6 pm check in due to someone else’s late check out? And high pressure to do presentation at check in.

[normab]

Just posting this because we’ve never experienced this before. And I guess I need to whine a bit. Would love to hear of others who’ve had the same situation, either two hours late check in or a late checkout. And sales harassment (can you imagine) upon check in.

We just got back from a stay at Ocean Palms. Which is our favorite on Singer Island resort since, we love the included (free) chairs on the beach. We arrived at about 4:10 for check-in. At first they told us we could not check in at the front desk, they wanted us to see the sales concierge 'person (to try again to convince us to do a sales presentation. And she might give us a glass of cheap wine, really? ) But we had already spoken to her and we had already told her no, but I guess she wasn’t taking no for an answer. I was a bit annoyed by this, when do they let go? So I said, “can’t we just check in? We’ve already said we’re not interested in a presentation right now?” I felt bad for pressuring the poor desk agent, but he asked somebody and he did the basics and then he told me the room wasn’t ready. So, whatever.

After we waited in line and saw the nice lady who gives you the local perks card, we came back to the front desk and we actually got lucky and talked to the manager. He explained that they give about 5 late checkouts every day, and that our room was the last one to check out. Mind you, we were only given a room on the 11th floor, out of 8- 20 floors so it’s not like we had the best room/ floor in the building. But the strange thing was, we never heard that Marriott vacation club does late checkouts.

At this point, it was about 4:35 and we asked how long before we check in? He could not give me an answer. Other than telling me we were the last room to be cleaned. I think that’s a pretty sad response as far as customer service goes. So, I said to him “Can you at least buy us drinks at the pool bar?” I can’t believe I had to say that to him and he seemed to be grudgingly say I’ll see what I can do. He couldn’t even say yes. (But he did give us $40).

We are lowly presidential owners. I say, lowly because, we used to be chairman’s level. So, are we now chopped liver? I can’t imagine how poorly this reflects on how they do their planning, But, whatever. They make really good drinks at that pool bar. We waited until 6 o’clock, but they never even texted us that the room was ready. We went back to the front desk, and after checking, they said it was ready. They checked us in, but when we got to the room 15 minutes later, the person cleaning the room was just finishing up.

So getting back to the original issue of this post, are there any other MVCI resorts that allow late checkouts? I remember in Hawaii they all have lovely changing rooms so you can stay a good portion of the day and still shower and dress in really nice changing rooms. Probably because many of the flights are later in the day. I’m guessing they don’t have anything in Oceana Palms that’s suitable. And no matter what, they should automatically give you something to buy a drink at the bar if they’re making you wait more than an hour after 4 o’clock. After all you’re paying for that hour, we didn't get to use the room that we paid for, for two hours.

And is anybody else feeling the ongoing upward pressure of doing presentations? I can’t believe that we said no, and they were still going to foist us on the salesperson again upon check in. We will be going to BeachPlace and Crystal Shores in the next several months and I’m not looking forward to this if they keep being so pushy. In our family, we probably will be the last timeshare owners… There’s no interest in the younger generations inheriting them or taking them on. So Marriott is probably feeling the pain, but they’re not going to sell us anything more at this point in our life.

Appreciate comments and recent experiences.

Norma

 

[Pamplemousse]

Just posting this because we’ve never experienced this before. And I guess I need to whine a bit. Would love to hear of others who’ve had the same situation, either two hours late check in or a late checkout. And sales harassment (can you imagine) upon check in.

We just got back from a stay at Ocean Palms. Which is our favorite on Singer Island resort since, we love the included (free) chairs on the beach. We arrived at about 4:10 for check-in. At first they told us we could not check in at the front desk, they wanted us to see the sales concierge 'person (to try again to convince us to do a sales presentation. And she might give us a glass of cheap wine, really? ) But we had already spoken to her and we had already told her no, but I guess she wasn’t taking no for an answer. I was a bit annoyed by this, when do they let go? So I said, “can’t we just check in? We’ve already said we’re not interested in a presentation right now?” I felt bad for pressuring the poor desk agent, but he asked somebody and he did the basics and then he told me the room wasn’t ready. So, whatever.

After we waited in line and saw the nice lady who gives you the local perks card, we came back to the front desk and we actually got lucky and talked to the manager. He explained that they give about 5 late checkouts every day, and that our room was the last one to check out. Mind you, we were only given a room on the 11th floor, out of 8- 20 floors so it’s not like we had the best room/ floor in the building. But the strange thing was, we never heard that Marriott vacation club does late checkouts.

