tips/gratuities

[bex7583]

i have just been talking to my friend who lives in texas and she said disney restraunts expect higher tips and eating off site you would only be expected to tip 15% for table meal and 10% for a buffet is this right ???

 

[jaideo]

i have just been talking to my friend who lives in texas and she said disney restraunts expect higher tips and eating off site you would only be expected to tip 15% for table meal and 10% for a buffet is this right ???

Your friend is totally right

I think, the tips at Disney are inflated.

 

[Holstar]

i have just been talking to my friend who lives in texas and she said disney restraunts expect higher tips and eating off site you would only be expected to tip 15% for table meal and 10% for a buffet is this right ???

As far as we're aware, that is not correct. Or, at least as far as we're concerned, that's not the practice we follow! But then, we do like to tip! Hahahaha!

I've always been taught to tip approximately 20% whenever we have a sit down meal in the US - regardless of whether this is in Disney, Orlando or New York. Buffets are slightly different, and we usually tip around 10-15%.

Whilst we've never been to WDW before, we have travelled the US pretty extensively, and this has always been the standard amount we've left, or been encouraged to leave.

Perhaps others have different experiences though.

 

[catherine]

Your friend is totally right

I think, the tips at Disney are inflated.

DH is from CA and I lived there for about 10 years. The expected tip there is 15% and I'd say that a lot of people just leave a few $s for a buffet. We always tip the expected rate at WDW and often tip over 20%, but I do agree, the expected tips at WDW do seem to be inflated.

 

[wilma-bride]

Actually, I always work on the basis of 15-20% for good service at a TS restaurant, 10-15% for a buffet. Anything over and above good gets a higher tip.

Not sure if the tips at Disney are 'inflated' but we have always tipped the same no matter where we are in Florida and plan to do the same in Las Vegas next month.

 

[jaideo]

My family comes from deep Georgia. There the people tip usually 10% not more, sometimes even less or nothing, if they are not satisfied with the service. But 10% for Buffet and 15 % for table service is really fine.

 

[queendisney]

Actually, I always work on the basis of 15-20% for good service at a TS restaurant, 10-15% for a buffet. Anything over and above good gets a higher tip.

Not sure if the tips at Disney are 'inflated' but we have always tipped the same no matter where we are in Florida and plan to do the same in Las Vegas next month.

Yes thats exactly what we do too..

My family comes from deep Georgia. There the people tip usually 10% not more, sometimes even less or nothing, if they are not satisfied with the service. But 10% for Buffet and 15 % for table service is really fine.

I wonder if maybe its a 'Tourist Hot Spot' thing with the varying amts of expected tips so to speak? I also have family in California and friends in Panama city Florida and they would never not tip and also go with the 15% - 20% rate for TS adn 10% - 15% for buffets..maybe its a state thing as well..either way I don't expect I will ever encounter a situation where I would never tip (hopefully!!)

 

[elaine amj]

From what I have read online, the assumed minimum wage for wait staff in Florida is assumed to be $7.79 per hour, of which $4.77 is paid by the employer, and I am guessing that they are taxed assuming this rate. So by my reckoning, if wait staff are getting, say, $10 for each table, even if they split it with other persons, they will be earning in excess of the assumed minimum wage. It is for that reason that I won't be paying any more than $15 per meal (for 2 adults and 1 child) unless I get some extra special service.

I would expect that the nicer (i.e. the more expensive) the restaurant I am in, the more money my server should be expected to make. There should be opportunities for advancement in the serving world, so why can't my server make more than minimum wage, especially after they'd worked hard to gain the experience necessary to be able to serve in a nicer restaurant?

They chose to work in a nicer restaurant probably because they expect the higher tips. Just like you choose to take on that promotion with more responsibility and a raise. Nothing at all wrong with that.

I just hand over what is customary so that people get their expectations met. I would hate to basically cheat someone out of their expected pay. (i know I know, its up to the customer's discretion, etc etc. But American customs make it close enough to mandatory. When in Rome....

