How do you tip?

[sm4987]

I know that this question has been asked many times, but I seem to keep missing the thread. How do you tip? I tipped last year at the CB housekeeping $4 a day. Do you tip more at the Deluxes? Also, we are getting a towncar, how much do you tip the driver? All feedback will be appreciated.

 

[Harambe]

We tip housekeeping 5 or 6 dollars a day - anywhere we stay regardless of resort type.

We give towncar driver 12 or 13 dollars each way.

Of course, if there is a problem with service, you would adjust accordingly!

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

I agree with Harambe, normally leave between $5 & $8 p/n for housekeeping and if we have turndown service $3

For the towncar driver I like to tip $10-12 but DH likes to tip more. When he's w/ us I stay out of it.

 

[peachgirl]

Housekeeping isn't considered a tipped position, so you aren't
"obligated" to tip at all.

At any rate, we started out tipping $1 pp (there were 3 of us, all female, all adult and very neat ). However, our mousekeeper was so wonderful that by the 3rd day I had increased it to $5 a day. We were there on Christmas day and we left her a $10 tip. From what I have read, standard tipping, for those who choose to tip is about $1 pp per day.

We've only stayed at Home Away From Home and Deluxe resorts, but I don't think I'd vary my tip based on where I stayed. I base it on the quality of service alone. The nice thing about the Deluxe resorts though is that we got the same mousekeeper every day. It was nice to know that the person I intended to tip is the one who actually got it!

We tipped our limo driver $10 each way, which figured out to be a little over 20%.

 

[skiwee1]

We tip $5 daily for two adults and one child. We also seem to get many of those elusive towel animals every day! We also tip the limo driver $15 each way. And just in case you use them, the luggage guys get $5 for taking the bags from my car. The guy taking the bags to my room gets $20. At the Poly, the same guy gets the bags from your room and takes them to the car too so he gets $25.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I always tip $5 dollars a day for 2 people. This Oct I will have my 2 yr old Nephew and my best friend will have her 7 yr old son . Mousekeeping will get at least $ 10 a day from me that trip
I travel alot and always use some sort of car service . With the exception of NY I tip $ 20.
The porters who carry the luggage should get $2-3 per bag more if they are heavy . Taking your things to your room $20.
Hope this helps

Wishing you many Disney Days ahead

 

[eeyore0062]

We tip the Towncar driver 20% of the bill, half for the trip from the airport, and the other half for the trip back to the airport, in case we have different drivers.

We tip the housekeeper $1 per person (there are 3 of us), per day, and tip daily, in case our housekkeeper has a day off. We tip a little more (usually $5 per day), if the stuffed animals are arranged in interesting ways, or they make the little towel animals. We realize that this is something special that the individual housekeeper does on her own, and not something that is required.


No, we don't tip any differently for a deluxe than we would for a value resort. If the quality of the work is the same, then the fact that it is a deluxe resort, vs a value or moderate resort shouldn't matter.

We tip $2 per bag to the bellhop (we always have a ton of bags, so this adds up quickly).

We tip $2 to the valet for retrieving our car, and again for parking our car.

We tip 20% at all restaurants where tipping is the norm.

We tip a dollar per drink when at a lounge or bar.

Hope this helps! Have a wonderful trip!

 

[sm4987]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I'm 28 and this is really the first time I have ever had to do this. We usually drive everywhere and I let my husband unload the car. This year I just want to relax and be pampered.

 

[primax]

help! Do you all tip every morning? I have always been accustomed to leaving a big lump sum the day of check out. I had no idea this may not be proper. I never thought about the fact my mousekeeper would change or have a day off when I leave the lump sum.

 

[BillSears]

I don't visit hotels often and when I do I carry my own bags to the room. But $20.00 for 5-10 minutes of work carrying a couple of bags to the room? Darn that seems to be a huge amount.

I usually tip Mousekeeping $5 each day and 20-25% in restaraunts. So I don't consider myself cheap. I guess I just look at the effort involved for housekeeping and waiting tables and I think they are harder jobs and are much more personal service then carrying a bag.

