Just back: DDP and gratuities (big problem)

[KatGarcia]

I am so with you all in the somewhat confusion about what the easiesty route is!

I am traveling in less than 3 weeks with 6 adults and 1 child. Some meals are all together, some not. I took it upon myself to make all the ADRs and then I made a general budget for all of our meals. We are mostly doing buffets just for the ease of finding food everyone will like, so the prices were easy to calculate. I basically added up the totals and tax to find out how much the tip would be (ballpark figure) and divided it by the amount of travelers. I then had all the adults pay me in advance for these tip amounts and we plan to tip on our KTTW (which will be my CC).

Did all that make sense??

I am trying to make it as cash free as possible, since what DH & I are used to being totally cash free. I agree that the new plan has its kinks but for us its still a great deal. A

Anyways thats my 2 cents!

 

[all4fun]

I used to have room charges authorized on my card, but the first time I did DDP, we had servers ignore the dining plan and charge the meal to the room.

I don't know if we just had really bad luck and ended up getting three new servers that weren't used to the dining plan, but having the room charge capability seemed to facilitate the mistake.

I'll do the newly stripped-down and devalued dining plan on occasion, but never if room charges are required for the tip.

It's just not worth the bother.

 

[auntie]

Okay..forgive me if this has been addressed. How is the tip presented...to the customer, and how is it paid if you are just a party of 4 or 5? ....I understand with larger parties it is mandatory 18% bill (?)...presented to you.

Is this the same with a smaller party on the Dining Plan. Do you have the option of leaving whatever amount (we usually leave 20% for good service) in cash?...I really didn't want to have it charged back to my room.
I do agree with others who have mentioned that the old (07) plan was very convenient..that was a big reason we chose it. Not having the convenience does make me think twice about using it again.

Sorry if this has been answered, but frankly the thread is very long, and I was confused by some of the answers who went into other aspects of the plan. Thanks.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Okay..forgive me if this has been addressed. How is the tip presented...to the customer, and how is it paid if you are just a party of 4 or 5? ....I understand with larger parties it is mandatory 18% bill (?)...presented to you.

Is this the same with a smaller party on the Dining Plan. Do you have the option of leaving whatever amount (we usually leave 20% for good service) in cash?...I really didn't want to have it charged back to my room.
I do agree with others who have mentioned that the old (07) plan was very convenient..that was a big reason we chose it. Not having the convenience does make me think twice about using it again.

Sorry if this has been answered, but frankly the thread is very long, and I was confused by some of the answers who went into other aspects of the plan. Thanks.

I believe it will be presented the same way....option showing 18%, 20% or other%.

 

[Momof2J's]

Okay..forgive me if this has been addressed. How is the tip presented...to the customer, and how is it paid if you are just a party of 4 or 5? ....I understand with larger parties it is mandatory 18% bill (?)...presented to you.

Is this the same with a smaller party on the Dining Plan. Do you have the option of leaving whatever amount (we usually leave 20% for good service) in cash?...I really didn't want to have it charged back to my room.
I do agree with others who have mentioned that the old (07) plan was very convenient..that was a big reason we chose it. Not having the convenience does make me think twice about using it again.

Sorry if this has been answered, but frankly the thread is very long, and I was confused by some of the answers who went into other aspects of the plan. Thanks.

We were just there with 2A/2C and at each TS we were given a bill showing the total which included the tax. Under that was a line that said optional tip and 18% = $xx, 20% = $xx. There was then a line where you could choose the predetermined amount or write your own amount down. This would be if you did a room charge or used another credit card to pay the tip. If you were going to do cash, simply write "cash" and leave it on the table. It did say in ()'s that the tip was no longer included in the dining plan.

Hope that helps!!

 

[auntie]

Thanks I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what your experience was.

 

[tnmomof4]

We just returned yesterday and we were on the deluxe dining plan. All of my bill print outs showed tip of 18% or 20% on the bottom. I just circled how much I wanted to charge or I left cash. We had no problems. Some friends who were not on the plan joined us at some meals. When we had 6 or more diners 18% was automatically added to each of our bills. I don't see how the servers are having problems it says right on the bill that tip is not included unless you are parties of 6 or more.

Renee

I was just trying to figure out how the 18% would be added to parties of 6 or more. I noticed you said that when you were there they added 18% to each of your bills. Could you explain more about that? We will be a party of 9/two families. So am I right in thinking that we will each have our own receipt and each pay our own 18% tip?

 

[STEAMBOAT209]

DW and I used the DDP many times and have enjoyed everything it had to offer. YES, we will miss the tip portion being included, but; we have always tipped based on service, good 20%, not so good 10%, bad 0%, so having to leave the tip will now mean the servers will need to keep a high service level to earn the tip. I can only recall one time having bad service while in WDW, but; everyone has a bad day.

 

[Tricia1972]

I was just trying to figure out how the 18% would be added to parties of 6 or more. I noticed you said that when you were there they added 18% to each of your bills. Could you explain more about that? We will be a party of 9/two families. So am I right in thinking that we will each have our own receipt and each pay our own 18% tip?

Yes, it is my understanding that this is exactly how it will work.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

This summer we are one the Deluxe DDP and while I was aware that tips weren't included, I never thought of how we would actually tip the server. (Hey I sound like a Disney suit LOL).

