How much do I tip mousekeeping a day?

[PrincessSuzanne]

I am not going to be tipping Mousekeeping anymore, this is not a tipped position and they are union workers and make more than minimum wage. Besides, we will be on DVC points and won't get any mousekeeping while we are there.

With all the tips other people leave, these people have to be making more than I do by now.

And whoever says families can't live off $9 an hour, that is considered really good for where we live.

 

[Peter Panning]

I'm glad i read these post of 3.00 to 5.00 a day tips. We just returned from our trip. I left 3.00 to 5.00 dollars a day also. Left 10.00 on our last day. To tell you the truth I kind of felt bad about the tips for MouseKeeping. I told DW we were giving the people serving our food $20.00 or more, and the person cleaning our toilet and making our bed was only getting a few dollars. Also, each day on our return to our room there was a new decoration made out of towels that our Mouse Keeper made for us. She made a dog, a mouse, a flower, mouse ears, etc. out of towels each day and left it for us.

 

[Sue M]

Neither do some bank tellers, cashiers, or even radio DJs. Lots of jobs pay $8-9/hour, but for some reason only certain ones get tipped.

That's true. Guess it's mostly the service indusrty that gets tips, housekeeping, Parking Valets, Bell Hops, Waitress/Waiters, cab drivers, etc in N. America. Many European countries I hear don't tip. Maybe they're paid better? But it is custom in my country to tip, so I do.

 

[Lehuaann]

That's true, they aren't. So, do I tip the guy who picks up my garbage? The janitor?

Lots of people may have parts of their job that isn't pleasant. I'm just making a point that some people apparently deserve a tip and others don't.


Exactly. There is no rhyme or reason for who you tip or why. It's a completely random socially driven phenomenon.

I agree.

It's also very demeaning for people to 'presume' a certain job is equivalent to minimum wage and lower class work ...therefore, they leave a tip out of compassion.

Do it because you feel a high level of 'service' is warranted - which is the real purpose of gratuities in the first place.

 

[nanalisa]

We tip mousekeeping one dollar per person per day. I don't do it because her position is lower than mine or I feel sorry for her or because society has pressured me into it. I do it because they bring me extra soap. Not really - I just do it because I want to. I put my money in an envelope that I print "mousekeeping" on and put it at the sink. \
The wage they make is irrelevant. I wouldn't skip tipping someone because I think they already make enough money.

 

[richkorn]

i don't mean to sound heartless but we may leave a couple of dollars during the coarse of our stay, certainly not daily. We pay enough to stay at the resort and to leave $5 a day (for our family of 5) to make two beds and replace towels doesn't make sense to me. The way i look at it, besides me being cheap, is that they have a job just like you and i and get paid to do it. I don't get a tip everytime i do my job.

x2

 

[fastergoofy]

I agree.

It's also very demeaning for people to 'presume' a certain job is equivalent to minimum wage and lower class work ...therefore, they leave a tip out of compassion.

Do it because you feel a high level of 'service' is warranted - which is the real purpose of gratuities in the first place.

Not addressing anyone in particular, just threading along...

Service industries are all usually tipped positions in the US, especially at hotels. $1 a bag for a porter, $5 or so for valets, etc. It's just tradition and a way to express thanks. Hotel housekeeping is definitely part of that when you get to a higher level of service. (eg. You don't usually tip at a Motel 6 but you would at a Sheraton.) On cruises, including Disney Cruises, tips are "mandatory" (not really, but there should be an exceptional reason not to tip).

 

[ColoradoDisney]

This is a touchy subject. If you decide to tip, great. If you don't, I wouldn't feel guilty. I travel frequently for my job. I have worked for several different Fortune 500 companies. None of my employers have permitted expensing for housekeeping tips. We are permitted to expense tips for meals, taxis, and luggage service.

For me personally, I only tip when I either ask for something special (i.e. borrow an iron/ironing board, extra towels, etc.) or I/we have done something that would require extra cleaning.

I am guessing that many service people would appreciate positive feedback to their company and/or manager more than a few dollar tip. This impacts their annual review and opportunities for advancement.

