Questions about tipping (other than for meals) About This Page:

[benjiboo25]

Ok. This is a bit embarrassing for me. I am naive about tipping (other than for things like restaurants and hair stylists). I grew up in the suburbs. I have never worked for tips. We have not taken taxis in our regular lives. And we have not "traveled." It did not occur to us that we would be expected to tip so many people for their service around WDW (Until I started scouring this board, after trip #1).

We did tip (what we saw as obvious):
The person who took our bags to the lobby on check in day
taxi driver

We did not tip (nor did it occur to us):
Mousekeeping
Concierage
ME driver
Bus drivers
whoever brought our bags to the room (they were there when we returned from th pool that afternoon)

Please help me know who and how much we "should" (minimums) tip. A vacation is a luxury for us, and we do not have lots of extra money to spend. In our everyday lives, we rarely go out to restaunts because the extra cost of tipping often puts eating out beyond our budget. I do not want WDW to feel out of reach because of hundreds of dollars in tips for the week.

Thanks for your help!

[zeusywoo]

You have a beautiful family. Well here is what I can share. My DD is a waitress & I take my lead from her. She tells me to judge by the service you receive when dining in a restaurant. If the server, is smiling, attentive, helpful & timely. If something happens then you don't tip alot.

We tipped the bus drive when dropped off & picked up. Then the mousekeeper. We didn't use the concierge on this last trip so can't say.

We do eat out be I cook alot at home & or do take out to save so I know where you are coming from.

Sorry it is not much.

[jenjen1127]

You won't have to spend hundreds on tipping. From the list you gave, I do the following:

Mousekeeping - $1 per day per person in room

Concierage - They won't accept tips

ME driver - We tipped him $5 because we had 3 carry ons stored under the bus but most people I saw did not tip him and if you have your own carryons I don't think you need to tip.

Bus drivers - I don't tip the bus drivers and I've never seen anyone do it.

Bell Services - if you see them I tip $2 per bag but if you use ME you probably will never see anyone. When you leave, you could either take you own bags (no tipping) or call Bell Services and tip the $2 per bag

[Buffalogirl18]

regular bus drivers, cm's, front desk, concierge, park staff, people of that nature are not allowed to accept tips.

other than restaurant staff, we tip;

mousekeeping $1 per person in the room per day
DME driver to & from airport
porter at airport if you use one
taxi driver
bell services

[benjiboo25]

Thanks for the kind words, zeusywoo!

I am confortable with tipping for service in restaurants, it just all the other things involved in travel that allude me...I do not want to be rusde, just because I am ill-informed! LOL

[B.M.]

First off, don't feel bad because I was the same way and had never heard of tipping housekeeping before these boards!
Everyone tips differently, but to give you an idea (we are a family of 6):
Mousekeeping- $1. per night, per person.
Concierge- N/A
ME drivers and bus drivers- I only tipped if they got our bags. I didn't tip the bus drivers that drove us around, I did tip the ME bus driver when he gave us our bags ($2).
Bring bag to your room- This didn't apply to us, we took our bags with us, but I would have tipped $1. per bag if I had used this service.

Hope that helps!

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by jenjen1127

You won't have to spend hundreds on tipping. From the list you gave, I do the following:
Mousekeeping - $1 per day per person in room
Concierage - They won't accept tips
ME driver - We tipped him $5 because we had 3 carry ons stored under the bus but most people I saw did not tip him and if you have your own carryons I don't think you need to tip.
Bus drivers - I don't tip the bus drivers and I've never seen anyone do it.
Bell Services - if you see them I tip $2 per bag but if you use ME you probably will never see anyone. When you leave, you could either take you own bags (no tipping) or call Bell Services and tip the $2 per bag

Perfect! That is just what I needed! I read somewhere else that the expectations were pretty lofty!

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by B.M.

First off, don't feel bad because I was the same way and had never heard of tipping housekeeping before these boards!
Everyone tips differently, but to give you an idea (we are a family of 6):
Mousekeeping- $1. per night, per person.
Concierge- N/A
ME drivers and bus drivers- I only tipped if they got our bags. I didn't tip the bus drivers that drove us around, I did tip the ME bus driver when he gave us our bags ($2).
Bring bag to your room- This didn't apply to us, we took our bags with us, but I would have tipped $1. per bag if I had used this service.

Hope that helps!

Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!

[Nick and Ryans Mom]

Originally Posted by B.M.

First off, don't feel bad because I was the same way and had never heard of tipping housekeeping before these boards!

Me too!!!

[nanpchef]

What about resort airline check-in when they check your luggage in for your return flight? (I probably didn't get that terminology right.) If we take our luggage down there ourselves to check-in for our return flight, you to tip them to tag and store it?

[Caldercup]

My general rule of thumb is to tip $1 per bag to anyone who handled my luggage in my presence. (That includes at the airport, getting on/off the DME buses, at Remote Airline Check-in, and at the resort's luggage storage or Bell Services.) My understanding is that the delivery of your bags to your room by DME has already had the tip included in the cost to the resort, which was essentially passed on to the guest in the price of the room -- unless you meet the delivery person in the room when they bring the bags, I wouldn't plan on tipping them.

I also tip $1 per person per day to the Mousekeeper.

I tip taxi drivers a few dollars -- as most taxi fares from a spot on property to another on-property location is $15, I tend to tip $2.

Valet services should also be tipped $1 to $2 dollars when they return my car to me.

As others have said, staff at the Club Services/Concierge levels in the resorts cannot accept tips (unless the guest presses them three times to accept -- and then they have to immediately turn the tip over to their manager.) You can, however, leave them chocolates or flowers or some small, non-monetary token of your appreciation. Better yet, send them a letter after your trip -- specifically mentioning names of helpful CMs and what and when they did something special for you.

Basically, take a cue from the CMs themselves -- you can offer, but if they refuse the tip, just thank them profusely and let them get back to work.

Good luck!
Eileen

[MMMD]

This is a great thread. Gives great guidelines. I don't like to over or under tip either.

[Suzie-Q]

I hear ya about planning tips so that you don't get sticker shock when you are there. It's something that we hadn't totally considered when we went deluxe dining plan one trip and our MC bill was pretty hefty when we got home! It's also why we always do some form of dining plan - that way I don't have to even look at the prices on the menu, because I know I would try to talk myself into one of the cheaper options when I really wanted filet mignon!
One tip from the boards (Eileen, I think - she's a clever one, that girl!) is to do up Mousekeeping envelopes in advance at home. It saves confusion and searching for $1 bills in the morning and we decorated the envelopes which was a fun activity to do in prep. Especially, for us who have to buy our American currency at the bank before hand - we usually get stacks of $20 bills, so I asked for 32 $1 bills and stuffed 'em here. We break a $20 at the airport buying coffee and that gives us change for the DME driver and we're set!

[Planetnicole]

It is a little bit overwhelming...we tip the shuttle bus driver from our car to the airport (and back). We tip anyone who takes our bags anywhere (there and back and in between). We tip mousekeeping (each day), and anyone who brings anything to our room. The of course our waiters/waitresses and all the usual people we would tip when living our normal lives. lol

[ilovedisney247]

Just to cause more confusion--and this is just a note--but WDW is the ONLY place I have ever been where the concierge staff does not accept tips. In most hotels, if you happen to stay off property or anywhere else is is completely proper to tip the concierge. If they make dinner, show or tour reservations I usually tip $5. If they do something extra special for me then I tip accordingly.