How much do you tip Mousekeeping?

[Lynne M]

Friendly reminder.....

Tipping debates are going to get the thread closed. You're welcome to talk about how much you tip, or say that you don't, but when we start getting into arguing about whether or not housekeepers should be tipped.....that's not a discussion for this board.

 

[GWS]

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.

I find that hard to believe in America, unless they are undocumented workers. But lets say what you wrote is a fact, are we now expected to tip for below standard service because they are working in a horrible industry?

A tip should be given as the patron recognizing that person(s) did exceptional service (above what is to be expected for that said service). Otherwise if I am required to tip every time even if it just meets or is below the standard of quality of service then I will leave a tip, not in monitory value but a note suggesting how they can do something better.

Also as a side note, my DW worked as a waitress for many years when she was younger and she feels I (we) should always tip regardless of the quality of service....I disagree obviously. She would tell me stories about how she would get stiffed on tips even if she felt she did and an exceptional job, I believe this is true of some patrons and is not the right thing to do. I think that is the minority of non tippers, the rest base it on the level of quality of service.

 

[Aliceacc]

We tip $1 per person, + $1, so $6 per day.

I leave it in a pre-done, labeled envelope (so I'm not scrounging for the right amount) each day, since there's no guarantee that the person cleaning the room Saturday is the same one who did it all week.

And when we leave for the parks each day, the room is neat.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

We leave a dollar per person in the hotel rooms, and a ten every day if we are staying in a villa (we stay at villa properties on cash reservations, so we get daily housekeeping). I leave the money under their card, with a note next to it with "housekeeping" and a smiley Mickey face. (Do I think envelopes are a great idea? Yes. Do I ever remember to bring envelopes? No.)

 

[RossK]

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...

Unfortunately, it is this expectation that is probably one of the reasons behind Disney effectively banning their housekeepers from doing towel animals. You should not, regardless of what you tip, expect towel animals or similar and simply enjoy it if it does happen. The housekeepers are there to clean the room and this is what you're tipping them for.

 

[White Rose]

I find that hard to believe in America, unless they are undocumented workers. But lets say what you wrote is a fact, are we now expected to tip for below standard service because they are working in a horrible industry?

A tip should be given as the patron recognizing that person(s) did exceptional service (above what is to be expected for that said service). Otherwise if I am required to tip every time even if it just meets or is below the standard of quality of service then I will leave a tip, not in monitory value but a note suggesting how they can do something better.

Also as a side note, my DW worked as a waitress for many years when she was younger and she feels I (we) should always tip regardless of the quality of service....I disagree obviously. She would tell me stories about how she would get stiffed on tips even if she felt she did and an exceptional job, I believe this is true of some patrons and is not the right thing to do. I think that is the minority of non tippers, the rest base it on the level of quality of service.

USA employees can make lower then minimum wage if their job is supplemented by tips. If she did not make enough in tips her boss would supplement it to meet minimum wage. Typically she made above minimum wage unless she had a large group, multi rooms, and no one tipped. Then, even though she was very good at her job, (she actually complains most places she stays do not meet her level of cleanliness!) she was making lots less, and had to wait for her payday, sometimes not till 2-3 weeks later, to make up the difference, but only to bring her to minimum wage. She is not an undocumented worker, and she did this when paying her way through college.

 

[goofy4tink]

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.

Not always true, especially at WDW. I seldom tip and I received (well, I did when they were making them still) towels and lots of extra toiletries.

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...

You got exactly what you should have expected....a clean room each day. Many of the housekeepers had no idea as to how to make towel animals. I remember one stay at Pop.....I would walk back to my room past many rooms with towel animals lined up along the window sills. As I got closer to my room, that stopped. I imagine my housekeeper had no idea how to make them. And this is one big reason WDW has pretty much stopped towel animals....people were expecting them...and when they didn't get them, they were peeved and let the resort know.

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

This is true. Some may make a bit less based on how long they've been working, but the vast majority make $12 hr. That's just shy of what my dd makes working in a preschool/daycare center!
Because housekeepers make so much more than minimum wage, WDW tells us that they don't consider housekeeping to be a tippable position. It's up to each guest to decide what they want to do. BUT...please, keep in mind that the housekeepers are there to clean the room, bring fresh towels and restock toiletries...nothing else! It's never a good idea to go in, thinking that if you tip, you'll get all this extra 'stuff'. I prefer to believe that since I leave my room so tidy, all that's needed is a wipe down of the vanity and toilet (different cloths hopefully!!!), fresh towels and toiletries, which allows the housekeeper to be in and out quickly which leaves more time for less tidy rooms to be readied. And believe me, I've seen some pretty nasty rooms left for housekeeping to turn over to the next guest!!! I can't imagine that those guests are that piggy at home!!!!

 

[Lynne M]

....and we're done here.