Hotel Tipping

[Amy]

We didn't have one single towel animal the entire time! No Mickey waiting for us when we arrived...nothing! We were disappointed.

I would have thought Caribbean Beach would do better than that! I have mine from Pop sitting on my bookshelf here in my room. We take one per trip if there is more than one animal, or just the one, depending on where we stay. I didn't get one at All Star Movies in September, just the Mickey-shaped ring of towels.

Amy, you'd be surprised how many CMs do steal, both from the company and from each other. A certain Mr. Brit had his iPad stolen out of his locked locker backstage, and I knew several CPs who got dismissed for stealing from the company. Even if we are caught with little things like the 3D glasses, we can get fired.

You wouldn't get fired for taking a towel animal would you?!

It's a little different with non-guest rooms though. Since the locks keep logs, the workers have schedules, etc. stealing big from a guest room is not as attractive as you would notice something is gone and then report it. With a locker, there might be cameras, might not, since many companies trust their workers at the same level or below their customers, the cameras might only be in areas with company property/money to steal.

When I used the magical express and had my bags sent to my room, I left a tip out for the guy/girl delivering, and they didn't touch it. They put the bag right next to it and just left.

Mom did tip the luggage services CM when we were leaving and while he at first said no, he did accept the money. I wonder if the Disney policy is sort of lenient on the acceptance of tips? I suppose if you had put a note with the money indicating that it was for the luggage CM, then they probably would have taken it??

[secondstar]

We were less than impressed with the Mousekeeping this time around too. There were several small things that added up to a not-so-clean room. And I had to request our sheets be changed since they went a few days beyond even what was posted as "energy-saving" changes

We were, as well. Ususally, we're very impressed with Mousekeeping. But this past trip things were different. To start things off, when we arrived, my wife found a hair on the coffee maker. For the entire 10-day stay, she refused to use the coffee maker. And she's a coffee junkie. She NEEDS her coffee to get started. It made for unpleasant mornings.

Then, we had an issue with sippy cups. my wife brought six sippy cups on the trip, bringing three each day to the parks. Each night, she'd wash out the three and let them dry throughout the next day. Those with children know sippy cups have an insert that "regulates" liquid flow. These inserts were clear. She had them drying out on a hand towel. When we returned on our third day, they were all gone, rendering three cups practically useless. We called the manager and he said look for them. No avail. He also said since we had children, he'd schedule our room to be cleaned in the morning in case we came back early for children naps. One day, we had breakfast at Cinderella's Castle. We were there by 8:10. We also had MNSSHP later than night so we left the Magic Kingdom for a mid-day break. When we arrived, our room had already been cleaned. Great. Then, one hour into our nap, our Mousekeeper knocks on our day and says, "HOUSEKEEPING!" She wakes everyone up then says, "Ooops, I already cleaned this room." No getting an 18-month back to sleep now.

We were short on towels. We left a hand-written note asking for more towels on the sink. It got cleaned up. We left a second LARGER note requesting more towels. We received more toilet paper. (To be fair, my writing isn't the greatest.) My wife left a third note. This time, we got extra towels.

There is one more issue, which I won't discuss. Overall, trip was great. Mousekeeping was so-so at best.

[MmeLeota]

Usually I do some sort of "test" to see how good the housekeeping is...leaving a towel somewhere other than the bathroom area, marking the corner of a sheet with a little bit of lip gloss or something like that...you'd be surprised how many of these hotels don't pay attention to many details. I have to say this about Mousekeeping...there was a decorative pillow that got knocked on the floor the first night we arrived. I chose this to be the "test" of this stay. To my surprise, the pillow stayed there our entire stay!!!! Not once was it picked up off the floor. I truly expected better from Mousekeeping.

We aren't hotel snobs by any means...we usually just look for a clean room/bed/bathroom...just a place to crash. I suppose since being from Vegas and working in the hotel industry, I know what to look for in many aspects of operation...

...and yes, daily tipping is best since it's not always the same person cleaning your room.

That is somewhat of a douche thing to do, at least at a disney hotel, since they are not only serving you but they have an "electronic whip" placed on them by the company to make sure they get through the rooms as fast as possible. So some small things may get missed but at the same time it shouldn't impact their tips since the company is forcing them to work faster.