At this point, it was about 4:35 and we asked how long before we check in? He could not give me an answer. Other than telling me we were the last room to be cleaned. I think that’s a pretty sad response as far as customer service goes. So, I said to him “Can you at least buy us drinks at the pool bar?” I can’t believe I had to say that to him and he seemed to be grudgingly say I’ll see what I can do. He couldn’t even say yes. (But he did give us $40).

We are lowly presidential owners. I say, lowly because, we used to be chairman’s level. So, are we now chopped liver? I can’t imagine how poorly this reflects on how they do their planning, But, whatever. They make really good drinks at that pool bar. We waited until 6 o’clock, but they never even texted us that the room was ready. We went back to the front desk, and after checking, they said it was ready. They checked us in, but when we got to the room 15 minutes later, the person cleaning the room was just finishing up.

So getting back to the original issue of this post, are there any other MVCI resorts that allow late checkouts? I remember in Hawaii they all have lovely changing rooms so you can stay a good portion of the day and still shower and dress in really nice changing rooms. Probably because many of the flights are later in the day. I’m guessing they don’t have anything in Oceana Palms that’s suitable. And no matter what, they should automatically give you something to buy a drink at the bar if they’re making you wait more than an hour after 4 o’clock. After all you’re paying for that hour, we didn't get to use the room that we paid for, for two hours.

And is anybody else feeling the ongoing upward pressure of doing presentations? I can’t believe that we said no, and they were still going to foist us on the salesperson again upon check in. We will be going to BeachPlace and Crystal Shores in the next several months and I’m not looking forward to this if they keep being so pushy. In our family, we probably will be the last timeshare owners… There’s no interest in the younger generations inheriting them or taking them on. So Marriott is probably feeling the pain, but they’re not going to sell us anything more at this point in our life.

Appreciate comments and recent experiences.

Norma

That is awful. I hope you post this someplace more public like TripAdvisor.
We already aren’t getting our full time with check in at 4 and out at 10- we should not be waiting past 4 and if we are they should be offering some compensation.
I can’t believe you had to ask for a drink- that’s the very least they could have done.
We had a big push for a presentation at Crystal Shore but luckily my spouse had gone to the rest room so I really couldn’t commit to anything - and we had already said no previously. We have decided that’s our plan from now on- only one of us goes to check in.

 

[DanCali]

Vistana used to have a 12pm checkout for 5-star Elites, but Marriott killed that benefit when they killed the Vistana Elite program and "downgraded" all those 5-Star Vistana owners to Chairman. They clearly made a conscious decision to not adopt that benefit at the risk of alienating many of those loyal Vistana owners even though the benefit was always "subject to availability".

We've requested late checkouts on several occasions and have been sometimes granted an extra 30 or 60 or 90 minutes, but not more (usually they just say no). It also seems more likely to happen with smaller rooms, and not with 2BR units like at Oceana Palms, and more likely to happen in the off season as opposed to prime season with 100% occupancy (or on a non-standard checkout day with no checkouts from weeks owners who do 7-night stays starting and ending on weekends).

When checking in I got a heads up once at MCS that our room may not be ready on time (it was a short stay in a 3BR before they had the hidden minimum night stays). The excuse they gave me was that the guest was switching to another unit and in those cases they allow them to stay in the room late until the other unit is ready. That was new to me, and nice for that guest, but being on the other side of it I made a big stink out of it and I suspect they rushed 10 people into that unit to clean it and had it ready for me by 3:59pm... I probably would have asked for a bunch of Bonvoy points if it wasn't ready on time and I suggest you do the same.

They always try to get us into a presentation at checkin because we almost always say no in advance. They get money for each person they get in, so there will be pressure... I just say I want no less than 50K Bonvoy points (which we seem to get offered only at NCV but nowhere else) and the discussion ends there when we're not at NCV.

 

[callwill]

The minimum for that kind of wait should have been dinner and drinks.

 

[Superchief]

It seems that rooms not being ready by 4 pm is increasing. I've had this happen at a few MVC resorts the past few years. In some cases, they have me assigned to a villa that matches my request and offered me alternative that is ready. I think they are having more problems with staffing issues or people not checking out on time. The only late checkout option that I've ever been offered are only when I'm transferring to another MVC resort in the area or within the resort. If it is a 2BR lockoff, I can sometimes get into the studio side a little earlier. When I've encountered a delayed (after 4pm) availability, I've had to ask for compensation. Managers should always offer compensation upfront, especially to MVC owners.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Two hours late isn't that bad. Yes, it is annoying but not nearly as long as my 8:10 pm check-in that I experienced many years ago because the room was just not ready (I was told to blame Housekeeping staffing issues).

