How much do you tip Mousekeeping?

[White Rose]

We tip housekeeping everywhere we go including cruises and b&b's, except if we are in a country where tipping would be an insult.

Some places offering a tip is expected but the person will politely decline, (or leave it behind) and you need to insist they take it 1-2 times before they will, while in other countries even offering a tip would be a huge insult!

I try to find out what are the customs in whatever country I visit. Tipping is considered customary is the U.S. for various occupations, and therefore, I tip.

Whatever your feelings are on the matter, there is/are customs that are different wherever you go. It is easy to find out what is proper etiquette on the net, in general.

 

[brocklesnar69]

I've actually started putting the 'privacy please' hanger on the door before leaving for the day.

I usually do this simply out of paranoia that something will be stolen. So by them not coming in, I can relax.

 

[Nilsifjel]

Although you don't intend it to be, this would be viewed as an insult to the mousekeepers. Generally anytime someone that receives tips is left change only, it is an indication that the service was unacceptable.

Never knew this. I guess it doesn't occur to people from the UK because any small tips here would have to be paid in change because we have £1 coins rather than bills. I'd have just thought money was money regardless of the form We don't really have a tipping culture anyway so it's all different.

 

[PantherPete]

I've heard you can also leave "goodies" for them but what will they keep and what will they throw away?

I'm pretty sure they do what anyone else would do. Take unopened things that they like or could use and throw the rest away.

We leave anything that we haven't opened yet (unopened bags of chips, fruit bars, pop tarts, etc) with a note saying to please keep whatever they'd like and throw the rest away.

It'd be nice if someone from MouseKeeping could comment here about a few things:

1. Do people tip better at deluxe vs moderate vs value? What about concierge level vs standard level?

2. Are they allowed to keep non perishable type food left behind if the guests say it is ok? What if the guests just leave it behind without saying anything or leaving a note?

3. Do they even care if the money is placed in a fancy envelope with Little Mermaid stickers and glitter glued to the front or do they just want the money?

4. What amount do they truly feel is fair for the work that they perform? (as opposed to what they would like to get)

I think that it would be pretty interesting to get the answers to these questions.

 

[Aerinha]

I tip a $1 per night as there is one of me and all they have to do is make one bed,,change two towels, empty one trash can and run a vaccum through the middle. I also tip at the end of the stay as that is common at most hotels and on cruises or tours. Not until I started going to Disney did I encounter the tip every day thing.

The only exception was my last YC stay where the previous guest left the shower on "wash an elephant" setting and I wound up flooding the bathroom the first night. I tipped more for that day and tipped the day of not at end of stay. Because I set that precedent, I continued tipping daily for that trip. But then one day I returned to leave a package and found the room half done and the tip still there. I left quickly but when I came back at night the room was the same and the tip untouched.

 

[dixiegirl]

We tip daily and leave $5 per day.

 

[Aurora0427]

I tipped $3 per day last trip at the GF. The service was excellent, and they even left new towel animals daily for my daughter, and arranged her baby doll and Mickey plush doll. So next trip I plan on tipping $5, even though they may not do towel animals this time.

 

[spiceycat]

daily $1 or $2 - you will find the housekeeping better at WDW - they get fired immediately if they steal anything from a guest room - so if something was stolen report it - there are more outside thieves who work (if you can call it work) at WDW than inside people. so if someone broke into your room and yea if they are good you probably would not notice until you miss something.

disney is so mean that even food and other stuff that a guest leaves they have to throw away. they can't keep anything.

 

[Momof3WDW]

One of my roommates during my CP was mousekeeping and they were allowed to take anything the guest left. She usually came home with laundry detergent and some snack items. We never talked about tips so I don't know about that. This was 9 years ago though, so things could have changed.

