Tipping Mousekeeping

[KAT1811]

I've heard that many people tip Mousekeeping on a day to day basis. I am thinking that we will also be doing this on our next trip. I would feel bad if there was one maid making up our room all week and then another got the tip at the end of our stay.

I am thinking that I am going to premake envelopes before we leave with each days date on it and then place the tip in each morning before we leave.

How much do you usually leave per day as a tip? Or do those of you who tip at the end of your stay calculate the gratuity differently? Or are there people who feel that tipping Mousekeeping isn't necessary?

[ktink]

We tip daily and usually a couple of dollars per person.

[DreamFinder2]

We tip daily in specially-printed "Mousekeeping" envelopes that we make (sort of a ritual) before we depart for WDW.

Generally, $3/day for two adults.

[tadshome]

We tip daily. My son loves to decorate the "mousekeeping" envelopes.

We usually tip 4 dollars per day :thumbsup:

[ChrisF]

I never used to tip, didn't know you should.:blush: Then when I started reading the different sites on Disney and even found envelopes you can print out for free decorated just for Mousekeeping, I tip daily, the recommended is $1.00 per person per day.
The last time I tipped at PO the mousekeeper left me a different towel sculpture each day or in a different location. It was fun coming back to your room after a long day! :smickey:

[Darbylew]

We tip on a daily basis. We just tip a $1.00
per person in the room. It is fun to come back
to the room and see what the maid has made
out of a wash cloth or towel. The children love
it.

[Hull-onian]

We stayed at All Star Sports and phoned mousekeeping to say that the mousekeepers were not taking their tips daily. So finally, after the third day, they started taking them. However, I did not have a mousekeeping envelope, from now on I will. Thanks for the tip.:thanks:

[Magic Smiles]

We tipped $1 per person along with a special Christmas treat each day this past visit. However, some days I didn't think that housekeeping really deserved it. We had our one towel animal the first day - a leftover from the previous occupants and no others throughout our entire stay.
Housekeeping was certainly not up to the standard of previous years - not even close. One day we returned to our room to find our kleenex box cover in the sink wet with no kleenex at all in the room. Our glasses were not replaced very often and when I called down to housekeeping for glasses and kleenex the CM on the other line was pretty darn RUDE.
Our refrigerator was packed with ice. Maintenance came to fix it..........which resulted in a very wet carpet. We had to put towels on the carpet in front of the fridge. Housekeeping did not once pick up nor replace the wet dirty towels. Our room was not once dusted in our 17 days there. Garbage went unemptied along with other undone jobs. In 2006 our Mousekeeping Staff were the complete opposite - just AMAZING.

[LudwigVonDrake]

I tip $1 a person per day.

[The Flying Dutchman]

The Mrs and I tip $3 a day (just the two of us)

She loves the towel animals and we seem to have a higher occurance of getting them if we tip. Plus, if they deserve it (by doing a good job) we feel they should get it rather than risk it and just tip at the end of the stay and have some one who cleaned the room once get all of it.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We tip daily, $1 per person.

I never tipped housekeeping, until I met DH. I just didn't realize that you should. Now I figure that a couple of bucks a room will add up for them, and in general they do such a good job, and it is so nice to come "home" to a clean room.

[KateMW]

On most vacations I tip $5 a day at the end of our stay. When we go in October, I guess I'll tip daily, but that sure is a pain to remember. I feel like I'll have other things on my mind.:minnie2::goofy2:
:tink::mickey2: LOL

Oh well, if it gets me a towel animal, I'll be pretty happy.

Now, what are these envelopes that y'all are talking about? Something that you made yourself?

[JerseyDad]

....usually 3 of us to a room...so it's $5 or $6 a day...and usually more on our last / check-out morning. I appreciate the service that the housekeeping personnel provide...and I know that they are under-appreciated for the most part.

