[EmpressJenny]

Ok I'm a JERK because I never knew about tipping housekeeping before (someone hit me over the head w/an ettiquette book, please). I'm staying at the Boardwalk Inn. How much am I supposed to tip? Is it every day, or just a lump amount at the end of my stay? How will they know the money is for them and not just some cash I left lying around? Help I have no manners!

[MickeyManic]

I've heard that the norm is a dollar per person per day. I wondered about that "money laying around" thing too, and one time in New York, we left the money on the table and forgot to leave a note. It was taken! HA HA!!!

Normally, we'll just write a note saying "For Mousekeeping" or "Thanks Mousekeeping!" and leave it on top of the money, and that's proved to work fine.

For our upcoming trip, I've made up some little cards with funny cartoons on them, hoping to give a chuckle to a Mousekeeper since we've always had them go out of their way for us.

Don't worry about not knowing to tip. If hubby and I hadn't been addicted to reading Disney fan sites like this one and RADP, we wouldn't have ever known either. In fact, I've asked a LOT of people whether or not they tip hotel maids, and they have ALL looked at me like I was crazy!!!

[ZarSu]

We normally put $3-5 in an envelope and leave it on a unmaid bed. We printed up some envelopes with pictures and a "Thank You Mousekeeping" on them before we left for Disney. That is what we do while we wait for our trip to arive.

[MerlinMatt]

We left $4 each day on top of the TV. I wrote "Thank you from the McDonnells" on the Mouskeeping card so that they would know it was for them.

I've heard that they prefer daily tips as opposed to a lump sum at the end because they it might be someone different cleaning your room on a weekend, etc.

[pudgethefish]

I agree with Merlin Matt and Zar. We put out an envelope everyday that said "Thanks Mousekeeping" with $4-5 dollars in it.

I even had one mousekeeper write me a thank you note for the tip!

Amy

[timsha]

We tip 3 - 5 dollars a day. We leave it on the sink (easy to spot) with a note. We also tip daily as the staff may / will change on a daily basis.

[Amneris]

The "rule" appears to be $1 per person, although most people on this forum in practice leave larger tips. I have heard that you're supposed to have the same mousekeeper for your entire stay and so that you should just tip at the end. I believe this is what we do (I stay away from the tipping thing, lol!), so I hope that info was correct or else o-o-p-s!! :( Although I believe we HAVE had the same mousekeeper as I do see them from time to time and the one time I went she said she would be there for our entire stay. Leaving the tip at the end makes it easy to spot because then it's gotta be for the mousekeeper.

[disneydana]

We too leave $3-$5 each day with a note.

[joseph3947]

Every time I've been to WDW (and that's probably to many times) there was always a card about 2" x 3" with a name in it (supposedly the mousekeeper for that bank of rooms). We would ususlly put $1 for every person in the room folded inside of this card out in an open area mostly the table or sink area. It always seemed to work. Joe

[disneyitis]

we leave $1.00 per. person, min. of 3.00 per day. we do thia every day. we make up env. with "for mousekeeping from the disneyitis family. we add a disney clipart picture or a picture we have taken in past visits. we do this daily as the mousekeepers also get days off, we have had many mousekeepers thank us for doing this daily. we set up as many envelopes as nights we are staying, this way we don't have to worry if we have any singles.

[Dana]

I printed envelopes from a link that Disney Teacher gave me. They are addressed to Mousekeeping. The normal tip is $1 per person per night left every morning. They change mouskekeepers and you may have a different one from day to day. That way everyone gets tipped according to the work they do. I always leave more if the service is outstanding. I left $5 a day while staying at the WL, because the service was excellent. The Mousekeeper sometimes leaves a card with their name on it stuck to the vanity mirror. I try to leave a note of thanks at the end of my stay addressing it to the person I had cleaning my room the most. While staying at the AKL, I left a very brief note saying: Thanks for making our stay extra special. Tips are a great way to show appreciation, but leaving a note of thanks with the tip shows them how much their job is appreaciated.

BTW: I never knew to tip the maid service at hotels. My Mom clued me in on that when we stayed at AS movies in 97, so no worries about that.

[EmpressJenny]

Thanks so much for your help everyone. I'm a bartender, so tips are very important to me. You'd think I would know!

[tragic312]

during our last trip to WDW at the BC, rob and i left our tip on the second to last day to our "mousekeeper". i ran into the morning after rob proposed to get some ice. she told me it was her last day because she was going on vacation the next day. i told rob and he left her a $20 and i wrote a nice note for her.

[MerlinMatt]

Originally Posted by Amneris

I have heard that you're supposed to have the same mousekeeper for your entire stay and so that you should just tip at the end.

They try to do that an any hotel for exactly that reason.

However, it's not always possible. If you're there for 7 nights, you definately won't have the same person/people for the entire trip. AFAIK, WDW tries to avoid paying overtime, so most of the Mousekeepers only work 6 days (5-6 hour shifts) out of 7. Again, this is more or less industry standard and not just at WDW.

[lopo]

I, too, cannot imagine that one would definitely have the same Mousekeeper each day (days off, sick day, vacation, etc.), so I always try to leave a tip daily. Mine is also $3-5 generally and I always write a "Thanks!" on a piece of paper and leave it with the tip in a conspicuous place.

Once, maybe twice, a Mousekeeper left us a reply (out of dozens of tips.) I thought that was another special part of WDW. :-)