Do you tip the mousekeepers?

[a1tinkfans]

We always tip, $5 a day in an envelope marked Mousekeeping and left on the table.

 

[labst60]

Shame on you for feeling a bag of candy is a tip.
I would share the same thought with you as I did with another poster. If you do not care to tip fine. When you arrive place the "DO NOT DISTURB" on your door for your entire stay they won't come in & then there isn't a tip issue.

Whenever one of my clients would present us with a box of candy as a thank-you, I would always be grateful and genuinely appreciate the gesture. I never once thought they (the client) should feel ashamed becaue it wasn't a monetary gesture of appreciation.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I just believe certain industries (and the hospitality industry is one of them), are deserving of tipping.
If I'm going to tip the bellhop who puts my 4 pieces of luggage on a rolling cart and takes the elevator with me up to my room (which takes all of 5 min), I'm most certainly going to tip the most likely underpaid housekeeper who is washing my toilet and picking my dirty towels up off the floor (and I'm sure they clean up alot of gross stuff too....read some of the links below. I could tell u of stories of some very gross personal hygiene products, dirty diapers and contraceptive items people leave lying around. I speak from experience from working as a maid at the Jersey shore as a college student many moons ago).

I consider it a difficult job...bending over, cleaning up others' filth, lifting heavy mattresses, walking up and down stairs and the majority of housekeepers are women. My heart breaks when I see a 60 yo woman doing this rather physically demanding job---they deserve a tip as far as I'm (personally) concerned. I don't think there's any written rule for it, but if I'm tipping valet or a bellhop (who I consider to have an easier job as a whole), I'm most certainly leaving a couple bucks for the maid.

Found a few articles :
http://people.howstuffworks.com/tipping.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2005-03-24-maid-for-a-day_x.htm (good article---it'll really make you appreciate what some of these maids need to clean up and don't get tipped for ! It's a thankless job unfortunately)

http://www.misoapbox.com/2006/05/kindly_tip_your.html

http://www.morebusiness.com/running_your_business/businessbits/d915662836.brc


http://www.magictrips.com/plan/tipping.shtml

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/business/07road.html (tipping is not required, but it's a considerate practice for a difficult, low-paying job)

Just my 2 cents........and I know there is a wide range of feelings on this subject, but I'll never understand how someone can't leave even a buck ?

 

[boomhauer]

Just my 2 cents........and I know there is a wide range of feelings on this subject, but I'll never understand how someone can't leave even a buck ?

They forget. I've done it a few times. Wake up late, you're in a rush and you just forget.

Now, what I do is leave something out the night before I leave.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I can understand somone with good intentions who forgets.......it's the person who actively makes the decision to not leave even a $1 that I'll just never understand. But the world is made up of all kinds.........

I forgot to leave a tip once after a stay at OKW---we moved to another hotel. I drove back the next day, tracked down who cleaned our room and left a tip in an envelope at the front desk. I felt it was especially important that trip, because we had stayed in a 2 bedroom at OKW and it can take like 2 hours to completely clean one of those villas.

 

[beattyfamily]

Both sides of this issue need to be more respectful of each others opinions. No need to be nasty or judgemental. Tipping is a personal choice.

It is the nation's standard to tip housekeeping. Go to any tipping website and you'll see. However, it is still only a guideline and still a personal choice. No need to call one side cheap or tell the other side "their just doing their job" (because other tipped positions are also just doing their jobs).

I can never understand why these threads become a debate. To each their own so be respectful of each other's choices and worry about your own choices and everyone will be happy.

 

[disneyaggie]

I leave a bag of sweets or something at the end of our stay though, as a thank you.

I think anything is a nice gesture. A nice bag of sweets or something, I would think, could be considered a luxery to some folks so I think anything left behind as a gesture of thanks would and should be appreciated.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

I just believe certain industries (and the hospitality industry is one of them), are deserving of tipping.
If I'm going to tip the bellhop who puts my 4 pieces of luggage on a rolling cart and takes the elevator with me up to my room (which takes all of 5 min), I'm most certainly going to tip the most likely underpaid housekeeper who is washing my toilet and picking my dirty towels up off the floor

I "think" the difference is that the bellhop is in a "tipped" position and makes less hourly pay than the mousekeeper, which is technically a non-tipped position at Disney. I imagine if enough people tip mousekeepers, Disney could make the position "tipped" and pay them less per hour?

