# Cockroach encounter Westin Keirland Scottsdale



## JEFF H (Jun 10, 2009)

Spent the week at the Westin Keirland Villas in Scottadale,AZ and awoke the 2nd morning about 2am with something scurring across my neck and sholuders
in the heavenly Bed.
Couldn't find anything at the time so I assumed I was dreaming and went back to sleep. In the morning I found three med size cockroaches on the floor in the unit. I also noticed the seal around the exterior door to the unit had large gaps in the corners of the door. We were in a ground floor unit next to the barbarque grills in Blgd 7 and I figured this is how they were getting in.
I called service express and reported the problem with the bugs and the door seal. They sent a employee with a can of Raid Hotshot and he sprayed the areas around the doors and walls. I pointed out the gaps in the seal and told him i belived this is where they were getting in. He agreed and said he would let maintenance know about it. When we returned to the unit that evening It was dark and I didn't notice if the gaps were corrected or not.
Next day I could see light coming in so I knew it had not been fixed but I didn't find any bugs. I started using a towel to seal around the bottom of the door befor going to bed each night to prevent anymore intrusions.
Second to last night of our stay the towel didn't get placed around the bottom of the door. In the morning I found 2 cockroaches in the throws of death on the bathroom and kitchen floor. Called service express again and told them of the continuing problem with Cockroaches and that they did not correct the problem with the seal. Same employee showed up with a can of enviromentally safe bug killer this time and he explained in detail how it was completely safe for humans as well. I moved his attention to the door seal gaps and he looked it over much closer this time and agreed it was the likely problem. He also noticed that the door didn't close fully against the seals when closed and promised to return and get it fixed. When we returned to the room at the end of the day it was dark but looked like it had been replaced. had a phone message from the resort manager asking if our problem had been corrected and to contact him if it had not.
In the morning no bugs were seen and I inspected the door seal and found the seal had been replaced but one corner still had a smaller gap present.
It was checkout day and time to go home.
I liked the resort alot but having a cockroach run across me in the middle of the night and the resorts failure to fix it right the first time was unacceptable.
I'm just glad it happened to me and not my wife or guests.


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## grest (Jun 10, 2009)

JEFF H said:


> Spent the week at the Westin Keirland Villas in Scottadale,AZ and awoke the 2nd morning about 2am with something scurring across my neck and sholuders
> in the heavenly Bed.
> Couldn't find anything at the time so I assumed I was dreaming and went back to sleep. In the morning I found three med size cockroaches on the floor in the unit. I also noticed the seal around the exterior door to the unit had large gaps in the corners of the door. We were in a ground floor unit next to the barbarque grills in Blgd 7 and I figured this is how they were getting in.
> I called service express and reported the problem with the bugs and the door seal. They sent a employee with a can of Raid Hotshot and he sprayed the areas around the doors and walls. I pointed out the gaps in the seal and told him i belived this is where they were getting in. He agreed and said he would let maintenance know about it. When we returned to the unit that evening It was dark and I didn't notice if the gaps were corrected or not.
> ...



Nope, this is not cool...I would have been quite distressed!
Connie


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 10, 2009)

Cockroaches in the room!!!  So now they are giving passkeys to the sales staff???


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## Cathyb (Jun 10, 2009)

I hope you write Starwood Customer Service or their Resort Manager and document all of this.   As you say, they should have immediately repaired the gap in your door.  Maybe you will get some SPG points for the inconvenience?


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## pcgirl54 (Jun 10, 2009)

I would have been hysterical-running across your neck. Oohhhhh! I hope Starwood does something for you.

In HHI they call them Palmetto Bugs and one visited me at Barony Beach while I was cooking breakfast this year and the year before several were on the kitchen counter at Monarch. I guess they like the OF resorts too. Thankfully DH found most of them before I did. The Marriott front desk was unconcerned as they are common. I would think they would have sent someone to spray.


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## lprstn (Jun 10, 2009)

OM Gosh!!!!  Yuck!!! I would have went off.  Now understand, it happens in condo styled places that lost of people frequent, but I can be honest in saying in my 11 years of timesharing I have NEVER seen a roach.  

Time to write a letter to the management company and the trading company.


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## AKE (Jun 10, 2009)

Well at least they don't bite - I stepped on a scorpion in our bedroom closet at a GC (not Starwood) in Hawaii some years ago and that did sting quite a bit.


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## rubycat33 (Jun 10, 2009)

*Keep'em Out Of The Room*

Keep your room air conditioning on, as cool as you can stand.  I think that is a major reason you don't see roaches as much as you used to.  That and better spray routines.  I hate to blow your bubble, but I really doubt they came in through the door.  They like all those crevices and cracks all around the baseboards, cabinets, and door jambs.


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## JEFF H (Jun 12, 2009)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Cockroaches in the room!!!  So now they are giving passkeys to the sales staff???



Good one Steve :hysterical: 

We didn't do the sales tour but the Conceirge sure pushed it at Check-in.
We told them we had no interest in a sales tour.
They left a note the next day asking again and left phone messages all week trying to get us to change our mind. On friday they called trying to sell us a mini vacation package.


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## JEFF H (Jun 12, 2009)

rubycat33 said:


> I hate to blow your bubble, but I really doubt they came in through the door.  They like all those crevices and cracks all around the baseboards, cabinets, and door jambs.



