Silly question about bell services...

Ok, so $2 a bag for delivery to the room, what about when we pull up to the resort and they help us with our bags then? Same amount? Pay them on the spot for that help?

The standard anywhere with luggage assistance is to tip when the bags are delivered to your room. When we use Bell service we also generally do $2 a bag but figure a $5 minimum if it's just a couple of bags. We do use them at times when we transfer resorts.
 
Really? Not Disney employees, who are they then? I would have never ever thought that! So the only people I need to tip will be when deliver the bags to the room? Do you know if they have this at Art of Animation as well?

They did work for Bags, Inc, that may have changed. Same employer as the valets and RAC employees. Their parent company was Mears the DME people but I think that they merged with another company.

:earsboy: Bill

 
We tip when we drop our bags off at bell services for a transfer just as we feel it’s important to tip valet services when dropping our car off (we don’t drive to WDW - this is just in LA/OC when valet is the only option due to crowding in SoCal). Makes sense to us to tip those handling our personal property on both ends!:thumbsup2
 
Don't try to ask for a luggage cart at Kidani, I tried, waited for the front desk people to go in the back room for 5 minutes only for the bell man to come out and tell me no and seemed pissed I even asked.
 


Don't try to ask for a luggage cart at Kidani, I tried, waited for the front desk people to go in the back room for 5 minutes only for the bell man to come out and tell me no and seemed pissed I even asked.

They get upset when you take their money!

:earsboy: Bill

 
Makes sense to us to tip those handling our personal property on both ends!:thumbsup2
See this is what I thought was the norm? This is important to me. With just three bags I don't mind taking them inside ourselves and then tipping the delivery of the bags, but to tip someone to take them from the drop off at the resort to inside the resort?
 
See this is what I thought was the norm? This is important to me. With just three bags I don't mind taking them inside ourselves and then tipping the delivery of the bags, but to tip someone to take them from the drop off at the resort to inside the resort?

Most everywhere else it's the same group of people and they would pool the tips. IMO it's not my responsibility if Disney has done something different - and honestly we don't know what they do with bag handling tips.

Basically - it's tips so everyone can do as they wish. The industry norm is to tip when bags are delivered to your room.

They will take more if offered during other steps along the way though.
 


Those people are not Disney employees, they only unload cars and pass the luggage to bell services. Normally you tip when the bags are delivered not when they take them. That is why bell services doesn't unload cars and why you have to be in your room for delivery. It's all about the money/tips.

:earsboy: Bill
I have never driven to a Disney World Resort, but at the Grand Californian they unload the car for you as soon as you drive up, I have had them finish before I have even been able to get out of the car.

As far as them not being Disney Cast Members, Disney needs to make this clearer, as I would expect that if they are in a Disney costume, they are a Disney cast member and thus would hold Disney responsible for anything that might go wrong.
 
See this is what I thought was the norm? This is important to me. With just three bags I don't mind taking them inside ourselves and then tipping the delivery of the bags, but to tip someone to take them from the drop off at the resort to inside the resort?

When we are arriving at the resort on DME, we tip the driver and then take our bags to our room on our own. No bell services involved at this point.

In my previous post, I was describing our tipping procedure when we are moving from resort to resort as we typically have a split stay. I’ve heard stories about bags taking hours to be delivered on move day. We’ve never had an issue, and I like to think the tipping at drop off helps... YMMV!
 
When we are arriving at the resort on DME, we tip the driver and then take our bags to our room on our own. No bell services involved at this point.

In my previous post, I was describing our tipping procedure when we are moving from resort to resort as we typically have a split stay. I’ve heard stories about bags taking hours to be delivered on move day. We’ve never had an issue, and I like to think the tipping at drop off helps... YMMV!
We have determined that split stays are not for us, too much work to move in the middle of the trip.
 
We have done it both ways. When we stay at BWV, we usually have bell services handle our luggage. We will be there for a week and there is a fair amount. Also, you are parking further away from your room.
When we stay for a shorter trip at AKL, at Kidani, you park under the rooms. So we just bring the luggage to the elevator and up to our room.
 
When we are arriving at the resort on DME, we tip the driver and then take our bags to our room on our own. No bell services involved at this point.

