on the evening of July 16.

We generally enjoyed our time at the hotel. However, there were several disturbing incidents which marred our stay, at the alarming rate of at least one per day. Though we had many pleasant interactions with various members of the hotel staff, too many of our interactions were extremely troublesome. Furthermore, we were very disappointed with the physical condition of so expensive a suite, which conditions we would have found unacceptable were it not for the historical significance, as I mentioned, that was key to our planned event.

On the first evening of our stay, we were victims of an incident of theft perpetrated by the hotel staff. Fortunately, nothing of value was taken, but such an incident was completely unacceptable. Hotel security investigated, and made a report of the incident.

We were bringing in a case of water, the first of countless items of food and drink we would be bringing into the suite for our event the following evening. I left the case of water in the hallway, just outside the door to the suite’s kitchen. I proceeded to show a visitor briefly around the suite, after entering through the main doorway, and then immediately went to retrieve the water from outside the kitchen door. It was gone. Not more than five minutes had elapsed since I placed the case of water there.

Hotel security determined that housekeeping had removed the water. I was advised by security that it was housekeeping policy to remove any items left in the hallway for longer than half an hour. The water had been there for less than five minutes. Meanwhile, an unsightly tray of half-eaten food remained for several hours that evening outside a guest door directly across from the suite. In any event, the case of water was likely not removed for a legitimate housekeeping purpose - as it was retrieved and returned to us with over half the contents missing.

Fortunately, it was just water, and nothing of real value was lost. But it did not set a pleasing example to us on the first night of our stay, especially as we were making ready to bring large quantities of food and drink into the suite for our planned event.

The next morning, I received a telephone call from a woman by the name of Ann, who represented herself to be the assistant hotel manager, and the ranking management official on duty at that time - the morning of Friday, July 16, 2010. Ann was calling to inquire about the theft incident of the prior evening, but our conversation soon turned to matters of the event in the suite and became unnecessarily contentious and disturbing.

Ann advised me that the arrangements I had made with Kristin of the hotel, upon an earlier site visit, for complimentary guest parking for our anticipated 50 guests would not be honored, and that, furthermore, she contended no such arrangements were ever made. I begged to differ. Kristin had represented quite clearly to me and my friend, Laurie Wieland (who was also a registered guest of the hotel and present in the suite at the time of this phone call with Ann) that our guests would be able to park free of charge in the Disneyland Hotel self-parking lot, and that - if parking lot exit vouchers could not be found for our guests - the front desk would print up as many room keys as would be necessary to grant each of our guests free exit from the parking lot. Ann insisted to me that was an arrangement contrary to hotel policy and further, and most disturbing, that I was making the whole thing up in order to get some sort of freebie from the hotel.

I calmly informed Ann that I would have no way of knowing what was and was not hotel policy, but that I expected the hotel to honor its promises, made by Kirstin, the hotel’s representative, whether she was acting within policy or not. Ann went on to contend that she had spoken with Kristin that morning, as well as with Lauren Flicker, the person at Disney Vacation Planning who had handled all our reservation arrangements. According to Ann, Kristin denied ever having had such a conversation with Laurie and me and, even more incredulously, stated that Lauren Flicker had told her (Ann) that our expected event attendance was ten people - whereupon Ann told me I would not be allowed to hold my event in the suite that evening if 50 people were expected.

That was, of course, patently absurd. At no point did we ever make the ridiculous claim that we would be holding an event in the Marina Suite for ten people. At all points of our discussions with Disney representatives, we were very clear on our estimate of 50 people. I’m sure no mention of a ten-guest event was made during any of my several discussions with Lauren Flicker, and I was crystal clear on my 50-guest estimate in my conversations with Kristin at the hotel when we made our site inspection about a month prior to our arrival - at which time Kristin made the promise of free parking for each and every one of our expected fifty guests.

Upon informing Ann of this, she resolutely stuck to her position that I must be fabricating the conversation that took place between Kristen, Laurie and myself. At this point in our phone conversation, I warned Ann that she was coming perilously close to calling me a liar. In fact, she had called me a liar, and I was simply being tactful in offering her an avenue of retreat. Ann did not take that avenue, however, and insisted to me that the conversation with Kristin never took place. Furthermore, Ann said, the hotel would not honor such an arrangement even if it had been promised. She insisted I would have to pay for parking for my guests, but would afford me the discounted rate of $4 per vehicle.