 

[ScarletIndigo]

Oh, I'm so glad I found this thread! I've never gone the resort route for a vacation (well let's be honest - I've never vacationed much to begin with!) but knowing what's expected as far as WDW tipping etiquette is concerned is definitely a blessing!

I realize the tax is much higher in and around WDW than most everywhere else, so is that why you all increase your tipping at restaurants? "Just double the tax on the bill, dear", my mother would always say. I'm used to throwing in some extra $ on top of that, so I suppose that works out to 20-25% gratuity, right?

Thanks for the info on tipping mousekeeping as well. I'd heard about the housekeepers who arranged the toys in cute ways or left little trinkets in the rooms for their guests. Makes me wish I was a kid again! I guess a nice lil' towel animal will make me happy enough! ;-)

 

[BillSears]

Your comment about increasing your restaruant tips at WDW made me thing about it abit. I tend to tip 20-25% at home but when I'm on vacation especially in WDW I tip more. I guess I really appreciate the service in WDW and I tend to tip higher there. Sometimes as much as 35% or so if the server really passed on the Disney spirit.

 

[Minnie's Mate]

For Limo drivers 10%-20% of the bill is considered appropriate depending on whether he/she helps with the luggage. Housekeeping should range from $1 to $10 per night, depending on how messy you are, if extra towels were needed, etc. I usually tip $1pp/night with a $2 minimum if I'm alone.

Valet parking should get $1 at pick-up and none at drop-off. If weather is bad or distance to parking is long, $2 is appropriate.

Bell service should get $1 per bag, $2 if they are heavy, large or awkward to handle. If there is a separate person who helps unload the lluggage from the car, $2-$5 is appropriate. Again, it should be dependant on the size and weight of the luggage.

 

[peachgirl]

Originally posted by BillSears
I don't visit hotels often and when I do I carry my own bags to the room. But $20.00 for 5-10 minutes of work carrying a couple of bags to the room? Darn that seems to be a huge amount.

I usually tip Mousekeeping $5 each day and 20-25% in restaraunts. So I don't consider myself cheap. I guess I just look at the effort involved for housekeeping and waiting tables and I think they are harder jobs and are much more personal service then carrying a bag.

I don't tip $20 to take my bags to my room, but depending on the number of bags we have, I do tip more than I tip housekeeping. I guess for me, it's because housekeeping isn't a tipped position. Whatever their wages are, it's not intended to be supplemented by tips, so I don't feel the need to tip as much.

I do get a bit frustrated trying to figure out tipping for luggage. I was always told if anyone touched my bags, they get tipped, but it can really get to the point of being ridiculous. So, I tip $1 per bag, whether they're coming out of my car or being brought to my room. We usually have 10-12 pcs of luggage, but on the few times we don't, I tip $5 minimum.

Compared to some others here, that seems pretty cheap and I think I'm fairly generous with my tipping. However, if I tipped $3 per bag to take them out of my car and another $20 to bring them to my room I'd end up paying over $110 to get my luggage from my car to my room and back to my car again. That's just a bit excessive to me.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by BillSears
I don't visit hotels often and when I do I carry my own bags to the room. But $20.00 for 5-10 minutes of work carrying a couple of bags to the room? Darn that seems to be a huge amount.

I usually tip Mousekeeping $5 each day and 20-25% in restaraunts. So I don't consider myself cheap. I guess I just look at the effort involved for housekeeping and waiting tables and I think they are harder jobs and are much more personal service then carrying a bag.

You haven't seen the size of my bags! We had 12 items last trip, as they put it, and 4 were large suitcases that must have weighed 50lbs each. The other items were numerous beach bags, carryons, sodas, water, etc. I probably should have tipped more then the $20-25 that I did. I would much rather fix my own bed then carry all the stuff we bring. Big difference in labor. It is such a relief to have someone take the stuff from the car and drop if off in the room with me never having to break a sweat or my back! LOL! We also tip mousekeeping $5 a day too.

