Seasttle 4 seasons does not respect the do not disturb sign
 

Stayed again this weekend. Great staff, nice looking rooms, noisy doors. This time we had house keeping clean our room with the do not disturb sign on the door. We came back from lunch with the do not disturb sign still in the lock however the room had been cleaned. They did call the room first and leave a VM, that would also be disturbing the room, then they completely ignored the sign and entered. That to me is a complete violation or our privacy. When I asked the assistant manager about this, she stated it was hotel policy. Really? It was stated by the asst. that many times guests forget to remove the do not disturb sign then they return to their unclean room and are upset. To me the do not disturb sign means just that. Unless its an emergency you do not bother the room. No calls, no knocking, do not disturb. We left the room for less than a hour to go accross the street for lunch. With that in mind my partners purse was left in the room and so was a very expensive watch. Of course all of these items we still there when we returned however I would have put them both in the safe had I know they were going to be entering the room. I will never return to this hotel.

Is this normal? Anyone else deal with this type of issue.

I'd have a real problem with this if it was me. What if you were in the middle of an important conference call or the like? Having housekeeping call or barge is more than annoying, it defeats the purpose of paying for a hotel room in the first place. I've had this issue when I'm in Europe. I work on New York time while I"m there, meaning I sleep from around 5am until 2pm. If housekeeping knocks or calls my room during this time period and I have the DND out, I speak to a manager and point blank tell him or her I will not be paying the night's rate. Paying for a hotel room is paying for an undisturbed place to sleep or work. If the hotel staff can't understand this, then they shouldn't get your money.

Call the GM of the hotel, see what he has to say. If the response is that it's his policy, then I'd shoot an email to FS corporate, because it's unacceptable from a five-star hotel.

Unfortunately, this is the protocol for many luxury hotels. And, guests in the US don't have a right to exclude hotel staff and managment from coming into the room to clean, perform maintenance, etc.

Here is the real kicker, a bit more info. We stayed there earlier this month for three nights. We were in the middle of selling our home in Hawaii and buying a home in the Puget sound area. On the way to the hotel the buyer back out in Hawaii a huge surprise, in other words we really just need to get away and relax. During that time we had the hotel doors for the stairwell and neighbors keep us up all weekend and make the days impossible to relax. Everytime the doors next to us slammed, which was everytime they closed, it actually shook the wall a bit as well as made the loud metal sound of the locks. We had a family next to us with thee kids that were in and out of the room, seemed to be one at a time, all day long starting a 6:00am. We also had house keeping call the room after the second day while the do not disturb sign was out.
I sent a email to the four seasons Seattle about these issues and they offered to host a weekend for us. Free parking and a nice relaxing room. Upon check in we were immediately greeted by the wonderful Assistant manager Dora Joyner. She took us to our room that was prepared and ready just for us with some fruit and a nice stack of home magazines with a welcome card from the Manager. The stay was setting up to be absolutely perfect. However our room was right next to the stair well, that door was not as noisy as it was during our first stay, the doors down the hall were still incredibly loud during the day. I could not even dream of attempting to take a relax in the room or take a nap during the day, the doors would have made it impossible. The real completely destructive event was the room cleaning while the do not disturb sign was out. I was beyond upset and felt a violated. I actually wanted to check out a leave a day early, my partner talked me out of it.

where have you had least / most problems with this dispute?

It never seems to be an issue at independent European properties. The one time it was, I mentioned it to an assistant manager, who ran, literally, to his office to bring out the general manager who could not have been more apologetic.

The luxury chain hotels, I don't want to name any hotels in particular, seem to give me a problem with this. Perhaps they have stricter sets of regulations for their housekeepers, or are just more concerned with maintaining a certain level of service, but they just don't get that my preferences, as a guest, are more important than when they want my room to be cleaned.

Granted, it's not something that happens often, but this is the trend I've noticed when it does.

when you say luxury chains are you including hyatt, starwood, marriott (RC) ?

i definitely dont need and wouldnt ask for specific properties, but just curious which companies. even though it might make me worry more, its much better to be prepared.

During the process of buying a home we have stayed in MANY nice hotels since last may.

Westin Suites, Vancouver BC
Brentwood Bay Lodge, Victoria BC
W, Seattle
Willows Lodge, Woodinville
Cedar Brooke Lodge, Seatac
Hotel 1000, Seattle
The Nines, Portland
Hotel 50, Portland

A few others that im forgeting the name of. Due to electronics, valuables and disire to not be bothered the Do Not Disturb sign is pretty much out for our entire stay. None of the above hotels ever contacted us for service. In fact at Brentwood Bay there would be a beautiful basket outside our room each day with fresh towls, coffee, tea, cups, TP etc. No one ever took their procedure over our request except the four seasons seattle

Dirk, one of the nice things about Four Seasons is that, despite their overzealousness, they will probably be a little bit easier to work with in resolving this issue to your satisfaction. Based on what you've told us, I'd recommend you contact their corporate office, explain why you feel your privacy wasn't respected and your stay less than perfect, and ask for what you think would be a fair way of rectifying the situation. I would think that a certificate for a complimentary night at any FS hotel, a refund of one night's rate, or the like would be appropriate.

Its almost getting embarrassing asking for anything. After two major issues at this hotel im beginning to feel as if im the problem. This last stay was a hosted stay in an attempt to fix the first stay. I would never want to return to this hotel and four seasons are rather rare in the area. I will contact corporate and see what they would recommend.

You use the DND over the safe? Sound reckless to me.

I would be very upset if this happened to us. We live in hotels 200+ nights a year and have never had this happen. I rarely have the room serviced as I don't want to feel like I have to "pick up" before we leave in the morning and I hate when they spray the room with stuff. If the room had been entered while the DND sign was out I would be livid (short of some kind of major maintenance issue).

Not really, just made a quick judgement error in regards to the quick trip accross the street for lunch and the fact that we were staying at the 4 Seasons. Wont happen again.

On a side not how do I edit the subject for speedy spelling?

now a new issue.
$78.00 on our credit card for some unknown reason. Something else to deal with.

At this point four seasons seattle has been a total nightmare

Oh the horror! :rolleyes: