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Pool Towel Thieves at MVC Resorts - My Rant

Dean said:
I'm not sure if this is tongue in cheek but in case it isn't, I don't agree. I've seen no evidence and had no feedback from any GM I've asked (2 or 3) or any front desk (asked there probably 5 or 6 times) that supports the idea that owner, renter, etc makes any difference on treatment of the resort. The only group that anyone has ever been mentioned as standing out in this regard is a spring break type of crowd. Granted these discussions have been center more around damages to a unit but I think we can reasonably extrapolate. Even for owners, the villas are essentially a rental car. I think it'd only make a difference for a fixed unit situation but other than that I do not believe it makes any difference at all. I think most people are reasonable and honest overall but some aren't and I believe it's the character not the ownership that makes a difference. If anything, owners sometimes seem entitled more than others, especially those that have owned for a longer period of time.
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I think you're probably right - as you get further away from a fixed week fixed unit, you have less and less direct relationship to any damage or costs. Maybe if I own at a resort as a UDI I care a tiny bit about extra costs, but generally it's going to be like a smaller version of a trust ownership - any "assessments" get spread out over such a large group that I'm "risking" a penny or something. And why would an exchanger (lets face it, that's what you are in points systems outside of the home resort, and what all trust owners basically are) really care at all? Their MFs aren't at risk if some other resort has higher costs. Trust owners again have increased costs spread out so much that again, any one resort, or even if you're an extra cost in all resorts, it's like a couple cents a year realistically.
 
Dean said:
I'm not sure if this is tongue in cheek but in case it isn't, I don't agree. I've seen no evidence and had no feedback from any GM I've asked (2 or 3) or any front desk (asked there probably 5 or 6 times) that supports the idea that owner, renter, etc makes any difference on treatment of the resort. The only group that anyone has ever been mentioned as standing out in this regard is a spring break type of crowd. Granted these discussions have been centered more around damages to a unit but I think we can reasonably extrapolate. Even for owners, the villas are essentially a rental car. I think it'd only make a difference for a fixed unit situation but other than that I do not believe it makes any difference at all. I think most people are reasonable and honest overall but some aren't and I believe it's the character not the ownership that makes a difference. If anything, owners sometimes seem entitled more than others, especially those that have owned for a longer period of time.
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I was being sarcastic!
 
jp10558 said:
I think you're probably right - as you get further away from a fixed week fixed unit, you have less and less direct relationship to any damage or costs. Maybe if I own at a resort as a UDI I care a tiny bit about extra costs, but generally it's going to be like a smaller version of a trust ownership - any "assessments" get spread out over such a large group that I'm "risking" a penny or something. And why would an exchanger (lets face it, that's what you are in points systems outside of the home resort, and what all trust owners basically are) really care at all? Their MFs aren't at risk if some other resort has higher costs. Trust owners again have increased costs spread out so much that again, any one resort, or even if you're an extra cost in all resorts, it's like a couple cents a year realistically.
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My sense is that owners at a given resort may do slightly better staying at their home resort but not enough to matter. I've seen this discussion for 25 years across MVC and Disney though even more for Disney. I tend to think with DVC that first time and infrequent renters may actually be more respectful of the property in many cases. I don't rent much anymore but I can absolutely tell you that dealing with owners when renting is far more challenging in my experience and for about 12-15 years, I had a lot of experiences renting both. They are more pushy, more demanding, more likely to ghost you last minute, more likely to request changes often multiple times and more likely to demand a refund if something happens on their end even with a clear expectation of non-cancelation. Don't get me wrong; the majority of people are nice, appreciative and reasonableer they be owners or not. The issue with those that aren't well versed in timeshares is they simply don't understand the nature of the system and its limitations and that can cause of host of issues. Those issues can usually either be easily handled up front or early on or can halt the process early in the course. For me personally, and I suspect for many here on TUG, I make every effort to treat a resort as well or better than I treat my own things, follow the rules in place and simply be honest in my approach.
 
