Mousekeeping envelopes - a quick tip!

[mom2ian]

For all those Disneyland bound . . . we just got back from a 4 day trip. I'll be doing a trip report soon.

Regarding Mousekeeping envelopes at the good neighbor hotels---
Try and get a Spanish translation for your envelope! We left a tip in an unsealed Mousekeeping envelope (from a DISigner) on the first day. The maid didn't pick it up. I'm assuming she couldn't read English but please correct me if I'm wrong.

On the second day, I set the tip on top of the Mousekeeping envelope so the maid would see it better. She still didn't pick it up.

Finally, we just left the tip without envelope and she picked it up.

 

[charmama4]

My kids decorated some envelopes and wrote out a thank you note that we will put a tip in and leave for mousekeeping at the DLH. Are the mousekeeping staff at that hotel bi-lingual or should we redo in both languages? Here's a picture of what the kids created.

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[LavenderPeach]

I'm wondering if maybe the mousekeeping at DLR sees more tips and has seen a lot of these decorated envelopes to understand what they are where the people working at the off-site hotels might not encounter this sort of disney magic very much so they might not know it's for them, especially, like you were saying, if they don't speak english.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Just my opinion.... Mousekeeping envelopes are popular for WDW. Since many people stay on site at the Disney properties, people have come up with the term mousekeepers.

The Good Neighbor hotels aren't affiliated with Disney, and the housekeepers probably had no idea that Mousekeeping referred to them (they don't work for the Mouse). Again, this is just my guess.

For the Good Neighbor hotels, I'd put "thank you" on the envelopes, or "tip" or "propina" - something that lets them know that this is for them. They may have been instructed not to pick up anything that is not in an official hotel tip envelope or out in the open.

charmama4 - please tell your children they did a wonderful job decorating those mousekeeping envelopes. They are sooo cute!

 

[charmama4]

charmama4 - please tell your children they did a wonderful job decorating those mousekeeping envelopes. They are sooo cute!

Thank you, it was cool to see them get into it and feel the magic.

mom2ian, thanks for the headsup on the good neighbor hotels. We usually stay at one of them and we still want to bring a little Disney magic their way.

 

[Escape2Disney]

I'm never quite sure how much of a tip to leave. Is there a "rule" about tipping the housekeeping staff? I don't want to leave them too little!

 

[glendalais]

I have to agree with Mary Jo here. Housekeepers at non-Disney owned hotels are not Cast Members of the Disneyland Resort, and generally don't recognize the term "Mousekeeping". You might as well write "Banana" on the envelope, lol. Something like "Tip/La propina - Thank You/Muchas gracias" would do quite nicely.

Indeed, you might have a hard time getting even Housekeepers at the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort to recognize that term. Most of them, from my experience, don't get the reference, and I do believe, though I'm not sure, that they are told to avoid envelopes that say "Mousekeeping" or anything of the sort (our Housekeepers are officially a non-tipped position, so company policy which prohibits accepting tips does technically apply).

 

[Disney Dreams]

The Good Neighbor hotels aren't affiliated with Disney, and the housekeepers probably had no idea that Mousekeeping referred to them (they don't work for the Mouse).

100% agree! My guess is the Good Neghbor Hotel's maid service saw the envelopes and knew they were not for them... ironically since they were.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I agree with MJ and glendalais. Last trip we stayed at the Hojo and I left an envelope I made and I just put "housekeeping" since we were staying at the Hojo and not a Disney property.

 

[rszdtrvl]

Before we left for our trip I made special envelopes.

I used Wordperfect, and printed out "Housekeeping - Thank You!!" using a pretty, yet readable font. I took a regular size envelope, and put bright pink highlighter polka dots on it. I glued the cut out housekeeping phrase onto the envelope. I stuck $5 in each of the envelopes, and used a small piece of tape to tape the envelope closed.

I made a total of 5 envelopes, since we were staying 5 nights. (4 at Hojo, 1 at Red Lion Portland, OR)

I stuck one envelope on an unmade bed in the morning.

I never had any problems with them not being picked up by the housekeeping during our vacation.

 

[charmama4]

Indeed, you might have a hard time getting Housekeepers at the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort to recognize that term. Most of them, from my experience, don't get the reference, and I do believe, though I'm not sure, that they are told to avoid envelopes that say "Mousekeeping" or anything of the sort (our Housekeepers are officially a non-tipped position, so company policy which prohibits accepting tips does technically apply).

I hope they will make an exception with ours. The kids put a lot of thought into their thank you letters and with their best penmanship I might add.

 

[visitingapril09]

May I ask what the 'standard' gratuity would be for housekeeping staff??

 

[SarahDISer]

I too, am always unsure as to how much to leave. Especially considering that we always leave our room immaculate. We make our own bed in the morning just like we do at home and hang up our towels to re-use them. All the maid has to do really is stock-up the loo roll and empty the bin.
I don't want to insult her by not leaving enough.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I leave $3-$5 per day depending on the mess we made...

 

[mom2ian]

I agree with the pp. We usually leave between $3-$5 per night.

 

[teatime]

you all do know that the man who collects the laundry is the first in the room right?
on our last trip I over heard a guy who gets the laundry say he was always the first in the rooms and pocketed the money. I also found this to be true at the carousel inn and suits when the first person in my room was a male who picked up the laundry, and took my tip for the maid. you may want to leave your tip at the front desk like I do. I always ask him to call maid service to ask who my maid was this day and then leave the envelope in her name at the desk.

 

[Zeebs]

you all do know that the man who collects the laundry is the first in the room right?
on our last trip I over heard a guy who gets the laundry say he was always the first in the rooms and pocketed the money. I also found this to be true at the carousel inn and suits when the first person in my room was a male who picked up the laundry, and took my tip for the maid. you may want to leave your tip at the front desk like I do. I always ask him to call maid service to ask who my maid was this day and then leave the envelope in her name at the desk.

I use to housekeep, in my younger travelling days. I use to wonder if this is what the supervisors use to do on occasion as they use to help out sometimes if we were really busy stripping beds etc. I was working in Aussie so we didn't get a lot of tips but Americans and some Europeans use to leave them. I got a $50.00 tip once I was pleased with that one. Although I did knock and say house keeping earlier in the week, when the husband opened the door and his wife was on the bed with no top on so I think I deserved it.

We use to to be know as a housemouse. And we had nothing to do with Mickey, it was a Club Med.

Kirsten

 

[jolynda]

I usually tip a dollar per person in the room. There is no hard fast rule.

 

[amyamya]

We stayed at the GCH for 5 days and I put out a tip everyday and they never took it once. I think they are told not to take tips like Glendalais said...

 

[jolynda]

I think it depends on where you leave it. If you look, you should find a little card listing your housekeeping person's name on it - we saw these at all 3 DLR hotels. Leave the tip under that card and they will know it is for them.

Can't say for sure, but I don't think they are told not to take tips, since DLR check-in paperwork addresses tipping and lists housekeeping among those whom it is appropriate to tip. I do think that they are told that, if in doubt as to whether it is a tip or not, they are told to assume it is not, so it is up to us to find a way to make it clear that the tip is for them to take.