Tip the VIP tour guide?

[DVC-Don]

My daughter worked both the College Intern Program and Professional Intern Program, but was not a tour guide. She did tell us about the three time tip offer rule that she had to abide to, but she had to turn any tips in to her supervisor or face termination if she did not. The supervisors pooled any tips and funded a lunch/dinner in the break rooms once and a while. Not sure if this applies to tour guides.

 

[21stamps]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ride-Delegate-Memoir-Disney/dp/1941500099

• Plus, you'll learn about the perks and privileges of being a VIP Tour Guide, from corn dogs to illicit cash, and the lengths to which Disney will go to keep its VIP guests happy

We have had numerous VIP guides. Our most recent was April 2015 and our confirmation ( and all the others we have ever received) clearly states that tipping is not permitted. However, this said SOME will accept tips and it does not take 3 offers. Always possible that this has changed since April but if tipping is not allowed it should be on your confirmation with all the other info about what they can and cannot do. I have seen conflicting reports on this as well so always possible that it changed. I would still refer to your confirmation or call the number provided on the confirmation.

Thanks for the replies. We'll have to check out the book baler31 recommends on Amazon! I just reviewed our confirmation letter, which was sent in April, and it indicates that VIP Tour Guides cannot accept gratuities. I was just curious if this was something that people ignored and went ahead and tipped anyway. Given the total cost of the activity, my initial preference would be not to tip. But perhaps by the end of the tour, my opinion will change.

Hi will you update me on this? We may be doing a vip tour on Black Friday this year, the woman I spoke with and the email that she sent both say that gratuities are not accepted. Can I offer 100-200? Or is that too cheap? The cost of the tour is $450 per hour, I would rather not tip 20% since it doesn't appear to be expected, but I also don't want to be rude.

 

[Keyser]

Must resist getting dragged into a tipping discussion.... Must resist..... AAaaah, I can't do it!

I must be missing something, but why are some of you trying to tip people who are doing their job in an "untipped" position, even when told explicitly that you are not to tip them? I mean, these are positions where they are not supposed to be tipped - they are (presumably) paid a decent wage, and tips are not meant to be a part of that wage. They tell you not to tip. The person is trained to refuse tips. Why on earth would you say "no, I know better, I'm going to give you money anyway"?!?!?

To be clear, I have no problem tipping waiters, bell services, valets, etc. that are in positions where tips are an expected part of their income. And I know that lots of OTHER tour guides make much of their living off of tips - I have no problem tipping them. If Disney intended these tour guides to be tipped, they could very easily make those tipped positions, but they don't. Why would you deliberately try to go around their employment arrangement and tip them anyway - I just don't understand it. The result is that you end up with situations like the previous poster who now thinks it would be rude NOT to tip $100-200!!!

 

[21stamps]

Must resist getting dragged into a tipping discussion.... Must resist..... AAaaah, I can't do it!

I must be missing something, but why are some of you trying to tip people who are doing their job in an "untipped" position, even when told explicitly that you are not to tip them? I mean, these are positions where they are not supposed to be tipped - they are (presumably) paid a decent wage, and tips are not meant to be a part of that wage. They tell you not to tip. The person is trained to refuse tips. Why on earth would you say "no, I know better, I'm going to give you money anyway"?!?!?

To be clear, I have no problem tipping waiters, bell services, valets, etc. that are in positions where tips are an expected part of their income. And I know that lots of OTHER tour guides make much of their living off of tips - I have no problem tipping them. If Disney intended these tour guides to be tipped, they could very easily make those tipped positions, but they don't. Why would you deliberately try to go around their employment arrangement and tip them anyway - I just don't understand it. The result is that you end up with situations like the previous poster who now thinks it would be rude NOT to tip $100-200!!!

The reason I'm asking is bc every other tour guide I've ever had, anywhere, received a tip from me. It was always "optional" and some people would tip, some wouldn't.

I was surprised in another thread on here that some people said they do not tip mousekeeping, or any housekeeping at hotels - to me I've always thought it was standard.

As for the VIP tour- if it's 20% that will factor into my decision on if I will do the tour, I've read other people say they tip an hour's rate- which would also heavily influence my decision. If I can do $0- WONDERFUL! But I feel like I should offer something- and based on the cost of the 7 hours- I didn't know if 100 or 200 would be something different than what they were used to receiving.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

I am NOT going to tell people what or how much to tip anyone in ANY position. It's your life and you are MORE than welcome to tip or not tip anyone you encounter no matter their position.

We have done the Disney VIP Tour (prior to residing in Orlando) five times. Each time we were here for one week (seven days). We had no issues tipping our guide(s) $100 per day. We were just my wife and I plus our tour guide.

Each time, we only had two guides for our week long trips. Not sure if they try to do that or not. Though it made it much nicer as each guide knew what we wanted and not wanted to do, eat, see, etc. All of our guides were awesome!