Though I was loathe to do so, because I believe every hotel guest should be treated with the same level of dignity and respect, I reminded Ann that I was running up a hotel tab in excess of $13,000, and it seemed needlessly antagonizing to refuse to offer a mere hundred dollars’ worth of complimentary parking to me in light of the arrangement which I had made, or even claimed to have made. Of course, it was beyond the pale to refuse to honor the arrangements I had previously made with the hotel, no matter how large or nominal the cost, and certainly an affront and insult to me for Ann to repeatedly insist that I was lying about making such arrangements in the first place. And it bordered on threatening when Ann claimed we would not be “allowed” to hold an event in the suite if we were expecting as many as 50 people.

Of course, being such a nominal charge for guest parking, I would never have hesitated to assume the cost of my guests’ parking if Kristin had told me I would need to pay $4 per vehicle for parking privileges. But she did not. And I don’t believe either Kristin or Lauren Flicker had spoken with Ann before Ann relayed to me their purported statements about our prior dealings and conversations. Rather, I am inclined to believe that Ann was being less than truthful with me in that regard. And I find it hard to believe that Ann has ever had any training in proper customer service in the hospitality industry. I was severely insulted and upset by our conversation.



continued in following post

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That afternoon, the hotel did send up 50 complimentary parking vouchers, and we appreciated the effort to make amends and do right by the promises made to me. But, making good on those promises did not make up for the rudeness and outrageous behavior by the hotel personnel holding themself out as the highest management official on duty.

The next day, to add injury to insult, I suffered a very deep gash in my arm from an extremely dangerous condition in the suite, namely, a razor-sharp, protruding strip of metal running the width of the heating control box in the master bath sauna. This sharp piece of metal protrudes from the unit at about waist height, and the mere inadvertent grazing of my arm against it caused a deep and severe cut which required several staples to close at the local emergency room.

Security and hotel first aid made reports about this incident, which you may consult. I am pursuing an injury claim with Disney Guest Claims and I expect compensation for any medical expenses I have incurred or may continue to incur in connection with this injury. While hotel personnel were kind and professional in their duties following this injury, that such a patently dangerous condition should exist in the hotel suite is nearly unthinkable in this day and age of heightened liability consciousness. It seems everything about the physical condition of the suite was frozen in time several decades ago. But I will return to that subject after a brief discussion of my final disturbing incident with the hotel staff.

On the morning we were to check out of the Marina Suite, July 18, 2010, I telephoned the front desk to request an hour’s late check-out extension. We had quite a bit of material to pack up and remove, including an entire kitchen’s worth of cooking and serving pieces, and a large event’s worth of dishes, glassware, etc. In fact, your crack bell staff (for whom I have nothing but praise), filled 17 carts of materials brought up to the suite, and it took 7 bellmen nearly an hour to accomplish that moving task (far less cumbersome than the packing and moving task facing us the morning of check-out). In any event, the front desk insisted they could grant me only a half-hour extension, representing there was a party checking into the suite that day.

This would have been reasonable and expected if indeed there were another party checking into the suite that day. But as we were still guests of the hotel, staying in a room across the hall from the Marina Suite for one extra day, we observed that the housekeeping staff was still cleaning the suite at 6:00 p.m. I believe if guests were expected to check in that day, the suite would have to have been ready by the 3:00 pm check-in time (and we certainly left it in a condition conducive to meeting that deadline). I’m afraid the suite still being cleaned at 6:00 p.m. left me with the impression that hotel personnel had once again been less than honest with me, and once again had been needlessly stingy in extending barely extraordinary customer service.

As a guest for several days in what I believe to be the hotel’s largest suite, I don’t necessarily expect a level of customer service greater than that provided to any other guest. But I dread to think that any other guests received the disgraceful levels of customer service my party and I were treated to during our stay.

