Tipping - help??

[BobbyRach]

Hi,

I have travelled to America before and am pretty good with how much to tip at most places.

I have however been reading that people leave tips for housekeepers at Disney hotels. I must admit i have never done this before??

Just wondering if this is something we should be doing for our upcoming stay, and if so, how much do you generally leave?

 

[australiankaren]

i normally leave $1 per person in the room per night....but i always leave the room extra tidy and clean (i'm a tad OCD), even making my bed,(cause if i die I'd hate for people to think I'm a grot)... so they really dont have to do much..and we dont have kids messes....but up to you

in DVC villas you dont have to tip.

 

[BecBennett]

we usually leave one or two dollars per night - if we remember!

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[aussietravellers]

Hi,

I have travelled to America before and am pretty good with how much to tip at most places.

I have however been reading that people leave tips for housekeepers at Disney hotels. I must admit i have never done this before??

Just wondering if this is something we should be doing for our upcoming stay, and if so, how much do you generally leave?

You really do not have to tip the housekeepers if you don't want to. At Disney mousekeeping is not a tipped position by the company, but people still do it. Just as many don't tip though as those who do. I have tipped $5 a day before, just left it on the pillow. At other hotels if I haven't left it there, they often don't take it. But after the trip before last and I tipped $5 a day, we really didn't get anything special and once mousekeeping didn't even come! So this last trip, I stopped mid trip. They were servicing the room late (like 3 in the afternoon, so if I went back to the room and it wasn't done, so I got sick of tipping for something that wasn't being done in a timely manner and guess what. I didn't get any better or worse mousekeeping service than when I did I have also tipped H/keeping at DL before and at hotels in Hawaii, NY etc.

I have friends who have never tipped at Disney and they have had good H/keeping.

It's a personal thing. Tip if you want, don't tip if you don't want to... I don't think tipping is wrong and I don't think that not tipping is wrong, I think it's a personal thing. Know that you will not get any worse service by not tipping

 

[Andona]

We also leave about $1 per person each night. Usually on the pillow with a note . We do it in all the hotels we stay at in the USA not just The Disney ones. , although there seems to be a lot of debate about whether it's really expected or not. We just hate to appear stingy and I'm usually hoping the housemaid will take a little more care with the room when she sees there is a tip.

I think the tipping business is the only thing I dislike about travelling over there, always wondering if I'm handing over the right amount etc. however, I understand why it's necessary, their hourly rates in many of the service industries are abysmal!

Andona.

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[Melbourne5]

I haven't in any of our travels in the USA.

Never noticed a difference in service levels anywhere.

I will tell one funny tale though....on our last night at the grand Floridian we got back from dinner around 8 ish and was about to head down to grab a few drinks from the concierge club bar when there was a knock on the door.

My wife answered the door and proceeded to have a conversation with the mouse keeper who was holding a bag of ice.

Hello....no sorry we didn't want any ice but given you have brought it we will take it.....thank you.....yes our room has been very tidy all week......thank you for asking.....no nothing more you can do for us tonight..then I hear the door shut.

My wife comes back with the ice and says isn't that good service ? And ice and all. I just can't work out why she kept asking me was everything ok this week.

I just smiled, put the ice in the bucket and went and got us a beer.....I left it about 30 m and then broke the news to my wife that the mouse keeper kept going and going waiting for a tip.....then gave up

Fair to say my wife was a little red faced.......

 

[Travel Mum]

Similarly I understood, from previous trips and living in L.A., about tipping in restaurants, bell boys etc. However, I had never tipped housekeeping but, after "living" on the Disboards for 18 mths leading up to our last trip, I began to feel like it was something I should do onsite at WDW. Of course from reading the Americans' comments, its seemed like tipping the housekeeping was a no-brainer but they all differed about how much they left. So I was kind of shamed into it (by myself) !! I found a link to make little paper envelopes addressed to Mousekeeping so I printed 9 of those off (1 for each day) as, rather than just leaving cash out, I preferred to make it perfectly clear that it was for Mousekeeping. So that worked out well and, since there were five of us, I put $5 each day in an envelope and left it in the room before we left for the day. We got back each night to find a towel animal which was fun. However, I forgot to leave the envelope/money one morning and, when we got back, there was no towel animal. Whoops!

 

[lovintheland]

Hi, we always leave $5 on the pillow (5 of us) I think it would be rude not to

 

[Kangarucci]

Never anywhere.

 

[Royal Consort]

You really do not have to tip the housekeepers if you don't want to. At Disney mousekeeping is not a tipped position by the company, but people still do it.

This is the crux of it for me. I didn't know this wasn't a tipped position? If it's not a tipped position and their wages are higher because of this, I don't feel tipping is appropriate. If wages are rubbish then tipping is no issue.

When severs get a very minimum wage then that's not an issue and deserved.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I generally left $3-$4 each day at all of the hotels throughout our US trips. It's interesting to hear the divided views on this. Not sure what I'll do this time but we did get lots of cute towel animals

 

[Andona]

Some helpful advice about standard USA tipping etiquette/expectations here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g191-s606/United-States:Tipping.And.Etiquette.html

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2009-11-17-hoteltipping17_ST_N.htm

http://hotels.about.com/od/hotelsecrets/a/tipping-etiquette_2.htm

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/hotel-and-b-and-b/hotel-tipping


Andona

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[PrincessInOz]

I tip $2 per night and make mousekeeping envelops before I go.

But be aware...the housekeepers at CSR did not take theirs and left it all behind in a neat pile.
The mousekeepers at BCV and POR were very grateful.

 

[Royal Consort]

Some helpful advice about standard USA tipping etiquette/expectations here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g191-s606/United-States:Tipping.And.Etiquette.html

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2009-11-17-hoteltipping17_ST_N.htm

http://hotels.about.com/od/hotelsecrets/a/tipping-etiquette_2.htm

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/hotel-and-b-and-b/hotel-tipping


Andona

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Thanks Andona,
It's a minefield isn't it? I'll have to keep remembering to tip otherwise I'm likely to forget. Restaurants are fine, but other things I'll just have to keep it in the forefront of my mind.

Hey, it can't be harder than trying to get around speaking limited German or French right?

 

[Tara2004]

We didn't leave anything. Only tip where you have to. Unless you get really good face value service.