That said, I grew up in a non-tipping country and I wish Americans would just do mandatory service charges already. I know, I know - tipping is ingrained in the culture, etc etc. it's just so darned stressful for the rest of us!

 

[tinkerpea]

I assume minimousefan means regular cast members being helpful in parks and counter service meals which you don't tip.
We have been a party of 6 last twice on DDP, as a family of 3 we sometimes tipped less, sometimes more so at 18% its not much different for us.
Last year every place we ate at added 18% except Beaches and Cream, she left it upto us to decide, her service was exceptional so we left 25%, they might gain from some with 18% auto tip but lose on others. I know you can add more but its not something I would do, if they set it at 18% then thats what they get.

See I did think that it what she meant, but then she asked where would she not tip and mentioned CM and counter service so I thought that she must have ment she did not tip at all even in restaurants?

I know what you mean about the 18% and also Dh & I when eating alone can sometimes tip more then when we have the family & are a 6!

The one the h that really gets to me is the fact I have to tip 18% at buffets!!! To me this is a joke .
I get my own food plus the kids, and yet all the server does it collect my dishes and fill my drinks and because of the buffet prices they can get a higher tip then a Ts server!
Next trip now the boys are older i think we will only do 2 buffets at the most!

 

[Holstar]

I saw this at work today, and thought it was strangely apt given this thread!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/01/fired-applebees-waitress-needs-tips

Interesting POV from a Waitress.

xx

 

[wilma-bride]

I saw this at work today, and thought it was strangely apt given this thread!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/01/fired-applebees-waitress-needs-tips

Interesting POV from a Waitress.

xx

I read that story elsewhere the other day. I think it's awful that she got fired over that.

As I've said before, I wouldn't want to do their job and, if I get good service, I will leave a good (and well deserved) tip. That applies in this country too, although I am less inclined to tip at all here if I get poor service, whereas in the US I would still tip, just not as well.

 

[scoobydooby]

Hopefully that makes the point. I have seen other English guests as WDW quite clearly not tip on several occasions and it always makes me cringe.

 

[mollies_mum]

That was certainly an eye opening read, I will definitely be tipping fairly in October!

 

[Kath2003]

The one the h that really gets to me is the fact I have to tip 18% at buffets!!! To me this is a joke .
I get my own food plus the kids, and yet all the server does it collect my dishes and fill my drinks and because of the buffet prices they can get a higher tip then a Ts server!
Next trip now the boys are older i think we will only do 2 buffets at the most!

We tip the same amount as TS at buffets (15-20%). The server may not take your order and deliver your meal, but statistically they collect more than twice as many plates as people are more likely to sample different dishes. It's easily as much work as TS. We prefer buffets for some meals where we want to try a wide variety of foods (breakfast in particular, I want pancakes, waffles, fruit, eggs, the works!) so am more than happy to tip accordingly. The buffet servers we have had in Disney have actually always been better than the TS servers we had (e.g. One heard me say to my partner the they were out of strawberries - fresh bowl appeared on the table for me a moment later).

We also tip cab drivers (min 10%), housekeeping (min $1/person/day) and bartenders ($1/drink). We budget for all of this in the cost of our holiday.

 

[tinkerpea]

We tip the same amount as TS at buffets (15-20%). The server may not take your order and deliver your meal, but statistically they collect more than twice as many plates as people are more likely to sample different dishes. It's easily as much work as TS. We prefer buffets for some meals where we want to try a wide variety of foods (breakfast in particular, I want pancakes, waffles, fruit, eggs, the works!) so am more than happy to tip accordingly. The buffet servers we have had in Disney have actually always been better than the TS servers we had (e.g. One heard me say to my partner the they were out of strawberries - fresh bowl appeared on the table for me a moment later).

We also tip cab drivers (min 10%), housekeeping (min $1/person/day) and bartenders ($1/drink). We budget for all of this in the cost of our holiday.

