TIpping with bags, valet, I'm clueless!

[gopherit]

Alas -- this sort of thing just isn't an issue at OKW where we park our own car and unload...

But this trip we will be going to BCV and BWV and I have some questions, after what happened when we stayed at VWL... O.k., so you pull up at the villa check in. A BWV person comes with a cart to help you unload your minivan-load of crap. This person will haul your cart off to the side while you check in. You get your room assignment, and invariably it will be some other person that hauls said cart to your room.

So... whom do you tip, and how much? I realize that the posted value is roughly 1-2 bucks per bag. Any compensation for small bags versus large? A cooler versus a grocery bag? I consider myself a generous tipper in restaurants but at least there, I know what the "protocol" is.... this is confusing! Do you tip the guy that unloads AND the guy that hauls? Or just the loader? Or only the final delivery guy? And same goes on the departure -- he who loads your room is hardly ever the same person to load your car.... AUGHHHH!!!!

Valet services (or lack thereof) is a prime reason my DH likes OKW.... none of this hassle!

 

[JimC]

We tip based on size/weight. Small and easy to move $1, large and/or heavy and difficult to move $2. When the bags are unloaded from the car at the resort by bell services no tip is expected. We tip when the bags are delivered to the room. If the person does more -- escorts us to the room. describes the resort, inspects the room and makes sure we understand how everything works, sets the bags up for unpacking and the like -- they get more than the $1 or $2 per bag.

We also tip the individual who picks up our luggage from the room since they are taking it back to storage for us. If we are switching resorts we tip both at pick up from the room and again when it is delivered at the new resort. We see each as a separate service.

When we pick up luggage from storage, we tip again as they load the car for us, assist us with packages and the like.

 

[DebbieB]

I usually give the valet who takes the bags out of the car and puts them into storage $5 (for about 5 bags). I figure he is doing a service for me, he should get a tip. Then the bellman who brings it to/from the room $5. We usually don't put bags into storage at BWV because we leave in the morning, so the bellman takes it direct to the car. Then I give the valet $2.

 

[Dean]

Proper tip etiquette is $1-2 per bag when they are delivered. All hotels have a way to even out tips which usually involves some type of tip pool OR a rotation system. It's certainly ok for anyone to tip extra along the way. For the smaller bags and the like, I think you have to be your own judge. I usually give a min of $5 and then adjust upward as I see fit. If you have a cooler, 4 suitcases, 2 cases of soda and 10 plastic grocery bags; it's certainly not reasonable to tip $17 if they can get it all on one cart and there are no extenuating circumstances. Of course if they do something special, it's raining, etc; that will make a difference.

 

[KANSAS]

I tip $5 for the man, that takes my many bags out of the Mears Lincoln Towne Car, which takes me, from orlando,Fl to Beach Club Villa.
He stores my bags, while I check in.
( Is it true, someone posted, proper ettiqute, does not requre this)

I then tip $10-$15, for the man, that brings my luggage, up to my BCV room, after I have checked in, much longer distance, than the man, I just tipped $5.

I then tip $10,for the man, that brings my groceries, from the trunk of the taxi, straight to my room, not heavy bags but many.

I then tip $10-15 for the man, that brings all of my luggage, from My BCV villa, when checking out and puts them into my Mears Towne Car, for drive back to airport.

always remember, the luggage men, do not make minimu wage, only $3.00 per hour.

I also tip the $10 for the people that clean my villa, after I check out and I encourage them to take my groceries, for the families, that I did not consume.

I finally tip my MEARS LINCOLN TOWNE CAR, $10 each way, from orlando,FL airport to Beach Club Villa and then back to the Airport, when I have checked out of Beach club Villa.

Thank you all that posted to this thread. I really did not know what was proper ettiqute myself. I just thank god ever day. I do not have to make a living, in the food service or hotel industry.

