Tipping for maid service

[SkylarKD]

Do you usually tip for maid service in hotels when you travel?

It hadn't occurred to me to do this until I went on a trip to Mexico. But that seems different than going to Florida, because from what I understand, cleaning staff make at least minimum wage in Florida. I have difficulty tipping for something someone's already being paid to do. It's different if they go above and beyond. (but that's another debate. )

If you tip for maid service, how much do you tip? I've read that some of the people on these boards from the U.S. give a $3-$5 tip each day. That seems like a lot to me, especially given the exchange rate on the Canadian dollar. I'm looking forward to our DW trip, but everything is so much more expensive for Canadians!

 

[cmonroe]

2-3 dollars a day depending on the service. Some on these boards do more, but we've never had maid service that did anything out of the ordinary for us. If something above and beyond was done, we'd tip more though.

JMHO

 

[Susan--Ontario]

You're going to hear that officially, Disney doen't expect you to tip housekeeping. Some people tip a dollar a day per person. I guess you'd find me somewhere in the middle.

On the first day I leave a note requesting extra towels and washclothes and any other requests that I require. I leave the note with the tip. Usually it's five dollars. If they do what I ask in the note then I have no problem tipping them something for the rest of my stay. I have found on occassion though that the room barely gets a lick and a promise. (ie. the beds are made and towels changed and that's it.) The next day they do not get a tip. I expect that my garbage will be emptied, (as I always tie it up and put it beside the empty pail), the counters wiped off and if there are crumbs on the floor, a vacuuming please. I don't expect towel animals and I don't tip on that basis.

That said, if I do have a problem, like insufficient towels, no shampoo or soap, baby's crib with no linens because they were soiled and I removed them and they didn't replace them, then I call housekeeping and get the problem rectified.

I do leave a large tip on the last day because after I fit all of my shopping into my suitcase there is an awful lot of packaging that needs to be taken away.

It's a personal decision. I don't think tipping or not changes the service you get. I've had good service with tipping or not and I've had bad service even after tipping.

If you do intend to tip I would set aside that money at the first of the week so that you're not always looking for $1.00 bills to leave them. (I hate one dollar bills, You think you have a pile of money and it ends up being only about 11 dollars worth. Why don't they have a coin like us. I love the fact that I can have $20.00 easy in my pocket at any point in time.)

 

[Scratch42]

$3.00 for the first tip and then take it from there, depending on the service.

This past Easter I left her a little bit extra since it was Easter and she went out of her way to find someone to make DD a cute towel animal arrangement! It made DD's day.

But tipping is a personal thing.

Scratch

 

[Nagle]

I am with Susan-Ontario on this one. Usually about 3 bucks per day, a doller per person in the room. Unfortunately unlike Scratch 42, the housekeeping this past March was poor. I tipped the first couple of days, but then realized that other than making the beds, not much was being done. The room was still actually dirty from the previous guests (hair all over tub, room badly in need of vacuuming) towels not replenished and garbage cans (full) were not emptied 2 days in a row. That was the end of the tipping. Wish I had paid more attention upon checkin as there would probably have been no tip.


John

 

[eleanor]

Where in the world did you stay? We have never had that problem. I would have been down to the desk immediately.

 

[Nagle]

Port Orleans Riverside. All in all very unhappy there. We were in building #35 and found it very remote and inconvenient. You are right, we should have spoken to management then and there. If I complained now I feel it would look like I was looking for some sort of freebie. To be fair, it was the first really unhappy stay onsite. We will never go back to Port Orleans though. Too bad as we had heard raves and were really looking forward to our stay there. It seemed even worse probably because we had just spent 4 great nights at Royal Pacific Resort at Universal.

John

 

[Susan--Ontario]

We had our poor service at WL and one of the moderates but I can't remember which one for certain. Once I called they did send up the items right away. We also had a problem at the treehouses once and the supervisor checked our rooms a few times during the rest of our stay. It could have just been a new person though, or maybe someone who'd been warned. Either way it made me more conscious of tipping automatically.

 

[BeamsofLight]

We usually use the '$1/day/person' rule, although we've made exceptions for some really good and really bad service. Fortunately we've only had one experience I would call bad - at CBR we had one maid who kept dumping our garbage cans in the toilet. We didn't have a lot of garbage, but this did result in a number of drinking straws in the toilet that we had to 'retrieve' to avoid a clog. (This was after we'd already been tipping her $2/day for a couple of days).
But we've had excellent service at that resort as well. I wouldn't let the one experience sour me on tipping in general, but I agree I don't feel obligated to tip someone who's just doing the bare minimum.

 

[Snowwark]

Originally posted by BeamsofLight
Fortunately we've only had one experience I would call bad - at CBR we had one maid who kept dumping our garbage cans in the toilet. We didn't have a lot of garbage, but this did result in a number of drinking straws in the toilet that we had to 'retrieve' to avoid a clog. (This was after we'd already been tipping her $2/day for a couple of days).

Wow, BeamsofLight, that's terrible!!!! There is no excuse for that!

I guess I've been lucky, I've never had a bad experience (knock on wood!). I usually tip $2 a day if it's just me, a little more if DH is with me. Naturally, I wouldn't be tipping at all if my garbage was being dumped in the the toilet!!

Minimum wage isn't much....

BTW - Welcome to the DIS, and especially to the Canadian Visitors board, BeamsofLight, SkylarKD, and anyone else new to the forum!


Kim

 

[BeamsofLight]

It did seem odd to me, although I confess we didn't complain about it (just stopped throwing non-flushables in the garbage!).

And on the silver-lining side, I do have very comical memories of me flushing while DH reached in with a bag over his hand to remove the offending straws.

Thanks for the welcome.

 

[SkylarKD]

*LOL* Who empties the garbage can in the toilet? Strange stories...

Thanks for all the responses, and thanks for the welcome!