How much do you tip hotel housekeeping?

[COcheesehead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollystomper $5-$10 depending on length of stay. We have noticed that a $10 tip after the first night gets us great service for the rest of the stay.

If the room is clean, you have towels and TP. What more do you need?

[ReadySetGo]

We usually tip $5 a day. I usually leave it each day, as I never know if the same person cleans the same rooms daily. We clean up after ourselves and hang/ re-use our towels.

[NW-Bound]

In the US as well as abroad, the cleaning staff, mostly women, are not that well paid.

We usually leave 2 or 3 dollars/euros each day to brighten up their day, although it is not required or expected.

[nancyfrank232]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollystomper $5-$10 depending on length of stay. We have noticed that a $10 tip after the first night gets us great service for the rest of the stay.

1. What does “great” service entail?

2. How does it differ from the service that you would otherwise get?

[ghsebldr]

Usually tip the Check in person $20 then $10 to $20 for housekeeping with a note thanking them for cleaning up my mess. When I get that perfect reservation I usually drop off an envelope for the Reservations person with their name on it for $20.

I stay once a week at a casino on my route. Haven't paid for a room in 3 years. I usually get 2 comps a month from the casino host and the people at check in always seem to find me a nice room for the other 2 times a month. Average weekly spend at the hotel is $50 in gratuities.
I usually have room service so housekeeping has dishes and food to clean up.


Yes I do gamble there but usually for a half hour per visit. Up several thousands this year so I consider all of the gratuities a cost of doing business and it adds greatly to my comfort. Kind of nice when everyone knows your name and is genuinely glad to serve you.

[MarieIG]

$5 a night.

[Jerry1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 I want fresh towels each day

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFDubb What a waste of resources.

After I pull up in my gas guzzling truck, suck on a drink through my plastic straw and turn on the air so cold that I need blankets in the summer time, I guess I didn’t see the extra towels as a big deal.

If hotels were serious about not providing fresh towels to be eco friendly, they’d supply a proper drying rack to dry the towels like I have at home. Hanging a towel on a hook doesn’t get it dry and usually there is only one towel bar and I travel with DW. Hanging it over the shower curtain bar is a nonstarter for me as usually they are nasty if they exist at all. Then there’s my OCD. If you want to discuss that, probably best to start another thread. . . Easier to just let me be comfortable with my fresh towels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlaGator Same here. Especially on a multi-day stay, want the room clean and the staff feeling good about me as a guest. Don't forget to grease the food service staff if you're staying at a place with "free" breakfast.

I just saw someone do that at the last hotel I stayed at. I had never thought of that and will be doing that going forward. Probably $5.

[brett]

Never. We never have and we have never even considered doing so.

Marriott did send us a note a year or two suggesting that we consider tipping. I replied and suggested that the satisfy their payroll expenses without depending on our tips.

[COcheesehead]

Tipping because the job pay is low? There are thousands of low paying jobs, I know I had a number of them, that tipping would not even be considered.

[Red Badger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlaGator Same here. Especially on a multi-day stay, want the room clean and the staff feeling good about me as a guest. Don't forget to grease the food service staff if you're staying at a place with "free" breakfast.

Yup, even if it's small buffet, we tip the runner that stocks the buffet and the busser that cleans the tables.

I worked in the service industry as a youth. I happen to believe there is a dignity in menial jobs that should (when earned) be recognized. Many adults doing these jobs are working poor and we have some empathy with them.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlaGator Same here. Especially on a multi-day stay, want the room clean and the staff feeling good about me as a guest. Don't forget to grease the food service staff if you're staying at a place with "free" breakfast.

How do you do that, logistically? I haven't so far mostly because it never occurred to me, probably because we usually bus our own tables, and often we don't see any employees out at the buffet, depending on chance and how busy or messy it is. But I have seen some serious hustle when I do see an employee around the buffet. So do you usually hand it directly to someone, or leave it on a table? I'd worry about the latter, because the tables are usually packed at hotel breakfasts. (Not just for FlaGator, but anyone who has done this.)

