Inspied by the Mousekeeping tip thread: Bell services??

[DisOrBust]

I know its been asked before but I don't think a concensous(sp) was ever established. So.....

Do do tip the Bell person who take the luggage out of your car AND the bell person who brings it to your room??

Once someone posted this wasn/t necessary since all the tips are pooled. Is this true??

Do you tip the Bell person who takes your luggage to storrage AND the bell person who takes it from storage to your car???

WE are switching 3 timesf this next trip and I may be tipping quite a lot .


Personally I am thinking 2/bag to the "end" bell person. I am being a mizer ???


TIA,Sue

 

[x5x5x5x5x5]

When I arrive at a resort, I only tip the bell person who takes my bags to my room. Then I tip the bell person who takes my bags to my car when I leave. I also only tip the valet who pulls my car around - not the one who takes it. Hope that helps.

 

[goofy4tink]

You must have been listening to my dh when we were at the Polynesian in 2003!!! He says to me.."So, do I tip the guy who took our stuff out of the car, then tip the guy who takes them away and then again the guy who brings them to our room? Sure are a lot of people touching our bags!!!" We decided to give the person who takes them out of the towncar and puts them on the luggage cart $1 per bag. Then the person who brings them to our room gets $5, that's it. We usually only have 3 bags.

 

[raidermatt]

Do what feels right to you.

I do tip both the person taking them out of the car and the person who brings them up, but I can understand being choosy, especially if you have budget concerns.

 

[totalia]

Lol. No. How is that going beyong the call of duty? They were hired for it.

Besides, I'll just carry my own bags, thanks. People aren't trustworthy and I won't be allowing someone I don't know to carry my bags without my presence. On the last day, we will just stow them in the car till we are ready to go.

Even if I have to walk 15 minutes to get to my room, I'm not so weak as to be unable to carry them.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

This is such a difficult thing to figure out - for me anyway. I tip everyone and try to plan on it before I leave home so the $ does not come out of vacation money. My kids are adults now so I am usually traveling with a friend and the $ is not as much of an issue as when I had little ones to feed. Nevertheless, sometiems I am on a tight budget and must be careful, but do not want to skip a worthy tip.

My general routine:

If I have bags on wheels (and it's check-in time) I might take care of them myself. This is of coruse, if I am not with lots of munchkins.

If I am giving someone my bags to store I tip them well because I want those bags safe and sound.

Then I call bell services when we get to them room later and have the bags brought up.

Cuts out on the confusion of whom to tip etc. and I know who to tip:
the bell person who stored the bags and the bell person who brings the bags to the room.

I appreciate all bell help, but my budget can only go so far.

 

[DisOrBust]

LAst year for us it was getting out of hand. WE had 6 bads varying from a diaperbag to a suitcase in size. I usually tip 2/bag. However I thought it was a bit much for unloading them from my car to cart and storing it. This year I plan on 1/bag to each Bellman and I am combining bag so I don't havre so many to keep track of. That was my fault but my DDs want to carry their own bag but not this year!

 

[k&a&c'smom]

It is a little frustrating, it seems like they work it so the maximum people touch the bags!!

That being said, we usually only check 3 bags (2 duffles and a gymbag) and we give $5 to the guy who checks them and $5 to the guy who brings them to the room. If the bellhop who brings them to the room does anything extra, we give a few more to him.

If memory serves, they used to start unloading the bags from the car, tell us to head into check-in, and they followed with the bags and took us right up. The only time they took the bags to storage was if there was a long line at the check-in counter. Now, they store your bags even if you're the only one at the counter. The old way, I usually tipped about $10, so I just split it now.

HTH!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by DisOrBust
Once someone posted this wasn/t necessary since all the tips are pooled. Is this true??

Tips are not pooled.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

If two people handle the bags I split what I would pay one person for doing everything. I normally tip $1/bag, but the bags vary greatly in size. When we are traveling by car we don't tend to use big suitcases so there are lots of lightweight bags. I would tip more per bag if we were flying and had less, but larger suitcases.

When my DH and I went to WDW last week we carried the luggage ourselves, and when we checked into CBR we weren't even offered luggage help. What I thought were bell people at the front of the resort told us to park, check in, then drive ourselves and our luggage to our room. I was a bit surprised that they didn't even ask if we needed help, but it didn't matter since we were planning on doing it ourselves, anyway.

Hopefully I'll get more assistance in December when I travel alone with my 4yo--we'll be staying at POR and with just me and him I won't be able to do it all without multiple trips to the car.