 

[GWS]

I don't feel the need to tip Mousekeeping for a paid service that is provided/included in my resort stay, I have never tipped any housekeepers (maids) at any hotel I have stayed at. The only house keepers I have tipped is on DCL, because it is required and I feel they actually do an exceptional job, every time we leave our room they come in and tighty it all up. Mousekeeping at the resort just does the same service that I received ant any other hotel you stay at, with the exception of the occasional towel animal (aka: pixie dust and magic). For that I feel since as a guest I am already paying premium to stay at a Disney Resort, the pixie dust and magic of towel animals should be included. Otherwise I am expected to pay extra for that by Mousekeeping by tipping????

I tipped Mousekeeping everyday $10 dollars a day for one week, we are not messy people. We got one animal towel and most of the time the room was cleaned below average.

I know people like to say their jobs are hard, disgusting and yuck and I don't disagree however they do have a choice not to work that type of job. Also I know that they are part of the service industry and people in the service industry often get tipped for their services. However, that should not be an expected practice, a tip is to reward someone for doing something special, going above and beyond....not for standard everyday service. First Responders are in the "service" industry, should we tip them too for doing their job?

I am no means cheep, I actually tip very well, above the industry standards, typically 25% and above. All I ask is that I do not receive standard service, wow me.

 

[Accident]

I generally leave $5 every morning for 2 adults, a little more the day we checkout as there is generally more garbage as we consolidated to pack.

 

[jessiegirl1982]

We tip up to $5 depending on the mess, and the quality of the cleaning we received the previous day. We will probably do more this trip since we are bringing a toddler, and I am sure there will be more to clean. Once while not at Disney, we tipped while our friends did not. We ended up with slippers, and lots of extra toiletries. Our friends didn't get anything, and were jealous! It really does make a difference.

 

[MommyP]

For our last WDW trip I read these posts and decided to make cute Mousekeeping envelopes with $5 tip per day. I read on these boards that Mouskeepers do all sorts of creative things...well ours did nothing special. We stayed at the Contemporary. One day I forgot to leave the envelope on the bed and I was actually glad I didn't. I had expected cute towel animals and clever poses of my kids' toys based on the posts here and basically they changed the sheets & replaced the towels - disappointed. I'd wait and tip based on service received...

 

[BigMommaMouse]

Does anyone think that they would prefer something unique as opposed to just money in an envelope? I was thinking something along the idea of maybe $2 bills, or some kind of origami folded bills, etc. Any other ideas?

I have done that with some of them. Folded them or had one of our stuff animals giving it to them.

 

[BigMommaMouse]

Never knew this. I guess it doesn't occur to people from the UK because any small tips here would have to be paid in change because we have £1 coins rather than bills. I'd have just thought money was money regardless of the form We don't really have a tipping culture anyway so it's all different.

Good point. I hate carrying those £1 coins, they make your purse so heavy. I am always trying to off load them.

 

[wdw4rfam]

We leave the do not disturb up all week and clean ourselves. A couple times we will call down and have fresh towels, t.p., etc brought up and I tip the person who brings it up $5.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

We do $3/day (2 very neat adults) and I leave it on the nightstand each morning. I also write a note on the hotel notepad thanking them and to indicate the money was a tip. I put it right by the money so they can't miss it.

 

[smhwalker2011]

we tip $3-5 a day. the last day (not the day of checkout) we leave all of our singles (we're canadian so their useless to us) and ask for "extra" soaps. mousekeeping leaves with a fat tip, and we leave with enough soaps to last us up to 4 months after our trip lol

 

[White Rose]

What people do not realize is many times the wages that are received by housekeeping are based on the fact their position is considered to be a tipped position. Some get below minimum wage like wait staff.

I had a friend who worked at a motel and was paid very low, nearly nothing per hour, and the difference was the tips she received. If someone did not tip her on a multi day trip, she was losing some serious income. Since she was paid to clean rooms, if there are less people staying in the hotel, she has less to clean, and would receive a lower paycheck.

If she did not receive enough tips to raise her hourly rate to minimum wage the motel manager would make the difference up to get her to minimum wage...but if every room she serviced tipped her 2-3 dollars, she would be making much more then minimum wage, so the difference might mean being able to save money or at the low end, unable to afford rent.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I believe Disney housekeeping makes above minimum wage. $10-12 an hour I read once.