Concierge staff tipping

[perditax]

Sorry to do this but I had no idea till recently this was a factor. And people are taking about tipping hundreds of dollars.

How much do you normally tip your concierge hosts? And how is the process handled? Just handing them cash?

Are they getting a slice of the daily auto gratuity?

I expect to be extremely low-maintenance guests so I'm struggling a bit with the idea of a $300 tip. I know tipping is a hot topic, and again I apologize for stirring it up, but this is the first time in any of the tipping conversations that my mind has balked a bit.

Obviously if it turns out the concierges anticipate needs I didn't even know I had, I will react accordingly, but I think shoreside will be handling all my booking needs and I'm not even sure when I would see the concierge hosts otherwise. If I'm dead wrong, feel free to explain, but right now I'm mostly wondering how many people actually tip that much. (4 night sailing fwiw.)

Also having some cognitive dissonance because my last concierge level stay was at AKL, where I read the concierge staff was not allowed to accept tips.

 

[Dave2425]

You'll see the concierge hosts every time you're in the lounge so you'll have a lot of interaction.

We are also pretty low maintenance and tipped the concierge hosts $150 on our most recent 4 night. We also tipped the bartender but I don't remember the amount.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Are they getting a slice of the daily auto gratuity?

I don't believe they are part of the "regular" gratuity system.

 

[perditax]

You'll see the concierge hosts every time you're in the lounge so you'll have a lot of interaction.

We are also pretty low maintenance and tipped the concierge hosts $150 on our most recent 4 night. We also tipped the bartender but I don't remember the amount.

Do you mean $150 each, or per host? Did you just hand them cash?

 

[Dave2425]

Do you mean $150 each, or per host? Did you just hand them cash?

$150 total - $50/ea

I had them add it to my onboard account.

 

[perditax]

$150 total - $50/ea

I had them add it to my onboard account.

Ok, this is something I could much more readily get behind, especially if I end up interacting with them more than saying hi on my way to the iced tea dispenser.

I'm admittedly somewhat new-money, and when it gets into some of these situations I'm no longer sure where the line is between a business/courtesy transaction, a business transaction forced on me because the parent company has shifted the burden of the worker's salary to me, or straight up philanthropy. I'm theoretically fine with any of those, I'm just getting fuzzy on which one I'm looking at.

 

[bumbershoot]

You will get a paper on the evening you get the other tip papers, explaining that you can give them a tip, and telling you how. You can just add the money to the page and hand it over to the concierges, and they will then put it on your account, or it's the one time they won't give you trouble for going to Guest Services. Or cash, I suppose.

There are no guidelines. Do as your heart tells you to do.

You will interact with them more than just saying "hi".

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

You get a charging tip sheet near the end of your cruise, and it's " implied" it's per person the same as the other tips. It's a separate tip not part of the automatic system.

What you tip is personal to you,who much you use the ships concierge hosts your requests thier service to you, and consider how much you did use shoreside concierge.

So a lot of requests then a higher tip, few requests or none a lower tip.

For any new concierge person who is really confused and doesn't know where to start I would say look at the main servers or stateroom host and use that as a starting point.

I tip a set amount based on per das per person, so say a 12 night cruise is a far higher amount than a seven dsy cruise,

If you use the concierge services, say the lounge on the new ships, good etc then I think - and that's me thinking, not directing anyone, - I think it shouldn't be lower than the stateroom host recommended tip.

We have tipped $200> $300, and Aldo the food server in the lounge and bsr tender if you use happy hours.

In the end it's personal to you I am just saying my thought process.

 

[PhillyCruiser]

$150 total - $50/ea

I had them add it to my onboard account.

I can live with that!

 

[cableguy123]

We will be traveling concierge for the first time up in November. I would definitely have a hard time tipping these people anything. Please don't think I am a snob but I feel your paying a premium for the service and that's part of the service. here a perfect example shoreside will get you the hard to get things or change the big things before you board as long as you are paid up but you are not tipping them. I feel it's up to disney to pay their staff the wages they deserve it's not up to me to do that for them to me I would feel disney would be double dipping into my pocket!

 

[artnerds]

We make use of every aspect of Concierge service and, as such, we believe in tipping very well. The Concierge Hosts do not make a significant salary; the great majority of their income comes from gratuities.

On the newer ships, we spend a large amount of time in the Lounge. It is the social center of our cruise, and we spend a lot of time interacting with the Concierge Hosts as well as our fellow passengers. We do not hesitate to ask the Concierge Hosts to take care of things for us, even things that others might think "oh, I'll just deal with that myself". That is what concierge service is for: taking care of even the little details so that you can maximize the time you spend with your family enjoying your vacation. For a 7 night cruise, we have typically tipped $100 per host. To some, that might seem a lot; to us, it feels right. I agree with DISNEY FANTASY that, at a minimum, people should be tipping each of them the same as your Server. Because we also take full advantage of the food and beverage aspects of the Lounge, we tip the food server and bartender assigned to the Concierge Lounge.