[disneylovinmom]

We forgot to tip on our last trip.:blush: But in our defense, they didn't do anything for us other than dropping some towels off because we stayed at OKW. I did all the rest of the housekeeping while we were there. I even had the trash all tied up and ready for them to take out. If we would have stayed in a regular hotel, then of course we would have tipped at the end of the trip because they would have come in and actually cleaned everyday.

[SurferStitch]

It's just DH and me, and we tip $4-$6 per day. We tip this amount whether we're at Pop or the Flo.

Don't expect towel animals or any cute arrangements of your plush toys if you tip. We tipped the $4 and $5 dollars at the Poly in December, and never got a single towel creature, nor did they do a thing with the stuffed animals I had accumulated throughout the trip. I didn't really expect it all the time, but once would have been nice. There was a Mickey head made out of towels on the bed when we arrived, but that was it.

They did like to turn on our pre-lit palm tree that we had in the room, though. It was nice to have it on when we got back to the room to get ready for dinner at night.

[BeccaO]

DD7 and I just got done "making" our envelopes for our up-coming trip. We leave this Thursday and we are counting down the hours!!! I went to the craft store this weekend and got some really pretty pink envelopes and glitter glue and disney stickers. We really went to town decorating them and they look so nice!!!! It's also nice to have that special time together before we leave and it sets a good example to her to do nice things for people. We tip $5 a day for cleaning the room and then when we have turndown service in the evening in concierge rooms, we tip another couple dollars for that. :thumbsup:

[Mikey Piano 23]

I usually leave about $1 per day at the end of the trip. Also I leave a nice thank-you note and whatever change I have in my pockets (dont feel like setting off the metal detector at the airport).

The 'mousekeeper' hasnt done anything special for my room. 2 adults (just me and my girlfriend) if the housekeeper left us anything special maybe I would tip more. I saw other people on our floor had the little towel animals and we always felt left out. :-o

[KAT1811]

I I saw other people on our floor had the little towel animals and we always felt left out. :-o

Funny, us too! On one of our trips we had a mousekeeper that left a couple of animals but they were always the same thing. I always feel bad when I pass other rooms and they have their stuffed friends waiting for them to come home, perched in their windows. Funny how things like that affect you!

When DH and I were on our honeymoon our cabin steward always left the most intricate towel animals. One night we had a monkey hanging from the ceiling! I always looked forward to going back to the cabin to see what he had left for us. I wish mousekeeping would do the same!

[#1donaldfan]

We try to leave 1 dollar per person, per day fam of 5. We have stayed at POR AB for years and virtually the same building, and believe it or not, I think our mousekeeper has been the same..year after year.....sometimes she's great and others she just does her job. You can't blame someone for just doing their job and thus, they still deserve a tip. When she goes over and does something very special, we leave more. I couldn't imagine doing their job, and being able to make EVERYONES day !!!! They see us vacationing, having fun, basking in the sun and they have to clean up after us.....pretty much a thankless job with the exception of getting a small tip........:mickey:

[dteed]

We usualy tip on our departure day.

[MushuMulan]

We usually tip a dollar per person.

I also must agree with the people before me who have said this. It's fun to come back to your room and see the towel sculptures that they sometimes make for you.

From my recent trips I've gotten a bow-tie (not the greatest) from Wilderness Lodge, a Polynesian Doll from the Polly, and a swan from Carribbean Beach.

[animalkingdomguy]

You can't count on have the same housekeeper each day. If you get excellent service you want to make sure that the person responcible is the one rewarded.

[katzctkpt]

We tip daily a $1.00 per person and if they go a little further with towel sculptures soaps etc... then we'll leave extra the next day. Generally, we write a little note on a napkin or paper never thought about taking a decorated envelope. This past stay the mousekeeper didn't do anything extra at POR but, we still left a tip.