I have noticed how the newsletters for the resorts state "gratuity not included" for bell services and tipped positions. It does not say this under housekeeping. In fact it used to say something along the lines of "tipping not necessary" for housekeeping. If I could find an older newsletter, I could get the wording. I think Disney tipping caught on via forums such as this, so they took out that wording, leaving it up to the guest. They did not add "gratuity not included" under housekeeping since it is still a non-tipped position for now.

I now on cruises these positions are "tipped" and they are very dependant on gratuities. I don't know the difference in pay for these 2 categories though.

 

[Vickie46]

I will tell you last time we made a huge and I mean huge goodie bags... the housekeepers came to our room and told us how much they appreciated it.. they said their grandkids are going to love them and they just loved cleaning our room... and yes... we did get a lot of towel animals.. so it doesn't have to be money.... but this time I am making my envelopes...

 

[HockeyDadof2Boys]

I haven't read all the replies so I apologize if this has been answered, but do we KNOW that mousekeepers are only paid minimum wage? There has been much mention of minimum wage but I would expect they are paid at least a couple dollars more than minimum.

Having said that, we do tip housekeeping no matter where we stay as long as the room is well kept. For us $5 - $10 a day isn't a big deal and if it makes someone who works really hard at an often unappreciated job smile than it's worth it. I agree it's not necessary, but I am sure it's appreciated.

 

[Jalva22]

Both sides of this issue need to be more respectful of each others opinions. No need to be nasty or judgemental. Tipping is a personal choice.

It is the nation's standard to tip housekeeping. Go to any tipping website and you'll see. However, it is still only a guideline and still a personal choice. No need to call one side cheap or tell the other side "their just doing their job" (because other tipped positions are also just doing their jobs).

I can never understand why these threads become a debate. To each their own so be respectful of each other's choices and worry about your own choices and everyone will be happy.

I completely agree. I also think the OP's original question has long since been answered. I believe some of the things being said on this thread say far more about the posters than whether or not they choose to tip. So, if you just love to argue, by all means keep this thread alive.

 

[U_Tarzan-Me_Jane]

When I first seen this thread I thought, I know the answer to this one since I use to work at Disney before I got married and relocated with my husband who is in the service. Matter of fact I worked as a mousekeeper straight out of High School at Dixie Landings which is now Port Orleans Riverside. I moved up to supervisor before I changed postions to work the front desk and better work around my college schedule. I read the first page, then skipped to the last two. WOW, what a big change in the tone of this thread. Some of you are just plan nasty and to top it off the ones of you that are being nasty, are wrong. Unless Disney has changed their policy in the last few months and I don't believe this to be the case as I still have friends that work for Disney and have for years.
Disney Policy:
Mousekeepers are Cast Members. All Cast Member postions are non tipped postions with exception of waitstaff whom are paid less on the hour from Disney than other cast members. If a tip is left for the room service crew, they are allowed to collect it, but it is to be turned in to Disney where the tips are "pooled" together. This tip money is then used for bonus checks, additional paid time off, and so on.
Don't get me wrong, we still loved getting those tips because that gave us a bigger bonus check or more time off, so please don't think you should not tip because of this. Just make sure that if you want to give credit where credit is due to relay to the manager so the credit is given come bonus time. Also, it was a unwritten rule between us that if you recieved a tip in cash directly hand to hand, well, I will just say what tip?
Candy treats, gift cards, thank you cards are all sweet and nice thank you gifts. Alcoholic gifts would not be a good tip as not everyone drinks, and use to be serveral of the staff were underage, or very reglious and would have tossed it out anyway.
Just keep in mind that tips have to be reported and claimed to the IRS. I am sure that not all of the tips left get claimed, but you are assumed to make a certain amount in tips and this may rasie red flags to the IRS if you don't claim those. By Disney pooling these, the bonus checks always had the taxes taken out already and it was less of a burdon on the staff come tax time.
Now I will not debate this subject. This was not my reasoning for posting. I simply wanted to answer the question at hand.
Oh, for those of you that were told they could collect tips, I believe you may have been misimformed or they simply did not go into all of the details with you. Yes, it is a non-tipped postion but they are allowed to collect them, but they are to be turned over.
Also, several pages back I noticed a poster say they thought the money went to charity. Well that is/was an option given to the crew. Very few take this option, but it does make for a nice gesture and tax write off.
And one more thing before I finish this what has now become a long letter. There are more mousekeepers than you realize, and not all clean the rooms. You have several that are behind the sences, but are paid the same hourly rate as those that clean the rooms. Some work thrid shift and you will never know they are even there. These people do alot for you without you even knowing. Why should the only person to recieve the tips be the one who cleans the room? This is why pooling the money works so well. It helps provide a balance for all of the staff in question not just the one who walks into your room each day.
Hope that clears things up a little and I am now done on this subject.

