What’s Up with Housekeeping at Disney World Resorts?
Whenever Walt Disney World resort cutbacks come up, readers complain or ask about scaled back or missing hotel housekeeping. Specifically, whether it’s returned to normal, if there’s daily cleaning, and what can be expected of mousekeeping. This answers with official policies, our experiences, what readers have shared, and more.
As you might recall, Walt Disney World instituted a range of health safety protocol back when the resorts started to reopen. Disney released operational changes and policies for its resorts, reflecting all of this. One thing that covered was resort cleaning, which would be both enhanced or scaled back, depending upon the circumstances.
A lot of attention was paid to surfaces throughout the parks, resorts, and even guest rooms. Prior to arrival, rooms were cleaned comprehensively, with deep-cleaning to surfaces and floors. During stays, only light housekeeping was performed occasionally. Obviously, a lot has changed since then–both in terms of Walt Disney World’s official policies, which are largely back to normal, and what guests experience from Mousekeeping.
With that said, here are the current housekeeping policies at Walt Disney World:
- Deluxe Resorts – Daily full housekeeping service.
- Deluxe Villas – Guests paying cash rates to stay at Deluxe Villas (DVC Resorts) will receive daily full housekeeping service.
- The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort (DVC Resort) – Unlike other Deluxe Villas, cash guests at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness will receive housekeeping service every other day unless you are using Disney Vacation Club Member Points or a DVC Member discount.
- Moderate Resorts – Full housekeeping service every other day.
- Value Resorts – Full housekeeping service every other day.
- Disney Vacation Club Resorts – Guests staying at DVC resorts on points will receive trash and towel service on the fourth day. If staying more than 8 nights, full housekeeping service is offered on the fourth day followed by trash & towel service on the eighth day. Disney Vacation Club Members and their guests may purchase additional housekeeping service by visiting the front desk or contacting housekeeping via their in-room phone.
Full housekeeping service includes: making the bed, replacing towels and amenities, cleaning the bathroom, emptying the trash and recycling, and tidying the room by dusting, wiping counters, and vacuuming (as necessary).
There are a few of additional options and policies pertaining to Walt Disney World housekeeping services:
- If you wish to decline housekeeping service at any time during your stay, you can opt out by speaking with a Cast Member in person or by placing the “Room Occupied” sign on your door. Please note that the opt out feature is no longer available during the online check-in process.
- If there is more than one room on your reservation and you choose to decline service, your selection will apply to all rooms on the reservation.
- If you require additional housekeeping amenities or have specific housekeeping requests, please visit the Front Desk or contact Housekeeping via your in-room phone.
- Walt Disney World reserves the right to enter any room at a Disney Resort hotel for maintenance, safety, security or any other purpose, even if the Room Occupied sign is displayed on the room door. (More on this below.)
Although Mousekeeping has largely returned to normal (at least officially), it comes against the backdrop of Walt Disney World continuing to deal with housekeeper shortages as of late 2025. These are likely to be a problem for a while–perhaps forever–and this impacts the actual guest experience with housekeeping at Walt Disney World (more on that in a bit).
We stay at Walt Disney World at least once per month, and have done over a dozen multi-night stays in the last ~8 months at Walt Disney World. In the last 2+ years since housekeeping returned to normal, we’ve logged more stays than I can count–probably around 40. (It’s not nearly that many trips–we do a lot of split stays.)
Accordingly, we have a ton of recent firsthand experience with Mousekeeping during our stays at Walt Disney World. The biggest thing we’ve noticed is far more consistency with cleaning in the last couple of years. Prior to that, I would’ve described housekeeping as hit or miss at Walt Disney World.
On the Deluxe Resort end of the spectrum, we’ve done stays at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Grand Floridian, Contemporary Resort, BoardWalk Inn, and Yacht Club–all provided daily housekeeping consistent with what’s described above. (Note that these stays were on the hotel side of each resort–totally different ballgame on the DVC sides.)
We’ve also done stays at every single Value Resort and Moderate Resort during that time. We’ve done All Star Sports, Pop Century and Caribbean Beach each multiple times. At these resorts, service has consistently been every other day, as advertised.
