What is a good tip for a conciege host?

[princesskayla]

I just off the Wonder and I upgraded to the one-bedroom. How much does a conciege host need to be tipped? I had no idea and just guessed. Any pointers??

[zstyles]

We had no idea earlier...I think we were pretty cheap but since we upgraded in port last minute we didn't budget much for them, we left 100.00 which we felt was fair...I felt that 200.00 would have been spot on, we are going to budget more next time...

[traveln4fun]

Originally Posted by zstyles

We had no idea earlier...I think we were pretty cheap but since we upgraded in port last minute we didn't budget much for them, we left 100.00 which we felt was fair...I felt that 200.00 would have been spot on, we are going to budget more next time...

Hi Princess Kayla, I think we were on the Wonder with you on 10-7.

Are you saying a 200.00 tip for one person? If that is what it takes to be in concierge, I'll stick with my veranda cabin. Considering we paid 84.00 per person in tips, 200.00 for one person seems excessive. Do they really do that much more for you? We just got off of our first cruise ever and we did put extra in all 4 envelopes, but 200.00 just seems like a lot.

[Princess_Kayla]

Just wanted to say Hi and Nice User name (; (p.s. look at mine)

[disneywonderfun]

DCL gives no guidance whatsoever.

We did a survey a few months ago and the results were all over the place.

A significant percentage said that no tip whatsoever should be provided (presumably since you are paying for those services in your elevated cruise fare).

Another large chunk of people felt that for a family of four on a seven night cruise, that around $100 or less was reasonable (total, not per person).

If I remember correctly, less than one in three people thought any more than that should be given as a concierge tip (for a seven night cruise for four people).

So, I think your tip was entirely fair and reasonable.

DWF

[disneywonderfun]

Here is the link to the poll:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread....concierge+poll

My memory was fairly accurate. I think anything in the $100 range is a "good" tip and even something like $50 is fine based on the responses. As always, it depends how needy you are. We do not have that many requests that warrant some over-the-top tip. But, of course, some others might.

Also, do not forget that the litho and game cards, for example, are not being personally purchased by the concierge for you. Our first concierge was a little deceptive with those items and said something like "I thought you might enjoy this limited edition litho" instead of "DCL wants to you remember your experience and would like to give you this litho". Big difference in my opinion.

DWF

[PAcpl]

I think it depends on their skill set as well. Some go above and beyond and deserve a little more. I have also had the flip side where they were utterly useless and we avoided them like the plague.

[disneywonderfun]

Did some review of that poll and over 75% would leave $100 or less (some significantly less) for four people on a seven night cruise. Also, bear in mind, that the members of this board are generally the more generous tippers as far as I can tell. In the real world, interviews with cruise staff indicate that around 1 in 3 do not leave any tips whatsoever to anybody. Members of this board probably are much, much less than that. So, again, I suspect $100 is a "good" tip unless you are very needy of the concierge staff.

Oh, somebody also multiplied out the numbers that went something like: 40 concierge cabins, $100 tip each, $4000 per week, split three ways, $1350 per week, $65-70K a year. It does make the argument for a $200 tip a little less strong (nearly $150K a year for that job, where do I signup!).

DWF

[Gigi22]

Also, I think it depends how much the concierge does for you. If you are a party of two adults who require very little from the concierge, then a total tip of $50-$100 to the concierge strikes me as about right. Whereas, if you are extremely high-maintenance -- judge, and tip, accordingly!

Slightly OT, but related: we felt that the cabin steward should get 2x the suggested tip rate, as our 1 bdrm. concierge cabin was about twice the size of a regular cabin.

[JoiseyMom]

We upgraded at port for a five nighter, and we also had no clue. We gave 10/night, so a total of 50.00.

[Laila Bryce]

One thing I want to question last week one of the concierge hosts told us DCL does not pay tjem and they rely on tips. Is this true?

[drsg]

We were clueless last week and just guessed, as our quick DIS search on the boat didn't help. Missed that poll post, DARN IT! Anyway, we were wondering now how one would have tipped the food & bar staff there. We were really hoping staff would share with them as there was no envelope for them, but are now guessing not...

[disneywonderfun]

Originally Posted by Laila Bryce

One thing I want to question last week one of the concierge hosts told us DCL does not pay tjem and they rely on tips. Is this true?

My understanding of the situation is as follows: Concierge staff was originally a non-tipped position. Some guests felt that the concierge staff was so great that they wanted to leave a tip for them. Disney had no policy but had some requests to provide tip envelopes by some concierge guests. THIS IS WHERE I HYPOTHESIZE. DCL discovers they can provide tip envelopes to all concierge guests and lower their salaries for the concierge staff. Disney makes more money. THIS IS WHERE I RETURN TO PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Concierge guests are lost in trying to figure out if they are already paying for the concierge service by their increased fare cost (i.e. what am I really getting in a standard concierge nonsuite cabin for the fare - more food in the lounge? I am on a cruise where basically the food is already covered). Concierge guests come to this forum to try to determine how much to tip. Consensus is that anything in the $50-100 is fine. Situation leaves a bad taste in many people's system as we have really no idea exactly how much DCL has lowered concierge salaries (and therefore provide guidance on a fair tip).

I always look at it from a "what would their salary be if we all did the same thing" position. If every concierge cabin tips $100 per week, the annual tip revenue per concierge is almost 70K. Then, if DCL is still paying a salary and providing room/board, I find it hard to imagine that anything more than that should be considered necessary.

The reverse argument is that if we complained to DCL that we would prefer the position to be nontipped, we could return to the good old days and avoid all this discussion.

I know that is going to be the thrust of my end-of-cruise evaluation next year on the Fantasy. I would much rather the concierge staff be considered a salaried professional position and any tips be pooled and donated to charity, if somebody feels so compelled.

DWF

[super mike b]

Any idea of what the average tip is for the Roy suite?

[kcashner]

The hypothesis above is essentially my understanding of what happened--when DCL started handing out concierge tip envelopes, they significantly decreased the base pay of those positions. Again, just my understanding, but I've been told that it's not like the servers (essentially a no salary position), but that it was basically cut in half from what they used to get.

My advice--look at what they do for you and tip accordingly. For instance, for 2 of us on a 7 night cruise, the suggested tip for the dining room server is $56. Did the concierge do as much for me as the server? Did they do ANYTHING beyond sit in the lounge and be available? The answer to that depends on you and your family. If they were doing stuff for me, I would choose to tip appropriately. If they did basically nothing, a token tip is my choice. Honestly, I'd rather spread my tip dollars to those who actually do the work.