Mousekeeping

[WEDWDW]

I count myself lucky that I do not have to clean rooms for a living.

No doubt!

And I know that if I did have to work that job,gestures of appreciation by Guests would MAKE MY DAY!

 

[WEDWDW]

I've had housekeepers thank me personally and it's almost embarrassing they can be so happy about an extra $5.

I think besides a tip helping them financially,I think it makes them really feel APPRECIATED in a mostly thankless job.

 

[thaggie1]

I wish there was an unlike button here

I would guess housekeeping is expected to clean at least 4 rooms an hour on average. 4 rooms at a $5/room tip ($20) + minimum wage ($7.25)= $27.25/hr. Not too shabby considering the going rate for in home child care for multiple children is half that where I live.

You are assuming 100% of the guests tip. I think Disboarders are more likely to tip. But even so I bet less only a 1/4 of them do tip and I bet the rate of regular travelers is far less! Even with an occasional tip I feel very confident that a housekeeper at Disney would not be able to afford a Disney vacation.

I personally tip very well for good service and poorly for bad service but make sure the person knows that I feel my tip is commiserate with their service.

I applaude those who can think outside the box (aka only tipping standard positions requiring tips) to show appreciation for a thankless job. Besides who do you think leaves those towel animals on your bed every night.

In my experience at Disney showing someone a little appreciation is truly appreciated and these people will in turn make your stay more enjoyable.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I wish there was an unlike button here



You are assuming 100% of the guests tip. I think Disboarders are more likely to tip. But even so I bet less only a 1/4 of them do tip and I bet the rate of regular travelers is far less! Even with an occasional tip I feel very confident that a housekeeper at Disney would not be able to afford a Disney vacation.

I personally tip very well for good service and poorly for bad service but make sure the person knows that I feel my tip is commiserate with their service.

I applaude those who can think outside the box (aka only tipping standard positions requiring tips) to show appreciation for a thankless job. Besides who do you think leaves those towel animals on your bed every night.

In my experience at Disney showing someone a little appreciation is truly appreciated and these people will in turn make your stay more enjoyable.

Respectfully I'm going to disagree that they are more likely to tip. With over 500,000 members (though of course not all active members who post often) it's hard to say that you're more likely to tip by virtue of being a DIS board member if all you ever visit is the craft boards or the collectors boards, the movies board, the photography board, etc where tipping is unlikely to be brought up and not only that we all come from different backgrounds, different countries, different cultures so to me that's a hard thing to assume that because you've joined the DIS you're more likely to tip.

A tidbit I've learned it not tipping your housekeeper is frowned upon by the masses of the boards according to these boards. There are people who are totally cool with no tipping but really....start a thread and say no way no how do I tip mousekeeping and see how positive that turns out.

 

[Jaimie1911]

We leave about $5/day with a note that says for Housekeeping. The last day we leave $20 bc it's a bigger clean up.

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, you're going to get some varied answers here. Housekeeping at WDW is not considered, by Disney, to be a tipped position. So, you aren't 'expected' to tip. But, you can if you choose to. Most people will leave $1 a day, pp in the room. If I'm alone and want housekeeping (sometimes I don't, so hang out the 'privacy please' hanger), I'll leave $3 a day, but when I travel with my dh it's usually about the same because we are extremely neat! Some wait until the end of the stay and leave one lump sum. But, then only the housekeeper that cleans your room on checkout day gets the tip...those in there every day get nothing. Housekeepers change during the week, so you may very possibly not have the same housekeeper over the weekend that you had during the week.
Most here will suggest leaving something each day.

I think that was the best, most complete, answer.

I always leave a Thank You note for housekeeping with the money. I address the note to Housekeeping because I understand that is what they are really called.
(I believe that 'Mousekeeping' is a Disboards term, and have read that some people leaving envelopes addressed that way did not have their tips taken. It is a cute term but could lead to confusion, IMO.)

YES.

When we have housekeeping in I use a piece of notepaper and write "for Housekeeping, thank you" and wrap the money up in it. I generally put it in front of the TV, after clearing things away from the area.

I stopped at the front desk, explained my issues, and got this response 'Well, I'll let the manager know. Is there anything else I can do for you?'. No one seemed very upset about it.

Ah, Kidani, how I dislike you...

 

[iheartbelle87]

Agree with everyone... we leave $2-$3 a day when there is two of us. We aren't particularly messy and I try to pick up our Personal items before they come in so they don't trip over my flip flops or find phone chargers in the bed, etc. some days we just ask for clean towels. When we went in 2014 DH had his work laptop with us and he insisted on bringing it with us if mousekeepig hadnt cleaned the room yet lol

 

[goofy4tink]

I would guess housekeeping is expected to clean at least 4 rooms an hour on average. 4 rooms at a $5/room tip ($20) + minimum wage ($7.25)= $27.25/hr. Not too shabby considering the going rate for in home child care for multiple children is half that where I live.

Minimum wage in Fl is $10 an hour! And only the new housekeepers are making min wage! Those that have been there for awhile are making much more!
Like I said, I tip if I've received something extraordinary! But because someone came in, took away used towels (even though I had hung them to reuse them), wipe down the vanity and leave new toiletries, um, not so awful. I refuse to tip someone because another guest may be a pig and leave their room in a shambles!!
I have to agree, the tipping mentality in this country has gone nuts!! I go to the ice cream stand and they're looking for tips!