Sorry if my comment came across wrong...
Coming from the hotel industry for over 15 years in Vegas, I completely understand the pressure employees are under every day...not just housekeepers, but kitchen workers, room service attendants, everyone. I never said anything about my "tests" affecting the tip. We had a housekeeper completely ignore a "do not disturb" sign on the door once...that affected the tip. Finding several hairs (not mine) laying blatently on the bathroom floor...that affected the tip. Just because a pillow wasn't picked up off the floor, doesn't mean that didn't affect anything. My "tests" are more like "experiments" for my input only.....I don't do anything that would affect a tip....it's a curiosity thing on my end.

However, we did expect a bit more from Disney...

Soarin', like you we don't need to have the room cleaned every single day...and I too am uncomfortable with strangers in the room...but I do also know that unless something is left out in plain sight, the employee (or this case, CM) would not have the time to go through anyone's things. I always put away things like toothbrushes/deodorant/razors...etc because I have heard some real horror stories coming out of various hotels. I think it depends how comfortable we feel at a particular hotel. There have indeed been places we've been that the "do not disturb" sign was out the whole time!

[cy1229]

One of the things I have really liked about our last trip, and our upcoming trip, is that we're traveling on DVC points. That means Mousekeeping doesn't come in if we're staying a week or less, and we refresh our linens ourselves. Sounds crazy, but I like this a lot more, because I don't feel compelled to make sure I leave my personal items "out of the way" of housekeeping. Towel animals don't matter much to me.

I WILL say this - on our trip waaayyy back in 2001, we stayed at All Star Movies, and the girls were 7 and 3. When we came back to the room every afternoon, the girls' blankets were folded on the beds, their stuffed animals were on the blankets, and the girls' Mickey ears, or sunglasses, or whatever else they had left behind, were on the animals. It was ADORABLE. For little kids it's pretty fun and adds to the magic. With older kids, it's nice to know their mp3 players, game systems, etc. are safe in the room.

[Soarin08]

]
You wouldn't get fired for taking a towel animal would you?!

No... those are made to be taken. But it's my family that does most of the taking, not me. I only have one, my mom has about four or five.

I just don't like people in my room that I don't know, Disney or not. It makes me feel weird.

[Amy]

]
You wouldn't get fired for taking a towel animal would you?!

No... those are made to be taken. But it's my family that does most of the taking, not me. I only have one, my mom has about four or five.

I just don't like people in my room that I don't know, Disney or not. It makes me feel weird.

Do you really think they are made to be taken? I felt sort of guilty taking the little tiny mouse but I know other people have mentioned taking the bigger animals.

[Soarin08]

]
You wouldn't get fired for taking a towel animal would you?!

No... those are made to be taken. But it's my family that does most of the taking, not me. I only have one, my mom has about four or five.

I just don't like people in my room that I don't know, Disney or not. It makes me feel weird.

Do you really think they are made to be taken? I felt sort of guilty taking the little tiny mouse but I know other people have mentioned taking the bigger animals.

Yes because I had a fellow campus rep who was in Mousekeeping at the Contemporary and she said they were told to be sure and let the guests know the towel animals were theirs to keep if they wanted them. We also asked about this when we stayed at Ft. Wilderness because my mom was curious.

[Amy]

Yes because I had a fellow campus rep who was in Mousekeeping at the Contemporary and she said they were told to be sure and let the guests know the towel animals were theirs to keep if they wanted them. We also asked about this when we stayed at Ft. Wilderness because my mom was curious.

That's pretty neat. I've never had a CM expressly say that you should take the animal if you wanted to though. Now I don't feel so badly

[Soarin08]

Yes because I had a fellow campus rep who was in Mousekeeping at the Contemporary and she said they were told to be sure and let the guests know the towel animals were theirs to keep if they wanted them. We also asked about this when we stayed at Ft. Wilderness because my mom was curious.

That's pretty neat. I've never had a CM expressly say that you should take the animal if you wanted to though. Now I don't feel so badly

This mostly came about because my mom liked how they had made the towels into a horse and the housekeeper, who had come in as we were leaving, heard her comment and told her that the animals could be kept if we wanted them. I would never take them all, though, that's a LOT of towels. But they add a nice touch to the rooms. I want to know how to make them.

[Amy]

Yes because I had a fellow campus rep who was in Mousekeeping at the Contemporary and she said they were told to be sure and let the guests know the towel animals were theirs to keep if they wanted them. We also asked about this when we stayed at Ft. Wilderness because my mom was curious.