 

[BillSears]

Well I can definatly see how it's worth it to you. That's a pretty impressive amount of stuff.

I usually travel light. We limit it to 1 checked bag and 1 carry on bag each. The checked bag is pretty big but not too tough to take with us and the carry on is just for emergency stuff in case the checked bag gets lost. It's just me and my 19 year old daughter this trip so we can pack light.

But traveling this way does have drawbacks. I can only fit in about a weeks worth of clothes. So during our 11 night stay this summer I will be doing laundry at least once.

 

[Jen D]

We tip about a dollar per person housekeeping (although if we got towel animals the day before, we might throw in a little more.)

Towncar about $10 each way.

Bellhops-- I always have them come to the room and they get about $10. That's for two-three suitcases but usually a bunch of little grocery bags too.

Servers-- somewhere between 15 and 20% depending. (My unofficial formula is: Figure 10% of the bill, cut that in half and add that total to 10%, giving you 15%-- and then round up a little bit-- to the nearest dollar is service was merely adequate, adding more if it was excellent. I also tip on the whole amount, including drinks, although sometimes I hear that isn't necessary.

Since we towncar, we don't valet, but valet is always confusing elsewhere-- on a trip to LA, where everyone valets, people kept assuring us you only tip on pickup, not dropoff, but I don't think the valets like that very much.

 

[Harambe]

Yes - you should tip daily. You will not have the same person everyday for a week. If you leave one big lump sum - one housekeeper will be really happy, and a few others will wish they didn't clean your toilet!

We also seem to tip higher at WDW but we are just so well taken care of, it seems only fair to tip big!

 

[skfulkers]

ok, let me throw this out there.

I've always considered myself a good tipper, even to the point where my DW usually rolls her eyes when she glances at the final amount at restaurants due to the large tip.
I don't disagree with tipping waiters/waitresses 20-25%, nor do I disagree with tipping Mousekeeping every day and tipping well.
I do have a problem with tipping bellhops $20 to bring your luggage to/from your room. Let's do some math. Even if it takes the bellhop 15 minutes total to get your bags from valet, wheel them to your room, and then walk back down to the bellhop's post, that would be an average of 4 trips per hour. That means that this bellhop would be making $80 per hour just in tips, and probably even more since the 15 minute estimate is a little high.
Now I know that each and every bellhop cannot keep this pace for several hours, so the total amount per shift may be less, but c'mon--$80 to $100 per hour for carrying your bags to your room? I'll quit my job today if I can make that kind of money.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by skfulkers
ok, let me throw this out there.

I've always considered myself a good tipper, even to the point where my DW usually rolls her eyes when she glances at the final amount at restaurants due to the large tip.
I don't disagree with tipping waiters/waitresses 20-25%, nor do I disagree with tipping Mousekeeping every day and tipping well.
I do have a problem with tipping bellhops $20 to bring your luggage to/from your room. Let's do some math. Even if it takes the bellhop 15 minutes total to get your bags from valet, wheel them to your room, and then walk back down to the bellhop's post, that would be an average of 4 trips per hour. That means that this bellhop would be making $80 per hour just in tips, and probably even more since the 15 minute estimate is a little high.
Now I know that each and every bellhop cannot keep this pace for several hours, so the total amount per shift may be less, but c'mon--$80 to $100 per hour for carrying your bags to your room? I'll quit my job today if I can make that kind of money.

And by the looks of some of posts not everyone tips the bellhops so good. I think what they do for me is well worth a measley $20-25 that I pay. My goodness that is like a decent snack at Captain Cooks! LOL! Saying they make $100 an hour isn't accurate. Let's think about mousekeepers. I spoke to one last week and we talked for a bit. She said it takes her 10 minutes per room if no sheets are changed. 15 minutes if she has to change sheets. So if she can do 5 rooms per hour on average and everyone tips her $6 then that is $30 an hour or $1200 a week based on 40 hours. Are you ready to become a mousekeeper now?