 

[rugrats2001]

?

Try it and see - they don't bite

rugrats2001

 

[beattyfamily]

Disney Policy:
Mousekeepers are Cast Members. All Cast Member postions are non tipped postions with exception of waitstaff whom are paid less on the hour from Disney than other cast members.

This is the only thing I don't agree with or I just don't get. So is a bellman or a valet is NOT a CM? Or are they also CMs but they can be tipped?? They are also traditionally tipped as are housekeepers in other motel/hotel chains.

We tip bellmen, valets and mousekeepers and I consider them all CMs of Disney, just as I consider waiters/waitresses CMs.

Anyway, regardless of what anyone says, I will continue to tip mousekeepers and anyone else I see fit to tip, and I could care aless what anyone else does. It certainly doesn't affect me.

 

[rugrats2001]

Agreed it's getting childish

Tipping threads always end up this way, it helps to take poster's minds off of the trauma of the refillable mug threads...

rugrats2001

 

[rugrats2001]

Just keep in mind that tips have to be reported and claimed to the IRS. I am sure that not all of the tips left get claimed, but you are assumed to make a certain amount in tips and this may rasie red flags to the IRS if you don't claim those. By Disney pooling these, the bonus checks always had the taxes taken out already and it was less of a burdon on the staff come tax time.

If Disney housekeeping is considered a non-tipped position, then the IRS wouldn't expect any tips to be reported at all, and there would be no problem of under-reporting of income.

The truth is, Disney considers it a tipped position. Where is the 'rule of three', where a cast member must refuse a tip three times, and then must accept it to turn in to management? Housekeeping tips are only rarely given in person, they are left in the room by the guests, yet they are nearly always taken daily. Shouldn't the official rule state that no tips are to be removed from the rooms under any circumstances if the position was non-tipped? Would there be a mechanism in place to pool tips and distribute them back to the housekeeping staff, in any form, if the position was non-tipped? You don't see that mechanism in effect for any of the REALLY non-tipped cast members.

Perhaps it was presented to the housekeeping staff as non-tipped so that they didn't take it personally when guests didn't tip, even after excellent service?

rugrats2001

 

[girt25]

I've only skimmed this thread, so I could be getting the wrong impression here, but why would the "pooled" tipping discourage people from tipping the mousekeepers? I'm actually pretty surprised at the percentage of people that don't tip the mousekeepers, which seems to make more sense to pool this tips in some fashion so it's fair for all the CMs.

I would want my tips to goto the person who has to clean up my mess as much as anyone else, but knowing now that there's a large number of people who don't tip their mousekeepers, I'm kind of glad to learn that the tips may be pooled. I don't think the person making the bed for the people across the hall deserves less money just because they were stuck with guests who don't tip. I'm sure it all evens out over time, but the pooling method sounds like a fair way for everyone involved.


And as far as how they use the tips.. weather it's cash in their pockets that day or getting extra paid vacation days or bonuses... as long as it ends up in some way benefitting the mousekeeping staff, I don't see that as a valid arguement against tipping.


By the way... I'm in no way saying there's a right or wrong to tip or not tip. Tipping is and should always be optional.

 

[DaisyD]

I'll stick with what the manager of the Poly told me. I trust that info much more then from some anonymous poster that claims to have been a mousekeeper. I was told that they are certainly allowed to accept tips and they are allowed to keep them, every penny. There is no pool is what I was told so I will continue to tip.

 

[rugrats2001]

I've only skimmed this thread, so I could be getting the wrong impression here, but why would the "pooled" tipping discourage people from tipping the mousekeepers? I'm actually pretty surprised at the percentage of people that don't tip the mousekeepers, which seems to make more sense to pool this tips in some fashion so it's fair for all the CMs.

What is fair about a poor housekeeper who earned minimal tips getting the same amount from a shared tip pool as an excellent housekeeper, who earned extra tips for her service? On the average, a good housekeeper will make more than a poor one if each is allowed to keep their respective tips, since random 'non-tipping' customers will even out over time.

Pooled tips shouldn't stop anyone from tipping their standard or minimum amount, but many wonder why they should tip extra for great service when the money doesn't directly benefit the housekeeper who did the excellent job.

rugrats2001

 

[darty]

We left $5 a day in envelopes. I wrote Mousekeeping, Thank you, and put a Disney sticker on them. It was just the two of us. Next time we will have 3 rooms and 10 people. I think I will have to adjust the amount per room. I can't afford to add $15 per day to what I am paying.