As a guest, it is not my responsibility to research the pay structure of all the different WDW employees that provide service to me and determine if they are making a fair wage. That is Disney's responsibility. It is a free market, if employees can find a better paying job, they will quit or Disney will pay the position more.

 

[dansdad]

Also, each day on our return to our room there was a new decoration made out of towels that our Mouse Keeper made for us. She made a dog, a mouse, a flower, mouse ears, etc. out of towels each day and left it for us.

This is exactly why I had no problem leaving a tip every day. We too received 2-3 new towel animals every day during our stay. To me, that is going above and beyond. I don't care if mousekeeping made more $$ than I do. I only EXPECTED a clean room, towels and bedding. Making my family happy to come to the room every night and check out the new animals is worth $5 to me.

Just my $.02

 

[cigar95]

Service industries are all usually tipped positions in the US, especially at hotels. $1 a bag for a porter, $5 or so for valets, etc. It's just tradition and a way to express thanks. Hotel housekeeping is definitely part of that when you get to a higher level of service. (eg. You don't usually tip at a Motel 6 but you would at a Sheraton.).

you've hit perhaps the key point here - at most hotels in the U.S., hotel housekeepers are paid a "tipping wage", so that in such a case, tipping is expected in the same way that it is for restaurant wait staff. While not legally required, it's not appropriate to skip in under normal circumstances.

At WDW, on the other hand, hotel housekeeping staff is paid a standard wage, rather than a tipping wage. My guess is that this is because there are so many international visitors. As a result, a tip isn't expected. It isn't so much a case of whether their pay is "enough" or not, but that the pay is structured on the assumption that a tip is not an additional source of revenue for the worker.

 

[mom2maggie]

My point is, I don't care what their wage is. I tip because it is a nice thing to do, and in general I just strive to be a nice person. They are providing me a service. I'd gladly tip someone if they wanted to come to my house and make my bed and pick up my dirty towels

 

[Lynne M]

This is not a tipping debate thread. The OP asked what others tip, not whether or not they should.

 

[Carlyluvsdisney]

.

 

[THEJOEL]

we do $5 the first and last day and $1 per person per day($3) on the other days.
BTW WDW is the only place we do this. Just a little way we spread pixie dust.

 

[LovesTimone]

When it's just DH and I, we tip 3 to 5 dollars a day, as mousekeeping changes daily. When the kids were little we would tip a bit more as the room would need more recovery. We have made towel animals for the mousekeepers and gotten them in return and decorated envelopes for them. When planning and budgeting I just include mousekeeping in with what we think we will spend on tipping.

 

[maxiesmom]

I don't mean to sound heartless but we may leave a couple of dollars during the coarse of our stay, certainly not daily. We pay enough to stay at the resort and to leave $5 a day (for our family of 5) to make two beds and replace towels doesn't make sense to me. The way I look at it, besides me being cheap, is that they have a job just like you and I and get paid to do it. I don't get a tip everytime I do my job.

It is your choice to tip or not to tip. However, you do realize that you may not have the same maid every day, right? So I don't understand the whole tip sometime but not the whole time thing. In my mind a service is either worth a tip, or it is not. Picking out certain days to tip and other days not to tip seems a bit odd.

 

[briandunne]

We're a family of five. I put a fiver in a resort envelope every morning and write what I would like on the outside like "May we please have extra towels" or "May I have more resort stationary, please", oftentimes in Spanish if my housekeeper speaks it. Speaking Spanish with them in the hallways -- even just 'Hola' or 'Que tal?'-- seems to really make the housekeepers remember us, especially the kids, over whom they dote.

I have my children write wish-you-were-here notes to granparents & cousins on WDW resort stationary. If we have no requests, I ask the kids write "To our Mousekeeper, with thanks, from the Dunnes" on the outside or I do it myself.

I cannot conclusively say that this leads to more of the "Housekeeping Pixie Dust" that my kids adore, but we've had no shortage of towel creations and scenes set up by our housekeepers using the kids' plush items. My children always rush into our room after a morning/lunch in the parks looking to see what the housekeeper has done today. They are seldom disappointed.