Tipping at Wilderness Lodge Help?

[tinkarooni]

We leave in 8 days for our fist stay at WL. I love the idea of the turndown service, how do you tip for it? Do you leave cash on the bed when you leave? Or do you tip the next day somehow? Want to tip mousekeeping and uncertain how. What about tipping for regular housekeeping? Please tell me how best to leave tips?

 

[Tissa]

I didn't request turn down service but, I placed the mousekeepers tip money in an envelope and wrote Mousekeeper on the front and I also put some Disney stickers on it as well and left it on the dresser. I usually tip a dollar per person per day.

 

[spiceycat]

when you check in ask for the turndown service instead of the regular cleaning (you realize this will be later)

 

[zdad]

We tip everybody. Somehow makes me even more relaxed on the vacation. In my experience too, it does help the service. Some things we did last WL trip (8 days @ WL)......

- Had tip envelopes pre-done. For the Mousekeeping, we built a pillow fort each morning on one bed and left the envelope on top of that. Each had a family picture on it and a big "Thanks for your help" note. (Even put my email address on it. Got some nice replies from CMs too) After a couple of days, the room staffs would acknowledge us by name in the hallways. Did $5 per day for Mousekeeping, $1.50-$2.00 per bag for the bellman.

- Think about throwing a little extra the way of your wait staff, even if you are on DDP. Yes, they get tipped through the plan, waiting tables is a thankless job. Last trip, I advanced the "little extra" at the beginning of the meal, acknowledging that we were on the DDP but wanted to see that staff was properly taken care of. In the end it didn't amount to much money, and boy was the service off the hook. (Best example was our dinner at Whispering Canyon. We were very full after dinner, and had little or no room for dessert....but it all looked so good. We sadly declined. We then left directly for the park. When we returned to our room, much to our surprise, were four desserts waiting for us on the room desk, courtesy of the WCC wait staff.)
OUR DINNER AT WCC......

The CMs all have tough jobs, and meet a lot of ornery people during the day. I want to be the one they remember with a smile. Never had a bad experience with this method.

 

[AKLforever]

turndown service? Whats that, never heard of it?

 

[mpbs]

I leave $5 a day for a family of 4. I leave it on the dresser every morning with a little note of thanks to the housekeeper.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

There should be notepaper and envelopes in the desk drawer. We usually make a quick note, label it for mousekeeping and put it in plain view when you leave. Sometimes we even bring our own blank thank you notes to use.

 

[klinlin]

I always put all my dirty towels in the tub and leave about $5 a day. I also always left extra for the waitstaff when on the DDP. Who really knows if and when the servers get the whole service charge, and then its probably all taxed. I never thought of giving it before the meal . We always ordered things that weren't included though and got a seperate check.

 

[hmp2z]

If you only tip once per day, the turndown Mousekeepers won't get the tips - only the morning service people will.

What we do is we leave 1 tip envelope for the morning Mousekeepers, then a separate tip envelope (less - usually just $2) for the turn-down Mousekeepers.

If we were staying in a moderate & didn't have turndown, we'd of course only tip once, but I figure that Mousekeepers are coming out to our room to do a separate service, so they deserve to be tipped, too. They don't do a big clean, but they will freshen up and, if you've taken an afternoon nap, they'll make up the bed for you.

Cheers!
Heather W

 

[Hopefully]

Turndown service includes: (I am describing the service at a non-Disney hotel in Hawaii, and others, If I am wrong, please correct me). Evening service which includes turning back the bed spread and preparing the bed for occupancy, leaving mints or chocolate on the pillows, straightening the room, replacing used towels and emptying accumulated trash.
I have never had turndown service at Disney, but if I requested it, I would tip in addition to the daily Mousekeeping tip, it is different employees performing the service.
We prepare and print Mousekeeping envelopes in advance. I tip $5/day for 3 adults and we are very neat. I pick up each morning before we leave the room. We haved received thank yous on several days.
We also leave an extra tip to servers when we are on the DDP. I feel all these folks work very hard, contribute greatly to my enjoyment of my vacation and they are not particularly well paid. I enjoy rewarding these folks, as best I can.
JMHO!

 

[kate2961]

i too was wondering about tipping for turndown service...

i'm embarrassed now that i never tipped them for it

fyi..at disney they may also leave a great towel animal at turndown service

oh, and everyone had some great ideas. thanks much.