Tipping hotel staff?

[wideeyes]

Hi, who are we supposed to tip when staying at a Disney Hotel (POR) and how much?

I have never been to the USA before and while I know about tipping restaurant and bar staff I am unsure of tipping other services.

[eyoreaud]

Hi there,

When we stayed on-site, we tipped the Mousekeeper $1 per person per day.
We left our tip on a daily basis with a note saying what the money was for (you can print off mousekeeping envelopes from this site, just do a search for it;) ) and usualy the mousekeeper will leave something nice in your room for your return :goodvibes

Hope this helps :thumbsup2

[tashasmum]

We usually leave $3 a day for the three of us but be sure to leave it in a clearly marked envelope otherwise it could still be there when you return. I don't think they are allowed to touch any money in case it is just some loose change you may have left behind.

[wifey]

If you don't leave your tips for mousekeeping in an envelope they may not take it in case you have something else you may want it for.. like the laundrette or kids spending money, so make sure you have on your envelopes "thankyou mousekeeping" or "for our maid with thanks" and put your family name or room number on the envelope too.

[edinburghlass]

Not being organised with envelopes, I always left the dollars, daily, under the card that is in your room which tells you about housekeeping.

[Shazzie B]

We've always left a $ per person per night also (again we left under housekeeping card so they knew it was meant for them). Is this still pretty standard? Mousekeeper envelopes sound a good idea.

[eyoreaud]

Forgot to add that apart from the obvious tipping at bars and restaurants and mousekeepers, the only other people i would tip would be the if consierge take bags to your room, $1 per bag is acceptable:)

[Andy B]

Tipping of housekeeping appears on these boards frequently, unlike wait staff the mouskeepers receive a full wage, ie at least minimum wage, wait staff receiev below minimum as they are expected to make a large proportion of their income from tips, it is not expected in the same way for housekeepers. They have often been likened to cleaning staff in the parks who do not receive tips.

Personally I do not object to tipping them but expect a clean and serviced room regardless of whether I tip or not as the room cost is above off site hotels. I will not go to the lengths of making and putting out twee little envelopes, I have better things to do with my time but if that floats your boat...

I have tipped but I have forgotton also.

[wilma-bride]

I will not go to the lengths of making and putting out twee little envelopes, I have better things to do with my time but if that floats your boat...



While I understand entirely where you're coming from, I think you could have worded that a little better :)

We usually leave a tip for housekeeping each day too (usually $1 per person) and tip porters $1 per bag. If you use valet parking, you should also tip the valet who brings your car. We have also, in the past, tipped concierge or front desk staff who have called a taxi for us.

[Chilly]

Last year I just left $30 at the end of our holiday, but this year I think I will leave a mousekeeping envelope out each day as we are staying onsite.

[tashasmum]

We leave ours daily as the cleaner could change each day.

[Kona*Queen]

Hi, who are we supposed to tip when staying at a Disney Hotel (POR) and how much?

We tip the mousekeeper $1 per person per day, the bellhop that brings our luggage (usually $10 as we have loads) and anyone that brings something to our room for us gets a couple of dollars. :)

[UKDEB]

anyone that brings something to our room for us gets a couple of dollars. :)
This is an important one to remember. When you order room service, you will find that a service charge is automatically added. This goes to the hotel, not the staff member, and they should be tipped in the same way you'd tip your server at a restaurant.

[wifey]

We tip the wait staff when we get good service we know it's a much needed income for them. We also try to tip mouse keeping staff, DMIL is a retired chambermaid and her wage from her employer was barely above minimum for the UK.

Customary tips for:-
(A) valet parking attendants is $1-2 upon arrival and departure
(B) bell services $1-2 per bag upon delivery and pick-up
(C) housekeeping $1 per day per person

[AliceGardner]

This is an important one to remember. When you order room service, you will find that a service charge is automatically added. This goes to the hotel, not the staff member, and they should be tipped in the same way you'd tip your server at a restaurant.

If the bill includes a "service charge", then the tip is included. If it is just a "delivery charge", then it isn't. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/mcgee/2006-08-02-mcgee_x.htm

Most hotels we have stayed at in the US add both a delivery charge and a service charge to the bills (so the tip is covered - normally at 18 or 20 %). If you tip on that, you are tipping 35%+ (which is generous in my opinion).

Alice.

[DeborahS]

Sorry am confused do you tip if they put a service charge on your room service bill or not - Debbie says one thing, Alice the opposite?

This will be our first trip to the USA and I want to make sure I get things right.

