Do you tip Mousekeeping?

[dizneydiva2005]

OKay, please do not flame me either....but I gotta tell ya, I'm appalled that anyone who has priviledge of going on vacation (whether you spend $100 per night or $1000 per night, it's not like the housekeepers set the rates) can't cough up a measely couple of buck for housekeeping. Have you ever met and spoken with any of the staff? The majority are immigrants, most likely with minimal skills, just lucky enough to have a job and provide for their families. We live in the richest freakin' country in the world. We are the most spoiled, overindulged, overweight, impatient slobs in the universe. By the grace of God, my family and I have been fortunate enough to travel once a year or so. I would be embarassed not to tip a bellman, porter, valet, or housekeeper. I work in healthcare, nobody tips me and nor would I ever expect it. I will never forget the day a little pediatric pt of mine asked her mom if they could go to WDW (they'd seen a Disney DVD in the waiting area). The mom looked at this precious little sweetie and replied..."what did mommy tell you, sweetheart? If Mommy wins the lottery we'll go. I promise". I felt my heart sink. But THAT is reality. An awful lot of people can't afford the extras in life, like family vacations. So while I realize I may be going a little off topic, my point is that it is all about GRATITUDE. Something some many of us have forgotten. Why not skip that Dole Whip or those Mickey Ears and use those couple of bucks to make the day of someone less fortunate.

Oh my word, sorry WE appalled you by OUR not tipping!!! Sorry if you feel that paying over $300 a night isn't enough to spend on the resort. Why should I pay the help after paying $300 a night???
You mentioned them being immigrants and that means what?? That there's a law I have to tip for them to clean my room? Like I said I worked in housekeeping as a teen for many years and NEVER expected a tip.
I better shut up ... before my attitude gets the best of me. Sorry folks.

 

[dizneydiva2005]

I think we need to be careful about how "appalled" we are about people not tipping. We don't know the circumstances of the people on the vacation so we shouldn't just assume that they can even afford to tip. To give a really good example, a friend of ours went to WDW & US last July with his daughters and wife. With everything the way it was, you'd think they were fine financially. But they weren't The trip was a gift from the Make-A-Wish Foundation...one of their daughters had terminal brain cancer (she died last August). All their money went to her treatments and trying to save her life. Yes, a couple of bucks did mean the world to them. Did they tip housekeeping? I have no idea...it's not an appropriate question to ask them. And I know this is an extreme situation. But the reason why I'm saying it is because we don't always know the situation a family might be in, so it's not really our place to assume they can afford it and judge whether or not a person is doing the right thing by not tipping.

Also, attitude on BOTH sides of the coin can be poor. So far we've only looked at people who don't tip...but people who do tip can also have poor attitudes about tipping...i.e. doing so grudgingly or doing so with an attitude of pity. I wouldn't care how little I made, I would never want to be treated as a charity case. I can't say if anyone here ever does that...because I don't know any of your and your motivations (so I won't judge), but it's a good thing to remember so we keep ourselves guarded from that mental trap.

Good post, I should have read yours before I posted mine.

 

[mommiepoppins]

Oh, but while on this topic, please do tip pizza delivery people. Obivously I'm not one of the biggest tippers on this board, but I do tip generously when appropriate. I recently saw a news story about lousey jobs. Pizza delivery has to be one of the worst! I didn't realize how it works, but the delivery people actually buy the pizza from the store then deliver them. I guess their pay at the end of the night depends on how many they delivered, apparently they get back a little more than they paid for them. They typically don't get reimbursed for gas, either! Those guys really do need those tips! According to the news story, many times they actually come home in the red! Now that's the pits!

I'm writing this as I sit here waiting for a pizza delivery. We write out a check for the exact amount then tip the guy cash. What he does then is up to him, if he has to split it or pay taxes, well, that's his decision. I always tip $5 regardless of the purchase. I mean, no one does that for a living unless backed into it. Then, to come home in the red

I do not tip pizza I pay 150 for the delivry charge...I would pick up the pizza if I was not watching 7 children the pizza shop is around the corner

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

I tip, usually between $3 and $5 dollars each day. The first couple of times at WDW, I only tipped on the last day. Then I realized that you don't get the same housekeeper each day (DUH! Should have thought of that earlier).

The housekeepers are often living on very meager wages. It's not like a part-time job for a high school student or a SAHM supplementing the income. These women (that's all I've seen at WDW) are often supporting their families. They are often immigrants, and because they don't speak English or have additional training, this is one of the few jobs that they can get. I do live pretty frugally in my daily life, so I can go to WDW every couple of years. I'll forgo a Mickey Bar in the parks or an extra soda, and leave a $3 tip instead.

