Mousekeeping Tipping Question

[ttfn2u2pooh]

I know. When I see those places, I skip them

I refused to go to Sonic when they did car service only. Ours now has a drive thru so I don't have to tip for a freakin diet coke served to me by a guy in rollerskates.

That's too funny. A friend & I were just discussing her feeling the need to tip the person who makes her coffee (I'll let you guess where). She didn't feel the need to do it one morning and then had guilty feelings about not tipping. For something like a quick coffee or quick food service, I won't tip.

However, I feel if someone is cleaning up a mess I made, clearing my table of dirty dishes or making my bed and picking up my soggy towels and giving me new ones, they deserve a couple bucks.

I didn't expect some of the type of responses when I first posted my question. Tipping is truly a personal issue and you can do it or not. I didn't expect a debate over the type of person, what language they speak, what type of education the person who has a housekeeping job had. I'm just grateful they are doing the job they are doing and it makes my stay all the more enjoyable. I know enough people of all age ranges who, no matter how bad things got financially for them, would never even consider doing that kind of job. I know it would be one of the last jobs I would seek. I have to clean up my own family's towels and wipe out the toilets & sinks.... I sure as heck don't want to do it for a complete stranger.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Don't feel bad. Tipping threads ALWAYS go this way. Always. No matter WHERE they are posted or WHAT they are about My Grandfather tipped once at HoJo's many years ago (first disney tip) and ever since then I thought it was classy.

 

[Saylan]

This started a tipping discussion in my lunch room. A girl pointed out that her friend who works in a coffee shop (also not naming) rants to her about not getting tipped. I would never think of tipping at a place like that but I guess she expects it and is disappointed when it doesn't happen.

I also heard about someone who tipped very little (due to being 'frugal' at the time) and the waiter left the restaurant to chase after them to give them back their money saying 'I think you need this more than I do.'

Everyone is definitely different.

 

[rainyday77]

You think you're paying for a service to start with but that's just your view or your preference of the situation. The reality, like it or not, is vastly different. You're really paying for a luxury.

How would you feel if someone said 'who cares about children of dysfunctional families? Let them work out their own issues. Why should any of our tax dollars be put toward this?' You question about not being tipped is out of line as your service is not a discretional expenditure in the least.

It's not apples and apples I realize, but you're opinion only serves to work against the servants not the owners with whom you disagree.

People, people, people, it's only money and you can't take it with you. If you can't afford a few bucks for housekeeper or a server what on God's green earth makes you think you can truly afford the experience?

I am educated and work hard for my money so I choose to spend it on creating magical memories for my children and saving for their education so they don't have debt after completing their university degrees. So yes, I can 'truly afford' the experience but also don't believe that I should have to pay someone's salary. You know what you are getting into going into the service industry and if you want more from your career then get a student loan and get a university degree so you can make a decent wage.

It is a matter of personal opinion and you shouldn't be condescending to those with different opinions.

 

[HappyHaunt]

I know. When I see those places, I skip them

I refused to go to Sonic when they did car service only. Ours now has a drive thru so I don't have to tip for a freakin diet coke served to me by a guy in rollerskates.

Sometimes a waitress of ours will only do just that. Someone else brings our food, and someone else clears our plates. All they do is simply bring us a drink refill. Yet they get quite the handsome tip.

But by the logic that many people give about tipping, I guess you should tip at places like Sonic. They are low paid employees, serving you something. My husband worked at McDonalds as a teen. Would have blisters from being on his feet all day, burns on his hands, and had to spend a many very early mornings unloading a semi truck of heavy boxes. He made pennies. But people like that don't need tips?

I guess that's whats so silly to me. How for some low paying jobs they don't deserve tips, but others are worthy of such sympathy. Oh well, I guess that's why it's a personal choice. I just find the "rules" of who gets it and who doesn't to not make a lick of sense. lol Cause if it's about low wages, and working hard to provide you a service, we'd all best be digging a lot deeper in to our wallets!

Oh and I absolutely would take a job like housekeeping if we needed the money. In fact I once applied locally at a few big hotels, never got a call back though.

 

[rainyday77]

Frankly, if I'm paying $300 a night for a hotel, I expect them to pay their employees decently. At the very least I'm expecting a clean room, without having to pay more. Tipping was always meant for service that goes above and beyond. Not for just doing their job, and not because they make a low wage. They shouldn't clean any differently based on tips either. They should do their job regardless.

