Tipping is an individual thing. It rewards people for their service.
I tip restaurant servers, room service, valets, bellmen and housekeeping.
The tax on food in Orlando is 7%.
Kevin
Tipping is an individual thing is most positions, that's true, but not for restuarant servers. They are paid below minimum wage and their tips are calculated into their pay. They are taxed on tips they are assumed to be getting.
I know many people will argue (and they have..lol), but my personal tipping system is..
20% standard (on the total, only because I never thought of doing it before tax), more if the service was excellent maybe 30%
I will only tip 15% if the service was just ok. If the server did their job, nothing more, no personality or whatever. That's my minimum. If the service was bad I would complain and expect better service, then still leave 15%, If it doesn't change or if it's very bad to begin with I would insist on a different server. I actually did this at a Perkins if you could believe it..lol. Not exactly a 4* restaruant..lol. But she was rude, and the manager was more than willing to give us another server.
To NOT tip is almost like taking money from them since they are taxed on a tip you didn't leave them.
Valet service I give $2 taking my car and $3-$4 getting it back.
Housekeeping a minimum of $3 (for myself and my daughter since we always travel together). Housekeeping will change according to the star rating of the hotel. I am currently leaving $5 a day staying at BC club level. $2 for turn down service. However, I left $3 a day for the Hotel Royal Plaza, a 3* hotel. And I left $4 a day for the Peabody, a 4* hotel. It seems I leave $1 per star with $1 extra for club level? Again, I will leave more for special service. The housekeeping at the Peabody left my daughter a whole bunch of the cute soap ducks (the Peabody ducks are their mascots) because she saw how much she liked them. She also left her a soft pink duck blanket and both of us duck embroided slippers usually reserved for club level, which we were not staying at the time. I gave $5 per day and tipped her $25 extra personally before we left. She got the same tip every day, still was extreemly nice to us and treated my daughter special from the 1st day. I knew she wasn't doing it for a better tip since she was getting the same thing. The extra was well deserved I thought.
Bellmen, usually $2 per bag but a minimum of $5 and max of $10.
I will tip a host/hostess if I want a certain table and get it. The amount depends on how expensive the restaruant.
I don't think I missed anyone.
Remember, except for servers, all other tipping is optional (I pretty sure anyway).
Oh, and if you're on the dining plan at Disney, remember 18% gratuity IS included. If I get very good service, which is usually, I will leave an extra $5.
Hope this helps.
Anc96