who dose NOT tip MOUSEKEEPING?

[vhoffman]

If we tip for a job well done, should we be expected to pay less for a poorly performed job? If I felt the coffee at Starbucks was lousey, could I just pay a dollar less? I'm a wage-earner, too. I can't go around raising the bar every time someone does their job right. The only ones I tip are wait staff at restaurants, bellhops per bag, and skycaps. The rest -- especially the tip jars one sees everywhere -- I ALREADY paid for the service, why should I pay more if its done right??????????????????

 

[C.Darwin]

Some people in America can barely feed their families. The mousekeepers may be a none tipping position but they probally only make 20 thousand a year or less.

hmmm. my kid's teacher makes about $25K and works at a gas station to make rent. i don't tip him either. i also don't tip the kid at burger king, the man that bags my groceries or the file clerk at the doctor's office. i'm not about to supplament the income of every poorly paid worker i run across. even on vacation.

 

[jann1033]

I think that's a great sentiment. I think it would be best, however, to start with the low-paid folks who have the most difficult jobs, such as the cleaners in the parks. Can you imagine getting paid only $10 per hour to clean up other people's poo?

what do you think housekeepers clean up? that's what people do in the white porcelain chairs in the bathrooms...( and if they've been partying down the fronts, on the floor ,where ever it lands) i worked as a house keeper once ( not for long and not at disney) and had the privledge of cleaning some nasty barf out of a sink once not to mention plenty of p and poo..people can be total pigs....especially when it 's not their house and they don't have to clean it up. i don't care if they make $20 bucks an hr., tip them, they earn it

 

[disneyfan67]

what do you think housekeepers clean up? that's what people do in the white porcelain chairs in the bathrooms...( and if they've been partying down the fronts, on the floor ,where ever it lands) i worked as a house keeper once ( not for long and not at disney) and had the privledge of cleaning some nasty barf out of a sink once not to mention plenty of p and poo..people can be total pigs....especially when it 's not their house and they don't have to clean it up. i don't care if they make $20 bucks an hr., tip them, they earn it

I have to agree with you on this one, due to the fact that I clean offices at night as part of my janitorial business. I have seen millionare lawyers leave a mess worse than a six year old could. I have one very wealthy client in general, that is such a pig that no one believes me how bad it is until they see themselves. It's kind of funny to see a new guy that starts working for me, see this account for the first time. You name it, he does it and leaves it on the floor of his office or bathroom. When I started my business 6 years ago, it really opened my eyes to what some people have to put up with in the housekeeping industry. That's why I tip and you can't tell me that every Disney hotel guest is clean and keeps their room in tip top shape.


I understand some of the responses on this thread and I agree with most of them, to a point. The tip jars that you see sprouting up at every coffee place and burger joint, is getting out of hand. There is a difference in what a housekeeper does because you're not living at that coffee shop for a week, sleeping, eating, and spending your vacation there. Have some compassion, people and put yourself in their shoes. My two cents for what it's worth.

 

[Sleepy]

Okay, lets say that the housekeeper over the course of a 5 day week is in charge of 10 rooms(I have no clue how many each gets)
Each room tips $5 per day,
X's 10 rooms=$50 per day
X's 5 days=$250 extra per week in cash
X's 50 wks in a year=$12,500 per year in extra, most likely unrecorded income.

Using the above estimates, approx $6.25 per hr would be added to wages. An $8 per hr. position is now $14.25, and a portion of it is not taxed as income.

Tipping is a personal choice. Some do and some don't. I just don't think people should be misled or intimidated into thinking they are slighting the housekeeping staff, being cheap, or disresspectful etc... by choosing not to tip someone for the job they are being paid by their employer to do.

While I was never a housekeeper for Disney, I was for other companies. Your above, hypothetical scenario and the fact housekeepers are paid more than minimum wage, is the reason I do NOT tip a housekeeper. I was responsible for 16 rooms a day. 8 hour work day...1 room every 30 minutes. If I had received even $2 per room, it would have given me an extra $32 a day. The hotels I worked were always full and there were daily room inspections of EACH room. If something was not perfect (like streaks on the mirror), we went back and fixed the problem. Back then, sheets were changed everyday and it was backbreaking work. Job performance was not based on tips. We rarely ever got a tip. Back then tips for housekeeping were not the norm and if you got one....even a buck, you got excited. People seem to expect it now.