 

[gopherit]

Thanks for the input.... this is just not an area my dh and I feel comfortable in! Especially since we often show up looking like the Clampetts with our many little grocery plastic sacks! On a "per bag" basis, we'd break our travel budget in tips alone, especially if we tipped "per bag" for every person that handles them! So if I understand correctly -- we can give a small "thanks" tip (like $5) to Mr. Car Unloader, then give the typical 1to2 "buck-a-bag" wage to Mr. DeliverToYourDoor. (For us, anywhere from 15 to 20 bucks!) DH had the philosophy last trip to give 10 bucks to Mr Loading and $10 to Mr. Delivery. Would this philosophy work? Technically, for 8 to 10 bags, that still works out to 2 bucks per bag -- just divided between 2 carrriers.

Does anyone else have issues with how they PACK your car when you leave? I am obsessed with this -- just ask dh, he isn't allowed to pack our car at home anymore, either! I ALWAYS find myself re-arranging however they put the bags into my car -- personally I'd like them to back off! When you have a long drive ahead, certain bags need to be more accessible, etc. But DH feels though that if I pack it, why is he tipping the other guy? We dodged this whole thing last time by packing it ourselves (which at VWL was no small feat. Our reward? Sore backs and in our haste we left a whole drawer unemptied in the bathroom. Disney mailed it to me, but someone had already lifted a ring and matching opal earrings and a Clinique compact... In short -- It WASN'T worth it. Should I just learn to be less obsessive, or hold out whatever bags I want on top, or stand there and "direct" what bags I want where... or let DH tip me instead?

By golly, this trip I'm going to consolidate by bringing cloth sacks in which to secure those nasty little plastic grocery sacks. Hate those things! Cloth sacks should hold 2-3 plastic sacks -- making end result not unbearable, and much more manageable (and less risk of breaking all over kingdom come!) I got each kid a duffle into which all their crapola must be stuffed upon arrival. They tend to spread all their "stuff" everywhere while on the road. I tell ya -- after 15 hrs of driving, everything gets jumbled. Last trip we were so embarrased we pulled over before we got to VWL just to tidy up the car before the valets saw it! <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_13_14.gif' alt='Embarrassed 1' border=0></a>

 

[goofy4wdw59]

Thanks for this thread. I'm not comfortable with the tipping/valet thing...mostly for how it looks when we pull up...loaded down with groceries and family crapola. LOL, the "Clampetts"!
When we first stayed at BCV and pulled up to the entrance/valet in our mini-van, open the sliding door, start unloading all the stuff, I then become aware (on the road too long) of how it all must look...gold fish are falling out onto the ground, loads of plastic grocery bags, the cart's piled high, etc...I was cringing and couldn't wait to get to our room.
We try to self-park on the front side BCV now and unload stuff ourselves. We still do the valet occasionally, avoid the arrival day.
I had to edit this...we HAVE to pull up front at VWL with the arrival and have them unload all our stuff. I guess I'm getting more comfortable with it. The valet CMs are very understanding.
OKW is not a problem.
YES, I'd rather pack my own stuff. We end up re-arranging things to get them where they have to be.

 

[Dreamfinder2]

I have read (and, frankly, obsessed) over this very item. We're a Grand Gathering of 10, assaulting BWV on June 20. The thought of bell services having to wrangle this much luggage (including the belongings of six teenage girls) gives me hives. That's two minivans full, with bodies and luggage crammed into every square inch.

My intent is to get each person to carry one light bag themselves - the exercise upon arrival will be good warm-up for the parks - and let the bellman handle the rest, with the traditional tip at that point. We'll deal with the valets when they return our cars to us.

We're not making a shopping stop ... at $15, a room delivery looks pretty appealing.

Less than two weeks away. I'm about to have a conniption, I'm so excited.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Personally, I don't bother with the bellmen or valet parking. As far as the parking goes, I don't like other people driving my car. As far as the bellmen go, I'm just too cheap. Typically after checking in, I pull up to the curb and unload everything that we can comfortably carry then go and park the car while DW stands guard over the "pile". We then schlepp it up to the room. If we don't get everything, we just bring other stuff as we come back from trips, etc. When leaving, I'm usually up and eager to go before everyone else (once the vacation is over, it's over and time to hit the road IMO), so I make multiple trips to the car carrying what the rest of my party packs, as they get it ready (to my fussing, let's go let's go let's go ). Over the years my DW and DD24 have gotten used to me going into psycho-mode and pretty much go along with the beast.

