opinions please--mousekeeping

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Just got back from a trip to Disney World (yay!!!) and there is a stupid thing about the trip that has been bothering me for days and I want opinions. I opted out of housekeeping, which I normally do anyway, but the resort offered me a $60 gift card as an incentive and I was happy with that.

We requested towels 3 times during the course of our stay, and asked them to pick up the trash once but that was it. They never changed our sheets or stepped over the threshold of our room for the whole stay. (Well, they entered the room just about every day to do a room check--which is apparently a thing now--but that is a discussion for another thread.) So at checkout I was stumped about how much tip to leave. What would you leave under those circumstances?

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I only left $6 because it was that or a $20 and I couldn't stomach leaving that much tip for a service that wasn't rendered but now I'm feeling guilty about the $6 tip.

 

[Judique]

Just got back from a trip to Disney World (yay!!!) and there is a stupid thing about the trip that has been bothering me for days and I want opinions. I opted out of housekeeping, which I normally do anyway, but the resort offered me a $60 gift card as an incentive and I was happy with that.

We requested towels 3 times during the course of our stay, and asked them to pick up the trash once but that was it. They never changed our sheets or stepped over the threshold of our room for the whole stay. (Well, they entered the room just about every day to do a room check--which is apparently a thing now--but that is a discussion for another thread.) So at checkout I was stumped about how much tip to leave. What would you leave under those circumstances?

Nothing much, probably. I would have tipped the towel delivery. Maybe a token few dollars.

 

[Judique]

I only left $6 because it was that or a $20 and I couldn't stomach leaving that much tip for a service that wasn't rendered but now I'm feeling guilty about the $6 tip.

I would be thinking in terms of one cleaning and $6 would have been fine unless you left a horrible mess. I always try to keep our rooms as tidy as possible and make sure trash is in the trash and dirty towels are in the tub.

 

[Alesia]

I wouldn't have left anything. That's very minimal service and it's not a tipped position anyway.

 

[robinb]

I would have left $1 per person per day cleaned. Your room was cleaned once before you checked in so I would have left $3. I *might* have a couple more because of the towel deliveries so I would say between $3-$5. $6 was just fine.

 

[tvguy]

I wouldn't have left anything. That's very minimal service and it's not a tipped position anyway.

That would be my view, but after 15+ years on this board it seems that many do tip at WDW resort. So I left a $20 tip after a 5 night stay at the Grand Floridian. Only time in my 60 years I have left a tip for hotel housekeeping.

 

[goodeats]

I would have tipped a dollar or two per towel delivery, but that's it.

 

[Alesia]

That would be my view, but after 15+ years on this board it seems that many do tip at WDW resort. So I left a $20 tip after a 5 night stay at the Grand Floridian. Only time in my 60 years I have left a tip for hotel housekeeping.

Oh, don't get me wrong -- if I have them clean the room, I tip them. But if I just need a few towels dropped off, I don't.

I think of it like this: if I get coffee at my local coffee shop, I'll throw some money in the tip jar. I know they make above minimum wage, but just barely, and the extra ~$1 isn't going to break me. On the other hand, if I go in and ask for a water and they just hand me a cup and tell me to help myself, I don't feel the need to tip.

 

[StageTek]

I tip on the first day not the last. I don't look at tipping as helping people rise above their current wage - I see it as an acknowledgement of good service. If the mousekeeping service is good (or excellent) during my stay I leave a tip every day and a little more on the last day. If they are not doing the bare minimum they don't get another tip from me. In your case, MrsCobraBubbles, I would have left nothing.

 

[loves to dive]

That would be my view, but after 15+ years on this board it seems that many do tip at WDW resort. So I left a $20 tip after a 5 night stay at the Grand Floridian. Only time in my 60 years I have left a tip for hotel housekeeping.