I personally think tipping has gotten out of hand, and it seems like everyone is expecting it now days. I can understand if you had a huge mess for them to clean (like in the case of a stomach flu). But to just make the beds, empty the trash cans, and fix up the towels? That's what they get their paycheck for. Not saying it's the easiest job. Neither is a lot of low paying jobs, that don't get tips. Sorry, not the most popular opinion I'm sure. But it's mine.

Well stated!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Sometimes a waitress of ours will only do just that. Someone else brings our food, and someone else clears our plates. All they do is simply bring us a drink refill. Yet they get quite the handsome tip.

But by the logic that many people give about tipping, I guess you should tip at places like Sonic. They are low paid employees, serving you something. My husband worked at McDonalds as a teen. Would have blisters from being on his feet all day, burns on his hands, and had to spend a many very early mornings unloading a semi truck of heavy boxes. He made pennies. But people like that don't need tips?

I guess that's whats so silly to me. How for some low paying jobs they don't deserve tips, but others are worthy of such sympathy. Oh well, I guess that's why it's a personal choice. I just find the "rules" of who gets it and who doesn't to not make a lick of sense. lol Cause if it's about low wages, and working hard to provide you a service, we'd all best be digging a lot deeper in to our wallets!

Oh and I absolutely would take a job like housekeeping if we needed the money. In fact I once applied locally at a few big hotels, never got a call back though.

The people who bring out the food are doing so to get you your food faster. In places like that, the waiter usually splits the tip with everyone.

I agree. Tipping can be sorta..confusing. I tip for my pricey haircut/colors...yet we don't tip barrista's or mcdonalds employees. Ice cream places have tip jars now too. Hmmmm

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

I am educated and work hard for my money so I choose to spend it on creating magical memories for my children and saving for their education so they don't have debt after completing their university degrees. So yes, I can 'truly afford' the experience but also don't believe that I should have to pay someone's salary. You know what you are getting into going into the service industry and if you want more from your career then get a student loan and get a university degree so you can make a decent wage.

It is a matter of personal opinion and you shouldn't be condescending to those with different opinions.

Sorry if you feel I was condescending, it was not intended no matter how much I disagree.

I am college educated with two degrees but for a living I own a small landscaping business where I am one of the laborers. Not a very thankful job but thankfully we are not dependent upon tips. It's currently 94 degrees out with 80+% humidity so I don't need to be lectured on working hard for my money.

The service industry workers probably do indeed know what "they're getting into" when they start their job but has been pointed out here many times already, often times they are DEPENDENT upon tips to make it.

It's OK for people to base everything they do, everything they think, everything they do on the dollar if they choose, to justify why you can or can't or will or won't tip. This is truly all of our rights. In my humble opinion, however, it isn't a very charitable way for those 'who have' to live their lives.

 

[Frivi]

I think someone else said here that they tip for services where the person is doing something for you personally -- waiting, room cleaning, carrying bags, etc., that's generally the rule I was taught to follow.

My parents always taught me to start with the tip already in mind, and that's only reduced if the service is just particularly bad (for example, in restaurants I was taught to figure a 20% tip automatically and then adjust from there based on the service). We're a working class family ourselves, but I guess I always thought of it like if you're so broke you can't pay an extra few dollars to the person who waited on you the entire time, you really can't afford the meal. I've been that broke, and I didn't go out xD

Maybe it's easy to say "well it's a fancy hotel, their employer should be paying them", or "they should have gone to college", but frankly none of us know these peoples' situations, and whether or not you or I tip them is not going to solve the societal problems of the working class. The reality is that it will probably be under $20 to tip housekeeping by the end of your stay (going by the 1 or 2 dollar rule), and just like with restaurants, personally if I can't afford an extra $20 for some tips, I probably really shouldn't be taking this kind of vacation in the first place

I really don't think about any of the larger issues or rules surrounding tipping when I do it, honestly, I just like to think that maybe that extra dollar brightened someone's day. It's classy, it's kind, and who knows, maybe it was the last dollar for their college fund

I LOVE the decorated envelope idea, I saw that a while ago on these boards and thought it was so cute, so I'm planning to make some in advance before we go on our trip.

 

[Saylan]

Frivi, I'd love to see what designs you come up with. I'm having a lot of fun with it (more so than some of my planning, blasphemy, I know! ).

 

[Frivi]

I am probably having more fun putting all of the planning materials together than thinking about the actual trip xD I have all of these color-coded word documents with notes about all of the different "lands". I'll have to post pictures when I do the envelopes for sure ^^

 

[cgh]

We always tip a little at sonic if they bring food to our car.

As for the "they could go get a student loan and a college education." I would imagine that's the case with many people in the service industry. It's tough out there to get a job.

