'Do not disturb'...but for how long?
However, the new signs do not allow guests to insist on not being disturbed. The signs which carry the condition “ The Disney Resort Hotel and its staff reserve the right to enter your room, even when the sign is displayed, for maintenance, safety, security or any other purposes”. Essentially, what this means is that, if housekeepers can’t get into clean a room, the new policy dictates that a specially trained hotel employee will knock on the door and enter the room to make sure that everything is in order.
Introduced late last December, Disney whilst not alluding any reason to the change, is thought to have reacted to the 1st October massacre in Las Vegas, when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 event attendees, from his 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Paddock brought in 10 suitcases full of firearms into the room in the six days before carrying out the mass slaughter, without staff noticing, since they never had the opportunity to enter the room – because the ‘do not Disturb’ sign was on all the time.
Since that tragic day, hotels are changing their policy on “do not disturb” – which have been subject to new terms or removed from hotels totally. Reportedly, Hilton too has initiated updates to its “do not disturb” policy by announcing the change which is to be implemented globally. In the updated policy, hotels are required to include the following text in the guest privacy section in the guest directory: “we understand and respect your need for privacy. The hotel reserves the right to visually inspect all guest rooms every 24 hours to ensure the well-being of our guest and confirm the condition of the room”.
Alternatively, hotel staff is instructed to report any ‘suspicious behavior’ such as: Guests who are overly concerned about privacy or who refuse room cleaning for extended time periods; Those who take photos/notes about the hotel; Change rooms several times; Request specific rooms; Guests who do not leave the room for long periods or extend the use the DND sign - (During long days gone by, housekeeping staff were to report any occupied guest room that displayed the DND sign for over 24 hours (3-shifts). Thereafter, a supervisor or manager will call and /or enter the room to verify if all is OK with the guest. The precaution was to check if the guest was ill or had ‘skipped’).
One can appreciate the safety measures taken as we live in times where terrorism is the norm, but some recommendations for staff may be overly intrusive and could impact negatively on hotel – guest relations if acted upon injudiciously.
Shafeek Wahab – editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, ex-Hotelier
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Guests won’t find any “Do not disturb” (DND) signs hanging on doors at Disney's hotels including those at Disneyland, the Aulani in Hawaii and the four hotels that overlook the monorail at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Eventually, all Disney properties will adopt the new rules as hotels begin to change their policy on “do not disturb”. Disneyland hotels guests can instead place a “Room occupied” sign to let floor staff know that someone is inside.