I’ve also done many stays at Coronado Springs and Gran Destino Tower during that time, and would note that it generally offers near-Deluxe service. (This is no surprise–although not official, Disney aims to exceed expectations at Gran Destino because it caters to different clientele.)
As for what the service has entailed, it also has mostly been as advertised. Making beds, taking out trash, replenishing supplies like towels and coffee. There has been some tidying up of our stuff, but I would call it less comprehensive than many real-world hotels.
I can’t speak with authority to vacuuming or the cleaning of surfaces because we’re typically not doing things that would necessitate either or make it apparent when that had occurred–especially when I’m traveling alone. Although we have a toddler, she’s not really the crumb-y kind (yet?).
There have been a couple of times when it’s been clear that surfaces have been cleaned, but I’m not really sure one way or the other beyond that. (Hopefully readers can share their experiences.)
In addition to Coronado Springs, I also want to draw specific attention to All Star Sports, where both housekeeping and the guest experience have been especially (shockingly) good. During one of many stays there, a manager of the resort stopped me to inquire about the newly remodeled room and how things were going, generally.
She indicated that feedback on the new rooms at All Star Sports has been universally positive. Guest satisfaction is up and Cast Members prefer the new rooms, too. (One motivation behind many of the room updates has been making them easier and more efficient to clean.)
A lot of readers have shared their experiences with housekeeping during their stays at Walt Disney World, and those anecdotes are mixed. Some have reported that things are essentially back to normal.
Others indicated that housekeeping barely set foot in their room, except for the infamous safety/security checks. These people stated that not even the every other day services were occurring. Many also have shared that they didn’t receive any Mousekeeping at all without calling the front desk.
The middle ground of reader feedback more or less reflects the official policy–that housekeeping took out the trash and changed the towels, but not much else.
Our perception is that cleaning actually is more comprehensive in the Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts (in addition to occuring daily), and faster and superficial in the lower tier-resorts. If you have experience with Walt Disney World Mousekeeping in the last two years, please share it in the comments.
Shortly after the original publication of this post, we also shared Housekeeping “Hassles” at Walt Disney World. Ironically, we have not experienced any of this issues in our stays since. That could simply be luck on our part–that does play a big role (just read the comments to that post with some regulars never having experienced the problems, and others having them with regularity).
There have been recent changes and more departure day issues (thanks to a new-ish My Disney Experience app feature for checking out), so it’s worth being aware of that new wrinkle to the housekeeping. Again, we have not had those problems firsthand and it does seem to us that the app feature has been fixed. (Knock on wood.)
Speaking of recent changes, another is that the ‘Hey Disney!’ Amazon Alexa device is now found in all hotel rooms at Walt Disney World Resort. This smart device can be used to make specific room requests, such as more pillows, towels, or coffee.
We’ve used it successfully for the purpose of such requests, which honestly felt like living in the future. Just asking a device for more coffee and having it delivered by a human shortly thereafter. When it works, it’s magic. When it works being the operative words.
We’ve also made a request that resulted in nothing happening. Perhaps we would’ve had similar (bad) luck when calling, but we now only use it if there’s no urgency on the request and we’re fine with trying again later. YMMV.
We’ve done many third-party hotel stays in the United States and internationally in the last few years. Our perception is that things are likewise improving at real world hotels.
Across the board, our experiences in Anaheim have been consistent with Walt Disney World resorts. However, Anaheim is also a unique market–with a lot of parallels to Central Florida–so I’d stop short of generalizing our experiences in Southern California to the whole industry as a whole. (Las Vegas is probably also a similar story, but I’m not sure about other domestic destinations.)
In Anaheim, it’s been common for housekeeping to be every other day or only “upon request,” especially at budget and family-friendly hotels. At many of these hotels, we’ve noticed garbage outside other guest rooms in the hallways, and even that sometimes sits there for hours.