I know the housekeepers make a little more hourly than waitresses, but they spend much more time and energy cleaning your room than the waitress does serving you. The waitress has several tables at once and they turn over. There's a finite number of rooms that the housekeeper can clean in a given day. I'm positive that at the end of a shift the waitress has made more, by far. Even if you can only afford $1 or $2 a day, please leave it. They work hard. I can't imagine cleaning someone else's toilet. I don't even like to clean my own.

 

[mom2my3kids]

I always tip and plan on leaving 5.00 a day at POP and a 10.00 tip at the end of our 4 days DVC stay at OKW. We do not get room cleaning there, but someone will clean it when we leave. I guess because I am a server I understand how hard these people work. Just today I had a couple probably in their early 50's run out of Ihop after signing their credit card paper and not leaving me a dime. I just thought hey they must of needed the money more then me..

 

[ladysoleil]

I do tip, unless there is a problem with the service. I don't feel a need to rationalize or defend tipping or not tipping. I was always brought up with the idea that hotel housekeepers are a tipped position, just as waiters, etc, are, and it is polite to tip them, as well as bellmen, concierges and other staff who provide service to you during your stay. Therefore, I tip.

 

[crisrn2003]

I usually do tip housekeeping in WDW. I make out envelopes before we leave with a note and a $5 bill for each day we are going to be there. The last time we went, there was nothing "special" done in our rooms during our 7 day visit. No towel animals, no special arrangement of animals, nothing. However, I tipped anyway because I had made out the envelopes and I (honestly) felt kind of pushed into in after reading so much here about it.
On the line of "someone doing something for me" train of thought. I am a nurse. Yes, I get paid okay but often less than an uneducated factory worker. I have student loans to pay back and liability insurance to pay as well as uniforms, equipment like stethoscopes, licensure fees, continuing education requirements, etc. But I have never gotten a money tip (I couldn't take it anyway, nor would I were it offered). Occasionally families or patients do send a food basket, a box of cookies, etc for the unit for which we are all greatful. However, I am urinated and stooled on, thrown up on, hit, cursed at, etc. I understand having to clean up foul and disgusting things. I save peoples lives every day I work. Most often though, no one even says "thanks for all you do." I do not go into work expecting anything more than my daily wages. My profession/job is a decision I make. I could work in the factory for more money, less hassle, less liability, etc, but it was a choice. Housekeeping is a choice too. We ALL make choices.
Sure, housekeeping staff may be supporting their family on meager wages, but it was a choice. We all hear on a daily basis how some impoverished individual scrimped and sacraficed to go to college and now is doing wonderfully for themselves. I also don't see anyone saying they tip the cashier at the grocery store, the janitors in the schools, the garbage men, the staff at the electric and water companies, and so on. I'm sure alot of THEM work for minimum wage too and are also never even thanked for all they do.
I'm sure I'll go on tipping mousekeeping on a daily basis because I feel like I'm supposed to, but I do have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I think most everyone who works deserves a thank you now and again for a job well done and not just because they work at the most magical place on earth. And, as a side note, do not MANY of us scrimp and save every dime, nickle and penny all year long, often brown bagging it, clipping coupons, and looking for bargins on the DIS boards so that we can afford to come to disney?.....
(Please do not feel like this was meant in anyway to flame ANYone...just a few thoughts I have).

 

[kristielee]

Thank You Ub Iwerks!!! What I don't get is how people think that just because they paid a bundle for a room lets them out of leaving a gratuity. So let me get this straight, we go and spend several hundred dollars on dinner at V and A's, therefore I shouldn't leave a tip, right? I mean after all, if I'm gonna spend that much on a meal, why should I tip the server???

And as for the economic status of housekeeping staff, yes, we all make choices in life. For some however, like the unskilled and uneducated, the choices are not as simple. Especially if they have a family to support. And I do not "tip out of pity", I tip because it is the right thing to do. I don't give a rat's backside if my housekeeper is a Harvard graduate or recent refugee, but let's face it, housekeeping is a pretty unglamorous position, not something I would think most of us would want our children to aspire to. So, yes, I do feel grateful and appreciative when someone making barely minimum wage is willing to make my bed and pick up our wet towels and I leave them a few bucks to show them this.

 

[Brooknwdw]

HI ~~ I have not read all posts but here are my thoughts.

