For those who returned from 2008 DDP / Deluxe DDP - about paying gratuity

[biggroofy]

This might be a stupid question but wanted someone to share their normal practice on 2008 DDP. We (party of six - two rooms) will be there on Deluxe Dining Plan this weekend.

My assumption is as follows - notify your server that you are on DDP/Deluxe DDP before ordering, and when meal is finished:
1. Ask server to bring the check - this will be a normal bill outlining the total value of food consumed, with the 18% gratuity?
2. I want to pay gratuity by cash. I write CASH on the bill and give them our KTTW card (Resort Room Keys)?
3. Now server comes back with another bill showing the TS being deducted on each room. Do we get a separately bill for gratuity?
4. Now I can leave cash on the table for gratuity and go

Questions:
a). When do you pay the tips (gratuity)? Should we give CASH to server along with the KTTW card, or just leave CASH on the table (like what we do in off-site restaurants)
b). Since our group has two rooms - is it necessary to request separate bills before ordering, or the server can easily handle the TS deduction even we are on the same bill?

Just to share past experiences on DDP -
2006 Trip on DDP
Party of Five. Two rooms. Our KTTW card had charging privilege. We ended up with some problems. DW orders separate items (pay OOP) for DD2 but got charged to our room without asking (we mentioned we wanted to pay separately). Sometimes servers mix up with the cards - say deducting 4 TS from my in-laws' room while not processing my KTTW.

2007 Trip on DDP
Partyof Five. Two rooms. We requested our KTTW card "Not Valid for Charging". Worked well with restaurants. We paid for our drinks and OOP items by Cash and always leaves extra for servers. The only problem was - on Day 7 I tried to activate in-room internet access ($9.95 for 24 hours) but failed. CM at front desk explains that this is because my room-key did not have charging privilege.

 

[angelkk]

Party of Five. Two rooms. Our KTTW card had charging privilege. We ended up with some problems. DW orders separate items (pay OOP) for DD2 but got charged to our room without asking (we mentioned we wanted to pay separately). Sometimes servers mix up with the cards - say deducting 4 TS from my in-laws' room while not processing my KTTW.

We will be on dddp next week, but want to share my experience last year.

We have a similar problem last year at MGM - Hollywood & Vine Buffet. Once the server knows that we are on Dining Plan, she requested to see our resort card. Then she walked away with DH's resort card and never returned until an hour later. When she returned, she had already processed the card. DH requested to pay OOP for DS3's meal (keep Child TS for later) but she said it was too late. It might be an exceptional case but just want to share my experience.

 

[fall08CP]

We were there earlier this month and this is how it goes:
1. You are seated and they ask you if you are on the dining plan. The waitor/waitress asks to see the card to see which plan you are on. The card is returned.
2. He/She tells you the rules of your plan.
3. Get drinks, food, etc.
4. You get the bill and he/she explains that the tip is not included. The bill said "18% = $$.$$", "20% = $$.$$". I don't think it had the breakdown by meal but I'm not sure.. I didn't pay for it
5. You pay tip at the same time you pay for the bill. You either write on the spot or give him/her the cash. We paid in cash and planned on just leaving it on the table, but each time he/she waited to make sure we would tip. Kinda weird.. but whatever.


I cant help you with the second question as we had only one group.

 

[Princess_Belle]

So basically, they just expect the entire 18%. I think that is a very horrible way to go about that. What if the server never returned to fill drinks, ect. I'm not saying I have a problem tipping the 18%. But I do have a problem with them always thinking they deserve it. If they were horrible server, I would have to ask the server to get a manager. And tell them why I'm not leaving the entire 18%. Thats just dumb.

 

[3"Mouse"keteers]

So basically, they just expect the entire 18%. I think that is a very horrible way to go about that. What if the server never returned to fill drinks, ect. I'm not saying I have a problem tipping the 18%. But I do have a problem with them always thinking they deserve it. If they were horrible server, I would have to ask the server to get a manager. And tell them why I'm not leaving the entire 18%. Thats just dumb.

I totally agree! I don't mind at all leaving 18% or even more if the server does their job. But if they totally ignore us and never refill our drinks or ask if we need anything, I'm not about to leave 18% just because they think they are entitled to it! A tip is something you earn!