[kdsjjb]

We generally tip $1 per person daily, but usually leave an extra buck if we do the connecting rooms at a value. (2 DAdults, 3Dkiddies)
We usually leave it in an envelope marked "Mousekeeping" and we will write a little thank you on there as well.
Something like- "Thanks so much for the adorable towel animal"
That usually keeps them coming.

[Bethis26fan]

We tip $1 a day per person, but staying at movies we didn't get towel animals and this past stay we didn't even get the mickey towel welcoming you to the room. We just figured it was because we didn't have any kids it was me
(27) and my cousin (28). We were talking about how the diffrent kids that had to walk from the preferred rooms to non seeing all the towel animals and none being in the non preferred rooms.

[playdead88]

we tip 2$ per person in the room everyday - and we made up disney thank you cards which is where we put the money - we usually leave the card in the bathroom sink - how nice it is to come back to your clean room after a long day - not to mention the coolest ever washcloth animals :mickey:

[Tink#64]

Our lst trip, we made up our Mousekeeping envelopes at home. DS's decorated with Disney stickers & I put in 1 for each of us per day ($4). Mousekeeping was lousy! I could tell they weren't doing a good job when I noticed a dead fly in the corner of the bathroom room for a couple of days! I know - Gross! Why didn't I pick it up? Well, I figured if I came back to this each day, they at least weren't doing a thorough job of cleaning the bathroom! We didn't get a single towel animal, although all of the rooms around us had them proudly displayed in their windows! We quit tipping, I hung the do not disturb card in the door & I was done! I now bring my own basic cleaning cleaning, fantastic, windex & papertowels on trips!

We'll start fresh this year & tip, but if we get the so so service again, I'm calling mousekeeping, for whatever good it will or won't do!

[Dragongirlx]

My sister and I usually tip at the end of our stay.

However last year we stayed at WL and on week days our mousekeeper was great the room was always tidy and we loved the towel animals. So we left a tip just for that person.
The mousekeeper at the weekend was different and the room stayed untidy and my sisters bedding even went missing and we had to ask for new. So no tip for that person.

I tip depending on the level and quality of service we get - bad service no tip.

I used to be a chambermaid (housekeeping) during university and I wouldn't expect a tip myself unless I was doing a great job.
I have always found it odd that some people expect a tip just for showing up to work

[Tygger7]

... some days I didn't think that housekeeping really deserved it. We had our one towel animal the first day - a leftover from the previous occupants and no others throughout our entire stay.
Housekeeping was certainly not up to the standard of previous years - not even close. One day we returned to our room to find our kleenex box cover in the sink wet with no kleenex at all in the room. Our glasses were not replaced very often and when I called down to housekeeping for glasses and kleenex the CM on the other line was pretty darn RUDE.
Our refrigerator was packed with ice. Maintenance came to fix it..........which resulted in a very wet carpet. We had to put towels on the carpet in front of the fridge. Housekeeping did not once pick up nor replace the wet dirty towels. Our room was not once dusted in our 17 days there. Garbage went unemptied along with other undone jobs. In 2006 our Mousekeeping Staff were the complete opposite - just AMAZING.

I noticed from your footer that you stayed at Port Orleans....we had numerous problems with housekeeping on our last trip to that resort. Between that and the terrible bus service (took an hour or more to get to/from the parks every day), we swore we'd never stay there again. It's only deluxe resorts for us, from now on.

On tipping: as others have stated, if the room has been touched up, we leave $2 per day. We strictly tip based on the service we receive...if they do "extra" stuff (towel animals, change bed lines, etc.) we leave more.

Hope this helps!!

[JPL]

I always tip day to day (about $2-$3) with a larger tip Day of Departure based on the overall service :thumbsup:

[ChrisF]

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/trip/mousekeeping.shtml

hope this link works, it has some nice envelopes to print out and make!

[Polynesian Dweller]

The biggest problem I have had with tipping mousekeeping is knowing how to get the tip to the person who did the good job. Not all cleanings are by any stretch equal. Some are very much superior. My understanding is that they don't share tips and you can, and likely do, get a different mouskeeper each day.