The sad part is that they probably could have shoved you (or me) into another room that was being saved for someone who had yet to arrive. Not sure if you were in the Sunrise or Sunset Building and am unsure why they didn't change some rooms around to better accommodate your immediate needs........

I think the sales meeting was again pushed onto you because they needed to "kill some time" while the Villa was being readied for your occupancy.












.

 

[dioxide45]

In all our years of timesharing, we've never asked for a late checkout. I mean the rules stipulate that late checkout isn't permitted as a Bonvoy benefit at vacation club properties. We have been late getting out a couple times, but no more than 10 minutes. That said, I've found out that the resorts have leeway to appease those who beg, whine, plead or demand a late checkout because of their Bonvoy or perhaps high owner status. Several people in the Vistana forum have mentioned asking for and being granted late checkouts (even those that had no Elite level). So it goes. It seems the GM grants front desk agents to provide some leeway to avoid a complaining guest and there you have why you had to wait two hours extra to get into your room.

I've always found that Marriott has done a poor job of identifying early departing guests. They don't seem to query guests prior to departure to find out if some will be leaving early. If someone checks out at 7am then housekeeping could get in there much sooner, but I always see housekeeping staff strolling in around 9am. None of them seem to start prior to that. They should maybe have an earlier shift to get a head start on rooms that are departed. All resorts should utilize the mangnets or door hangars that indicate "checked out". With that, I am still not even sure housekeeping utilizes those hangars. They seem to have their list of rooms to go to and they go to whichever one is first on their list. We've had people standing outside our door starting at 9am when we weren't leaving till 10am. I am sure there was probably another room somewhere which has been vacated that the person could be cleaning instead of holding up the wall outside our room.

 

[DanCali]

I've always found that Marriott has done a poor job of identifying early departing guests. They don't seem to query guests prior to departure to find out if some will be leaving early. If someone checks out at 7am then housekeeping could get in there much sooner, but I always see housekeeping staff strolling in around 9am. None of them seem to start prior to that. They should maybe have an earlier shift to get a head start on rooms that are departed. All resorts should utilize the mangnets or door hangars that indicate "checked out". With that, I am still not even sure housekeeping utilizes those hangars. They seem to have their list of rooms to go to and they go to whichever one is first on their list. We've had people standing outside our door starting at 9am when we weren't leaving till 10am. I am sure there was probably another room somewhere which has been vacated that the person could be cleaning instead of holding up the wall outside our room.

I believe they did have door hangers that say "we've checked out" at NCV, but I could be wrong.

Disney does this a lot better. They check you out automatically if you tap your key/band into a WDW park on checkout day. This turned out to be annoying one time for us because we just wanted to to 2-3 rides during early hours and come back to the room to shower, but the keys didn't work. I can see how that helps them though... You can also just check out via the app, which everyone tends to use all the time while at the parks, and they send email reminders about that the day before departure. That said, they don't actually guarantee a checkin time of 4pm - the official checkin is "after 4pm," although our rooms are usually ready before then.

 

[dioxide45]

I believe they did have door hangers that say "we've checked out" at NCV, but I could be wrong.

Disney does this a lot better. They check you out automatically if you tap your key/band into a WDW park on checkout day. This turned out to be annoying one time for us because we just wanted to to 2-3 rides during early hours and come back to the room to shower, but the keys didn't work. I can see how that helps them though... You can also just check out via the app, which everyone tends to use all the time while at the parks, and they send email reminders about that the day before departure. That said, they don't actually guarantee a checkin time of 4pm - the official checkin is "after 4pm," although our rooms are usually ready before then.

I had a recent issue at Aulani. We had left the room on checkout day but I left the "room occupied" tag on the door because I was coming back. When I returned an hour before the 11am checkout time, they were in there cleaning it. The guy was very apologetic, but I was still very annoyed. What's the point of the hang tag? With that on the door they shouldn't be knocking until 11am.

 

[DanCali]

I had a recent issue at Aulani. We had left the room on checkout day but I left the "room occupied" tag on the door because I was coming back. When I returned an hour before the 11am checkout time, they were in there cleaning it. The guy was very apologetic, but I was still very annoyed. What's the point of the hang tag? With that on the door they shouldn't be knocking until 11am.

