Tipping Question

[spacefly67]

So I know I need to leave a tip for my mousekeeping.
We are a family of 4 (me, DH, DD 4.5, DS 2.5)
What is the standard tip?
Tip for exceptional service?

Also, my big question is do I leave a tip everyday or just when we leave??

 

[RachelTori]

It's totally up to you, but for a family your size I would feel comfortable leaving $5/day (more if your family is a little on the messy side! )

I leave the tip every day since you can never be sure the same mousekeeper will be there daily. What if you have someone who is phenomenal, you wait till the last day and she/he is off that day? The "sub" would get the tip!

You can make it fun for your children by creating decorative envelopes at home (your kids can help decorate them! ) and having the kids fill and place them in the room before you leave for the parks each day!

 

[Deb & Bill]

You are not required to leave a tip. Housekeeping is a non-tipped position. Meaning they are paid wages in excess of the minimum wage. You can leave one if you like, though.

 

[spacefly67]

It's totally up to you, but for a family your size I would feel comfortable leaving $5/day (more if your family is a little on the messy side! )

Have we met? You must know my kids!!

 

[Dizzytime]

We leave $5 per day, think it's very appropriate and I know it's very much appreciated.

Hope you have a great time!

 

[Mousemommy1]

So I know I need to leave a tip for my mousekeeping.
We are a family of 4 (me, DH, DD 4.5, DS 2.5)
What is the standard tip?
Tip for exceptional service?

Also, my big question is do I leave a tip everyday or just when we leave??

We leave $5/day for our family of four. We leave it daily because you may not always have the same mouse keeper, although on the trip we just returned from, we had wonderful Diane the entire 11 days!

 

[lbv7]

The minimum wage in Florida is $ 7.67 / hr. The starting salary for a houskeeper at WDW is $ 8.35 / hr. If someone makes minimum or a little better than minimum should have no bearing if you leave them a tip or not. You tip for service, plain and simple. If you don't want to tip, then fine.
I wonder how many people making $ 8.35 / hr would be able to afford a vacation at WDW, or be a DVC owner.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The minimum wage in Florida is $ 7.67 / hr. The starting salary for a houskeeper at WDW is $ 8.35 / hr. If someone makes minimum or a little better than minimum should have no bearing if you leave them a tip or not. You tip for service, plain and simple. If you don't want to tip, then fine.
I wonder how many people making $ 8.35 / hr would be able to afford a vacation at WDW, or be a DVC owner.

Disney considers it a non-tipped position.

 

[Bonniec]

It's not required but you tip if you want to. But it's a service and that wage is crap. I'd PERSONALLY feel wrong if I didn't, The normal standard is $1 per person per day.

 

[jctwizzer]

Disney considers it a non-tipped position.

We do too......

 

[phillymummer]

When we stayed at POR 2 years ago we forgot to leave a tip each day (so we tipped on the day we left). The only "washcloth/towel figure" we got was the one left for us on the day we checked in. My parents got one everyday. Knowing my father, he probably left a small tip everyday. I was just wondering if there is a correlation between the them. In other words, tip= fun washcloth figures?

 

[lbv7]

Disney considers it a non-tipped position.

From the Moms Panel on the official WDW website. See point number 4. I assume if WDW did not agree they would remove this answer from their own web site.

http://disneyworldforum.disney.go.com/questions.aspx?sort=views&page=1&qid=17342&pid=45&cid=70

Tipping is a personal choice. So, this information below is just what works for me, other levels of tipping may work for other guests. OK, here goes...

1. Prices can change, but valet parking is $10 per day at WDW. There are exceptions to this for Disney Vacation Club members and for Disney Dining Experience cardholders. Parking costs more at the Swan & Dolphin.

2. I tip the valet driver who returns my car $2.00. More if it is raining. There is an EXCELLENT discussion of valet tipping on the website allearsnet.com. Click on the search button (top right) and search for an article called "Valet Parking at WDW." All the rule exceptions are explained here, as is well-considered rationale for various levels of tipping. I also tip the bell desk attendant who gets a cab for me $1-2.

3. The rule of thumb for tipping bell services is a minimum of $1.00 per bag or other item. More if things are particularly heavy. This is true at all resort levels: value, moderate, and deluxe. Also, if a bellperson that assists me when checking in to the hotel provides other services such as pointing out features of the hotel, showing me features of the room, or otherwise helps out in any way, I tip more. I'd say that my family of five usually tips the check-in bellperson $10-15. The check-out bellperson gets tipped $5-10 depending on how many bags we have.

4. We tip mousekeepers $3-5 per day. I wish i could say I had some formula for figuring out the tip here, but honestly it has a lot to do with how many single bills hubby and I have on hand. If you look on the right side of the Moms Panel site you'll see a box that says New Videos for Moms, by Moms. Click there and look for a video by the lovely and talented Heather R called Trip Planning is for Everyone. She shows a great project she does with her kids related to mousekeeper tipping. We usually just leave a note next to the bills that says something like "Thanks for making our room look great" or something to that effect

 

[WDWaddictt]

I am staying at AKL DVC Villas for the first time. We are staying 11 days, therefore they clean on day 4 and 8, what would you leave as a tip? And would you just leave it on those days, they don't come other days, right?

 

[cjsm&d]

*This is how I look at it, and it is only my opinion.