So, that strategy of at the end doesn't necessarily give it to the good mousekeeper and leaving a tip by day based on the previous day's effort doesn't necessarily give it to that person. Its the most confusing tip for service arrangement in the parks. I would like to give the approriate level tip to the person who gave that level of service but there doesn't seem to be a strategy to do that.

[ChrisF]

Last time I stayed at PO I managed to run into the same housekeeper in my area and directly outside my room. So I think you have the same one except for their days off or illness. I feel you just to have to go on faith :tink: & a little magic.

[KateMW]

Unless the housekeeping is just horrible at Disney, which I hope it's not, I plan on tipping $5 each day. I mean, they are cleaning up after me and my family. Yuck! I don't even like to do it and I know us. I couldn't imagine cleaning other people's rooms. $5 a day is the least I can do. Now, I would probably be more inclined to tip even more if there were towel animals included! LOL I really want a couple of those things!

[NJMan66]

We tip every day. Funny how the maid service seems to get even better as the trip goes on. I guess you get what you pay for.

[worfarino]

We have tipped both ways-with mousekeeping envelopes and a lump sum at the end of our stay. On our first trip, when we left the tip at the end of our stay, the service was phenomenal...towel animals almost every day, stuffed animals arranged on the bed watching television, notes from Mickey & Minnie etc. Our last trip, we had our daughter make adorable mousekeeping envelopes (tipped generously) and nada! Not a darn special thing was done to our room...we were very disappointed. It was obvious that it was my son's birthday...and nothing extra was done. I have always wondered if they had the mindset that we already have the money in the envelopes (each day was marked on the outside) and figured that they didn't have to earn it. I think we might tip at the end of the week this time, but leave the envelopes marked with each day, so maybe the envelope will end up with the appropriate mousekeeper. We'll see...

[DisneyorBust]

We are daily tippers, don't know if you get the same housekeeper each day. We leave a decorated envelope for mousekeeping, $1 per person/per day.

[snerd475]

I usually tip the day I check out, but after reading these posts, I plan on tipping daily for our next stay later this month.
My question is, do you tip for the previous day in the morning before going about your park visits, or leave it the next morning for THAT day's service?
For example, we're checking in late on a Friday (around 7 PM) and leaving the following Monday morning. Should I leave an envelope Saturday morning for that day's service in advance? Or wait until Sunday morn based on Saturday's cleaning? I'm a little stumped, but I'd like to be fair.

Thanks!

Jeani

[Polynesian Dweller]

You've said it better than I did, snerd475, I like to be fair. Typically in restaurants and elsewhere, you tip extra for better service. What I was getting at is that there doesn't seem to be a way of doing that for mousekeeping. From reading the posts here, I guess there really isn't and that an equal tip a day is probably the best way.

[Suz36]

We tipped daily, $5 per day for 4 of us. I would recommend filling the envelopes with your intended amount before leaving for your trip, that way you aren't scrambling each night or morning to find small bills. It was super easy to just pull the already filled envelope out each morning as we were heading out the door.

[PiratesCove]

I tip between $2-$4 dollars per day for two people. Rosa was our Mousekeeper @ POFQ in November and she was FAB!!!!!!! My Mother and I did tip her extra on the day we left.

I LOVE POFQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cloud9:

[Magic Smiles]

I tip between $2-$4 dollars per day for two people. Rosa was our Mousekeeper @ POFQ in November and she was FAB!!!!!!! My Mother and I did tip her extra on the day we left.

I LOVE POFQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cloud9:
As I previously posted, we did not have good Mousekeeping this trip. We were in bldg 2 of POFQ. Every other stay our Mousekeeping at POFQ was excellent and we had always been in bldg 5. I am glad to hear that there are still great Mousekeepers at the POFQ.