We rarely do it either, we have been known to do it if we get really good service but otherwise we don't. If it's possible to say no housekeeping for a couple of days we do and it doesn't matter if we get an incentive or not. I just don't need it every day, I keep the room pretty clean and don't always make my bed at home so don't see any reason it has to be done every day on vacation.

 

[ajwolfe]

I would have left nothing. Maybe would have tipped the towel delivery person but otherwise not. I know tipping is HUGE on this board so I'm sure I'm going against the norm with my answer.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

That would be my view, but after 15+ years on this board it seems that many do tip at WDW resort. So I left a $20 tip after a 5 night stay at the Grand Floridian. Only time in my 60 years I have left a tip for hotel housekeeping.

What I usually do on vacation is let the front desk know at check-in that I don't want daily housekeeping and that I will call when I want them. Then I hang the do not disturb sign on the door and go about my business. Usually I will just call for towels or toiletries as needed, but for a long trip I might request that the bedding be changed 4 or 5 days in. I do this because I like to clean the room to my own satisfaction and I don't want housekeeping coming to mess that up--I bring my own cleaning products on vacation because I am a slightly neurotic germaphobe Then at the end of the trip I tip about $4-5 per day that the room was cleaned by housekeeping--so $5 for the day that I ask for the sheets to be changed and then $5 for whoever is cleaning the room after we check out, for a total of $10, would be typical. Sleeping on dirty sheets really bothered me by our 5th day, I probably won't opt out of housekeeping like that on a long trip ever again.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

... I'm confused. You opted out of Mousekeeping and you are feeling like they "didn't come in and clean the room"? Of course they didn't... you opted out of Mousekeeping AND took a $60 gc for the opportunity to do so.

 

[Malibustyle23]

... I'm confused. You opted out of Mousekeeping and you are feeling like they "didn't come in and clean the room"? Of course they didn't... you opted out of Mousekeeping AND took a $60 gc for the opportunity to do so.

That wasn't the point of their post and or the question at all. She/he was asking about tipping.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

I probably would have tipped the towel delivery and the $6 at the end but that's really it. I was always taught no matter where you stay it's $2 per person per day the room is serviced. Plus mousekeeping is not a position that relies on tips like wait staff. A friend who was a mousekeeper said they don't expect tips, unless you completely trashed the place and those people usually don't leave them anyhow. It's nice to get them but they're not expected.

 

[Sagginit]

I would have done the same. Tipping I treat on a case by case basis at hotels, and don't always follow a specific rule or formula. I generally tip now in part because we have a toddler and we leave a lot more garbage with diapers/food containers than a normal guest nor do we have the time to ensure every dirty towel ends up in the tub or all tissues off the ground before we leave. Before if I stayed at a motel for just one night and the room was left tidy, I wouldn't tip as its housekeeping's job to change sheets and wipe down surfaces between guests.

I never let myself feel bad or cheap for not tipping housekeeping to others standards as I know this is a job with an hourly wage and tips are just extra. I also worked in retail when I was younger often going "above and beyond" for customers as it was a company value, but never expected tips. It does show you how much housekeeping costs them in hourly wages though that they are giving you a $60 GC and they are still coming out ahead. That in itself is an indication the workers are paid a fair wage

 

[imbatman]

I never let myself feel bad or cheap for not tipping housekeeping to others standards as I know this is a job with an hourly wage and tips are just extra.

THIS.

Thank you for voicing what I've always felt. I don't tip housekeeping/mousekeeping when we've stayed. We straighten our beds (this was prior to the GC offers to forego), put our used towels in one pile, and placed our garbage in the trash cans. On my main log-in, I was shredded by people who called me cheap, pointing out that it's a minimum wage job. I was taught tipping was for something above and beyond.

 

[Shanti]

I would tip $10 dollars total for the towel delivery and trash removal that hiusekeeping performed during your stay.

 

[Shanti]

I was taught tipping was for something above and beyond.

Giving a large tip is for something above and beyond. Giving a regular tip is part of the standard cost of service at restaurants and hotels. It's a standard part of their pay.