Mousekeeping Questions!!

Schedule Housekeeping? I've never heard of that. I suppose you could though, especially if you know when you'll be in your room.

You will get housekeeping twice a day. Once in the morning to clean up and make the bed/restock products. Then again in the evening to turn down the bed.

For a 2 person room I leave $5 a day. I usually have envelopes that say "For Mousekeeping, Thank you For Your Service" on it.

Is it really called Mousekeeping? That's cute.

A roommate in college was a housekeeper for a resort in AC and said that for the most part people staying at theirs never tipped. That came as a surprise, I always leave a few dollars a day and a thank you note at the end of the stay.

Yes, it is frequently called Mousekeeping! I tip daily, because sometimes it's different people and I always want to make sure that the correct person gets it. Also that way if there's any sort of accident that needs some extra care I can adjust that daily as well.

In the DVC Concierge Villas they even do dishes, which is downright magical!

As Kristen K. mentioned we also leave a tip daily...we usually stay in Moderate Resorts so we get service once daily in the morning to make the beds and restock, so we leave $1/pp each day...so we would usually leave $2 each day of our stay...this year will be $3 per day since my son will be with us. You can prepare your Mousekeeping envelopes ahead of time and leave one out each day...this way you don't have to worry about having change/small bills.

I remember them coming when I was out, no earlier than 9am, but those were value resorts. And I think it was daily for beds and restocking though towels may have been every other day unless requested. Once again, could be different at other resorts.

Like everyone else, I've always left tip daily with a thank you note and a little extra the last day if it's been extra good service. Rooms assignments for housekeepers change daily, by leaving a large tip for the first day, that person would get all the money even if they don't touch your room for the rest of the stay. I'd still say do it daily. It's really not a hassle and is appreciated by the workers.

I would still leave a tip daily because like it was said before you may get different mousekeepers throughout your stay.

I think the time varies, depending on where they start, etc. But we've stayed in both value and moderates, and when we've returned to our rooms in mid-afternoon, they were always restocked and made up.

I would say ditto about leaving the tip every day. We forgot envelopes, but mousekeeping left us a card with her name on it, and I just tucked a few dollars under the card every day. That way she was sure it was for her. Even if the person changed, it was clear the tip was for whoever made up our room.

Don't forget to take pictures of your towel creatures, and post them when you get back. We got some great ones!

When staying at AKL on the concierge level housekeeping has always come for us between 10-11am. You'll start seeing carts in the halls starting at 8am though. I'm not sure what time turn down happens, I would assume around 6pm.

I wouldn't leave a big tip in the beginning because of the reasons stated above. You don't really need to leave a bigger tip up front to ensure better service (if that's what you were thinking) it will be great just because.

No problem!

Ok...so now i'm starting to wonder...we stay DVC at AKL....and I don't think we ever have mousekeeping come in...our beds are never made and i think we maybe get new towels once or twice during the week.

Jess, when you are staying on DVC points you do only get service one day. I am not sure if they make the bed or not as I make the bed every morning even when we are staying at the Poly. I do know they empty trash and change your towels on your 4th day.

My understanding is that if you pay out of pocket for a DVC villa (you aren't an owner), you get daily service same as if you'd paid a daily rate to stay at a Disney hotel. If you own DVC points (or in my case, exchanged in via RCI), everything's cleaned, changed, and made before you arrive, and after that the only time Mousekeeping comes into your unit is to change towels and take out trash midweek. If you want more frequent service, you can pay for it.

This was all explained in the RCI exchange documentation, so it depends on how accurate RCI's info is.

When you stay on DVC points in any regular villa you get trash and towel service on day 4 and full service on day 8 (it might be day 3&7 but I can't remember right now). If you pay an extra fee per day, you can have maid service added to any room on any schedule you would like, either trash & towel, or full housekeeping.

However, if you are staying on the AKL Concierge level on DVC points full Mousekeeping services are included. That's one of the reasons I love the concierge option so much. Between housekeeping and the lounge, it's totally worth the extra points to me.

I know DVC is a benefit because you get the room cheaper then if you are just paying the normal rate but I do hate it that we don't get some of the normal things that others get like mousekeeping and free dining

Now hun... we can ask for extra things and have them come again if need be, but if I remember right... its extra. We just never needed it to be honest.

I know last year we needed more towels and they hooked us up.

I hate that DVC no longer includes regular Mousekeeping or Valet Parking. But, the members voted on those things and it was decided that getting rid of them was better than raising membership dues. Not sure I would have voted that way, but that's what the majority wanted. Both are still available if we want to pay the extra fees.

I understand the free dining though. Free dining is only ever offered on rack rate rooms, so the dining is the discount, our DVC rooms are already heavily discounted. I just look at it like when I bought DVC I chose where I wanted the discount on my vacation, I didn't chose to get it on food, I chose a room rate discount. In a manner DVC members do get a dining plan discount depending on the time of the year. DVC members don't pay the seasonal increase on the dining plan, they always pay the slow season rate so there is a very small discount if you figure that in.