[Tink#64]

I'm reading all of these posts & sooooo many of you rave about the towel animals, how in the world do you get these? We've tipped daily, gotten so-so cleaning services (I even make the beds!) and in 4 trips, we've never gotten the 1st towel animal! I know these are just little bonus things, but - come on - we all want one! My DS's & I are very frustrated! All we get is the stupid holder thingee made from a towel! What's up with this? :confused:

I finally quit tipping on the last trip because they didn't appear to be doing anything except emptying the trash. I opened the rest of the Mousekeeping envelopes & gave the $ to my DS's for helping picking up our room! I hung the do not disturb sign on the door & gave up! :mad:

[moe513]

We tip daily because on the last day your regular mousekeeper may have a day off. We had a great mousekeeper at the yc. We had here 2 yrs in a row.

[KAT1811]

I've had a little of both. Funny how the service differs from day to day. I've had great mousekeepers and I've had so-so.

[ncscgirl2005]

We tipped daily, $5 per day for 4 of us. I would recommend filling the envelopes with your intended amount before leaving for your trip, that way you aren't scrambling each night or morning to find small bills. It was super easy to just pull the already filled envelope out each morning as we were heading out the door.


:thumbsup: The pre-stuffed envelopes came in handy! No need to worry. You can then "pad" the envelopes if the service is deserving of more!

[Here we go again...]

We have always tipped $1.00 per person per day. Now that we are DVC members it is weird... They only do trash and towels once a week and it is strange not leaving that Mouskeeping envelope daily.

[adoptionislove]

What a great idea, we are so going to make mousevelopes for our staff!!!

[IloveDisney71]

On most vacations I tip $5 a day at the end of our stay. When we go in October, I guess I'll tip daily, but that sure is a pain to remember. I feel like I'll have other things on my mind.:minnie2::goofy2:
:tink::mickey2: LOL

Oh well, if it gets me a towel animal, I'll be pretty happy.

Now, what are these envelopes that y'all are talking about? Something that you made yourself?
I don't print envelopes but I do print some cute labels to put on the envelopes. I just make them in one of my computer programs. I always include some Disney characters on the labels. So I don't have to hunt for change to leave every day, I go ahead and put the money in the envelopes before I ever leave home. That way I can just pull one envelope out per day and I'm done!
Don't expect to receive a cute towel animal just because you leave a tip. We were at the Poly for 5 days and never got a towel animal. We also had a small Chrismas tree in the room and nobody ever turned it on or anything. BUT our room was spotless every day when we returned to the room.

[KateMW]

I don't print envelopes but I do print some cute labels to put on the envelopes. I just make them in one of my computer programs. I always include some Disney characters on the labels. So I don't have to hunt for change to leave every day, I go ahead and put the money in the envelopes before I ever leave home. That way I can just pull one envelope out per day and I'm done!
Don't expect to receive a cute towel animal just because you leave a tip. We were at the Poly for 5 days and never got a towel animal. We also had a small Chrismas tree in the room and nobody ever turned it on or anything. BUT our room was spotless every day when we returned to the room.

Do you think if I wrote "Thanks for the towel animals" on the envelopes they would get the hint? LOL :funny:

[KAT1811]

Do you think if I wrote "Thanks for the towel animals" on the envelopes they would get the hint? LOL :funny:

Love it!!!

[jszczur5]

We tipped $1 per person along with a special Christmas treat each day this past visit. However, some days I didn't think that housekeeping really deserved it. We had our one towel animal the first day - a leftover from the previous occupants and no others throughout our entire stay.
Housekeeping was certainly not up to the standard of previous years - not even close. One day we returned to our room to find our kleenex box cover in the sink wet with no kleenex at all in the room. Our glasses were not replaced very often and when I called down to housekeeping for glasses and kleenex the CM on the other line was pretty darn RUDE.
Our refrigerator was packed with ice. Maintenance came to fix it..........which resulted in a very wet carpet. We had to put towels on the carpet in front of the fridge. Housekeeping did not once pick up nor replace the wet dirty towels. Our room was not once dusted in our 17 days there. Garbage went unemptied along with other undone jobs. In 2006 our Mousekeeping Staff were the complete opposite - just AMAZING.