In my previous post, I was describing our tipping procedure when we are moving from resort to resort as we typically have a split stay. I’ve heard stories about bags taking hours to be delivered on move day. We’ve never had an issue, and I like to think the tipping at drop off helps... YMMV!

Transfers happen around 1:00, the person loading the cage probably isn't the person you tipped. Once delivered to the new resort the bags go to storage. They are supposed to notify you that your luggage is there but sometimes they don't which makes you call to push them along. You will find that bell services tends to serve the people and places who tip. If your room is at the other end of the building and there are calls for service close to the lobby, a bell person may pick up three tickets and get tips from three guests close to the lobby in the time that they would have taken with you. This happens at resorts like SSR and VGF. Spending time on one guest when they could of served three or four guests.

:earsboy: Bill

 
I am just going to budge to tip everyone, that way I don't have to worry about messing up. But one last question, I am thinking they don't, it has been a very long time since I stay at a Value resort but do they have the guys there at Art of Animation when you get out of your car to help with the bags?
 
Don't try to ask for a luggage cart at Kidani, I tried, waited for the front desk people to go in the back room for 5 minutes only for the bell man to come out and tell me no and seemed pissed I even asked.

I saw a guest using a luggage cart at Kidani just last week. Since I didn't think they allowed it, I assumed she had just snagged it when no one was looking. Oh, and we usually tip around $2/bag plus $5-10 more if we have our owner's locker, depending on how heavy it is and how far they have to take it.
 
I used to feel that way, but really I see no reason not to let them do the heavy lifting, I just wish they would leave your luggage in your room even if you weren't there.
I don't want them messing with my things so I don't use bell services or valet if I can help it.

When I saw this thread I thought it was going to be a "can I use the carts" question. We do a lot of timeshare travels and it's rare for timeshares not to have carts for visitor use but it's also rare to have bell services. The last few years we're also seeing a number of resorts that additionally have basket carts great for groceries and smaller items.
 
I’ve heard stories about bags taking hours to be delivered on move day. We’ve never had an issue, and I like to think the tipping at drop off helps...

The transport time is the transport time. The people taking bags from you aren’t taking the bags to the next place. They are putting them on the vehicle to be moved with everyone else’s bags moving there.

Tip that person if you wish, but it’s almost certainly making no difference how fast the driver then takes bags over.

Expect to have the bags available at the next resort after official checkin time. :)

do they have the guys there at Art of Animation when you get out of your car to help with the bags?

No.

The only resort where I’ve experienced people wanting to (insisting on, really) unload the car was boardwalk. And they do it then hand it off to someone else, and then someone else delivers the bags. Maddening.
 
I'm a frugal person. Usually we fly, and the bags often end up in our room before we do. When we drive, I cannot imagine not tipping the person who lugs our heavy bags, cases of water, etc. out of our car - and I would be humiliated not to tip the bell person who delivers the load to my room. If I couldn't tip appropriately, I wouldn't go.
 
When I arrive at hotels, I have had the person who unloaded the car say something like, "Okay, this is the last time you'll see me" or something to indicate that somebody else would be taking over the bags. I always assumed they meant, "So tip me now because you won't see me to tip me later."

I think this was at Disney hotels but I'm not 100% positive.

If you are in front of a hotel, and an employee gets a cab for you and opens the door for you to get in: people often tip that person.

When I'm leaving Disney, if I have leftover unopened soft drinks or bags of chips, I give them (as well as a cash tip) to the Bell Services person who comes to the room to get my luggage.
 
At Wilderness Lodge so many people are taking the carts that there is sometimes a shortage at the drive up area. We found one in an elevator lobby at the middle of CCV. I also am worried that a guest going to their room in either BRV or to the hotel side of resort will injure someone when their overloaded cart goes down those steep walkways. And I wonder how many guests hurt their backs pushing those carts?
 
Bell services is in it for the tips so yes they will deliver your luggage at all of the resorts. In their world they know which resorts have the highest tippers and they work to get transferred to those resorts. If you don't want to deal with bell services you can handle your bags yourself. HH, VB, CCV, and BRV are the only resorts where you can use the luggage carts to move your own luggage.

:earsboy: Bill
Remember, the Bellperson is in a tipped position. Let them deliver your luggage. Look, you couldn't go to an Auto Mechanic and expect him/her to allow you to borrow their tools to fix your car.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top