It’s also more common for hotel chains to give the option to decline housekeeping across-the-board upon check-in, which some chains used to offer as an incentive. Notably, Marriott eliminated its “Make A Green Choice” program, which gave Bonvoy members the option to receive 500 points for each day they declined housekeeping.
We were big fans of this, and always took advantage. We’re not trying to single out that brand as some sort of anti-Marriott agenda; they’re not the only chained brand hotel to quietly do away with its incentives for declining housekeeping. My guess is that hoteliers realized they could get away with cutting that bonus under the guise of health safety and just never brought it back.
Similarly, Walt Disney World had been offering gift cards as part of the “Service Your Way” program for those who declined housekeeping at select resorts. This did not return when the resorts reopened, presumably removed with the same underlying motivations as other hotel operators.
Disney’s “Service Your Way” offer started a few years ago. It was one of the rare perks that got better as time went on, as Disney increased the dollar amount to entice more guests to decline housekeeping. We also always took advantage of this, and there were some occasions–like when booked in tandem with Free Dining–where it felt like one of those “there’s gotta be a catch?!” things. Disney was practically paying us to stay there.
Of course, there was a catch and none of these hoteliers were offering points or cashback for their purported reasons of environmentality or customizable service. Its motivations were purely economic, just like a lot of recent changes that offer coincidental environmental or other benefits.
While I cannot speak to Marriott or chains in other markets around the country, Walt Disney World’s motivation was staffing shortages. Even from 2017 through early 2020, the company was having tremendous difficulties hiring and retaining housekeepers. College Program participants were offered incentives to change roles, there were multiple job fairs, hiring bonuses, and wage increases–but the shortages persisted.
As you’re undoubtedly aware if you’re read this blog at all, staffing shortages for many roles have only gotten worse, and housekeepers are one specific role that is always advertised for job fairs and hiring bonuses.
There are currently open positions on Disney Careers for full-time and part-time housekeepers with a starting rate of $23 per hour. This is actually higher than many frontline Cast Members in non-tipped positions (although some guests elect to tip housekeepers, it’s classified as a non-tipped position).
When it comes to the role expectations of housekeepers, the job listing indicates that they’re expected to clean 14-22 rooms per shift. (Anecdotally, we’ve heard that it’s usually at the higher end of the range–at least during higher occupancy times.)
They also “clean and sanitize Guest rooms by cleaning floors, making beds, emptying trash and recyclables, electronics, telephones, windows, mirrors, glass, dusting all surfaces, clean and disinfect bathrooms by scrubbing basins, bathtubs, shower walls and doors, toilets, and tile floors with proper chemicals.”
The reasons for the aforementioned labor shortages are multifaceted. I won’t pretend to understand all of the nuances of the labor market for housekeepers in Central Florida, but I’d hazard a guess that there are few key factors at play.
They have been further exacerbated by the United States having an aging population, and many baby boomers have left the labor force entirely in the last several years. All of this makes the housekeeper shortage one that higher wages alone cannot resolve. However, there are a couple of significant issues that often get overlooked.
First, legal immigration to the United States has slowed down considerably. This alone leaves the country with a shortfall of over 2 million workers. This is of particular relevance for housekeeping roles, as they were disproportionately filled by immigrants. Legal immigration returning to previous levels would likely have the biggest impact on addressing the housekeeper shortage, but that seems unlikely to occur.
Second, development around Central Florida has exploded during that same span of time. I’m not going to crunch the numbers on how many hotel rooms have been added to the Orlando market during that time, but it’s easily tens of thousands.
Hotels aren’t the only thing that has been built. Residential construction has also exploded, with huge swaths of undeveloped land now filled by seas of subdivisions.
With more homes comes more demand for maids and residential home cleaners. In my cursory research, it appears those positions pay more than Disney. I’m also going to go out on a limb and guess they’re lower stress.
Ultimately, all of this is why I’m skeptical that housekeeping will ever return 100% to its pre-COVID normal. Not just at Walt Disney World, but for the U.S. hotel industry as a whole.
One expectation is that the degree of service will vary with occupancy and load levels. Guests who travel during the off-season or stay at unpopular hotels are probably more likely to encounter regular and comprehensive cleaning.