Deborah

[Claire L]

Sorry am confused do you tip if they put a service charge on your room service bill or not - Debbie says one thing, Alice the opposite?

This will be our first trip to the USA and I want to make sure I get things right.

Deborah

It depends on the wording really. I notice for in room dining at WDW they state -
18% gratuity, 6% sales tax and $3.00 delivery charge will be added to all orders

So therefore the 'tip' is included.

Claire ;)

[wayneg]

Sorry am confused do you tip if they put a service charge on your room service bill or not - Debbie says one thing, Alice the opposite?

This will be our first trip to the USA and I want to make sure I get things right.

Deborah

If service charge is included I have never tipped because I don't think they should automatically add it. Never used room service (only on cruises where its free food and only tip a few Dollars) Everyone else gets minimum wage or above. Its personal choice. Some tip for a taxi being called, or a suitcase being picked off the floor into the trunk, I dont, I am capable of doing it myself, I dont ask them to do it, they do it and expect tip.
My Uncle won't tip a cent to anyone, I tip Waiters, Debbie tips everyone, its what you are comfortble with yourself.

[lorapinky]

hello,

we tipped between $1-2 a day for 2 adults :rolleyes:

we are going to ensure we always leave $2.00 this time as there are two of us.

On our last day we left a bigger tip to say thank you though I guess it might not have gone to our everyday cleaner as she may have been on her day off?

Its worth being nice and leaving a tip as we got some stuffies made from flannels etc from them and it is jusy polite :yay:

[tashasmum]

hello,

we tipped between $1-2 a day for 2 adults :rolleyes:

we are going to ensure we always leave $2.00 this time as there are two of us.

On our last day we left a bigger tip to say thank you though I guess it might not have gone to our everyday cleaner as she may have been on her day off?

Its worth being nice and leaving a tip as we got some stuffies made from flannels etc from them and it is jusy polite :yay:

When we were there over Christmas we left the Maid who was working on Christmas Day the usual daily tip plus a bag of Ghiradelli chocolates.:love:

[lorapinky]

that was sweet, did she take the chocolates??? popcorn::

[tashasmum]

She sure did, who can resist Ghiradelli Chocs :teeth:

[DeborahS]

If service charge is included I have never tipped because I don't think they should automatically add it. Never used room service (only on cruises where its free food and only tip a few Dollars) Everyone else gets minimum wage or above. Its personal choice. Some tip for a taxi being called, or a suitcase being picked off the floor into the trunk, I dont, I am capable of doing it myself, I dont ask them to do it, they do it and expect tip.
My Uncle won't tip a cent to anyone, I tip Waiters, Debbie tips everyone, its what you are comfortble with yourself.

Thanks wayne. Ok will take a very close look at the bills to see what is included. Am happy to tip when expected, but can't afford to tip as generously as Debbie: we can afford 15 to 20%, but 35 to 40% seems excessive to me (until we win the lottery that is :lmao: ).

Deborah

[AlanUK]

I find it's very important to study all of the bills we recieve in the US before we pay them, as I have noticed on a couple of occasions that the service charge has been added where it should not have. I don't tend to make a fuss in this scenario and just pay the bill but without adding a tip, although if I hadn't checked obviously we would be putting down something like 35-40% which would be a bit generous!

On the subject of hotel staff we usually tip the Bell Hop, Valets when we use them, although having your car collected and your bags loaded seems to take a miriad of different people in a process clearly designed to maximise the ability for the staff to recieve tips :rolleyes:

Also we tip Mousekeeping about $5 everytime they service the room, as has been mentioned different staff service the rooms on different days :)

[UKDEB]

Just to clarify - I don't tip 35-40%. I was simply pointing out that, if you order room service, the "room service" charge (sometimes, but by no means always, referred to as a delivery charge), is not a tip. It goes to the hotel. If it's broken down as detailed in Claire L's post, then presumably no-one has a problem interpretting that. In that case, I wouldn't add an additonal tip.

[wideeyes]

Hi, thank you for the advise, I am a bit worried about my mum as she does not like to tip which is disgusting as my Dad used to be a waiter and we relied on his tips, my Dad is now a sous chef at a Manchester Airport hotel and always tips the waiters a lot which causes my mum to complain to him.

My mum also used to be a chamber maid and she did not get tips and does not think we need to tip however as it is a different country I wanted to do what is right.

I think it is only fair that my mum pays half the tips, we are on DDP so I don't have to worry about that though in the UK we tip 20% so I will probably give them an extra couple of $$ though can't see my mum doing the same.