To Tip or Not to Tip...That is the Question.

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by Dawnflower
my hairstylist is 3 years out of school and makes $80,000 a year with salary and tips!!

A Nurse and Teacher do not make that much money!!!

And thank goodness I live in a country that will allow me to find another job if the one I am working at does not pay me the wage to buy/support the things I need!

Your hairstylist must be very good and work long hours to make that kind of money.

Really not sure of the purpose of your post. Are you suggesting teachers and nurses who aren't happy with their wages should consider a career change and become hairstylists?

Hairstylists are a "tipped" occupation. If they do a good job they deserve a normal tip if the do an exceptional job they deserve a higher tip. If she does a good job and sees a lot of customers she'll make a good income. I suspect most hairstylists make a lot less than $80,000 but her income really has nothing to do with what customers should be tipping.

 

[my3kids]

If I'm paying $4-500 a night, I'd feel really really small not leaving a tip for the housekeeper. These are people who work hard everyday so we can have a nice stay once a year. I tip and hope that everyone who values the nice service the staff at Disney provides will do the same.

 

[Jakk]

We tip $5 a night for a family of four. We usually keep the room pretty neat, but I definitely don't make the beds.

 

[RoLaren]

I found it interesting to note that Safetymom posted recently from DL that mousekeeping IS listed as a tipped position in a booklet in the hotel she stayed in.

So if it's tipped at Disneyland, it should follow that it is a tipped position in WDW, I don't know why they don't say so outright.

Let me put it to you this way: I don't want to tick off the person who is alone in my room with my stuff AND who cleans the toilet. Only half joking there!

Seriously though, I tip 2.00 per person in the room per day (minimum of 5 per day if its just DH and me) and if I have turndown service, I tip that person as well seperately usually 5 dollars.

If the service is exceptional, and/or it's a REALLY fancy hotel (like a Ritz or the GF, the WDW equivelent) I tip 10 dollars a day to my housekeepers. They love me LOL

This applies not just in Disney world but at any hotel I stay at.
I usually get excellent service and all the extra towels my heart desires. I consider it just part of the cost of traveling.

To answer the towel animal question, I got one once at the GF. It was done by the turndown CM. That's the only time.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

BaciBecky - we've had a few towel animals at deluxe resorts, but not a lot. We had an elephant at AKL once, very cute!! Quite often, though, the mousekeeper has made a cute little shape out of a washcloth and put our toothbrushes in it. It's no big deal, but we always smile when it happens.

I saw a picture somewhere of a little washcloth chick, it even had little blue feathers in it! That mousekeeper really went out of her way!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

The towels must be so cute! It doesn't matter to me if we get them or not but it is a fun touch - esp for children...but even for "big" kids sometimes too.

I'm wondering if I did not tip enough at the GF. $5 a.m. and $5 p,m. for 2 adults,(my friend did not leave a tip) 2 beds to make, otherwize the room was in perfect shape..well, of course, clean towels etc!

 

[robinb]

I tip $1 per person per day no matter where I stay.

We never get towel animals at WDW , but my DD's stuffed animals were watching TV with the remote in their "hands" when we came back from the park one day.

 

[joats]

Yes I do. Usually $3-$5 a day depending on the level of mousekeeping.

And this year, I got my very first towel animals (everyday) so I certainly left as much as I could daily.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

P.S.

This yr, for the first time, I made up envelopes before I left so the tip did not have to come out of my funds once I was there. It helped a lot and I did not have to think about it again - just put out an envelope every morning before we left the room!

Read that idea somewhere on these Boards

Thanks!!

 

[robinson]

Oh my gosh.....we just got back and I only left a tip in the am. I was wondering on the way home what happened to the people that did the turn down service. I guess I should have tipped them too. This was our first trip. I guess next year I will know to leave two tips, one in the am and one in the pm.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

robinson, were you at a deluxe that has turn down service? The GF has it for all guests, but I think at some other deluxes you have to request it..if you are not concierge. Cannot recall the BC or YC, but AKL was by request - we did call housekeeping and requested nightly turn down at AKL but it never happened.

Oh,well

edit: p.s. Not to worry...there is always a next time

 

[robinson]

We stayed at the CR on the 12th floor. I feel bad. Guess I learned something new. The people that did the turn down service always did something cute with the girls(12, 10, 8) blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. It was always fun to come back at night to see what they had done.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Don't feel bad - I did not think of it myself until I read it on the DIS boards and I've been going for yrs! Next time you'll know!!!

 

[llij]

I tip $5 a day and use mousekeeping envelopes (images downloaded off the internet).

 

[Dawnflower]

Lewisc no, I was not suggesting that anyone get a different job, however, if the you job you are in has a job description, and you make your salary, as housekeeping does, then should someone have to tip you, out of guilt, just so you have enough money to meet your needs? Again I think tipping for housekeeping would be for going above and beyond straigtening and refilling.

As for some, not all, tipped employees, if you think about how many tables, cars, bags, these people deal with in one hour you will realize how much they actually make,

One table of 4 at WDW for dinner could easily have a $100.00 tab, tip according to some should be 20% that is $20.00. Waitress can handle 4 (or more) tables in that hour, her 1 hour take is $80.00 plus her "salary" of $3.00. IMHO that is insane! I was suggesting that the people that we entrust our children to (teachers) and a lot of the people that we entrust our health to, (medical workers) don't even come close to making that per hour. And these people (teachers and medical workers) go to school for years!!!

