Tipping at Disney resorts question

[OurBigTrip]

We tip anyone who handles our bags $2/bag, 15%-20% for servers (only once or twice have we tipped less than 15%, and both times the service was atrocious). We don't tip housekeeping.

edited to add that we tip valet $3/each at drop and pick up.

 

[mmouse50]

What about the parking attendant that gets your luggage out of your car and puts it on the luggage cart and wheels the cart inside the hotel to bell services (AKL) - he is not the same person that takes it to your room - would you tip them both? I am always confused by that one -

 

[teentoddlermom]

What a crappy wage! That makes me wanna tip them even more!

What you said!


I always tip each housekeepers $5 a day. I also tip RAC check-in about $5-7. I tip baggage storage $1 per bag, when dropping the bags off, and again when picking them up. I tip ME driver on the way there and the way back, around $3, even if they don't handle my bag. I tip the bell service desk $2-3 if they call me a cab. If you add up all the little tips for a week in Disney, it's only $40 or so, not a terrible amount.
Now for food....that's a bit on my begrudging list. I do tip. I rarely give more than 15% on expensive meals. I give 20% if the check is not too expensive, and service is good. I will give barely 15% at buffets, unless service is out of this world outstanding. I will give very small tip or nothing if I've received terrible service. Sad to say, I have had some nasty servers at Disney. But that is the exception.

 

[teentoddlermom]

I make a point to tip our mousekeeper directly, usually $20 the first day and $5 each day till we leave.

That's nice. I never thought to give more the first day. They are preparing the room for us, and giving new bedding. It is more backbreaking. I will tip more the first day in the future.

 

[cobright]

Since valet, bellmen usually receive 100% of their tips in cash, I would be very surprised if any of them declared 100% of their tips as income. The same would go for restaurant servers when they receive cash tips. Housekeeping would be no different - guaranteed all cash tips are not declared on their income tax forms.

The IRS assumes the waitress receives a 10% tip on every check for the purpose if figuring reported income.

 

[lbv7]

TYPICAL DISNEY TIPPING:
. 3) Room Maids
. . . maids are one of the higher paid jobs hourly jobs at WDW
. . . but, maids at WDW can make as much as $13.82/hr, PLUS bonuses
. . . tips are not necessary nor encouraged
. . . some tip, thinking maids make minimum wage, like at many hotels
QUOTE]This is just not true. The STARTING salary for a housekeeper is $8.70/ hr. Asssuming an annual increase of 50c an hour as per the union contract a housekeeper would need to work 10 years before they hit your number of $13.82 an hour. If you make $ 13.82 an hour in 2023 then guaranteed you will be below the poverty line.

 

[QueenQueso]

What a crappy wage! That makes me wanna tip them even more!

What you said!

Lol, you guys should start tipping nearly everyone in the customer service industry then. I make $10/hr and nobody ever thinks to tip their gas station attendant.

We won't be using DME or having anyone carry our luggage or park our car, so no worries about tips there. We typically tip servers about 12-15%, though I have left 5-10% on bad service and one time we left nothing because it was so bad. I am undecided about whether or not I will leave something for mousekeeping, but I have set aside $30 ($5 a day) in case I do decide to.

 

[Mom2six]

The IRS assumes the waitress receives a 10% tip on every check for the purpose if figuring reported income.

Exactly. That was the amount they taxed you on twenty years ago anyway. So when a person does not tip, the server still pays taxes on the tip anyhow.

 

[Srbright]

Lol, you guys should start tipping nearly everyone in the customer service industry then. I make $10/hr and nobody ever thinks to tip their gas station attendant.

I will tip the gas station attendant as soon as he starts scrubbing my toilet...

Stacy

 

[Deb & Bill]

What about the parking attendant that gets your luggage out of your car and puts it on the luggage cart and wheels the cart inside the hotel to bell services (AKL) - he is not the same person that takes it to your room - would you tip them both? I am always confused by that one -

Yep, anyone who touches your luggage in your sight.

 

[IntoTheLight]

Lol, you guys should start tipping nearly everyone in the customer service industry then. I make $10/hr and nobody ever thinks to tip their gas station attendant.

I tip my gas station attendant. We live in NJ where it's always full service by state law. During the regular year I tip $1 if it's raining or really hot or they wash the window and during Christmas I always tip each one $2. Some little part of me believes that if everyone did that during Christmas, those standing out there in the elements all year round might have a little better winter and holiday season. If you made $2 a car and serviced 100 cars a shift that a whole lotta Christmas money, and winter sucks here.

MIL and I budgeted to tip her Mousekeeping $2 a day (Little Mermaid at AoA) and ours $5 since were in a bigger room and have messy kids. I don't mind at all.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Lol, you guys should start tipping nearly everyone in the customer service industry then. I make $10/hr and nobody ever thinks to tip their gas station attendant.

No doubt...I guess I need to tip the kid at the McDonald's drive thru, the cashier at the 7-11 and the grocery bagger at Giant.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Not that I do all the time, but a couple of times a trip I leave $3-5 dollars on the cart of a woman cleaning the bathrooms in the parks and I have done it in the airport restrooms as well. Next trip I think I'll hand the guy who walks behind the horses in a parade a few dollars.....

