18% being added to ALL dining checks

[mitros]

Just got an e-mail from the DDE {disney Dining Experience} and they {WDW} are now going to add an 18% tip to all checks, regardless of the number of guests in the party as of Jan. 1, 2008, at ALL food and beverage locations throughout the property. This has GOT to piss everyone off..........

 

[G8RFAN]

When you say all.... you mean only TS right?

 

[Coach Rick]

I find it ironic. I had emailed Disney PR when they came up with the new policy for the DDP, and received a phone call to follow up with me from a CM. I complained about taking away the gratuity from the dining plan, and she said, they did it under pressure from guest surveys. I guess those surveys don't count on this decision. She had said that most guests felt that they wanted control over the gratuity, so that is why they took it off. I think I will write another email about this one and see what tap dance I get on this issue. I find this OUTRAGEOUS!

 

[mitros]

When you say all.... you mean only TS right?

Sorry, I'm not up on all of the abbreviations, what is TS?

 

[doctorhead]

TS means table service.

 

[mitros]

TS means table service.

Thanks for the heads-up. The last sentence of the E-mail stated: "Effective, January 1st, 2008, 18 percent gratuity will be added to all transactions, regardless of party size. Thank you for your continued support" It's not really clear to me if they mean only table service, but I'll be on the phone first thing tomorrow, {oh heck, maybe they are not there tomorrow} well then, Monday, to get more details.

 

[agnes!]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?!? This has GOT to be one of the lamest ideas I have EVER heard of to come out of the suits at WDW. We ALWAYS tip well, usually above 18%. Well, NO MORE.

MAKE THE PHONE LINES BURN FOLKS! I mean, go ahead and be nice about it, more flies with honey than vinegar and all that, but honestly... The DDE and Annual Pass folks *still* haven't managed to get my e-mail in their system, so maybe that's why I haven't gotten this notice yet. Has anyone else gotten this notice?

Maybe the OP could post this over on the CB and the Restaurant Board. This idea, if carried out, will certainly cut down on wait-times at WDW restaurants, because NO ONE WILL BE EATING THERE.

agnes!

 

[crazy4wdw]

There's alot of conflicting information on different Disney discussoin boards regarding these changes. Some info indicates the 18% is only for DDE while others are reporting it applies to all table service meals irregardless of how the meal is paid for. It seems like the CM's are giving out different info regarding this change. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

 

[MassJester]

I would be outraged if this is true.

I am generous to a fault with servers, typically well over 20% of tthe total tab. But on the rare day when I receive particularly bad service, I feel well within my right to bring that percentage down as low as 5%.

I have sent very few sharply critical letters to Disney over the last 25 years, but this change would certainly garner one.

 

[crazy4wdw]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME Maybe the OP could post this over on the CB and the Restaurant Board. This idea, if carried out, will certainly cut down on wait-times at WDW restaurants, because NO ONE WILL BE EATING THERE.

agnes!

There are several extensive threads on this topic over on the restaurant board.

 

[agnes!]

I am glad that mitros posted this news here, because I wasn't aware of this until now.

agnes!

 

[C.Ann]

Well at least it won't have any impact on my trip in November..

There's nothing I despise more than someone else deciding what I should tip..

 

[ChrisFL]

MAKE THE PHONE LINES BURN FOLKS! I mean, go ahead and be nice about it, more flies with honey than vinegar and all that, but honestly... The DDE and Annual Pass folks *still* haven't managed to get my e-mail in their system, so maybe that's why I haven't gotten this notice yet. Has anyone else gotten this notice?

From the overall response I've seen on different message boards, I wouldnt be surprised if the phone lines were burning already

 

[manning]

I have had gratuity placed on checks and I have had them removed.

It got so bad at one place that I started to leave a 10% tip and when the waiter complained I told him to take it up with management as I don't like being told what to leave.

I don't know if other diners heard me or what. Several months later when I went back I got a check without a gratuity on it. I asked what happened and the server said everyone started complaining, removing the gratuity and leaving much less.

They must have lost a lot of business to change.

Needless to say that visit I left a generous tip.

 

[CanadianGuy]

----
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS NOT FROM DIS ADMIN NOR IS IT FROM THE PARENT SITE ... WDWINFO.COM. THIS INFO COMES FROM MY OWN PERSONAL CONTACTS IN WDW FOOD & BEVERAGE. MIGHT BE WRONG, MIGHT BE RIGHT. PROBABLY WON'T KNOW FOR SURE TILL MONDAY.

The information I'm getting from my Food & Beverage contacts has stressed this is FOR DDE CUSTOMERS AND PARTIES OF 6 OR MORE.

According to my sources -- which may or may not be 100% correct, but I'm betting they are, cuz they usually know this stuff --

This is for DDE customers and parties of six of more... ONLY

And does not affect DDP or credit/cash customers with no discount.

More news as events warrant. Film at 11.

Knox

 

[KYMickey]

If this mandatory 18% tipping is true I hope every one demands it be removed from their checks!

This will just give wait staff personnel another reason to provide less service. Without any incentive to get a tip they can provide whatever level of service they want to can still get a very good tip.

Another Point I find totally frustrating with tipping is the upward creep all the "acceptable" percentage to tip. The argument is that over time tips should rise in order to keep the income of the wait staff in line with the cost of living. This is already done by the fact that the cost of the meals continually increase faster than the cost of living.

Instead of adding on a mandatory tip they should just go to the European system of Service Compris if they want to give their wait staff a mandatory tip.

 

[MassJester]

I've had some time to refelct after my intial reaction to this. Since then I've learned, I think, that this only applies to DDE visitors--well that's a great reason not to take advantage of DDE as far as I'm concerned. This still seems to be a remarkably counter productive move.

 

[Barb]

We used to "tip" the equivilent of our 20% discount using the DDE. So now they tell me I only have to leave 18%. Goodie for me! I know a lot of people did the same thing. So in simple terms, the servers will lose 2% of my tip now.

I suppose in the long run, they'll gain from the people who either under-tipped or didn't tip.

In the event of poor service, I will be talking to a manager and will not leave the mandatory 18%.

 

[Uncleromulus]

It's pretty clear now that this only applies to DDE members. As for the gratuity--I tip 20% anyway on the "original" menu price, so this won't really affect me one bit unless I happened to get very poor service.
And as Barb suggests, I suspect it will make up a bit for those who don't tip, under-tip (deliberately), or tip on the DDE discount meal price.

 

[G8RFAN]

I've never considered using the DDE so this is probably a non-event for us. I wonder.... who directly benefits from this change in policy? Management or Cast Members? Maybe it wasn't management who forced the issue on the DDE plan. As far as I understand it, doesn't it coincide with the changes in the Dining Plan also?