It’s also possible that housekeeping upon request becomes the industry standard going forward. However, the days of consistent and unsolicited housekeeping–or an economic incentive for declining it–are probably gone for good.
Finally, it’s possible that Walt Disney World will institute more changes, and Mousekeeping service becomes a way of segmenting among the various tiers of resorts even more. Which is to say that in the future it might not be offered period at Value Resorts and only lightly at Moderate Resorts. We’d expect daily service to continue being the standard at Deluxe Resorts and other luxury hotels.
This would be a way of addressing housekeeper shortages and also guest demand for daily room cleaning. Probably not a popular way among guests, but one that could make sense to the company if these shortages persist and costs keep rising. Wages have already increased significantly for housekeepers in the last few years, and even so, Walt Disney World still has trouble filling those open positions. So although things have returned to normal with housekeeping, it seems appropriate to append “for now” to that.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What have been your recent experiences with housekeeping at Walt Disney World–and beyond? Think housekeeping reductions are another cost-cutting measure by Walt Disney World, or agree that there are externalities that’ll make it difficult to restore housekeeping? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I stayed at the Poly for 5 nights in December 2021. I caught the housekeeping staff one day and asked them if they could change the bed linens. The guy had to call someone and ask for permission to do that. They gave him permission and it was done. I am just amazed that they would have to ask for permission.
One of my best friends is a hotel manager for a major chain. Housekeeping is one of the most-stressful, poorly treated jobs. They have massive workloads, much more than is feasible in terms of the quality one person can produce under such time constraints. Add in how rude customers can be, both in terms of passively with the state in which they leave their rooms as well as in how they interact with housekeepers, and it is really a very unappealing job…one most people would not take unless it was their only option. My friend has a budget and cannot hire more housekeepers to spread the load. She does try to help them in any way she can. If they work late and are supposed be back early, she will offer them an empty room to stay in, meals from the restaurant, etc, but there is only so much she can do. I am never surprised at the shortage. It is, IMO, abusive how the industry treats this subset of employees and shameful how customers treat them.
As for the changes in policy, we have long declined daily service. Not only is it quite wasteful, but it also serves double benefits in that I know it helps lighten someone’s workload while affording me more privacy during my stay. If I need something, I can ask for it. And the security check, that is common at any hotel if you decline service. Most we have stayed at will check every third day. Frankly, I don’t care if the hotels cut it to save money. If the byproduct helps housekeeping and helps the environment, then I’m all for it. It does, however, become a problem if they also cut housekeepers thus just perpetuating their workload.
We stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort the last week of December. The hotel didn’t seem busy but the parks were. We left $20 for six nights and got fresh towels and trash taken about every other day. I expect that was typical. I took out a lot of our own trash and recycling, too.
We love the modified mousekeeping. Upon arrival, the room was clean. We hung out out do-not-disturb sign for the entire week. We easily kept the room tidy ourselves and when we asked for fresh towels or supplies, the staff was fast and helpful. Keeping extra people out of the room keeps the germ risk lower.
Friendly house keepers,but I know from experience the people who stay in these places want a lot yet treat house keeping like trash. People who stay in upscale don’t tip the hardest working people trying to clean after your dirty nasty people.
I foresee this becoming a permanent fixture under the guise of health and safety because they know people will still pay full price. If it goes on long enough it will just become the norm and people will forget about coming out of the park on a hot day to a nice, clean room with made beds. The new norm will be coming out of the park and your trash is gone and maybe new towels. As with everything Disney only cares about one thing and that’s the bottom line, regardless of the “magic” it advertises. As long as that is not affected they will squeeze every penny they can out of their guests while at the same time cutting their costs to make the most money!! So as long as people keep paying full price for limited services and minimalized experiences then they will stick with that model because it nets the most profits!! Personally we are moving to renting a 3 bedroom house off resort for half the price of a deluxe resort room and eating most of our meals there saving an additional $1000 (approx.) for the week!! All together, when it’s all said and done, we are saving nearly $3000 staying off resort which is a big deal for our family. On top of that we have our own private heated pool, a lot more space (1000+ sqft) and the community amenities to use (gym, water park, arcade, etc.) This will be our first time doing this, but it will probably be permanent because then we can add days for Universal and/or Sea World with the money we’re saving!! Disney may make a lot of money off these cuts in the short term, but they are alienating a lot of their long time, loyal guests that will cause them to lose a lot more money in the long term!!