See I feel very different about buffets then you do,
My kids eat very little at buffets we don't collect a mountain of plates just because we can! And I feel they really don't do that much compared to the TS places I eat at but then like you said before you don't do Disney!
So if I was only paying $10 a buffet and at breakfast as little as. $4 I would not mind paying 20% either lol,
But instead I'm paying upwards of $30 for a plate or 2 of food at the most, we also due to having owned a cafe always stack our plates etc so the server never normally has to come by twice.

We also always budget for
Taxi
Housekeeping we tip a $ a person each day which is $6
Bar tenders
Porters
Etc
We have been going to the US Many yrs and as nearly all my family but my mum are Americans the tipping conversations come up regular, I don't doubt some servers work hard at buffets but I've found it to be the minority.

 

[Kath2003]

See I feel very different about buffets then you do,
My kids eat very little at buffets we don't collect a mountain of plates just because we can! And I feel they really don't do that much compared to the TS places I eat at but then like you said before you don't do Disney!
So if I was only paying $10 a buffet and at breakfast as little as. $4 I would not mind paying 20% either lol,
But instead I'm paying upwards of $30 for a plate or 2 of food at the most, we also due to having owned a cafe always stack our plates etc so the server never normally has to come by twice.

We also always budget for
Taxi
Housekeeping we tip a $ a person each day which is $6
Bar tenders
Porters
Etc
We have been going to the US Many yrs and as nearly all my family but my mum are Americans the tipping conversations come up regular, I don't doubt some servers work hard at buffets but I've found it to be the minority.

I guess we disagree on the buffet tipping - in my eyes, servers work equally hard.

Incidentally, the only buffets we do are Disney - not our thing offsite. Whilst we don't "do"the Disney parks any more, we have been 10+ times in the past and still make a visit to at least one Disney meal on Disney property - usually a buffet breakfast - onsite whenever we are in Orlando. This year we are going to Chef Mickey's

 

[EpicKevin]

I saw this at work today, and thought it was strangely apt given this thread!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/01/fired-applebees-waitress-needs-tips

Interesting POV from a Waitress.

xx

It is interesting.
I think the point made in the story about the system being broken is spot on. But, as hateful as a saying as it is: "it is what it is and we are where we are!"

So we are expected to tip, yet we are already paying for the food. As a brit, there is (as discussed already) a much lower expectation to tip, although it is usually the norm, I think the amount varies.
It is the norm, that if you receive poor service, the tip is minimal if not nothing.

I think the % of tips expected in the US and the expectation that you still leave 10% even if the service is poor is a very alien concept to many. (I can only speak for Brits).

That being said, the level of service in the US, USUALLY puts British servers to shame.

The above is just more musings from a Brit. as stated before, I tend to take the "when in Rome" attitude when eating (as I said before - I tip the recommended amount and maybe adjust slightly for the odd poor service - e.g. When we were rushed out despite us having a booking etc, no good reason to be delivering my main when I'm half way through my starter!) but still feel lost for other tips, such as cleaning staff.

Interesting thread.

 

[wilma-bride]

I think the % of tips expected in the US and the expectation that you still leave 10% even if the service is poor is a very alien concept to many. (I can only speak for Brits).

No, you can only speak for yourself. As I said earlier in the thread, if I receive poor service or poor food, I would speak to somebody first to try and resolve the issue before I resorted to reducing the tip. Leaving a tip is not an alien concept to me and I will continue to tip well when I am in the US.

 

[EpicKevin]

No, you can only speak for yourself. As I said earlier in the thread, if I receive poor service or poor food, I would speak to somebody first to try and resolve the issue before I resorted to reducing the tip. Leaving a tip is not an alien concept to me and I will continue to tip well when I am in the US.

Fair point. What I was trying (but failing) to say is that I would suggest that the norm in the UK is that tipping tends not to happen for poor service (in the UK).

 

[Howellsy]

My boyfriend and I are both restaurant managers so I wouldn't think twice about tipping, he spent more money tipping than he did on buying drinks when we went to Orlando last week (but he used to be a bartender so I think that's why!) It's hard work for little appreciation in a lot of cases!

I normally factor in about $10-15 per meal plus $2-3 for housekeeping a day as a minimum.