On the classic ships, even though we do not have the constant interaction in the Lounge, we tend to tip the same because those hosts are on the move constantly. They are running around making sure they see their guests either in the staterooms or at dinner (often both) to check in and see if they need anything.

And for those of you first-time concierge cruisers who think you will have minimal interaction with the concierge hosts, especially on the new ships and ESPECIALLY if you have kids, just wait. You'll see.

 

[artnerds]

I feel it's up to disney to pay their staff the wages they deserve it's not up to me to do that for them to me I would feel disney would be double dipping into my pocket!

This is not how the cruise industry works. The pay is not high, especially for service-oriented crew who rely on their gratuities almost exclusively for their income. They are paid a living wage only when there are no guests, such as during training or dry dock or non-guest-bearing repositioning cruises. And that "living wage" is way below what they can make in tips, so they generally prefer to be working and serving guests.

 

[darkwing818]

You'll see the concierge hosts every time you're in the lounge so you'll have a lot of interaction.

We are also pretty low maintenance and tipped the concierge hosts $150 on our most recent 4 night. We also tipped the bartender but I don't remember the amount.

This sounds like us as well, besides the bartender, we also tip the CM who works the lounge putting out food/snacks as well clearing tables.

 

[undertheradar]

We make use of every aspect of Concierge service and, as such, we believe in tipping very well. The Concierge Hosts do not make a significant salary; the great majority of their income comes from gratuities.

On the newer ships, we spend a large amount of time in the Lounge. It is the social center of our cruise, and we spend a lot of time interacting with the Concierge Hosts as well as our fellow passengers. We do not hesitate to ask the Concierge Hosts to take care of things for us, even things that others might think "oh, I'll just deal with that myself". That is what concierge service is for: taking care of even the little details so that you can maximize the time you spend with your family enjoying your vacation. For a 7 night cruise, we have typically tipped $100 per host. To some, that might seem a lot; to us, it feels right. I agree with DISNEY FANTASY that, at a minimum, people should be tipping each of them the same as your Server. Because we also take full advantage of the food and beverage aspects of the Lounge, we tip the food server and bartender assigned to the Concierge Lounge.

On the classic ships, even though we do not have the constant interaction in the Lounge, we tend to tip the same because those hosts are on the move constantly. They are running around making sure they see their guests either in the staterooms or at dinner (often both) to check in and see if they need anything.

And for those of you first-time concierge cruisers who think you will have minimal interaction with the concierge hosts, especially on the new ships and ESPECIALLY if you have kids, just wait. You'll see.

Is that $100 per person in your stateroom or $100 total per host? Trying to factor for a royal we have booked out of Galveston in December.

 

[artnerds]

Is that $100 per person in your stateroom or $100 total per host? Trying to factor for a royal we have booked out of Galveston in December.

Per host. Sorry, I was unclear by just saying "per person"

 

[undertheradar]

On our 4 nt Dream last September, we tipped each concierge(3) $85 each and handed the bartender $60. Every MDR meal we had in our T, we tipped $20 per service, $15 per breakfast delivered to our stateroom. Now not sure if we under tipped/over tipped or hit it about right. Really do wish that DCL provided better guidelines for this.

We asked the concierge staff if the stateroom attendant shared tips with the assistant stateroom attendant. We were told that this is something they could not answer. We tipped our stateroom attendant double the suggested daily, and then gave her $150 cash.

 

[artnerds]

On our 4 nt Dream last September, we tipped each concierge(3) $85 each and handed the bartender $60. Every MDR meal we had in our T, we tipped $20 per service, $15 per breakfast delivered to our stateroom. Now not sure if we under tipped/over tipped or hit it about right. Really do wish that DCL provided better guidelines for this.

We asked the concierge staff if the stateroom attendant shared tips with the assistant stateroom attendant. We were told that this is something they could not answer. We tipped our stateroom attendant double the suggested daily, and then gave her $150 cash.

I like your style.

 

[artnerds]

We asked the concierge staff if the stateroom attendant shared tips with the assistant stateroom attendant. We were told that this is something they could not answer.

I have been told that the Assistant Hosts do not make tips, they get a small salary. They work their tails off to get promoted to Hosts so that they can make gratuities.
The Assistant Host on our most recent cruise, Hubert, was a lovely and attentive guy. We gave him cash since there was no mechanism in their system to give him a gratuity charged to our onboard account.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I have been told that the Assistant Hosts do not make tips, they get a small salary. They work their tails off to get promoted to Hosts so that they can make gratuities.
The Assistant Host on our most recent cruise, Hubert, was a lovely and attentive guy. We gave him cash since there was no mechanism in their system to give him a gratuity charged to our onboard account.

This is true.

 

[phinz]

I give the Assistant Hosts tips too. I just grab an extra envelope out of the lounge.