What is AMAZING is that you still continued to tip. After the third or fourth day, I would have left an empty mousekeeping envelope with a note that a tip would be forthcoming when warranted, And then, of course, I would have hidden the toothbrushes.

[Magic Smiles]

What is AMAZING is that you still continued to tip. After the third or fourth day, I would have left an empty mousekeeping envelope with a note that a tip would be forthcoming when warranted, And then, of course, I would have hidden the toothbrushes.

I told my DH one morning, that I was NOT going to leave a tip. When I left the room, he put out the tip AND one of the special treats!
I believe in tipping for good service, but not bad. DH tips for any kind of service - good or bad :D

[CaptSmee]

Sorry...i'm one of the one's that generally does not tip. We make our own beds, leave the towels hanging neatly on the holders. They don't have to do much until the end of our stay...

[KevGuy]

We usually due the $1.00 a day per person in the room rule. But last stay we didn't have a lot of small bills so I just left $5 a day in an envelope. in fact my kids would leave notes and the mousekeepers would write back notes to them every day. It was pretty cool to see my kids so anxious to get back to the room every day to read the note and write back lol. And talk about towel animals. They would leave at least 3-4 new ones a day from horses to no lie elephants made up with pipe cleaners and even stickers for eyes and such, it was really amazing and this was at All Star Movies a value resort that made us feel it was a deluxe. They even set up out toiletries if we left them laying in the sink area in dissarray, placed a clean towel under them daily, gave us extra towels EVERY day. They even made little scenes with the towel animals and my kids stuffed animals on the beds. Had some hung in the curtains of the window looking out like they were waiting for us to return too lol. I just can't tell you how magical that made us feel each and every day, I would have spent 5 times the $5 a day I left for them just to see that look of excitement and happiness on my kids faces, it was like they had a special penpal. I really can't say enough about the mouskeeping we had last April at ASM, it was over and above without question and it started the first day and we didn't even leave any money that day as we just arrived the night before and forgot. I guess it just depends on who you get working your rooms, we were very fortunate I imagine. But it will definately be a letdown not having that interaction daily this year as we are now DVC members at SSR. :mickey:

[jszczur5]

I told my DH one morning, that I was NOT going to leave a tip. When I left the room, he put out the tip AND one of the special treats!
I believe in tipping for good service, but not bad. DH tips for any kind of service - good or bad :D

It's a guy thing. We recently had mediocre service at a restaurant, and when I filled out the credit card receipt, I left a tip of 10% (on the food amount, before taxes). Hubby left another $5.00 on the table. How will lousy servers/mousekeepers/cab drivers (whatever) ever learn to "plus it" as Walt would say, if they receive a better than average tip for a less than average performance?

[Teay]

....usually 3 of us to a room...so it's $5 or $6 a day...and usually more on our last / check-out morning. I appreciate the service that the housekeeping personnel provide...and I know that they are under-appreciated for the most part.

I've found that I do a lot better when I tip just a little bit more my first morning.
Follow me here: the first morning that I have mousekeeping make up the room, I leave (generally) $5. on the pillow. I don't make up special envelopes but I do sometimes leave a note. Most times, it's just me in the room and I don't leave much of a mess at all. For a fairly easy room, $5 is a nice tip. It always seems that the mousekeeper does an especially nice job.
When I worked at Pop Century, I did a "Shadow Experience" with Housekeeping. This is where a cast member from one line of business shadows a cast member in another line of business to see what it is that they do on a day to day basis.
Let me tell you: I could NEVER do the hard, unrecognized work all those cast members in Showkeeping do on a daily basis. Their jobs are incredibly difficult and truly back-breaking!