T&B

 

[jillhou]

I had been under the impression there were no bell services at the moderate or value resorts. Glad to hear there are. That is just one luxury I want for my hubby. He seldom indulges himself in anything - just who he is. I insist on using valet and bell services.....just to make him feel special. He would gladly do it - we have 3 able bodied boys who can help - but to me - it just says VACATION! We always have to stay at a deluxe and the few times - before we had all 3 kids - we went and stayed at a moderate - I didn't remember bell services being there. Good news!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by jillhou
I had been under the impression there were no bell services at the moderate or value resorts. Glad to hear there are.

Deluxe and Moderates will have Bell Services, an on-demand tipped position. Values will have Luggage Assistance, a scheduled non-tipped service.

The major difference is that with Bell Services, you must be in the room, and a tip is expected. Luggage Assistance, you do not need to be in the room, tips are not expected, and they do runs on the half hour.

 

[MichaelH]

At the CBR resort, I usually tip the person who takes the bags from the shuttle van to the room. I also tip the person who takes the bags from the room to the shuttle van. I usually tip $1 per bag.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

After reading about the Luggage Assistance on Chip 'n Dale Express Pop Thread I have used it twice the first time the luggage was in the room before we could walk from the Front desk to the room, the second time they were just leaving the room, so I tipped the CM a few dollors.

I will never forget the night I stayed over at the All Star Sports and had to drag my luggage for what seemed like a mile to one of the back buildings (never again)

 

[daisylove]

This thread has opened up even more questions to me. Maybe Tyler or someone can give me an answer. I plan of checking in AKL in themorning probably before a room is ready then going to the parks. i wont return until after the fireworks. Do i leave my luggage with the folks out front? Do I bring it in with me to the desk? How does storage work? and will they bring the luggage to the room before I return or do I have to get back late and then wait for the luggage? Thanks
I ask specifically because my DD has asthma and will haveto have a treatment as soon as we return and if the bags are in the room it works great If we may have to wait an hour or so I nee to make sure to pack her meds seperatly and bring them in with us.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I loved the Luggage Assistance at Pop. It was quick (luggage was in the room before we took a quick look around the main building and got to the room) and I didn't feel that I was expected to overtip. I tipped the person who I saw handle it both when it was taken from the car and loaded again before leaving. Also, my favorite part was not having to wait with the luggage when leaving the last day. We left it inside the room, by the front window and we were then able to head to the parks. I think it's a good system.

I understand that at the moderates the luggage service is on demand, but it seems that the bell guys could have offered instead of told us we were driving our luggage to our room. Again, that's what we were going to do, anyway (so I obviously didn't say anything), but they didn't know that.


T&B

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by daisylove
This thread has opened up even more questions to me. Maybe Tyler or someone can give me an answer. I plan of checking in AKL in themorning probably before a room is ready then going to the parks. i wont return until after the fireworks. Do i leave my luggage with the folks out front? Do I bring it in with me to the desk? How does storage work? and will they bring the luggage to the room before I return or do I have to get back late and then wait for the luggage?

In this situation, I much prefer the Value's "Luggage Assistance" to the Bell Services. With Luggage Assistance, the dispatchers would continuously monitor the rooms, and if a room became clean and available, BAM, it was on the next run up to the room, regardless of where the guest was. The downside to the system is people who want thier luggage NOW, and don't want to wait for the next run (which is every half hour.)

Because Bell Services is a tipped position, you must be in the room for them to bring up your luggage. If you drop it off, and head off to the parks while waiting for your room to be ready, it won't be there when you get back, and to your room. You'd have to call them and they would bring it up.

In the case of AKL, you could probably stop by the bell stand as you walk back to your room (it's on the way from both the bus stop or the parking lot), and they could bring it up right then, with you.

 

[daisylove]

Thanks for the info and the idea Tyler. I will do that.

 

[chesirekate]

Okay, I'm confused I've never used luggage assistance at Disney. We'll be staying at Pop in Dec., and we'll be flying instead of driving this time. We'll just have one bag plus a diaper bag and won't need help with the luggage to get it to the room. However, our flight won't leave until late afternoon on the day we check out and probably won't be picked up until 1pm or so. So, how does luggage storage work? I thought we'd just take it down to the lobby and they would have a place to stash it until our ride arrives. What's this bit about leaving it in the room for pickup? Oh, and do we tip anyone for stashing the luggage? Thanks so much

 

[Tigger&Belle]

chesirekate, you could ask for late check-out and, if they allowed it, you would have your room until 1pm. That would solve your issue. I don't think that late check-out can be asked for until the day before check-out, though, and it depends on how busy the hotel is, how many other people are checking out late, etc, etc.

If that doesn't work out then they can store your luggage. Maybe ask when you're checking in, but if they do it like they did when we were there they would pick it up from your room and you don't have to be there. You can then tip the person who gets it from storage when you are ready to leave.

T&B