That would definitely be super annoying to me as well, especially since you left a tag and there's not a park you can tap your key into. It's also a location with many flights departing at night (which is why they also have a lounge to accommodate them after checkout) so you'd expect them to be more careful

 

[emeryjre]

Maybe there is a place to use all this Artificial Intelligence that is all the rage

My sense is that cleaning and preparing rooms for turnover is the most chaotic and disorganized part of hotel/resort management

 

[bazzap]

Just posting this because we’ve never experienced this before. And I guess I need to whine a bit. Would love to hear of others who’ve had the same situation, either two hours late check in or a late checkout. And sales harassment (can you imagine) upon check in.

We just got back from a stay at Ocean Palms. Which is our favorite on Singer Island resort since, we love the included (free) chairs on the beach. We arrived at about 4:10 for check-in. At first they told us we could not check in at the front desk, they wanted us to see the sales concierge 'person (to try again to convince us to do a sales presentation. And she might give us a glass of cheap wine, really? ) But we had already spoken to her and we had already told her no, but I guess she wasn’t taking no for an answer. I was a bit annoyed by this, when do they let go? So I said, “can’t we just check in? We’ve already said we’re not interested in a presentation right now?” I felt bad for pressuring the poor desk agent, but he asked somebody and he did the basics and then he told me the room wasn’t ready. So, whatever.

After we waited in line and saw the nice lady who gives you the local perks card, we came back to the front desk and we actually got lucky and talked to the manager. He explained that they give about 5 late checkouts every day, and that our room was the last one to check out. Mind you, we were only given a room on the 11th floor, out of 8- 20 floors so it’s not like we had the best room/ floor in the building. But the strange thing was, we never heard that Marriott vacation club does late checkouts.

At this point, it was about 4:35 and we asked how long before we check in? He could not give me an answer. Other than telling me we were the last room to be cleaned. I think that’s a pretty sad response as far as customer service goes. So, I said to him “Can you at least buy us drinks at the pool bar?” I can’t believe I had to say that to him and he seemed to be grudgingly say I’ll see what I can do. He couldn’t even say yes. (But he did give us $40).

We are lowly presidential owners. I say, lowly because, we used to be chairman’s level. So, are we now chopped liver? I can’t imagine how poorly this reflects on how they do their planning, But, whatever. They make really good drinks at that pool bar. We waited until 6 o’clock, but they never even texted us that the room was ready. We went back to the front desk, and after checking, they said it was ready. They checked us in, but when we got to the room 15 minutes later, the person cleaning the room was just finishing up.

So getting back to the original issue of this post, are there any other MVCI resorts that allow late checkouts? I remember in Hawaii they all have lovely changing rooms so you can stay a good portion of the day and still shower and dress in really nice changing rooms. Probably because many of the flights are later in the day. I’m guessing they don’t have anything in Oceana Palms that’s suitable. And no matter what, they should automatically give you something to buy a drink at the bar if they’re making you wait more than an hour after 4 o’clock. After all you’re paying for that hour, we didn't get to use the room that we paid for, for two hours.

And is anybody else feeling the ongoing upward pressure of doing presentations? I can’t believe that we said no, and they were still going to foist us on the salesperson again upon check in. We will be going to BeachPlace and Crystal Shores in the next several months and I’m not looking forward to this if they keep being so pushy. In our family, we probably will be the last timeshare owners… There’s no interest in the younger generations inheriting them or taking them on. So Marriott is probably feeling the pain, but they’re not going to sell us anything more at this point in our life.

Appreciate comments and recent experiences.

Norma

Our European and Asian home MVC resorts do try to offer some flexibility on check out times, dependent on volume of changeovers and housekeeping schedules.
This should never prejudice the 4pm check in time for arrivals though. which should override any other criteria.
I can only recall one occasion where we had to wait until later and even then we were offered a villa by 4pm but we were willing to wait longer for our preferred villa choice to be available.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Hindsite]

If I'm checking out early I call housekeeping direct and tell them we're on our way out of the door. While there may be systems in place they won't be fool-proof so I give the humans involved the chance to make their lives easier and choose whether getting in early works for them. On my last stay we did this and I actually saw the cleaners heading to our unit as I was walking to the front desk, so was rather pleased that I bothered as they were going to have a very busy day.

 

[TUGBrian]

you would certainly think that in this day and age there would be a better system for managing that checkin/checkout window!

ive personally never been granted more than an extra hour past normal checkout. though if it were really an issue youd think that housekeeping would be outside your door ready to come in and clean at 9:59...

 

[TolmiePeak]

We are lowly presidential owners. I say, lowly because, we used to be chairman’s level.

Does that really get you any attention from the resort?