Dean said:
For me personally, and I suspect for many here on TUG, I make every effort to treat a resort as well or better than I treat my own things, follow the rules in place and simply be honest in my approach.
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Yea, I don't trash my stuff, I don't see why I'd go around trashing others stuff either. Usually I'm reporting stuff to try and make it better for the next resident if I find anything amiss. I do think there was one Hotel my BIL slipped and fell in the tub and bent their stopper (and cut his foot), but because it wasn't the hotels fault and we didn't want issues we just kinda didn't say anything. Probably should have reported it I guess, but an overnight and needing to get on the road quick in the morning didn't give me the same bandwidth I have at a resort for a week to deal with anything.
 
jp10558 said:
Yea, I don't trash my stuff, I don't see why I'd go around trashing others stuff either. Usually I'm reporting stuff to try and make it better for the next resident if I find anything amiss. I do think there was one Hotel my BIL slipped and fell in the tub and bent their stopper (and cut his foot), but because it wasn't the hotels fault and we didn't want issues we just kinda didn't say anything. Probably should have reported it I guess, but an overnight and needing to get on the road quick in the morning didn't give me the same bandwidth I have at a resort for a week to deal with anything.
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I'll often leave a unit in better condition than when I checked in. If there is a loose screw, I might tighten it. If the blinds are all messed up, I will probably fix them. If it is something serious, I will call down and have them send engineering to take a look at it.
 
Dang! I'm gonna have to be sneakier in stealing towels off chairs and french fries off people's plates!!!!
 
Pamplemousse said:
It’s nearly 20 years old and has gone on every family vacation and local trips too. No one has stollen it obviously- even when new. And of course we don’t put anything valuable/ irreplaceable in it- Diet Coke and chapstick.

I don’t think we are talking about robbery here- just people swiping towels and my suggestion is if they are out of sight it’s far less likely someone will take them. Whatever your bag of choice is.
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The real problem would be if you left pastries out and someone took those, then they would have stolen your stollen!

Sorry, bad dad joke on your typo, could not be passed up!
 
weems637 said:
Dang! I'm gonna have to be sneakier in stealing towels off chairs and french fries off people's plates!!!!
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Don's favorite french fries - of anyplace he's ever eaten them! - are the ones at All Y'alls at Barony. I don't get it, they don't seem all that special to me, but he raves about them. He doesn't even let our grandkids eat them off his plate, but he'll order them their own. Let me know whenever you're at Barony and I'll send him over to treat you. :)
 
weems637 said:
Dang! I'm gonna have to be sneakier in stealing towels off chairs and french fries off people's plates!!!!
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You can always blame it on crows. The last time we were at the pool at Orlando Marriott World Center, there were several crows lurking. If you turned away from your French fries for a second, they would take them directly off your plate.
 
SueDonJ said:
Don's favorite french fries - of anyplace he's ever eaten them! - are the ones at All Y'alls at Barony. I don't get it, they don't seem all that special to me, but he raves about them. He doesn't even let our grandkids eat them off his plate, but he'll order them their own. Let me know whenever you're at Barony and I'll send him over to treat you. :)
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I will have to try them, but we will be there in January and I think they close down All Y'alls seasonally and they won't be open while we are there. I suspect that they just come out of a bag, frozen, though.
 
Superchief said:
You can always blame it on crows. The last time we were at the pool at Orlando Marriott World Center, there were several crows lurking. If you turned away from your French fries for a second, they would take them directly off your plate.
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Crows I can deal with. The video I saw of iguanas climbing up on occupied lounge chairs to get at a sandwich made me vow never to go anywhere with giant lizards on the prowl.
 
clifffaith said:
Crows I can deal with. The video I saw of iguanas climbing up on occupied lounge chairs to get at a sandwich made me vow never to go anywhere with giant lizards on the prowl.
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At least when the iguanas approach along the ground you can see them coming.
The first time at Frenchman’s Cove we saw one falling out of a tree onto a lounger was a total shocker!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I don’t have a problem with taking my towels back to the room to wash or dry. When I get out the pool and dry off my towel is never soaking wet. I see people leaving their towels on the chairs all the time then a worker has to gather them up. It would upset me to see someone trying to steal my towels but some people feel so entitled. Now if they could crack down on people sneaking their pets onto the property.
 