 

[Kidanifan08]

Must resist getting dragged into a tipping discussion.... Must resist..... AAaaah, I can't do it!

I must be missing something, but why are some of you trying to tip people who are doing their job in an "untipped" position, even when told explicitly that you are not to tip them? I mean, these are positions where they are not supposed to be tipped - they are (presumably) paid a decent wage, and tips are not meant to be a part of that wage. They tell you not to tip. The person is trained to refuse tips. Why on earth would you say "no, I know better, I'm going to give you money anyway"?!?!? ---SNIP ---

Why would you deliberately try to go around their employment arrangement and tip them anyway - I just don't understand it. The result is that you end up with situations like the previous poster who now thinks it would be rude NOT to tip $100-200!!!

I can see your point. This is not a tipped position; and they tell you not to tip. But honestly, I doubt this is a well-paid position. And, the tour guide reminded us of a niece who was just out of college. These tours are not cheap and they are fun and informative. If the time is enjoyable, it makes you feel good to offer the tour guide a little "bonus" for enhancing your vacation, even if you paid a lot of money for that enhancement.

The reason I'm asking is bc every other tour guide I've ever had, anywhere, received a tip from me. It was always "optional" and some people would tip, some wouldn't.

I was surprised in another thread on here that some people said they do not tip mousekeeping, or any housekeeping at hotels - to me I've always thought it was standard.

As for the VIP tour- if it's 20% that will factor into my decision on if I will do the tour, I've read other people say they tip an hour's rate- which would also heavily influence my decision. If I can do $0- WONDERFUL! But I feel like I should offer something- and based on the cost of the 7 hours- I didn't know if 100 or 200 would be something different than what they were used to receiving.

I think you can do what you feel comfortable with. I can't remember what we gave our tour guide, but it was not more than $100. She was surprised by the gesture, but I don't think we experienced the "three times no" rule. She entertained my 9 year old, my 20-something nieces and nephew and my wife and we felt special, so I was happy to give her a little bonus. I think a fixed percentage of the tour is way too much, and we only paid about $350/hr for 6 hours as opposed to $450/hr. $100 bucks for these kids is a great little bonus and I am sure much appreciated. Heck -- $50 is probably appreciated. If you get to the end and do not feel like you got your money's worth, then don't give anything. They apparently are not expecting it.

 

[21stamps]

I am NOT going to tell people what or how much to tip anyone in ANY position. It's your life and you are MORE than welcome to tip or not tip anyone you encounter no matter their position.

We have done the Disney VIP Tour (prior to residing in Orlando) five times. Each time we were here for one week (seven days). We had no issues tipping our guide(s) $100 per day. We were just my wife and I plus our tour guide.

Each time, we only had two guides for our week long trips. Not sure if they try to do that or not. Though it made it much nicer as each guide knew what we wanted and not wanted to do, eat, see, etc. All of our guides were awesome!

Thanks! It will be myself and a 6 year old on the tour. This makes me feel a little bit better about making the decision.

I can see your point. This is not a tipped position; and they tell you not to tip. But honestly, I doubt this is a well-paid position. And, the tour guide reminded us of a niece who was just out of college. These tours are not cheap and they are fun and informative. If the time is enjoyable, it makes you feel good to offer the tour guide a little "bonus" for enhancing your vacation, even if you paid a lot of money for that enhancement.




I think you can do what you feel comfortable with. I can't remember what we gave our tour guide, but it was not more than $100. She was surprised by the gesture, but I don't think we experienced the "three times no" rule. She entertained my 9 year old, my 20-something nieces and nephew and my wife and we felt special, so I was happy to give her a little bonus. I think a fixed percentage of the tour is way too much, and we only paid about $350/hr for 6 hours as opposed to $450/hr. $100 bucks for these kids is a great little bonus and I am sure much appreciated. Heck -- $50 is probably appreciated. If you get to the end and do not feel like you got your money's worth, then don't give anything. They apparently are not expecting it.

Thank you! There's not a ton of info online about these tours, and like I said- I've read some people's experience where they tipped a full hour. So I'm going to go with the $100 plan!

 

[Accident]

If there is the word VIP in the tour, they take a tip. If it's from the tour group that does keys to the kingdom and similar, they don't.

 

[Dan Beckler]

Touringplans.com says,
"
What about tour guides? Do I tip them?

Not the Walt Disney World tour guides. They’re not allowed to take your tip. If you’re with a private tour group, a tip very well may be expected. Speak with your tour carrier for guidelines."

Standard tipping for tour guides elsewhere is 10-20% but it appears "Tour Guide" is on Disney's list of non-tipped positions.

I just did the VIP tour at Disneyworld and universal Florida and they happily accepted my $500 tip each day. I can't imagine anyone not expecting to tip the guides it's a myth that it's not expected.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Closing: this thread is outdated.