Another fun thing- hand the kid collecting grocery carts a 5 and they act like you have given them a million bucks! And you can bet the next time we drive through Jersey our attendant will get at least a few bucks...

Thanks for the tips, everyone!

 

[kaytieeldr]

TYPICAL DISNEY TIPPING:
1) DME
. . . if you use DME, you don't tip
. . . luggage is delivered to your room without you present
. . . the tip is paid by Disney (by Union contract), not by you

Any time the DME driver handles luggage for a passenger (places it under the bus, whether large carry-ons or untagged checked luggage), it is customary to tip.

3) Room Maids
. . . maids are one of the higher paid jobs hourly jobs at WDW
. . . but, maids at WDW can make as much as $13.82/hr, PLUS bonuses
. . . tips are not necessary nor encouraged

However, most tip housekeeping (anywhere) because we simply choose to show extra gratitude to the person who cleans up after us. Not because we consider it our concern how much they're paid.

5) Table Service Eateries
. . . normal "waitress" tips are customary
. . . typically, 15% for very good service
. . . more/less based upon the level of service
. . . unless 6-or-more on ressie, where 18% tip is automatic

Fifteen percent for good service, more for better/outstanding service; somewhat less is it's truly the service that was bad - but it makes the entire meal more enjoyable if the diner attempts to get the service issue corrected.

 

[want2bminnie]

I gotta start tipping those cast members who call a cab for me!
I didn't know

Now I feel bad

.

 

[LSchrow]

5) Table Service Eateries
. . . typically, 15% for very good service

15%-20% for servers (only once or twice have we tipped less than 15%, and both times the service was atrocious)

I rarely give more than 15% on expensive meals. I give 20% if the check is not too expensive, and service is good.

We typically tip servers about 12-15%, though I have left 5-10% on bad service and one time we left nothing because it was so bad.

interesting, i wonder if tipping % is regionally based in the US
here (long island), everyone we know tips a minimum of 18% (if service is poor, we talk to the manager. if service then improves, which it always has, then 18-20%).
we very rarely tip less than 20%. and if there is a "special", we base the tip on the regular price (e.g., on last week's dinner of TGIF $3 apps & margaritas specials, we left $10 on a $21 bill - the waitress was fantastic ).
other than eateries, we tip the DME driver if exceptional (no luggage), $1-2 per item for bell services, about $5 per visit for HKing (2 ppl - DVC so not daily), and RAC (& a few $'s at home airport curbside check-in). we also buy "goodies" (fruit & stuff) for the staff at the dolphin national/alamo rental desk because they are always amazing.

 

[gogo]

I gotta start tipping those cast members who call a cab for me!
I didn't know

Now I feel bad

.

I wondered about this too. I have not tipped the cm waving a cab over from the resort entrance. I guess I will do this in the future. I wondered because the cabs are usually lined up and all they do is wave one over. I figured it was not like in a city where they would have to go out of their way more. But, I wasn't sure.

This is just my opinion but I wouldn't be comfortable handing out money to people whose job I wouldn't necessarily want. Such as the people cleaning public restrooms. I think that could be a little demeaning to them. Now, if someone is in the restroom and they hand you paper towels, etc. then I think they expect a tip and thats ok. They are performing a service for you. Otherwise, its like I feel bad for you having to do such a dirty job. JMO

 

[gogo]

I just wanted to add to my previous post, that I'm sure anyone would be happy to have the extra money but there is just a component to this that would make me uncomfortable. Basically, any job I deem icky or that no one would want deserves more money. Maybe they do but I would feel like I am judging them.

 

[cobright]

That's nice. I never thought to give more the first day. They are preparing the room for us, and giving new bedding. It is more backbreaking. I will tip more the first day in the future.

I tip heavy the first day because I have a few idiosyncratic requests that I make of the housekeeping and I want the maid to understand that I appreciate the extra care I am asking her to take.

Four things in particular:
That I have some specialized equipment in the room but it is not fragile and can be moved out of the way if needed like she would any piece of furniture. I say this because in the past, people have seen a small stack of cases or a PC running on a wheeled cart and out of nervousness over possibly breaking something they just left that side of the room alone.

That the room is, at all times, under electronic surveillance. I don't have cameras in the room to catch housekeeping doing something naughty, I have them to prevent it. Actually, I have them because I have an obsessive need to know who has been inside 'my space'.

That I have a sleep disorder that causes me to, sometimes, still be in the room when she arrives and at times I may appear awake but be uncommunicative. I want housekeeping to know that I'm not dead or dying, that I will be fully clothed and decent, and she is welcome to clean the room or not based on her own preferences. On the occasions where this has actually happened I slip an extra $10-20 in the mousekeeping envelope.

That I would appreciate it, if at all possible, if the same Mousekeeper managed my room every day. Some of this request is a practical matter of not wanting to repeat this whole spiel every day to a new person. Some of it is a crutch to support a very specific anxiety issue of mine. I coordinate this request with hotel management and have been accommodated pretty well all things considered.

So, like I said, I have some special requests and I tip a bit heavy the first day because I'm asking the maid to work outside her normal parameters.

 

[BebopBaloo]

For those that tip mousekeeping and say that they would tip more at a Deluxe than they would at a Value, why is that?
If the room is a standard room at both levels, the mousekeeper is doing the same exact job. Not trying to be argumentative, just a question of curiosity.