First of all, my husband is the GM at a Choice Hotel (Choice is Comfort Inn, Clarion, Quality Inn, etc). He has also been GM at a Best Western for four years. I just told him about this thread, and he had a few things to say. He said that Housekeepers are started at a little more than Minimum wage, and get to move up to a little more after a trial time period.

He said when a guest leaves a tip, sometimes the wrong person gets it, and it does cause problems. Also, the laundry person, who goes in first to strip linens, has to be trustworthy enough to turn in tips to be shared/given to the correct housekeeper. He has even had bad workers to go around stealing tips. It is hard to keep it all straight.

He said what he prefers is when a guest comes to check out, that they leave the tip at the Front Desk or find the right housekeeper to give it to.

He also said they probably only get a tip 60% of the time..but don't neccessarily do a worse job when not tipped...in other words they don't really "expect" it from every room.

Now us personally..we tip for an extended stay. If we are just some where one night, we don't usually leave a tip because we make their job very easy. we pile the towels in a area...strip the beds, and pick up before leaving.

I wouldn't say it is "wrong" not to tip..it is a personal choice. To those who leave pity tips or feel sorry for them "just because" they are housekeepers..I say, they CHOSE the job. There are other low paying jobs to be had that don't require scrubbing toilets.

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

Thank You Ub Iwerks!!! What I don't get is how people think that just because they paid a bundle for a room lets them out of leaving a gratuity. So let me get this straight, we go and spend several hundred dollars on dinner at V and A's, therefore I shouldn't leave a tip, right? I mean after all, if I'm gonna spend that much on a meal, why should I tip the server???

You're welcome! I love the V & A's analogy. I seriously doubt that housekeepers at Disney deluxes are paid 4 times more than housekeepers at your local Holiday Inn even though the price is so much more. Plus the CR rooms are so much bigger, that one housekeeper is going to clean fewer rooms per shift. If you clean 20 rooms a shift, you have a lot more chances to get tips than you do if you clean 10 rooms per shift.

 

[vhoffman]

Servers in restaurants, whether its V&A or Bennigans, work for tips. Their pay is below minimum wage because they figure the tips will cap it out. Housekeeping's pay is not based on supposed tips earned. Geeeez! So much guilt over the cleaning lady! When I pay $$$ for a room, I assume services are included, such as cleaning. Makes as much sense as a pay toilet in the hotel room--after all, the toilet is for our use, not the general hotel's, and water does cost money, so we should pay per flush, right? A coin change machine inside the room would be a nice touch! Or they could just meter it somehow so the flushes would be charged to our room. And perhaps a meter on the a/c--after all, its for our use, not the general public, if we want it lower we shoud pay, right? Electricity does cost! Why do they put toilet paper, shampoo, etc., in the rooms? That all costs, and its just for our use. Perhaps they could sell that stuff at the desk. Why put sheets on the bed--they're just for our use? Why wasn't I more considerate and bring my own toilet paper, bed linens, etc. When I pay $$$ for a room, I think more is included than the walls, floor, and ceiling (oh, don't forget the ceiling fan--should charge every time its used). Hotel rooms a la carte--the new wave of hotel rooms!

 

[kristielee]

It has nothing to do with guilt. It is about etiquette. (Manners...remember those?) Why not check out some of this link

http://www.ehow.com/how_1977_tip-hotel-maid.html

and if you google "tipping and housekeeping", I'd like to see you find one site that says it's OK to stiff the housekeeper.

Social ineptness is obviosly still alive and well.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Let's remember to keep this discussion civil. No one is going to score any points by implying that a poster on the other side of the coin lacking in graciousness. Tipping (or choosing not to) is always at the discretion of the individual being served. When stating your case for your decision, please do so without adding negative comments about those with an opposing view.

Thank you. As Tim Gunn would say, "Carry on".

 

[dizneydiva2005]

It has nothing to do with guilt. It is about etiquette. (Manners...remember those?) Why not check out some of this link

http://www.ehow.com/how_1977_tip-hotel-maid.html

and if you google "tipping and housekeeping", I'd like to see you find one site that says it's OK to stiff the housekeeper.

Social ineptness is obviosly still alive and well.

I guess everyone has their own view on manners.... mine is keeping the room neat and tidy. NOT being a pig, being respectful of thier job and not creating a lot of work. So in the end I don't tip with $$ but with a clean, easy room. That's what I call manners.
When I worked as a chambermaid, I much rathered a respectful guest who kept their room tidy and not receive a tip. After all, I was ONLY doing MY job. My job wasn't to be pig control, free for all on their vacation. Some people are messy slobs and those are the ones I disliked, not the ones who didn't tip.