 

[steviethegreat]

As someone who works for a touch more than $10 per hour, I can say that $10 is not a lot of money. And that's BEFORE taxes. If people leave gross dishes in my sink at home, I am not touching them. I do my own laundry, but I don't want to touch any one else's. And if someone's made a mess in our bathroom, it's their responsibility to clean it up. $10 per hour is not enough money for -me- to clean up after my own family at home, where we live, let alone clean up after several families QUICKLY, per hour. And the rooms all vastly vary in difficult. Some people clean up after themselves and some people leave their stuff everywhere.

Think of how many taxes are taken out of each paycheck. It's a LOT. At least for me, it is. And while $10 per hour 'sounds' like a lot, it's not. Before I tip anyone, I think about what they've had to do for the service I'm being provided. And then I tip appropriately. Is throwing a dollar in at the ice cream stand going to kill me? Just like there's a jar up at Chipotle. I tip them whenever I have change because they work like crazy.

If you don't want to tip, don't. But don't think their job is easy just because you made your bed.

 

[WEDWDW]

If you don't want to tip, don't.

Exactly-no big deal.

I,personally,don't think any less of someone who doesn't tip Housekeeping-it is just a personal choice either way.

If Disney was against it,they could easily "shut it down".

What I don't understand is why a Guest who doesn't tip Housekeeping would give a second thought about those that do tip.

If I didn't tip,I would still be "happy" that Housekeeping was getting tips from some even though I didn't feel it necessary myself-it wouldn't "bother" me what other Guests were doing.

 

[goofy4tink]

As someone who works for a touch more than $10 per hour, I can say that $10 is not a lot of money. And that's BEFORE taxes. If people leave gross dishes in my sink at home, I am not touching them. I do my own laundry, but I don't want to touch any one else's. And if someone's made a mess in our bathroom, it's their responsibility to clean it up. $10 per hour is not enough money for -me- to clean up after my own family at home, where we live, let alone clean up after several families QUICKLY, per hour. And the rooms all vastly vary in difficult. Some people clean up after themselves and some people leave their stuff everywhere.

Think of how many taxes are taken out of each paycheck. It's a LOT. At least for me, it is. And while $10 per hour 'sounds' like a lot, it's not. Before I tip anyone, I think about what they've had to do for the service I'm being provided. And then I tip appropriately. Is throwing a dollar in at the ice cream stand going to kill me? Just like there's a jar up at Chipotle. I tip them whenever I have change because they work like crazy.

If you don't want to tip, don't. But don't think their job is easy just because you made your bed.

You're right, it's my choice. And no, $10 an hour isn't a huge amount of money. The funny thing is that I've read posts from DCP kids that are in housekeeping, and they say how much they like it!! They say it's not really as bad as many people think.
My dd is a DCP, in attractions. Based on some of her guest experiences, I'm sure she would rather be in housekeeping!

It's everyone's choice as to whether or not to tip. I know Disney's official stand on this, so I respond with it when asked. As to them shutting it down? Sure, I guess they could. I have actually had housekeepers that didn't take the tip I left....and that happened the entire stay at Pop!!! Go figure. I had a terrific housekeeper, she went the extra mile, so to speak! I wanted her to know that I appreciated what she had done to make our stay special. But, she didn't take it!! So, I went to the lobby, and spoke to a CM, telling them how wonderful our housekeeper was. The CM was shocked, thanked me, profusely, for taking the time to stop and said the comments would go into the housekeepers permanent file.

 

[Roxyfire]

I don't like to take housekeeping every day, we just don't need it with 2 of us. But every couple days I'll take it and then leave $5 because its a little extra work to catch up.

 

[bumbershoot]

Minimum wage in Fl is $10 an hour!

I'm seeing non-server minimum is $8.10 as of this year.

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/florida-s-minimum-wage-rate-increases-72355/

http://www.wtxl.com/news/florida-s-...cle_f59ac0b6-cee1-11e6-8613-e72d555b342f.html

This source shows different cities, and in Miami it's $10.13. Not FL as a whole.

https://www.thebalance.com/2017-federal-state-minimum-wage-rates-2061043

 

[WhispyPixie]

For our party of 3, we tip a total of $6 per day. I pre-make and fill envelopes before we leave home and then add a little note each day. I thank them for any "extras" they do like towel animals, extra soaps....etc. We are not messy peope, but I think that if we are spending thousands on a trip $30 to $40 additional monies given for a job well done is reasonable. Our most recent trip, we had a chance to meet the sweet lady who was our mousekeeper. She made a point of stopping me as we were leaving one morning to tell us how much she appreciated "her envelopes". We go to Disney and always love it when extra pixie dust and magic happens. We also like being apart of the pixie dust for someone else!

 

[Lynne M]

This thread is closed.

For future reference: Tipping threads are not prohibited on this board. It's fine to ask what others' tipping customs are. It's fine to post how much you tip, or that you prefer not to tip. But once we get into endless debates over minimum wage policy, or arguing with others over their personal choice to tip or not, you can count on the thread being closed.