That's pretty neat. I've never had a CM expressly say that you should take the animal if you wanted to though. Now I don't feel so badly

This mostly came about because my mom liked how they had made the towels into a horse and the housekeeper, who had come in as we were leaving, heard her comment and told her that the animals could be kept if we wanted them. I would never take them all, though, that's a LOT of towels. But they add a nice touch to the rooms. I want to know how to make them.

I would guess as part of your PI, you could find out how to make the towel animals from someone

[MmeLeota]

We learned how to make some of them on our (non-disney) cruise. Tons of fun, but not sure I would remember now...it's one of those use it or lose it things. For a while after our cruise, we found ourselves leaving towel animals whenever we stayed in a hotel...

They're not a big deal, but it's kinda fun to guess what animal is waiting for you in your room...a little fun/magic

[Wizzard419]

That is somewhat of a douche thing to do, at least at a disney hotel, since they are not only serving you but they have an "electronic whip" placed on them by the company to make sure they get through the rooms as fast as possible. So some small things may get missed but at the same time it shouldn't impact their tips since the company is forcing them to work faster.

Sorry if my comment came across wrong...
Coming from the hotel industry for over 15 years in Vegas, I completely understand the pressure employees are under every day...not just housekeepers, but kitchen workers, room service attendants, everyone. I never said anything about my "tests" affecting the tip. We had a housekeeper completely ignore a "do not disturb" sign on the door once...that affected the tip. Finding several hairs (not mine) laying blatently on the bathroom floor...that affected the tip. Just because a pillow wasn't picked up off the floor, doesn't mean that didn't affect anything. My "tests" are more like "experiments" for my input only.....I don't do anything that would affect a tip....it's a curiosity thing on my end.

However, we did expect a bit more from Disney...

Oh I see, as long as their response (favorable or otherwise) would not have raised or lowered the tip, then that is fine. There was an LA Times article last year about how they use public (well staff wide) humiliation as a means of forcing people to work faster.

My guess, going back to luggage delivery not taking the tip, short of me being there to hand it to them they probably would not have even seen it. They most likely just place them in the room and leave without looking at anything inside.

Leaving notes for housekeeping is a bit of a pointless thing as well, they most likely won't be read since they have a schedule to keep and aren't expecting notes for them. Your best bet is to call housekeeping to get more towels, soap, etc.

[cousininmiami]

We always do the same thing every time, we leave $20 the first morning we are gone, then we are assured great service the entire trip. If we get some little animals left in the room, we leave a couple dollars under the animal as a thank you. Then we leave some kind of a tip at the end of the stay depending on the amount of days. And yes I have taken some of the the towel animals home, they are so cute!

I also ask for bathrobes as soon as we arrive at any hotel, because sometimes you only get robes if you are in a concierge level or the higher end resorts. But if you want robes, just ask and they arrive!

[Amy]

We always do the same thing every time, we leave $20 the first morning we are gone, then we are assured great service the entire trip. If we get some little animals left in the room, we leave a couple dollars under the animal as a thank you. Then we leave some kind of a tip at the end of the stay depending on the amount of days. And yes I have taken some of the the towel animals home, they are so cute!

I also ask for bathrobes as soon as we arrive at any hotel, because sometimes you only get robes if you are in a concierge level or the higher end resorts. But if you want robes, just ask and they arrive!

Really? They have bathrobes at all the hotels? Do you think they have them at the value resorts? F1gment would love that!!

[Mousekedude]

I tip according to the room size. If we stay at a studio, I'll leave maybe $3 or so at a time, but if we stay in a larger suite I'll leave up to $5 per time. I think it's important to leave something every time I allow them in to clean, not only because it might not be the same person, but also because if you don't tip every time they'll think you're not going to tip at all and they won't do as good a job. It also gives me a chance to send them a message: if they don't do a good job the first time, I reduce the amount of the tip the second time and they usually get the point and do better. I've also noticed that we get more "nice touches" such as towel animals and stuff when we tip well. It's just the nature of the service industry. People who depend on tips work harder for you if they see you tip well. Of course, we don't allow them to clean every day... there's no need for it. I'm paranoid about housekeeping because we've had stuff stolen before (not at Disney, though), so I want them in my room as little as possible. No way could we go 10 days without mousekeeping like Soarin, though.