Does 2 Year Old count in the "6 or more"

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TheLittles

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So I read on my reservations that parties of 6 or more get gratuity added automatically. My 2 yo does not obviously have the dining plan but, she is a guest. We have 5 adults and her. Will I have the gratuity added? She will just be sharing with us. Not ordering her own food.
 
Yes, even though you don't have to pay at a lot of places, they still count for the 6 or more auto-tip.
 
If you were going to tip 18% anyway, it really doesn't make a difference.

18% of 0 is still 0.
 

So I read on my reservations that parties of 6 or more get gratuity added automatically. My 2 yo does not obviously have the dining plan but, she is a guest. We have 5 adults and her. Will I have the gratuity added? She will just be sharing with us. Not ordering her own food.

I called Disney because we will be a party of 5 plus a 2 year old and they said that she counts in it making 6 so we have to pay 18% grat.:mad:
 
18% gratuity is fairly standard these days. Unless you were planning on tipping less than that, it won't affect the amount of gratuity that you pay. (e.g., 18% of $100 is still $18, no matter how many guests)
 
Yep the child still counts. Even though they won't be serving the child they may bring a cup of water for you to give them, let them have colors and the coloring sheets, bring and extra plate so you can share, and even clean up any mess the 2 year old may make.

18% is a pretty standard tip now a days anyways. In the event you feel like the service was less than stellar and and 18% tip is not earned then you can speak to the manager to get it adjusted. They will ask you specifically why you believe they 18% was not warranted so that they can speak to the server and fix the issues.
 
I can never understand why people get mad about this.

If service is so poor you don't want to tip that much then speak to a manager.
 
I can never understand why people get mad about this.

If service is so poor you don't want to tip that much then speak to a manager.

Exactly, plus if a child is not eating and you are not paying 18% of 0 is still 0!
 
Restaurants aren't like the resorts. Everybody at the table counts, regardless of age, whether they will be eating or not eating, on the dining plan or not, ordering their own meal or sharing, sitting in a chair, high chair or on a lap.
 
I've wracked my brain to figure out a reason why people would be mad at this...and the only reason I can come up with is......they tend to stiff the waiters and would normally leave less than 18%.
 
I've wracked my brain to figure out a reason why people would be mad at this...and the only reason I can come up with is......they tend to stiff the waiters and would normally leave less than 18%.
Agreed, however there are other components. IMO some legitimate concerns are when services is not deserving and for buffet's where 18% is above standard, even for the Disney buffet's. We generally leave 20-25% of any pre-discount amount at a TS but we're often sharing a meal as well. For buffet's or similar we're a little more variable depending on specifics but feel 15% as a standard for Disney buffets is reasonable, the national standard otherwise is 10%. The other difference is the standard for ETOH is 15%.
 
I find the 18% auto gratuity to be very low. With a party that size (Especially with small children that tend to be very messy) I think it should be higher.

Why wouldn't you at least pay 18% gratuity? To me it just seems an easy reminder to tip. With the amount of adults it may be easy to "forget" to tip, assuming another adult would be covering the tip.

If you feel the service was subpar, speak to the manager.
 
I know the OP is from the states, so it's a bit different, but for people from other countries, tipping 18% is really high. In Canada, that's "exceptional service" tip. 10% is pretty standard, 15% is high. In other countries, no tip at all is standard, so 18% is going to feel really high.
 
I find the 18% auto gratuity to be very low. With a party that size (Especially with small children that tend to be very messy) I think it should be higher.

Why wouldn't you at least pay 18% gratuity? To me it just seems an easy reminder to tip. With the amount of adults it may be easy to "forget" to tip, assuming another adult would be covering the tip.

If you feel the service was subpar, speak to the manager.
Many places that don't do auto tip put the % on the check, usually at 15%, 18% and 20%. I got one this week that did that and listed Good, Great, Exceptional besides those numbers which I thought summed up both my understanding of the normal etiquette and my own philosophy. Your post seems to suggest that 18% is minimum, I'd qualify that as needing to reach a certain standard which really is pretty high. However, there are people that simply don't tip or don't tip reasonably, I think there are some groups that are more likely to fall down in this area but it really stretches across all walks of life. It's like the people that don't go to dinner on the last night of a cruise to avoid tipping, pretty low people IMO.

I know the OP is from the states, so it's a bit different, but for people from other countries, tipping 18% is really high. In Canada, that's "exceptional service" tip. 10% is pretty standard, 15% is high. In other countries, no tip at all is standard, so 18% is going to feel really high.
I go with the "When in Rome, does as the Romans do" philosophy. Anyone traveling to or from overseas should investigate the expectations and respond accordingly.
 
Yes, they count. Last year (and again when we go this year) my twins were under three but still counted and we had the auto 18% grat added to all of our bills. Honestly, I found it super convenient for it to automatically be added. At several places we had the auto 18% and left an additional tip due to outstanding service.
 
I've wracked my brain to figure out a reason why people would be mad at this...and the only reason I can come up with is......they tend to stiff the waiters and would normally leave less than 18%.

We tip more then 18% pretty much 100% percent of the time. If I felt service was so bad I didn't want to tip and there were more then 6 people i'd talk to a manager about the 18%. they may put it on there automatically but if your service was bad it can come off or not be charged at all.

people are different though- we just had some embarrassing experiences on our recent cape cod vacation. My parents and grandmother are bad tippers. So much so that when they insist on paying we usually slip some cash in after they pay the bill. I realize that may be a little bit rude but its what we do. They would for sure balk at an automatic gratuity of any kind.
 
Even though they won't be serving the child they may bring a cup of water for you to give them, let them have colors and the coloring sheets, bring and extra plate so you can share, and even clean up any mess the 2 year old may make.


Because of our 2 year old we tend to tip higher these days. Even if your kid doesn't have their own meal, I'm betting that the 2 year old could make more of a mess than the 5 adults combined. The servers at WDW were always fantastic with us when it came to cleaning up DDs mess. I can't stand leaving a huge mess for someone else to clean up so we would always try to get food off the floor, clean up some of the mess on the table, etc. They would always insist that they clean things up for us. Since you aren't ordering separate food for the 2 year old you might want to consider tipping above the 18%.
 
I know the OP is from the states, so it's a bit different, but for people from other countries, tipping 18% is really high. In Canada, that's "exceptional service" tip. 10% is pretty standard, 15% is high. In other countries, no tip at all is standard, so 18% is going to feel really high.

But that is what is done in the States, and visitors to the States should expect to do the same, even though it "seems high" to them because that's not the way things are done in their home country.

Most of the objections to the automatic gratuity (which is pretty much standard for parties of 6 to 8 in most restaurants in tourist areas) is from folks who object to being "told what to do" and from those who have a general objection to tipping and are typically used to leaving less or leaving nothing at all. Not folks from other countries.
 
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