They work extremely hard in a low-paying thankless job.

Disney may consider it a non-tip position, but I've tipped at every hotel I've ever stayed at and I'm plan to continue. Not tipping in a hotel is the same as not tipping a waitress who did a good job serving you at a restaurant.

I've had family members who've done this type of work at the beach summers to pay for college, and without tips, they don't make much.

If I can afford the thousands of dollars I'm spending to visit WDW, I can afford $5 a day to show appreciation for someone working hard to keep my room clean.

Just my opinion.

 

[Deb & Bill]

From the Moms Panel on the official WDW website. See point number 4. I assume if WDW did not agree they would remove this answer from their own web site.

From KeyNotes, the Official directory of services for OKW, a WDW resort (DVC):

Tipping: We are often asked about gratuities. At Walt Disney World, it is customary to tip the following positions for exceptional service: bartender, bell services, cocktail server, food and beverage server and valet parker.

The identical statement can be found in The Silver Creek Star, the official directory of services for Wilderness Lodge and Villas at Wilderness Lodge, the Boardwalk Bugle, the directory of service for the Boardwalk Inn and Boardwalk Villas. the Tide Tribune, the directory of services for the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts and Beach Club Villas. We've also stayed at AKL, CR, SSR, POFQ, CSR, CBR, GF, GC, but I can't find those directory of services at this moment.

By the way, I found this response to a question about enough towels at DVC resorts on the Moms Panel:

Guests staying in regular hotel rooms are welcome to call mousekeeping for extra towels at any time at no charge, but in the villas, there is a fee for extra towels if you are staying there using DVC points. However, there are zillions of free towels at the pool. After we swim, we just bring a few extra pool towels with us back to the room. This way we have dry towels to use after we shower off the chlorine. No one will care if you do this and the mousekeeping staff will just collect the pool towels with the regular towels when they do clean the room.

DVC certainly does care about guests taking pool towels because they cost more to launder. DVC asks that you order a towel pack if you want extra towels or bring them from home.

So, no, the Mom's Panel, while they often give great answers, they sometimes give slightly wrong answers.

 

[Sherry3]

*This is how I look at it, and it is only my opinion.

They work extremely hard in a low-paying thankless job.

Disney may consider it a non-tip position, but I've tipped at every hotel I've ever stayed at and I'm plan to continue. Not tipping in a hotel is the same as not tipping a waitress who did a good job serving you at a restaurant.

I've had family members who've done this type of work at the beach summers to pay for college, and without tips, they don't make much.

If I can afford the thousands of dollars I'm spending to visit WDW, I can afford $5 a day to show appreciation for someone working hard to keep my room clean.

Just my opinion.

I couldn't agree more. I go with only my daughter (my son's think they have outgrown disney) and we make up envelopes with tons of different disney stickers and right little thank you notes inside along with 5$ a day. One time my daughter got sick in the middle of the night (this was her 6th birthday) and they came to change the sheets and blankets. I had to force the guy to take the tip. He kept saying it's his job that it was ok. I said she threw up everywhere you aren't leaving till you take the tip. He eventually took it. It wasn't much only 10$ if I could have giving him a hundred I would have!

 

[lbv7]

From KeyNotes, the Official directory of services for OKW, a WDW resort (DVC):

Tipping: We are often asked about gratuities. At Walt Disney World, it is customary to tip the following positions for exceptional service: bartender, bell services, cocktail server, food and beverage server and valet parker.

The identical statement can be found in The Silver Creek Star, the official directory of services for Wilderness Lodge and Villas at Wilderness Lodge, the Boardwalk Bugle, the directory of service for the Boardwalk Inn and Boardwalk Villas. the Tide Tribune, the directory of services for the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts and Beach Club Villas. We've also stayed at AKL, CR, SSR, POFQ, CSR, CBR, GF, GC, but I can't find those directory of services at this moment.

I am looking at the Directory of Services & Resort Map for the BWI/BWV, the BC/BCV, the WL/VWL and for CR/BLT, and no where in these pamplets is there any reference to tipping at all, for any position. I can't speak for what is written in KeyNotes, but I am sure you are right.

If I am a DVC member staying at OKW, for example, and I am there for 7 nights or less, you receive trash and towel service on the 4th day. So if I stay for only 3 nights, I never get to see a maid. Why would OKW KeyNotes even mention tipping for houskeepers if a lot of the guests never get to see one? And even if I am there for 7 nights, I am not sure If I would tip for someone only removing the garbage and giving new towels, and not giving me full housekeeping service.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Nobody is forcing anyone to tip, at any overnight stay location.

But nobody's going to tell me not to tip if that's what I choose to do, either.

 

[rabbitroger]

I'm confused after reading this thread,
some are saying that you're not meant to tip as Disney consider it a non-tipping posistion.
some are saying disney want you to tip 3-5 dollars a day
some are saying that unless you tip you get inferior service.

 

[aubriee]

It's not required but you tip if you want to. But it's a service and that wage is crap. I'd PERSONALLY feel wrong if I didn't, The normal standard is $1 per person per day.

Me too! We tip $1.00-$2.00/person in the room/day. I always use the envelopes from the Mouseforless site, just cut out, stuff, and fold. http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/trip/mousekeeping.shtml