Furthermore, the physical condition of the suite, as I alluded to previously, is deplorable and completely out of line with the rates the suite commands. The furnishings were decades old, threadbare and scuffed up. Frankly, they are the same tired furnishings featured in every standard guest room of the Disneyland Hotel - and I don’t believe my expectation that a suite commanding such prime rates of stay be furnished somewhat more luxuriously is in any way out of line. We actually had to bring in our own video display unit for a presentation we had to make, as there was nothing but decades-old, tiny tube televisions in the suite. Seriously, in 2010, the level of amenities in a suite of this kind was simply unfathomable.

And while it was very nice to have a suite with a full kitchen, which allowed us to host the type of event we had contemplated, the kitchen appliances were woefully outdated and careworn. There was no microwave oven and the dishwasher was barely functional, leaving us to again wonder in which decade the suite had last been updated. If the full kitchen had been stocked with so much a sink stopper, it would have been faster and more effective to wash the large quantities of dishes and glassware by hand. As it was, we brought in a wide variety of kitchen gear, including a microwave oven, but would never have thought to provide our own sink stopper. In addition, the temperature indication numbers were all worn off the oven dials, making it very difficult to properly prepare food for our guests. As I said, it was nice to have a kitchen - but in 2010, we did not expect one circa 1985.

I understand that the tower in which the suite is located is due for an extensive renovation in 2012, and that the suite will be refurbished at that time. But there is no excuse for such a prestigious and frankly expensive suite in 2010 to show signs of neglect and inattention dating back several decades. I believe it is common in the hospitality industry for such prestigious suites to receive tender, loving care on a regular basis, to reflect current standards of technological convenience and amenities, and frankly to express a level of luxury in their furnishings and fixtures above and beyond what might be found in standard guest rooms of the same establishment.

In short, we experienced very high levels of disappointment with the state of our suite and with the nature of guest service extended to us. Every day of our stay was marred by the oft-embarrassing and once-is-enough injuriously dangerous conditions of our suite, and by being treated to stinginess, theft, insult, threats and contempt by members of the staff and management.

I hope serious note will be taken of our complaints, and several issues addressed at the Disneyland Hotel so that other guests need not have as disappointing an experience as we did during our very expensive stay. Crass as it may be to relate my guest satisfaction to money, I nonetheless hardly feel I got my thirteen thousand dollars’ worth.

Though many members of the hotel staff treated us well and did their jobs quite ably and professionally, I must overall give the Disneyland Hotel a rather disgraceful failing grade. This was perhaps my 7th or 8th stay at the Disneyland Hotel, but I cannot imagine I would choose to be a guest of your establishment in the future.


Regretfully,

:iSm:

I think they haven't responded yet because they're still reading.
lol
:D

Nice letter. Thumbs up.
:)

Wow, Steve. I'm sorry you had to put up with all of that durring such a great event. I'm glad the event it's self was such a huge hit, that these problems didn't overshadow it too much.

Steve, I'm sorry your great celebration was marred by all these nitwits.

Brad, Bwahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa, you positively slay me!

You're doing better than I would in the same situation. My training comes straight from the queen of righteous indignation. I've seen, and cowered, as my mother held her ground and demanded, and demanded, and demanded, AND DEMANDED, AND DEMAAAANNNNDED what she thought was right. It's terrifying, really, and has taken me years to learn that that's not the best way to deal with people.

Every so often, though, the skill comes in handy. ;)

She looks kinda pissed, wouldn't you say?

The only thing that really bugged me was that bitch Ann who repeatedly called me a liar and made up stories about what other people said to me. I was really agitated for about an hour.

I wasn't happy about my injury either, but not nearly as upset. I'm not too happy with the way Disney's handling it though. In fact, the only reply I had to my letter was from the woman handling my injury claim, and she proceeded to grill me on why I rented the suite in the first place if it was in such shoddy condition. And she wanted to know what I was trying to get out of Disney by writing that letter. Sheesh.

Your Mom was Bonita Granville? What a small world!






after all

And she was the original Tinkerbell for Fantasy in the Sky!

I was born nine months after she and Art Linkletter were holed up one snowy night on the icy slopes of the majestic Matterhorn.