As for baggage handlers, my family of 4 normally would come with 3 medium pullmans and 3 shoulder bags, so baggage handler #1 (the guy who gets luggage from my car) should get $6.00 according to some. Then baggage handler #2 (the one who brings it to my room after I go thru the check in process) should get $6.00 as well. Each baggage handler handled my luggage at most for 10 minutes. Figure they deal with AT LEAST 4 families checking in or out per hour, they average in tips $24.00 per hour!
Again WAY WAY more than most teachers who have been through college make!

I realize that these people work hard for their money, but I also realize that I work hard for my money as well and I am just not willing to hand over that kind of money just because I am on vacation and my room has clean towels and my food and drink order is correct!

 

[totalia]

^ Bravo. I agree with you completely.

 

[delilah]

We tip $5 per night. I do so because I've stayed at comparable hotels where the "tip" for housekeeping was included with the room charge because I was attending an conference (Tradewinds in St. Pete Beach did this). Since the housekeeping at Tradewinds got $5 per night, I feel the staff at WDW deserve the same.

On the topic of tips and other workers, I agree that teachers as a group are not appreciated for the work they do to the degree it is deserved. Yesterday, I went to the hair stylist I always see at JCP salon. I paid $37 for my visit, and $7 for my tip. That is $44. I go about once every 6 wks or so. I like my stylist; her children are patients of mine. I know that her income can't be anything approaching $80,000, though, because her kids get medicaid. On the other hand, as a family physician, my routine charge for a routine visit for something like a sore throat or sinus infection is about $45, but this is discounted by insurance. For the medicaid patients I mentioned above, my practice gets about $25. Overhead is about 60%, so I get about $10. I can see about 4 patients an hour. If I really crank, and the patients do not have complicated problems, I can see 6. I am not saying I am underpaid, but, I probably have more university training than the majority of people I see.

 

[cnids00]

I voted $1 per day but that is per person staying in the room, we paid $3 a day during our last stay and this time DD 9,5 got NO towel animals at all :-(, last year we didn't tip until last day of stay and she got 3! Doh

Then again hurricane Frances messed up for everybody involved at the time, so that's the reason no doubt, they moved the ladies who make these animals to the food court and we did get one that way.

Last year we had no cuddly animals with us down, this year I told DD to bring at least 3 of her own (reading about what they might do with them on these boards) and nothing happened LOL

 

[Lewisc]

I agree with you regarding housekeeping at Disney, it's not a tipped position. Tips are optional.

Your analysis of tipped positions seems to be typical of people who look for excuses not to tip properly. Understand failing to tip within the normal range for normal service is expecting people to serve you without being paid. It's really that simple.

The average patron doesn't tip 20%, people who tip 20% tend to be people who take more than an hour to eat and your analysis part of a service workers shift is spent setting up and cleaning up.

Many people handle their own luggage. If I only have one or 2 rolling bags I often skip the bellhop. For many hotels the bellhops have a lot of dead time. How many times do you see the bellhops just hanging out? They are there for those people who chose to use them.

I think you greatly over-estimate what many of the workers make.

Originally posted by Dawnflower
Lewisc no, I was not suggesting that anyone get a different job, however, if the you job you are in has a job description, and you make your salary, as housekeeping does, then should someone have to tip you, out of guilt, just so you have enough money to meet your needs? Again I think tipping for housekeeping would be for going above and beyond straigtening and refilling.

As for some, not all, tipped employees, if you think about how many tables, cars, bags, these people deal with in one hour you will realize how much they actually make,

One table of 4 at WDW for dinner could easily have a $100.00 tab, tip according to some should be 20% that is $20.00. Waitress can handle 4 (or more) tables in that hour, her 1 hour take is $80.00 plus her "salary" of $3.00. IMHO that is insane! I was suggesting that the people that we entrust our children to (teachers) and a lot of the people that we entrust our health to, (medical workers) don't even come close to making that per hour. And these people (teachers and medical workers) go to school for years!!!

As for baggage handlers, my family of 4 normally would come with 3 medium pullmans and 3 shoulder bags, so baggage handler #1 (the guy who gets luggage from my car) should get $6.00 according to some. Then baggage handler #2 (the one who brings it to my room after I go thru the check in process) should get $6.00 as well. Each baggage handler handled my luggage at most for 10 minutes. Figure they deal with AT LEAST 4 families checking in or out per hour, they average in tips $24.00 per hour!
Again WAY WAY more than most teachers who have been through college make!

I realize that these people work hard for their money, but I also realize that I work hard for my money as well and I am just not willing to hand over that kind of money just because I am on vacation and my room has clean towels and my food and drink order is correct!

 

[Chicago526]

At any other hotel, I'll tip $3 per night. But our Dec. trip to Poly, I think I'll leave $5.

My theory is that anyone that needs to clean hotel rooms to make a living can use the money. I'd only withhold tip if something was really wrong, and then I'd complain as well.