 

[cmwade77]

It's only this way with parties of 6 or more (this is becoming typical for many restaurants, including those outside of Disney, if the server was bad, ask to speak with the manager prior to tipping. Also, if you have less than 6 people then the automatic tip is not applied)

 

[angelkk]

4. You get the bill and he/she explains that the tip is not included. The bill said "18% = $$.$$", "20% = $$.$$". I don't think it had the breakdown by meal but I'm not sure.. I didn't pay for it
5. You pay tip at the same time you pay for the bill. You either write on the spot or give him/her the cash. We paid in cash and planned on just leaving it on the table, but each time he/she waited to make sure we would tip. Kinda weird.. but whatever.

interesting...you will get a bill with an amount total - say $200 with a suggested tipping 18% = $36 or 20% = $40

Then you give your KTTW card along with CASH as the tips

Finally you will get another receipt showing the TS being deducted?

 

[stolidog]

Great question - We leave in just more than a week and the whole process gets more and more involved.

interesting...you will get a bill with an amount total - say $200 with a suggested tipping 18% = $36 or 20% = $40

Then you give your KTTW card along with CASH as the tips

Finally you will get another receipt showing the TS being deducted?

 

[poohluvrs]

This is good info!
Another ques...
We will be a party of 6, but 4 on 1 room, 2 in a seperate though dining together, will they split the 2 checks & just add the 18% to both?
TIA!!!!!!!

 

[bluslag]

I would like to know if anyone has asked to see the manager because of bad service and actually got their tip reduced to what they saw fit. Everyone always says talk to a manager but I don't want to waste time if you never get any help. By the way we never have needed to talk to a manager because most of our service has been average or better. Only one time would we have liked not to leave a tip but it was already included on last years DDP.

 

[janets]

If you have a party of less than 6 dining at one table, you will not have an auto gratiuty added to your bill. The 18%/20% are just suggested amounts and help you canculate the amount of tip for your convenience. If you feel you got substandard service, by all means you have the right to leave less. If you have great service, you can leave more.

As for parties of 6 or more (and this includes any infants at the table...they are counted towards the 6 bodies), the tip (18%) will be automatically added. I don't think they care if you're doing it on 2 bills...it's the amount of people at the table that are being served at one time. Now, if you feel the service was not up to par, ask for a manager and ask that the 18% be reduced.

I'm sure that many have been down with dining groups of 6 or more, but with more than 1 KTTW card so that they "really" weren't 6 so they thought they shouldn't have had the auto grat. I'm sure someone will post and describe real world experiences.

 

[fall08CP]

interesting...you will get a bill with an amount total - say $200 with a suggested tipping 18% = $36 or 20% = $40

Then you give your KTTW card along with CASH as the tips

Finally you will get another receipt showing the TS being deducted?

Correct.
I suppose you could tell the server that you would rather leave the cash on the table as you leave but then they might think you are going to stiff them.

They cannot MAKE you pay any certain percentage, but it's highly hinted at and the server knows how much you give them before you leave. We never had a problem with bad service so we would leave about 19%, but we do not usually leave that much at home.

 

[SplashMountainMama]

Correct.
I suppose you could tell the server that you would rather leave the cash on the table as you leave but then they might think you are going to stiff them.

They cannot MAKE you pay any certain percentage, but it's highly hinted at and the server knows how much you give them before you leave. We never had a problem with bad service so we would leave about 19%, but we do not usually leave that much at home.

Actually, if you are a party of 6 or more they do make you pay 18%. It's an automatic gratuity and if you are using DDP you will be issued a seperate bill for just the gratuity. Leaving less than the automatic gratuity is no different than deciding to pay only $40 for a meal that costs $50. You can disagree with the automatic gratuity and take it up with a manager, but if you just decide to leave a smaller amount when you are in a party of 6 or more that's just wrong.

We were there at the beginning of February, always with 2 seperate bills. We made 1 reservation for 9 people (7 on DDP and my parents not on DDP). Sometimes my parents' bill had the auto. gratuity on it sometimes it didn't. That seemed to be left to the discretion of the server. Our bill (7 people) always had the gratuity added as is the policy.

I have to add that I got really stressed before we went because I assumed with the changes to the DDP and our party size it was going to be a nightmare, but it's not nearly as complicated as it's made out to be in some of the threads on here. We never had to show our card to prove which version of the dining plan we were on (they just asked), we were never pressured to give a larger tip than was required (just given a very gentle reminder that tip isn't included anymore) and never had a server stand there and wait to make sure we gave them a tip. The servers we had were working hard and made our meals a great experience. We had a far less-favourable reaction to the servers on our last trip with the old DDP.