Another item that I've found is often a target of theft is the do not disturb signs on the villa door. I mention this because it happened today at Ocean Pointe. I've had it happen in the past too. Any time we checkin, the first thing that we do is put the sign on the door and is stays there till the end of the trip. This isn't usually a problem during the stay because there is no housekeeping. It can become a real nuisance on checkout day when housekeeping is wanting to bust down your door to start cleaning. The knocks will happen much earlier than 10am if you don't have the sign on the door.

In the past we had the do not disturb magnets taken from the door along with the hang signs. I suspect what happens is that someone in another villa doesn't have one in their room or on the back of their door, so their loose fingers find the next best thing. The one off your doo. I notice the other oceanfront villa at the end of the hallway we are on has a tag on each door. So I suspect the likely culprit. Time to go and have a confrontation.... Not really, I will just text down and ask them to send another one up.
 
Interesting comments about the towel thieves. I'd just like to add that the chair hogs are even worse than the towel thieves. They come down to the pool early, put the towel on "their" chair, and head off to breakfast, or touring, or even just spending hours lounging at the pool bar. There are seldom enough chairs for everyone, and if you claim ownership of a chair for the full day when you're only there for a short time or two, you deserve a visit from the towel thief. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone had an ounce of consideration for others? Unfortunately, as mentioned in a comment above, there is always a percentage of cretins hanging about, folks who think only of themselves.
 
thewags said:
Interesting comments about the towel thieves. I'd just like to add that the chair hogs are even worse than the towel thieves. They come down to the pool early, put the towel on "their" chair, and head off to breakfast, or touring, or even just spending hours lounging at the pool bar. There are seldom enough chairs for everyone, and if you claim ownership of a chair for the full day when you're only there for a short time or two, you deserve a visit from the towel thief. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone had an ounce of consideration for others? Unfortunately, as mentioned in a comment above, there is always a percentage of cretins hanging about, folks who think only of themselves.
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Interesting. Maybe we should start a thread about chair hogs.
 
dioxide45 said:
Another item that I've found is often a target of theft is the do not disturb signs on the villa door. I mention this because it happened today at Ocean Pointe. I've had it happen in the past too. Any time we checkin, the first thing that we do is put the sign on the door and is stays there till the end of the trip. This isn't usually a problem during the stay because there is no housekeeping. It can become a real nuisance on checkout day when housekeeping is wanting to bust down your door to start cleaning. The knocks will happen much earlier than 10am if you don't have the sign on the door.

In the past we had the do not disturb magnets taken from the door along with the hang signs. I suspect what happens is that someone in another villa doesn't have one in their room or on the back of their door, so their loose fingers find the next best thing. The one off your doo. I notice the other oceanfront villa at the end of the hallway we are on has a tag on each door. So I suspect the likely culprit. Time to go and have a confrontation.... Not really, I will just text down and ask them to send another one up.
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Each individually keyed room should have its own do not disturb sign. I’d add kids playing pranks as a possible culprit.
 
lhwhizz said:
Now if they could crack down on people sneaking their pets onto the property.
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Many people do not bother with sneaking a pet onto the property. They walk them past the Front Desk unchallenged.
 
dougp26364 said:
Each individually keyed room should have its own do not disturb sign. I’d add kids playing pranks as a possible culprit.
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There's been plenty of times after getting to the room after checkin that there is no do not disturb sign at all.
 
dioxide45 said:
There's been plenty of times after getting to the room after checkin that there is no do not disturb sign at all.
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Well then, maybe the Do Not Disturb signs are replacing the neck tie on the door knob once they get home.

We do the same thing, put the do not disturb sign on the door as soon as we arrive. I can’t think of a time when there wasn’t one at a Marriott. Then again we don’t travel quite as much as you, so there’s fewer nights per year.
 
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