Tipping mousekeepers - help!

[Ohiomomof2]

I admittedly do not stay in hotels or resort on a regular basis. In fact I have been in darn few. So that makes me a tipping idiot - heck until recently I didn't know tipping was considered "expected". We will be staying at WL in August and I am trying to figure out a reasonable budget so we can save what we need. Tipping at a resort has me clueless. How much would a reasonable daily tip for a family of 4 be? I understand from these boards a daily tip is typical. If you tip well instead of just eh do you get better service or extras? If so - what kind of perks do big tippers get? Thank you all in advance!!

 

[Kimberle]

Housekeeping is not a tipped position at WDW. You are free to tip for extra good service. Towel animals and other "perks" are not related to tipping.

 

[DizneyNutz]

We tip because they generally work for meager wages and that is why it is pretty much the norm. As far as seeing it make any difference in the service we received, I would have to say no! 3.00 to 5.00 per day is generally the standard for a family.

 

[frayedend]

I admittedly do not stay in hotels or resort on a regular basis. In fact I have been in darn few. So that makes me a tipping idiot - heck until recently I didn't know tipping was considered "expected". We will be staying at WL in August and I am trying to figure out a reasonable budget so we can save what we need. Tipping at a resort has me clueless. How much would a reasonable daily tip for a family of 4 be? I understand from these boards a daily tip is typical. If you tip well instead of just eh do you get better service or extras? If so - what kind of perks do big tippers get? Thank you all in advance!!

Oh you will get all kinds of answers. There was a very long thread not too long ago that went for pages, debating to tip or not. In general, people that tip mousekeeping will tip a few dollars per person per day, so 8-10 bucks for you. But the debate rages on if it is expected or necessary. In some parts of the country tipping housekeeping is not done at all. In others it is required. It is different everywhere and so you will have all answers. You will also have stories of how it got people extras, like towels, or towel animals, etc. You will hear how people tipped generously each day and didn't get enough towels for their family. So do what you think is right and what you can afford. The only advice that is probably fairly constant is to tip daily and mark an envelope "mousekeeping" so they know it is a tip. Daily because you may have a different mousekeeper on different days. Good luck.

 

[MisunderstoodLilo]

DH and I leave $3.00 a day. I've never gotten anything extra from housekeeping, nor did I want/need anything, but I feel better knowing I'm helping them out with a tip!

 

[Staychel]

I'm at Disneyworld right now and I've been tipping Mousekeeping $3/day. I just leave it on my pillow. Each morning, the Mousekeeper (we've seen her in the hallway) sets up my dd's bed with her bear doing something different. The first day, he was sitting on her bed wearing her Sleeping Beauty crown and holding the remote (and the TV was turned on). My dd thought it was really cool, and for a while was stumped as to how her bear got the remote and the crown and turned the TV on (ok, she's only 5 yo). Each day so far, the bear has been doing something different and cute when we get back to our room.

 

[DizneyNutz]

I admittedly do not stay in hotels or resort on a regular basis. In fact I have been in darn few. So that makes me a tipping idiot - heck until recently I didn't know tipping was considered "expected". We will be staying at WL in August and I am trying to figure out a reasonable budget so we can save what we need. Tipping at a resort has me clueless. How much would a reasonable daily tip for a family of 4 be? I understand from these boards a daily tip is typical. If you tip well instead of just eh do you get better service or extras? If so - what kind of perks do big tippers get? Thank you all in advance!!

From everything I have read, having some stuffed animals in the room at the time of mousekeeping seems to inspire the staff to do creative things when they are cleaning the room.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . We tip because they generally work for meager wages . . .

1) I am glad you mentioned this
2) They DO NOT work for meager wages
3) Per the union contract, housekeepers are "360-Housekeeping-H/H3"
4) They get paid up to $12.07 per hour (May 2007, plus 4% for new contract)

NOTE: As a reference, in May-07, College Program kids made $6.80 per hour. Actors and singers belong to "Actor's EQUITY" and make $11.82/hr under the 2004-2007 contract. Do we still feel sorry about Housekeeper pay?

 

[Taja]

1) I am glad you mentioned this
2) They DO NOT work for meager wages
3) Per the union contract, housekeepers are "360-Housekeeping-H/H3"
4) They get paid up to $12.07 per hour (May 2007, plus 4% for new contract)

NOTE: As a reference, in May-07, College Program kids made $6.80 per hour. Actors and singers belong to "Actor's EQUITY" and make $11.82/hr under the 2004-2007 contract. Do we still feel sorry about Housekeeper pay?

It isn't so much the pay rate, as I think it's a thankless job! I really dislike cleaning up behind people and appreciate when others do it for me. I don't tip a lot--just a bit to show my appreciation.

But that's me--I'm not very domesticated! *LOL*

 

[Jchance]

I would consider that low pay considering what they have to deal with. Think about all the used dirty towels, washclothes, dirty bed sheets, etc. that they have to deal with every day. Not to mention I just read a thread about a stomach virus that was going around wdw. Can you imagine the amount of people being sick that were in trash cans, towels, bed sheets, etc. I agree with the above that by and large it is a thankless job.

 

[DizneyNutz]

If you feel offended by my comment of meager wages, but in todays world with gas at at least 3.00 a gallon I personally still feel like they deserve a tip for cleaning up behind me and mine. Anyone not wanting to tip doesn't have to it is not required. The OP asked what the standard amount was. It is a personal choice and I would not do what they do for that amount, so I choose to tip personally.

 

[crystalcml]

We tip a dollar a day per person in the room. So 3 of us share a room so that's $3 a day for us.

 

[simonkodousek]

We typically tip housekeeping $1, per person, per day, so depending on which members of the family are with us, the daily tip is $4 or $5.

As for getting better service, I am not so lucky. Our daily tip at the Polynesian in July was $5 (in specially decorated, labeled envelopes), and we got very basic service. We got only 1 towel animal for our entire stay (not that I was expecting more, but I was kind of surprised because that differed entirely from most other people's experiences).

I think it is the luck of the draw regarding service, but I would still tip the same amount.

 

[loopner67]

We loved tipping Mousekeeping every day and actually made it part of the magic. We printed out 7 envelopes from here... http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/trip/mousekeeping.shtml (one for every day we would be there. We let each of our boys take turns folding it into an envelope, putting the $4 in ($1 for each person in the room) and then finding a fun place to leave the envelope for the mousekeeper (s).

We *did* get fun stuff in our room every day - the boys stuffed animals positioned in fun ways, towel animals, etc... but we didn't tip just to get those things.

 

[Nancyg56]

We tip about $5 per room. At home I am the mousekeeper so when we are out I am happy to tip anyone who cleans the bathroom, makes the bed and arranges my DGD's stuffed toys for her amusement.

 

[dburg30]

When I run across one of these threads the only thing I throw out is if you do tip, try to do it daily as opposed to one time during your stay. You may not have the same keeper every day so if you tip once, there is a chance that someone could be 'shafted' and not get a tip. Also, if you get really good service one day, and you tip extra the next, there is again always the chance the someone different cleans your room that day and the person you felt 'deserved' the extra may not get it .

Just a couple of reminders I've read while surfing these threads..