I'm not stiffing the help, they are doing their job. No one ever tipped me when I was a cm, no one tips my husband on his job. I'm respectful, neat, and nice to the folks who clean our room. We chat and I always thank them for the job well done. I'm guess I'm getting tired of reading that those who don't tip are 'low'... not the case, at all.

 

[imsayin]

and if you google "tipping and housekeeping", I'd like to see you find one site that says it's OK to stiff the housekeeper.

I think it okay to live your life differently than the internet tells you. I don't need a website to tell me what choices to make in my life.

I agree with the poster above: I don't leave my room a mess, clothes on the floor, spilled drinks not cleaned up, etc. I ask housekeeping to leave my room alone until the end of my stay, with the exception of leaving me clean towels.

I have seen the TV specials that show how "great" cleaning is really done in hotels - sheets not changed, feces on the remote, etc. I don't feel that merits a tip. The last time I stayed in a hotel, the housekeeper made the bed with a bedspread that was full of ants. I did not have food in the room, they weren't my ants.

 

[Todd&Copper]

I do not tip b/c housekeeping is paid minimum wage and I have no kids and I leave the room fairly orderly. If I barfed all over the bathroom one night, I'd leave a tip b/c cleaning that woudl be above and beyond the call of duty. Waiters do not make minimum wage, so I always tip them.
When I do an average day at work, I do not get a tip (I have a white collar, non-management job), but I do get my regular hourly pay. Maybe I should start some web pages proclaiming that employees like me deserve tips if we perform adequately or above average. How about $5 a day as a baseline?

 

[gina2000]

I tip anyone who performs a personal service for me that I do not wish to do especially on vacation. Housekeeping makes my bed, neatens up the bathroom and changes the towels. I don't want to perform those duties on vacation so I tip the person performing that duty for me. Me keeping the room neat (i.e., clothing folded and put away) is for my convenience, not housekeeping so I can't use that as justification not to tip. I also tip people who carry or cart my luggage, waitstaff and bathroom attendants. They are performing duties I do not wish to do (but might have to at home or under different circumstances). Every theater in NYC has an attendant....she keeps the traffic flowing, keeps the washbasins clean (so that water lying on the counter doesn't get on my clothing) and keeps the stalls neat. I tip her and tip her well.

I look at these situations as times when I don't want to do the things people are doing for me and I want to say thank you. It's a small gesture and I don't care how much the person that I'm tipping earns. I'm tipping because I don't want to do something, don't have to do something and can still have it done.

 

[Chicago526]

We tip at all hotels. Anyone that cleans hotel rooms for a living needs the money, and I appreciate not having to pick up after myself and don't mind giving the person that does a few extra bucks. My therory is that if I can afford a vacation, I can afford tips to those that make my vacation a nice one.

I don't look down on those that don't tip house/mousekeeping though, it's a personal choice and while I don't agree, I can see the "don't tip" side of the arguement.

 

[crisrn2003]

I don't look down on those that don't tip house/mousekeeping though, it's a personal choice and while I don't agree, I can see the "don't tip" side of the arguement.

Very nicely said--it's nice to be able to see someone else's side of the debate without feeling the need to attack. Well done!

 

[cats mom]

So did you all check out the CNN link?

The guy who has researched tipping behavior for 20 years (who knew?)
says it's more about avoiding social disapproval, ie: we don't want to be thought of as cheap or ignorant, than about rewarding good service.

Hmm... I know I've tipped even when the service has been poor, just because I felt it was the right thing to do.
And I've always thought of myself as such a free thinker too.

I honestly never realized housekeeping was a tipped position until I read threads about it here on the Dis 5 or 6 years ago.
I don't remember ever staying in a hotel as a kid. We just didn't have the money to do that - so unlike others on this thread I didn't have an example to follow when it came to tipping hotel staff.
So I put myself in the sometimes catagory.

A little OT, but since my DS had an injury that required a lot of dental work and I've been to Sonic to get him blended floats every day this week...
my gripe is with places like that.

It's a place that should be set up so that I can walk up to the counter, order, and then have my food handed to me so I can be on my way - no tip necessary.
Instead they make you call and place your order on a phone, and then you have to wait for a delivery person to bring your order out to you, and of course that is typically a tipped position.

I'm out $5-6 dollars and counting just this week for those nonsense tips. Maybe I'll stiff the teenage delivery kid who brings my order today (probably not though)
So much for being a free thinker.