As far as having to go above and beyond with expectations of what has to be cleaned (poo, vomit, used condoms, etc). Well, as with any undesirable job, there are things you are expected to do and you are well aware of those things BEFORE you fill out the application. You consider what you are being offered for pay and decide if that pay is worth the expected job. IF you don't think you are paid enough, move on to another job. If it is, then do the job and don't expect anyone to suppliment. We all work hard for our money and I know some of us don't have alot of choices, but you do have a choice. Like I said. If you don't like your job description, move on to another job. If you don't make enough money doing your job, you can't blame the customer.

I don't tip housekeeping and nothing will make me intimidated, feel cheap or disrespectful by not doing so. I will tip anyone who makes below minimum wage, but I refuse to go overboard by doing so. That bellhop takes 5 minutes to take luggage to a room. If he/she gets $5 by doing so, consider how many trips that person can make in an hour and come up with a hypothetical payscale.

 

[bicker]

I think that's a great sentiment. I think it would be best, however, to start with the low-paid folks who have the most difficult jobs, such as the cleaners in the parks. Can you imagine getting paid only $10 per hour to clean up other people's poo?

what do you think housekeepers clean up?

Are you seriously trying to tell me that the messes in your hotel room bathroom come anywhere close to the messes in the theme park bathrooms? And cleaning the bathroom in the hotel rooms is only one portion of the housekeepers job. Would you rather clean up poo for a FULL hour in the heat and humidity, versus clean up poo for 20 minutes then vacuum for 20 minutes and then make beds for 20 minutes in the comfort of air conditioning? I know I'd sure prefer the latter!!!

Sorry, jann, but there is no way you can convince me that we should be tipping the housekepeers before we should be tipping the cleaners in the parks as I suggested. I think it is wrong to devalue the work of the folks who clean up the theme parks in that way.

 

[JPN4265]

We do not tip mousekeeping. It is our understanding that they are an hourly employee and not expecting a tip for the service that they provide.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I'm really not understanding why there is such a debate.

You either tip or you don't.
You either want to or you don't.
You think they deserve a tip or you don't.

You get the idea.

I leave a $3 tip/day (just me and my hubby) just because I want to and am not expecting anything in return. I don't judge anyone who doesn't tip, it's their choice. Is your vacation going to be ruined because your next door resort neighbor doesn't tip, or does tip? I seriously doubt. So why don't we just live and let live, tip or not tip, and call it a day??

 

[java]

We tip one $ a person- not because we have to because we want to. My DH mother worked very briefly at a hotel chain as a housekeeper and I learned how much a tip means to someone cleaning your room.
I also tip daily as the housekeepers change so if you wait until the last day- it may be someone that just cleaned your room once. I learned that from my MIL also.
Does it change the level of service I get? I don't believe so. But a tip is a gratuity for a job well done. So if I get a great clean room I tip!
Now this will really get the non- tippers..I even tipped the nightly turndown person. Over tipping? Probably.
The tipping portion that throws me for a loop is the Valet. So when you check in- one guy gets your bags out of the car. The other guy takes your keys- antoher guy brings your bags to your room. Do you tip all those guys? When we stayed at US once we counted that by the time we checked in 7 people had handled our stuff in some way!

 

[Lewisc]

Positions such as waiters and bellhops are "tipped positions", the employer is generally allowed to pay them less than minimum wage and our tips is how they're compensated. Failing to tip such an person is literally expecting them to work for free when they serve you and is wrong.

Housekeeping at Disney isn't a tipped position, the employees are paid above minimum wage. The "debate" is when some posters don't understand the distinction somehow think people who don't tip housekeeping are doing something wrong.

I'm really not understanding why there is such a debate.

You either tip or you don't.
You either want to or you don't.
You think they deserve a tip or you don't.

You get the idea.

I leave a $3 tip/day (just me and my hubby) just because I want to and am not expecting anything in return. I don't judge anyone who doesn't tip, it's their choice. Is your vacation going to be ruined because your next door resort neighbor doesn't tip, or does tip? I seriously doubt. So why don't we just live and let live, tip or not tip, and call it a day??

 

[tomerin]

Whenever we stayed in a resort room that is not DVC we always tipped because we are a family of 4 and honestly the room can get a bit messy at times so i feel that after the first night if the service is good i will tip each day afterwards. when staying DVC i usually dont tip because we usually keep the room clean and take care of any mess ourselves.

 

[Poohbear123]

At POP and other resorts, with shades open, and I felt sorry for the housekeeper who had to clean THOSE rooms. Especially around Spring Break time, and Cheerleader groups! BELEIVE me they earn thier 5.25 an hour, this is why I keep my room organized so the Mousekeeper doesn't have to work too hard on my room, so she can work longer on the rooms that need it.

