Question regardign tipping for turn-down service!

[Wendy_Darling_2001]

Hi,
We leave next week for WDW which will include our first Concierge stay at the Polynesian. We are so excited! This will be our first time experiencing nightly turn-down service. How much do we tip (am i correct that the people who do turn-down are not your daily housekeepers?) and how would you leave the tip? For example, if we are not in our room all day, how could we leave tips for both the housekeeping and turn-down?

Thanks everyone,

Wendy

 

[TammiMcMan]

We were in GF concierge last month and I kept the tips in seperate envelopes. The boards had a great suggestion on keeping my kids busy pre-trip, by decorating each envelope. I'd note on each envelope either Mousekeeping or Turn-down. Each day I would leave the Mousekeeping envelope in the bathroom and the Turn-down on the nightstand. We had 3 beds in the room and I tipped $3 to turn-down each evening. They always arranged my DD's stuffed animals very cutely on the bed. It was a nice touch.

Tammi

 

[Wendy_Darling_2001]

Thanks Tammi!

You answered all my questions! Guess I need to get to work preparing those envelopes!!


Wendy

 

[TammiMcMan]

Glad to have helped Wendy. I think I actually enjoyed decorating the envelopes even more than the kids. I found it so relaxing and it was a great stress reliever. Not once did I think about the laundry I was supposed to be doing, or what child I had to pack for next. I just picked up those colored pencils and stickers and let my mind wander.

I didn't mention in my earlier post, but I actually put all the tip money inside the envelopes before we left. That way I wasn't scrounging around for $1 bills each morning at the hotel. I just dropped the envelopes into our room safe when we checked in and took out the ones I needed for each day.

Hope you have a wonderful stay at the Poly.

Tammi

 

[WDW2002]

Just curious (or maybe it is me being cynical) but how do you know the Maid doesn't take both envelopes??

And by paying the $$$ for conceriege aren't you already paying for the turn down, why do you need to tip??

 

[TammiMcMan]

In speaking with some of the housekeeping staff members at the RPC, it didn't appear they made any more money by working in concierge than in the other buildings. The cm's that are compensated extra for being in concierge are not allowed to accept tips. As to the reason I tip, it may be part of the service to turn down the comforter on the bed, but it goes beyond that when she takes time to arrange my daughters stuffed animals in cute positions around the room, or leaving us extra chocolates. She even stopped by on her last night to thank us and make sure that she had all of our needs noted for the following nights staff person. I think that was a special touch.

As for who in housekeeping was picking up the envelopes, well I out right asked. A couple of evenings I would run into the woman turning down our beds and I asked if her envelope had been left in a convenient spot. We only left out both envelopes when we knew we would be gone for the whole day, otherwise I did keep them seperate.

During our stay, I saw a guest who presented one of the gentleman on the lounge staff a rose for his lapel. She felt that he had gone above and beyond his assigned duties and he wouldn't accept a tip, so she showed her appreciation this way. A simple gesture, but he was beaming the rest of the afternoon. It was a nice Disney moment.

Tipping is such a strange thing, it's so personal. There was a thread about this subject not too long ago on the boards and people were very defensive. Everyone has their own set of guidelines and mine are usually towards tipping what I consider to be excellent service.

Tammi

 

[minster22]

We had never had the wonderful experience of turndown service until our last stay at the BWI. A relative of one of our best friends works at the resort and this was one of the very special things he did for us...set up to have the turndown service each night. We were not sure just how and when to tip for this. It seemed to be the same woman each evening and we gave her a tip at the end of our stay.A couple of questions... Can we request this each evening at any deluxe resort? How do you usually tip? Do you leave it nightly on either the bedside table as TammiMcMan did or just on the bed? Do you call housekeeping to request this? Can we have this in the "Home Away From Home" resorts [we are staying on point]? Thank you for your help!

 

[Disney-Kim]

We have always received turn down service while staying at the deluxe resorts. I think sometimes you have to ask.

 

[jgates]

I didn't even think about tipping turn-down when we were at the Swan (SORRY!). I know one evening near the end I left the tip out for housekeeping so I wouldn't forget it in the morning and when we came back from supper & beds were turned down it was gone.

I was like, HUH? I guess I would not have left as much for turn-down as housekeeping - I may be interpreting wrong but I don't think there is as much work involved. (We didn't have the stuff like animals to be arranged, etc).

 

[TammiMcMan]

Typically, we were never in our rooms after housekeeping came. If we were, it was only to change clothes. For that fact, I left $3 each evening for turn-down (there were 3 beds). What I left for housekeeping varied, but as there were 5 of us staying in the room, I used that as my starting point. For normal housekeeping service, I left $5, but if we were particularly messy, I would adjust it up. In the past, I always waited until the end of the week, but from reading these boards, it was pointed out that staff members do change during the week. That's why I took the advice of making envelopes for each day. As to where we placed the tip, if we were going to be out of the room all day, I put the envelope on the night table between the beds. It was clearly marked for Turn-down services. If we were in the room after housekeeping, then I would place it on the bed.

Tammi