 

[WDWLVR]

Different strokes - I love the valet parking and bellman - especially with groceries! Guess that is why I didn't enjoy OKW as much as I enjoy Boardwalk. For luggage I figure $1 or so a bag, for grocery bags I figure closer to 50 cents per bag.

I tip both the person who unloads the car and the person who deliveres (unless they are the same person which has happened with groceries). I will usually round the trip up as well. Say I have 6 bags - I'll round it up to $10.

For just running and getting the car $1-2.

 

[Pig Pen]

This thread is cracking me up. The Clampetts! I thought I was the only one who felt like this about tipping and valet. The first time we used valet my DH acted like a girl going on her first date. I swear he was more nervous about proper etiquette than about going on Space Mountain (which he refuses to do).


So what we did was tip the valet driver $10.00 for two cars (there was 8 of us) - which he unpacked. Then we tipped the bellhop $10.00 for all the bags...2 carts full! I think we undertipped him, poor guy.

Then we moved from BWV over to VWL - I think we tipped $10 departing and $10 arriving.

By this time DH was about ready to fire up the printing press.
To me it is totally worth it - I'm usually the one who is traipsing through the lobby with my ripped plastic grocery bags and carrying my 12 pack of diet coke.

He refused to utilize valet parking at VWL though.

 

[BuzzLightYear3]

One thing I learned from experience is to request paper instead of plastic when doing a grocery run. I had a weeks worth of groceries one time, and the bagger put 1-2 items in each plastic bag. When I got back to BWV, and the bellman started unloading what seemed like 100 bags, I suspected the bagger at the grocery store must have a deal with the bellmen. I ended up tipping $20 for delivery to our room, but that wasn't even close to $1/bag. Next time I asked for paper which got me more items/bag. Still tipped $20, but at least I didn't feel like I was cheating the bell hop! For any subsequent smaller grocery runs, I just park and carry the items in myself. I have to admit the OKW people have a point that not having to deal with this is one advantage of OKW (but I still love BWV even if it does cost me an extra $20!)

 

[Buzzro]

Here is something I found that might help.
At the hotel
Before you arrive at a nicer hotel or resort, inquire as to whether gratuities are included in the price of the room. Some hotels are now charging a daily fee that covers all tipping for hotel services. If there is not a daily fee, these rates are appropriate:

Valet or parking attendant - $1-2 is appropriate for parking or returning the car. It is not necessary to tip for parking, but always for returning the car.
Doorman - If he hails you a cab, $1-2. If he helps you with your bags in or out of the car, $0.50-1 a bag. Use $1-2 per bag if he carries them all the way to the room.
Bellman - When he helps you with your bags, tip $1-2 per bag. Give him the tip when he shows you your room. If he just carries the bags to the front desk and then disappears, save it for the person who carries the bags to your room. Upon checkout, tip a bellman who helps with your bags. Tip more for additional services.
Concierge - $5-10 for help with hard-to-get dinner reservations or theater tickets. Tipping is optional for just plain advice. Tipping can be done at the end of the trip or at the time of service, just keep is straight so that you are fair.
Room Service - If gratuity is included, add nothing or $1. Otherwise add 15-20% to the total charge.
Delivery of special items - If you request extra pillows or an iron, tip $1 per item received, minimum $2.
Maid service - $1-3 per day. Tip daily because there might be a different maid each day. Leave the tip on your pillow. Err on the side of being generous, and tip on the last day also.
Swimming pool or gym attendant - Nothing, unless you require special services such as extra seating or inflating pool toys.
Hotel staff - Nothing to replace a light bulb, fix the air conditioning, etc.