DH and I will do cash tips for all our meals or our own credit card - this would be the most effecient for us. So what if I have to wait an extra minute for the server to run 2 cards vs. the KTTK. This way, I can check the servers work and now that I wasn't over charged on my card or my food credits.

We never tie a credit card to our room - we too had problems with them double bill our food credits to room and KTTK, and had transaction appear that weren't ours . Sure it probably was an isolated incindent, but once was enought for us.

 

[solfan68]

It just seems to me that this whole debacle could have been avoided by just raising the price and keeping it the way it was.....
People that tip "extra" would do it anyway if they felt happy with the service and the waiters/tresses would get their tip automatically, which they deserve 97% of the time anyhow.

My thoughts exactly. I would have gladly paid a few bucks more just to keep it simple. Frankly I can't see that anyone is really "happy" with the new arrangement.

 

[libinatorsmom]

We are planning on doing all tips with cash.... for many reasons.... we are on the Dulx Dinning Plan

 

[libinatorsmom]

I tip according to service period. We were on the DDP last month when gratuity was still included and with the exception of 1 restaurant we tipped an additional 20% or more to all of our servers. the Hoop-Dee-Doo we only left about 10% as our server was not the best.

CANT AGREE WITH YOU MORE!!!!!!!! I tip based on service we have left tips that were more then the total we billed if the service was EXCELLENT... and I think waitstaff need to work for thier tip...

 

[TLSnell1981]

WOW! Eeyore! 40% for good service and 28% for not so good? I'm a generous tipper, but I don't think Dis is on that level....not for an average grat anyway.

 

[PictureJumpr]

Just as an option for those who want to tip cash to avoid future credit bills:
Remember that you can settle your KTTK at the hotel desk at check-out with cash, and nothing will be charged to your credit card.

Just an idea for those who dread calculating, carrying (in our case, trying to not lose) tip envelopes or extra cash...

We usually settle our KTTK in cash when we check out, after having picked up a copy of the account the last morning for review over breakfast. I assume that this next time, when we've been tipping on the room key behind our DDP meals all week, we'll just check it over and settle the whole thing - tips, shopping, miscellaneous and all - in cash before we leave.

 

[tnmomof4]

Just as an option for those who want to tip cash to avoid future credit bills:
Remember that you can settle your KTTK at the hotel desk at check-out with cash, and nothing will be charged to your credit card.

Just an idea for those who dread calculating, carrying (in our case, trying to not lose) tip envelopes or extra cash...

We usually settle our KTTK in cash when we check out, after having picked up a copy of the account the last morning for review over breakfast. I assume that this next time, when we've been tipping on the room key behind our DDP meals all week, we'll just check it over and settle the whole thing - tips, shopping, miscellaneous and all - in cash before we leave.

Thanks for that info. I never realized you could do that. I wonder if you could settle the KTTK using a Disney gift card or a Disney Visa rewards card?
Do you know? Also, can you settle your KTTK card every day, or do you have to wait until the day of check out?

 

[PictureJumpr]

The only things i can verify are:
You still have to present a credit card to 'open' your key to room charges, or else you must leave a cash deposit at check-in.

You can get a copy at any time from the hotel desk that will show all charges on your key up to that point in time.

I do not, however, know if they will let you 'make payments' - that is, whether you can pay it off day by day or just have to wait to close it at the end of your trip. If they won't let you pay it off by day I suppose you could just 'lock up' the cash for each day's usage in your room safe in an envelope or something, and then take that with you to check out?


I also am not certain about payment methods, since we always use cash, but I imagine they would probably accept the Visa rewards or the disney dollars/gift cards to pay the balance at the end if you do not wish to use cash. You could call the hotel desk to check before you go...

HTH!

 

[fey_spirit]

Do they do this if you're paying in cash? I only carry cash in the parks, I know me and I would lose track of spending if I used plastic.

all of the servers we have had have brought us the gratuity slip before they run our card for the DDP. We have had to write the tip amount on the slip and then put our card with it and they run the card, charging the tip to our room. None of them have seemed to have a problem with telling us about how the tips work now.

 

[fey_spirit]

So now what's important is what's easiest for the server and not for the customer? Geeze Louise!

If you wanted to you could, but its only going to slow you down from leaving. Having room charging abilities is the best and easiest route. Disney was stupid for the way they set this up. They should have simply required room charging abilities if you want the DDP. It would make things so much easier for servers.

 

[fey_spirit]

Or I can give them my DDP card - and leave the cash on the table for the tip I want to leave with no need for change...

Which could be solved by disney paying their severs a nice houly wage....but that won't ever happen, just as your idea won't happen.

I'm just saying, to get out of the restaurant, having room charging abilities works best. With room charging abilities, its one more swipe, and takes an extra 10 seconds. Disney servers can go an entire night without ever touching cash, so they most likely have change on them. They will have to go to their cash register, which only the manager or an approved person has they key to. They then have to wait for the manager to make their way over there, get the change, and then the server has to figure out how much to give back to the guest. Now take this with a party of 10, 4 different checks, and its a nightmare. Meanwhile, other tables need refills, are ready to order, etc. Having room charging abilities is the best solution for everyone.