We stayed at Pop Century the end of October for two weeks. We had our sheets changed once, which I had to ask for. They changed one bed and I called the desk to ask them to change the second bed, I received a knock on the door a short time later and someone from housekeeping handed me clean sheets to change the second bed myself. I have been going to DW for the last 30 years and have never had to change my own sheets, I had to ask for clean towels more than once. Every day someone came to check the room, but not clean it. We always thought DW housekeeping was the best, always left thank you note and money. We were very disappointed with the service we received, second thoughts about going back…
Debbie, actually, I stayed at Old Key West on rented points which I understand has different mouse keeping standards, but I called after we didn’t get our expect modified cleaning and was told by guest services we weren’t entitled to any and reminded we were properly given our towels and *right now* they weren’t charging us extra for them. I’m still speechless about that.
Amy, when it comes to tipping, I never leave a tip to GET service, I leave a tip for services already provided. I evaluate services provided by prepandemic standards, not scaled back. Ever since the pandemic started, people don’t want to touch anything which has resulted in dirtier/messier surroundings, but renamed ‘enhanced cleaning’, as if I’m supposed to be extra thankful. Having worked in a service industry, I’m pretty resentful about those who expect to be paid in advance of any work performed. That’s now how it works. That’s called bribery.
We stayed 11 days in July at BLT, paying rates through disnsey not renting points. We had service every day. Sheets changed multiple times and the kids stuffies and such organized every day. Tips do go a long way I think. I hate to say money talks, but we didn’t leave huge sums like 10 a day for a 1 bedroom unit. Always had more than enough of everything. We’ll see how our 8 day trip next week at the contemporary goes. we are staying club level, I dont know if that matters at all. But thanks for the heads up on what the policy states.
We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo house mid Dec. for one week. Housekeeping stopped by first morning to ask if we needed anything. Then we never had any service. My husband called down to have trash removed, get toilet paper, and fresh towels. It took is two days for all of this to be done. We did have a lady enter our room with barely a knock, say it was a mandatory room check, walked through room glaring at all. Felt weird so we called desk and they confirmed it was normal procedure. Did NOT feel like we were at a luxury resort and we payed plenty to stay there for our first WDW vacation. I know there are cut backs, but we were not getting serviced every other day, that is for sure.
A friend and I stayed at the Beach Club the week after Thanksgiving. Housekeeping came every day and removed the trash, left clean towels for us and replaced anything that needed replacement. You could definitely see that counters were wiped down as well and rugs were vacuumed. We did leave a tip every day since we were getting such good service.
My husband & I stayed at the Wilderness Lodge in October & the Contemporary in December. Our rooms were “cleaned” every other day. It consisted of replacing towels, emptying the trash & quick wipe downs of counters. Our biggest problem during both stays was having to call for toilet paper because it was not replaced. We never expected to stay at a deluxe resort & not getting toilet paper. No excuse for this at all.
We stayed the first week of December at The Grand Floridian. Every day the trash and recycled items were removed. Every day our used towels were removed and fresh towels replaced the used ones. Every day the soaps , shampoo , and other items were replaced.
The beds were not made , the sheets were not changed. For us this was not a problem.
It could be that things are a little different at the Disney flagship resort. The only small problem we had was a burnt out lightbulb which was replaced almost immediately.
We stayed at Bay Lake in a 2 bedroom unit for a week as there were 6 of us. We had trash taken out only once and new towels only once. Floors were never cleaned. We actually went down to the pool to get fresh towels to shower. We were disappointed in several changes throughout the trip and will try again this year at the Beach Club, and it may be our last Disney trip.
