Tips for housekeeping?

[snuggs30]

I am confused, I have heard alot of people say they tip the Mousekeepers and then I heard alot of people say they don't? What is the proper rule for this? My DH cleans 18 bathrooms and classrooms a day and he does not get a tip..haha. What do you think?

[vicster]

We tip the Mousekeeper every day - $1.00 to $2.00 per person. They probably don't make much salary and depend on tips.

[cer]

I read somewhere $1 per person per day of stay but it is really up to you. We are a family of four so for us, $4 per day.

I prepare envelopes ahead of time for each day and leave it in the sink each day before we head out to the parks.

This is just what we do.

Hope it helps.

[disneymom15]

We don't leave tips. What concerns me is you're tipping before the work is even done. What if the job is not satisfactory?

[SBETigg]

I think it would be really neat for your DH to come in to find a tip on every desk.

I typically tip housekeepers in hotels, motels, inns, and not just at Disney. I feel they work hard for it and don't get paid enough for their efforts. If that little extra on my part makes someone else smile or feel better about their work, I'm happier too. And I like to think it insures better service for the remaining vacation days, but of course that's not always the case. I can also understand why people wouldn't tip. They might get paid better than I think, and it is their job to do it. The difference to me is that being employed in custodial work is not performing a personal service while housekeeping in hotels is more of a personal service by nature.

[bicker]

I am confused, I have heard alot of people say they tip the Mousekeepers and then I heard alot of people say they don't? What is the proper rule for this?

The housekeepers at Disney resorts are non-tipped personnel, like the custodians in the theme parks. No one is going to stop you from giving them a gratuity if you want to, but you are under no expectation to give them one either.

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . I typically tip housekeepers in hotels, motels, inns, and not just at Disney. . .

1) We tip at most hotels, EXCEPT Disney.
2) The Disney maids make a lot more than hotel average maids.
3) In addition to pay up to $12.47/hr
. . . they can leave up to 45-min early, with full pay
. . . they get room incentive pay

[3AMommy]

I checked this out on Emily Post's website and Miss Manners says:

for housekeeping: $2 - $5 per day left daily.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Of course, if you didn't get good service, I would adjust that or contact guest services or the concierge desk.

Ask Jiminy Cricket would say:
Always let your conscience be your guide!!

[passholderryan]

My wife and I always leave $5 each morning. We do this regardless of where we stay. We have found that things are always a little better when we take care of the staff.

[#1donaldfan]

Regardless of salary, incentives or whatever other perks they may receive, I still think tipping the mousekeepers is a personal thing, and I've always tipped 1 dollar per person, per day.....why not tip ???? In our experience we've always had such good service that we just feel that they deserve it.....but, I suppose if the room was a mess, nothing much done, I may not tip......

[Tinkerbella16]

We tip by however many people are in the room. So this year it will be just me and my mother...so we will give $2 per day. If my sister were coming, we'd give $3 per day since its three of us in the room. One year we had the same mousekeeper during our whole stay at Pop...so we gave her a chunk all at once the night before leaving...she was really great. She even kept her own wdw autograph book for the resort guests to sign before they left to go home...I thought that was really cute!

I think it is appropriate to tip mousekeeping. Some people will have a bad experience, so they won't tip. But everyone has different opinions on the topic.

[Ropachs]

We are a family of 4 and I plan to tip $5 a day in hopes of having good service each additional day.

[#1Dduckfan]

The general rule of thumb that I have always lived by is just like everyone else has said, I tip about $1 to $2 a person in the room. I consider that it is just like paying for any service.

[SurferStitch]

We don't leave tips. What concerns me is you're tipping before the work is even done. What if the job is not satisfactory?

Then you're out a few bucks, and lesson learned. I'm sure we've all spent a few bucks at WDW for something here and there and weren't totally satisfied (churros in Mexico come to mind).

We tip $4-$5 daily for me and DH. It's just a cost that we factor into every trip, and budget for it. The only time we received poor housekeeping service was at POR. Lesson learned....we don't stay there anymore.