 

[tinkerbeth]

Clearly, you can tip or not tip. We usually leave 5 dollars a day for the 3 of us, with a note that says "Thanks very much" or something like that on the pillow so the mousekeeper knows it's for her/him.

What I've been thinking about is the argument that "there are people with worse jobs who don't get tips and we don't tip them...you can't tip everyone" or however it goes that a few people have put forward.

I got to thinking about that and I thought, so does that mean that because I can't stand and hold the door open for the *most tired* person coming, I shouldn't hold it for anyone? Or because I can't give to the every charity or the most deserving one, I shouldn't give to any? I just don't think the argument holds water. You don't have to tip, and it's not a tipped position, which to me is a technicality b/c it's still not a livable family wage as far as I'm concerned.

But isn't there room for the notion that you tip because you can? I mean, I don't think I could tip a character in 100 degree heat. But I can tip mousekeeping, and if that makes that person's life a little more livable or their kid's college fund gets a few extra bucks at the end of the month, then I feel good about that. Not in a benevolant, "noblese oblige" kind of way, but just that they're my fellow human beings and if I can make their day a bit happier when I'm on vacation having the time of my life, then I will.

I agree, you can't tip everyone and you can't even tip necessarily the *most deserving* or most needy people. But to me that's not a reason to tip when I can.

Just my two cents. (Two Canadian cents, so really only about 1.8 cents... )

Beth

 

[mrstomrice]

we were there 2 nights before we tipped. the room was clean but nothing special was done (animals, etc..) after the 3rd night we left a tip and when we returned to the room, our mickey was in the window and his toys were arranged in a cute way. It did bother me a bit that it took a tip, but we ver happy to have a nice clean room daily.

 

[mickeyfan2]

we were there 2 nights before we tipped. the room was clean but nothing special was done (animals, etc..) after the 3rd night we left a tip and when we returned to the room, our mickey was in the window and his toys were arranged in a cute way. It did bother me a bit that it took a tip, but we ver happy to have a nice clean room daily.

Don't assume it was the tip that got the extra care, it could have been an different person who did the room.

 

[bicker]

I got to thinking about that and I thought, so does that mean that because I can't stand and hold the door open for the *most tired* person coming, I shouldn't hold it for anyone?

No. Rather, it means that you should surely hold the door for the *most tired* person, since they're one of the people coming up right behind you, if you'd hold the door for any of the rest.

Translating this into the tipping situation: If you can spend time making up envelopes for the housekeepers, then sure you can do so for the folks who clean up your table at counter-service restaurants, and clean up the bathrooms at the theme parks. Just have them in your pocket and as you pass one just hand it to them, and say "Thank you."

 

[treboats]

I do child care and I would love an extra tip!!!

I tip my sitter. Not every week but every now and then an extra 5 or 10 and every Christmas I give her 2 weeks pay as a tip or bonus whatever. I also give my sons teacher and aides a gift card every Christmas because they can't accept cash.

Back on topic, I never tipped housekeeping and this board had me ashamed of myself but DH says he always tips when we are on vacation I didn't even know.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We never tip, its not a tipped position. Your service should not be any different depending on the money. Our service has always been satisfactory, the maid very friendly and we have not left any money. Others think they get special treatment, but I've read that people that tip daily have gotten bad service so service does not depend on tips. We like Disney since 1977 and their brocheres states that Disney is not a place with everyone standing with their hand out. If you want to tip fine, if you do not, fine too. No difference is service quality.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I have never tipped housekeeping. And I have never left my room in such disarray where I would feel the need to give them something "extra". They are doing what they get paid to do.

I also don't tip the parking attendants, security guards, characters (if anyone needs one, THEY do), front desk people, ride attendants, store clerks, food court cashiers, or anyone else making the same amount of money, all who make my experience more pleasurable and who are all getting paid to do the job that they do.

Us too. Never even HEARD of tipping housekeeping until the Dis. They make more money then most at WDW and don't even have the hardest jobs. I just don't get why there is a need to slip them more money.

I can think of half a dozen other positions at WDW that deserve extra pay before the mousekeeping staff. Seems sorta like the tip cup at Subway to me.

For the record, we've had excellent housekeeping at Disney and any other place. Never had a problem, room has always been done, we've even gotten the coveted towel animals on occasion.

 

[aunt kelly]

My husband and I always tip housekeeping at every hotel we stay at. We don't do it because we think we will get better service. It's just a way of showing our appreciation to someone that has a hard job and isn't making a great salary. It makes me feel good to leave someone a token of my appreciation and I just consider it a small part of the cost of traveling.

My husband works for a large corporation, and he is reimbursed for housekeeping tips when he is traveling on business. The tip is considered to be a routine business expense.