2 bedroom
We stayed at Wilderness Lodge in November, and Boardwalk in December. Housekeeping was at the every other day level as described. However, what I don’t understand is, why when housekeeping removes the used towels, they do not replace them? Both stays we had to call down and have towels sent up to the room – which they did gladly, and gave even us more towels than we requested. Obviously this isn’t a labor shortage issue as housekeeping was in the room to remove the towels.
We stay at Disney deluxe resorts 3-4 times per year, and we’re ready to call it quits. I’m at the point where I believe Disney is beyond the labor issue, and testing to see how much service they can get away with removing before people say, no more. If they offered less service and made a room rate accommodation, that would seem like this was truly a transient issue. But as things stand, it feels like they are trying to establish a new reduced level of service expectation (in all aspects–see trams–not just housekeeping). In all of the post-visit surveys, we tell Disney that this is something they need to address now, but we never receive any follow-up (which is no surprise since they can’t answer the phones as it is). We have cancelled plans for our usual Spring trip in May, and we’ll see what happens between now and the end of Spring. Obviously, with the 50th anniversary they will have higher than usual demand, but if they don’t start addressing all of the reductions in the overall experience, I think that they are in for a rude awakening after this year.
We (family of 5) stayed at Polynesian after thanksgiving for a week and it was a less than pleasant experience in regards to house keeping. They only came every other day to remove trash and replenish towels. They never changed bedding or touched the beds, they didn’t check or refill soap in the shower- we actually ran out, they didn’t give us additional coffee or cups-we had to ask for more, they never swept the floors, etc. it was literally only trash and towels.
I cleaned hotel rooms for a summer and I have since never unpacked a thing without hitting every surface, knob, remote, and switchplate with a clorox wipe. Not even talking about Covid.. If theres a flat surface guests will leave at least a dirty diaper there. At worst- I’ll let your imagination run wild and you won’t get close. I also pull back any blanket to make sure sheets are clean. And lift mattress to check for bedbugs. As for the coffee pot- if you like your coffee from the toilet that’s fine. Because the bathroom is where we’d have to clean the parts- if at all. And the couple rags we were given in the morning had to make it thru the entire floor of rooms. There’s no dish sponge. I need a novel to tell you about bedspreads. Holy God. Housekeeping was the hardest work I’ve ever done for the least compensation of my life. Those $1-2 tips would make my entire week. The no housekeeping signs on door saved me day after urine soaked day. I always opt out of housekeeping as a guest. If I can, I try to find my housekeeper in the hall, say hi, learn a name, and communicate our stay, needs, and get out if their way. That being said it is WILD that people are still paying 1k a night to re use wet towels, beg for toilet paper, and sleep in a room with old food in the trash. I get being caught off guard with new policies- but being told upfront and still being fine with it? Are we talking locks on the phone and a towel given to you on deposit at check in? Thats $29 a night in an absolute pinch! The best comments here are comparing table vs counter service. Imagine you book Albert and Victoria and they tell you to order your food at the counter and pick it up yourself. Your table doesn’t have water glasses set, so you have to go hunt them down. And you have to lick your silverware clean between each course because you only get a spoon and a butter knife each. It’ll be an hour for someone to bring you a fork. Do you still want it? And people are still saying fine, it’s Disney!? Wow! One more tip- dont go barefoot on hotel carpet. Just trust me.
We stayed at art of animation during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. We left $5 per day on the nightstand with a Post-it note that said “ housekeeping — thanks.”
Despite the policy saying that we would only get housekeeping every other day, someone definitely came every day and removed trash, replenished all of the soft goods such as plastic-ware and bowls, and we had a ridiculous number of towels always present in the room. They changed the sheets twice during our weeklong stay, and swept the floor and wiped down countertops and tables. We were very happy with housekeeping, and it made me wonder if no one else leaves a tip given the exceptional service we got for only five dollars?
We stayed at Swan, sister stayed at Dolphin (Marriott properties) last week for three night stays. Housekeeping was great with full daily service. Hmmm… Apparently there’s more to the story?