They do but they can also come in thru gaps under doors or windows.
I inspected the baseboards and cabinets and didn't find any obvious cracks or Crevices. I would still put my money on the poor door seal.
The gaps and holes around the door seal were pretty large.
We were ground floor right next to the barbarque area where there was trash cans filled nightly with garbage. I had seen roaches in this area when i was grilling. When I made a makeshift seal with a towel jamed into the gaps I didn't see them in the room. The one night I forgot to seal the door with the towel I found them in the room again.


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## Passepartout (Jun 12, 2009)

I was checking into a hotel once and had a roach run across the counter as I was checking in. I told the clerk I was no stranger to roaches, but this was the first time I'd had one check to see which room I was checking in to.  

In certain (warm) parts of the country, they simply allow us to share their living places. 

Jim Ricks


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## HatTrick (Jun 12, 2009)

Dolphin Encounter - $$$ ... Cockroach Encounter - free!


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 12, 2009)

JEFF H said:


> I inspected the baseboards and cabinets and didn't find any obvious cracks or Crevices. I would still put my money on the poor door seal.



I lived for two years in an apartment that was built on top of an 1800's era landfill and that had a long-standing cockroach infestation -  let me assure you that not finding any obvious cracks or crevices is no assurance of a seal against their entry.  They are quite adept at using the non-obvious openings.

****

One night we sat down and told the cockroaches that we had a suggestion for peaceful coexistence.  We wouldn't stop them from coming out at night after we were in bed and the lights were out, as long as they agreed to scamper away and hide whenever we turned on the lights.

They seemed quite satisfied with that arrangement.

***

One time a friend left a young cat with us for a week.  At nighttime, after we were in bed, the cat seemed quite content to hang out in the kitchen.


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## JEFF H (Jun 13, 2009)

HatTrick said:


> Dolphin Encounter - $$$ ... Cockroach Encounter - free!



Another good one :rofl:


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## JEFF H (Jun 13, 2009)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> I lived for two years in an apartment that was built on top of an 1800's era landfill and that had a long-standing cockroach infestation -  let me assure you that not finding any obvious cracks or crevices is no assurance of a seal against their entry.  They are quite adept at using the non-obvious openings.



I agree they can get in from places you can't see. 
Cockroaches are a Fact of life in many warm high humidity regions of the country. Arizona being a much dryer climate cockroaches are more likely found in older properties where their has been some neglect or water damage in the walls. In Arizona cockroaches normally get in the sewers and breed then come up thru the drains. They spray the sewers in our area at intervals or when homeowners report a problem. We know these things living in AZ and kept the drains closed to prevent them using that path into the room. 
They also instruct you in Arizona to seal all doors and windows and other obvious cracks to avoid insects entering the home as well as for energy efficiency. 
We had a two bedroom unit that consists of two 1-Bedroom units connected. The Cockroaches were only found in the one side that had the door seal gaps and was the side closest to and right next to the barbeque area were I spotted cockroaches outside when grilling. 
Westin Kierland being a newer 5 star property is not a place I would expect to have a cockroach infestation. If they have allowed this unit to become infested then they have failed much worse than I ever imagined.
I don't believe that to be the case. 
The bottom line for me is When a Guest has a problem and reports it the resort staff it is expected that they respond and take care of the guests concerns. When I pointed out the problem with door seal gaps to both service express and the maintenance employee that arrived at the unit it should have been corrected.
Even if they felt like some of the posters here that the cockroaches would not come in from obvious gaps in the door seal they should have fixed it and removed it as a possibility. 
I have been timesharing for over 25 years and I have never had a repeated problem during a stay with cockroaches in the unit like I did at the Westin Kierland this time.
This was our fourth stay at this resort and not once before did we ever find cockroaches in the unit. 
I believe it was an isolated incidence but next year I will be moving our yearly family gathering to the Marriot Desert Ridge instead.
This is the first time we have stayed in Blgd 7 and we liked it least of all for other reasons.
It was the farthest from the adult pool area where we like to spend time.
This was also the last building built and they used a much cheaper microwave/oven in the unit. The other buildings we stayed had a top of the line Microwave/convection oven that worked flawlessly. My wife was even able to bake a cake in it last year for my daughters’ birthday party and surprised us all.
When I first opened the microwave this trip their was a burnt food smell inside and I soon found out why.
I tried to bake a self rising frozen pizza in it and it burned on one side and was uncooked on the other. 
It had a menu item for rising crust pizza
But the westin in their infinite wisdom decided to remove the special sizzle pan that is required in the manual to use when attempting to bake anything.  I called and asked about the sizzle pan and was told they provide a cookie baking sheet instead. I found if you place the cookie sheet on the metal rack in the oven everything on the one side burns as it has two heat lamp type 
elements on the top on one side only.  I know they likely feel most people won't use the oven feature but some like us will and they have set it up for failure by removing the required sizzle pan.  Worse yet by providing a cookie sheet with these cheaper ovens they have insured food will burn and could possibly worst case start a fire.
In our case We just had burned pizza smell in the unit most of the week.
I think large Corporation run resorts do a very good job for the most part but sometimes overlook important details like this.


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