 

[jmhpsu93]

I've always found that Marriott has done a poor job of identifying early departing guests. They don't seem to query guests prior to departure to find out if some will be leaving early. If someone checks out at 7am then housekeeping could get in there much sooner, but I always see housekeeping staff strolling in around 9am. None of them seem to start prior to that. They should maybe have an earlier shift to get a head start on rooms that are departed. All resorts should utilize the mangnets or door hangars that indicate "checked out". With that, I am still not even sure housekeeping utilizes those hangars. They seem to have their list of rooms to go to and they go to whichever one is first on their list. We've had people standing outside our door starting at 9am when we weren't leaving till 10am. I am sure there was probably another room somewhere which has been vacated that the person could be cleaning instead of holding up the wall outside our room.

This has been my experience as well. I always text the resort the second we check out, and we've had them lingering outside our doors at 9 AM or earlier.

I'm sometimes out for a run around 6:30/7 AM and that's when I see much of the housekeeping staff arriving to resorts. What they do between then and 9 AM when they start knocking on doors is anyone's guess. I know they also utilize contracted linen services so that plays a role as well.

 

[RookWDW]

When we were checking into MGO a few weeks ago, it was around noon, someone next to us was told their room would not be ready until around 6:00ish. They said it was because they requested two rooms next to each other. But I suspect it's because all of these resorts are very understaffed on the housekeeping crew, possibly intentionally to save money.

Also, am I the only one who still drops my key cards at the desk and tells them we have checked out? Old habit I guess as I know you can just leave your cards in the room.

 

[m61376]

Just returned from WKORV-N and, interestingly, received texts offering 5K points for a 7:30am and 10k for a 6:30am check-out. Of course not much incentive but thought it was an interesting concept.
That said- we asked for the villa until 10:15 and they had no problem with that. Small difference but it was a big deal for us, since daughters and grandsons squeezed in another surf lesson with Outrageous Surf (they were super impressed with them earlier in the week and we were able to schedule a 7:30 early lesson on the day of departure), and it enabled them to shower/change before spending the rest of the day until our evening flight.

We’ve had to wait until 4:15-4:30 at the Surf Club a few times and once closer to 5, but couldn’t protest too much since they offered a low floor room for earlier check-in, but was annoyed. On the flip side we’ve enjoyed the room being ready early several times.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[normab]

Does that really get you any attention from the resort?

Yes, Most of the time we were recognized for the status during check in and we felt they tried to meet our room location request if we had made one. Not always, but probably 80-90% of the time.

There was one visit to Ocean pointe where DH had been in the hospital and we ended up checking in the morning after our scheduled check in. The agent looked at our assigned room and said, “oh you’re Chairman’s level. Let me see if I can find you a better room.” She gave us a room closer to the ocean, which was a nice gesture. I actually wrote her a thank you email and ccd her manager.

 

[normab]

Also, am I the only one who still drops my key cards at the desk and tells them we have checked out? Old habit I guess as I know you can just leave your cards in the room.

We usually have the wristbands, so no key cards, but we always text or call as we leave. They make it easy with the text checkout.

 

[gln60]

If I'm checking out early I call housekeeping direct and tell them we're on our way out of the door. While there may be systems in place they won't be fool-proof so I give the humans involved the chance to make their lives easier and choose whether getting in early works for them. On my last stay we did this and I actually saw the cleaners heading to our unit as I was walking to the front desk, so was rather pleased that I bothered as they were going to have a very busy day.

We stayed at Ocean Watch during Covid and called the front desk to let them know we were checking out at 7am…We wanted to get an early start on the long drive back to New Jersey…we were rewarded with 200 Bonvoy points.

 

[Hindsite]

with 200 Bonvoy points.

200 Bonvoy? Bet that made your day

 

[gln60]

200 Bonvoy? Bet that made your day

I said thank you and we were on our way…We would never dream of driving from NJ to South Carolina and back to NJ,but we didn’t want to fly during Covid.

 

[Superchief]

We stayed at Ocean Watch during Covid and called the front desk to let them know we were checking out at 7am…We wanted to get an early start on the long drive back to New Jersey…we were rewarded with 200 Bonvoy points.

I've been offered bonus Bonvoy points at a few resorts. When driving, I always try to leave by 6:30 am and received 1000 earlier this year at Barony. I hope that housekeeping is informed regarding these early checkouts so they can start on those rooms.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

a) I'm low-key on vacation, but 6 pm would get my attention
b) if they have a spa, demand complimentary massages
c) I'm sure bleep happens to a few rooms (depends on size of the place) every day. Luck of the draw. See (b)