I've seen many articles about college kids coming out and bartending, or waitressing. Heck, when I graduated from college I worked in a restaurant before I got my first white collar job.(and in retail).

But, what their educational level is is neither here nor there because does it really make a difference? If someone with a PHD cleaned your room, or you knew they were struggling to pay off some student loans, would that make a difference? I don't think so.

The issue is more do you (or anyone) think services should be tipped, and if so, which ones?

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

We always tip a little at sonic if they bring food to our car.

Ooooh to be clear, I DO tip when they bring it out to my car. They've earned it..esp when they're skating. I just didn't go there often back then..now that there's a drive up window where I get the food right from the window, I don't tip. . . but now I wonder where the line is LOL Skates?

I call that everyone who wants a tip rollerskates so we know who feels they deserve one

 

[Susie63]

Just to stir the pot a little more... I even took the now famous Olympic mittens when we went the week before the Olympics last year as a gift for the housekeeper, and pinned the mousekeeping envelope to them.
Although why people need mittens in California is still a mystery to me

 

[bumbershoot]

The Dobies usually leave a 50 dollar bill for mousekeeping on our last morning (after a 5 night stay.)

These women work much, much, much harder than the people who bring us our food, and we don't think twice about leaving a 10 dollar tip for a waiter.

Most hotel housekeepers pool their tips, so IMHO it averages out.

From what I've learned here, Housekeeping is a Union job, and officially is a NON-tipped position. Since that's their official stance (so I've learned), they might not actually have such a policy in place.

Before doing that in the future, you might ask the front desk if tips are pooled or not, because I have a pretty strong feeling that you've been giving the person who cleans *for the next guest* a really nice tip, while possibly accidentally giving the person or people that cleaned *for you* nothing.




From a Disney site!

The starting rate for a Housekeeping Cast Member is $8.89/hour to $10.00/hour.

I find that to be good info to have.

 

[skiingfast]

The starting rate for a Housekeeping Cast Member is $8.89/hour to $10.00/hour.

A while back during one of the union strikes, this might of been a couple years ago the average annual wage was $20,800 after one year equates to $10.40 an hour. Minimum wage was probably less than the current $8 which equates to $16,000 a year.

 

[twopeasonepod]

Wow, tipping threads do cause quite a stir.....

I tip $10/day, and I do it happily. I also tip the turn down person ($3-5) and give Mousekeeping chocolate covered macadamia nuts that we bring from home. In the grand scheme of things, am I REALLY going to be so shallow about tipping? We stay for 10 nights btw -- I want to make my travel time worthwhile.

I have a doctorate, but before grad school, I was a food server for many years. I know what it feels like to be on the other side. But in the end, we are all JUST PEOPLE anyway. And I appreciate PEOPLE and what they do for me, so I tip. If you don't want to, then don't. It's the fact that people are saying Mousekeeping doesn't DESERVE tips that bugs me.

 

[larina]

We tip Mousekeeping everyday and in my experience, it pays off.

 

[hellotoyou]

Ditto ... everyday .... as we have had different mousekeepers during our stays.

 

[cmwade77]

In general, I will tip housekeeping only if either I made a mess that they had to clean up (i.e. I spilled something, got sick, etc.) or they did something that went above and beyond the normal service that I would expect from that level of hotel. I determined that this is the only way to do this after a trip with my family to All Star Sports at WDW, we left a tip every day fo the first few days. They never left a towel animal, nothing and I think they only refilled the soaps and shampoos twice in a 10 night stay, even when they were clearly empty. In addition the rooms were never vacuumed and when we checked out my dad had to move the bed in their room because they had something fall behind it, when he did so he found a receipt on the floor from someone that had stayed there one year earlier, meaning that bed had never been moved in a year. Please note that I called housekeeping daily to request a deep cleaning because my parents room smelled like smoke (they were sold out and couldn't move us) and I even specifically asked that they put some towel animals in their room as it was their first trip. I asked for supervisors, etc. I even had our TA call (yes, it got that bad) and she got nowhere. To be fair to Disney though, I called and emailed when we got home and they gave us a letter that is good for two nights in two rooms that never expires.

Bellhops, I will tip if I have a lot bags or they are delivering it to my room or picking up from my room. Otherwise, they are just doing their job that they get paid by the hotel to do, why should I be giving them more money when I am already paying the by paying for the hotel? Another example of when I felt a tip was warranted was when my family was here, my mom was in a wheelchair and they helped with loading it on and strapping it down when we went to Universal and helped with getting it off when we came back. To me that is going above and beyond and deserves to be rewarded.