It is customary to tip housekeeping anywhere. Just because housekeeping at WDW makes a few bucks more than other places, doesn't mean they don't still deserve to be tipped. $12/hr might be high for some areas of the country, but not so much for the Orlando area. And, that's near the top of the pay scale....I can wager that many are closer to the lower-mid part of that scale.

[Goes4FastPass]

We usually tip $2.

We do this knowing we very well may not get the same housekeeper 2 days in a row.

We do this without any expectation of 'towel animals'

[bicker]

It is customary to tip housekeeping anywhere.

No it isn't. Tipping housekeepers is a practice that was limited to the Eastern half of the United States until hotel chains went national. As a result, chains that started out in the East (such as Hilton) still have expectations that patrons tip housekeepers, and chains that started out in the West (such as Marriott) don't. Disney follows the West model.

The housekeepers are paid the same as the custodians in the theme parks, who have a much harder and messier jobs. For folks who are trying to decide whether to tip housekeepers, please consider tipping the custodians in the theme parks instead. Since so many folks tip housekeepers, there is an unfair imbalance between the compensation for these two jobs.

[thumperbug]

we usually stay in a villa so mousekeeping is not every day but rather a towel/trash service after 3-4 days ( I forgot which) and a full clean after 7.

Depending on how the towel/trash goes depends on what I tip. I've had trips where mousekeeping gave us extra clean towels and did more then trash/towel (really cleaned up, ran dishwasher) and other times where it was just swapping out towels and emptying the trash.

When I stay in a regular room..I base my tips on how the first cleaning goes.

[SurferStitch]

No it isn't. Tipping housekeepers is a practice that was limited to the Eastern half of the United States until hotel chains went national. As a result, chains that started out in the East (such as Hilton) still have expectations that patrons tip housekeepers, and chains that started out in the West (such as Marriott) don't. Disney follows the West model.

The housekeepers are paid the same as the custodians in the theme parks, who have a much harder and messier jobs. For folks who are trying to decide whether to tip housekeepers, please consider tipping the custodians in the theme parks instead. Since so many folks tip housekeepers, there is an unfair imbalance between the compensation for these two jobs.

Just do a Google search about customary and standard housekeeping tipping. There is no designation between geographic locations, or chains. Almost all state that a tip is customary, and give around the same dollar amount as a recommendation.

Again, I'll repeat, it doesn't matter HOW MUCH you make in your job, or how HARD your job is....certain jobs/professions are customarily tipped, while others aren't. Custodial workers aren't on the tip list, while servers and housekeeping are.

I'm sure that it isn't very pleasant working in the laundry facilities, but you don't tip them. Working in the horticultural area (out in the heat planting vegetation and tearing out old trees/plants) probably isn't that fun, but you don't tip them.

And, by the way....the Marriott Marquise in Times Square DOES expect tips for their housekeepers. We were gently reminded when we stayed there in July.

[Polynesian Dweller]

We've really struggled with this one. The reason is that the person you get doing your room today is not necessarily the one who did the great job yesterday. Normally you tip on the level of service receive you received. Never confident that our tip got to the right person but don't think there is any way around the problem.

[bicker]

Just do a Google search about customary and standard housekeeping tipping. There is no designation between geographic locations, or chains.

Do more research. Also, ask your friends who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in the West. They'll tell you that they never heard of such a thing as tipping housekeepers.

Best yet, do what I did: Ask the general manager of the hotel you're staying at whether "the housekeepers are paid based on an expectation that patrons will tip".

Disney pays housekeepers in the resorts the same as they pay custodians in the theme parks (the folks who clean up other people's poo in the hot and sticky summer heat and humidity)... the jobs are classified the same, for both corporate purposes and IRS purposes. Contrast that with valets, bell staff and restaurants service, who Disney classifies at tipped employees.

Folks should not feel any expectation or obligation to tip Disney's housekeepers (or custodians, for that matter).