[Jerry1]

The only time I’ve seen it the tip was given directly to the person tending the buffet. I guess if that person is not out there on a regular basis, there could be an argument that there’s not reason to tip. Generally, I see someone keeping up the buffet.

[Corporateburnout]

Depending on room cleanliness, $10 a day paid daily.

[pacergal]

about $5 or more per day, paid every day with a note of thanks.
It's a hard job, and we notice a significant increase in personal service from the housekeepers on our stay.
I ask for extra stuff--water, coffee, creamer, shampoo, etc and they gladly leave it.

[Fermion]

Some fast food counters now have tip jars or apps where you can leave a tip when they turn the screen around.

So, when is it ok not to tip?

[38Chevy454]

I used to travel for work fairly often. I would always leave $2, sometimes $3, each day for a nice cleaned up room. I figure it meant a lot more to the maids than it was to me, besides being on per diem I was figuring it like part of that.

[SumDay]

We stayed in timeshares for 30 years, and got used to not having daily maid service. and learned to love it, especially when the kids were little.

Now when we stay in hotels, we always put the sign on the door telling them we don't want service. I don't need fresh sheets or towels each day, and don't want them "organizing" all my toiletries in the bathroom. We make our bed and keep our clothes up off the floor.

Now I'm trying to decide if I feel obliged to leave a tip since 1) the room was clean when we got it, and 2) they're going to do the same for the next folks to stay in that room.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB ... There’s an option for no tipping, but please don’t take the thread off topic with a discussion about the appropriateness of this gratuity. That’s not the purpose of the thread.

Good luck with that! The Genie is already out of the bottle...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter wow who are all the skinflints?

The hotel owners. Just pay your staff. Don't charge me $300 for a room, and then tell me I should pay your staff too, on top of what you charge. I have no idea what their compensation/benefits are, that should be between you and your staff. I just want a room, don't ask me to become a middle-man in your negotiations with your staff. I'm on vacation, or busy with my own business issues. Is the hotel manager gonna help me put together my presentation for that business meeting tomorrow? No, so why should I help him, with his business dealings? Leave me out of it, just give me a clean room, pay your staff, and charge me accordingly.

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Originally Posted by aaronc879 I don't stay in hotels very often but when I do I will leave a $1 or $2. They don't get paid much and do more work than many(most) who make several times their income so even though I don't make much either I will always leave at least $1.

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Originally Posted by mystang52 I recall a thread in this topic a while ago, and I was surprised by how many responders said they did not tip. I'm of the same mindset as Kelor. Hotel housekeeping is a tough job; I know I wouldn't last a day doing it. I'm happy to leave some extra money for them.

Do you monitor the salary and working conditions of everyone who provides a service for you? Many are "behind the scenes", so how would I even tip them, if I thought I should? I don't know how hard people work, or what they are paid. That's between them and their boss. It all seems so random to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 24601NoMore To each their own, but I don't see a reason to tip hotel staff so never have. They're already being paid an hourly wage by the hotel. Albeit, it's not a high wage - but it's a wage that's in most cases commensurate with the skills required to do the work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead Tipping because the job pay is low? There are thousands of low paying jobs, I know I had a number of them, that tipping would not even be considered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett Never. We never have and we have never even considered doing so. Marriott did send us a note a year or two suggesting that we consider tipping. I replied and suggested that the satisfy their payroll expenses without depending on our tips.

+1

-ERD50

[Fermion]

I mean if we are tipping to make up differences in pay, we should be hunting down the migrant workers who harvest the potatoes we buy in the grocery store and tip them. Or to make it easier, perhaps the grocery store could have a tip jar in the produce section?

That is a good question. Would you put a tip in a jar in a grocery store for the low paid migrant workers?

[Midpack]

It's interesting those who are surprised - tipping in restaurants, travel (incl housekeeping) and hair/nail salons has been the norm for more than a hundred years. Other avocations have gotten in on the act, but they're optional. And there have always been customers who can't be bothered for whatever reasons.

Quote:

The practice of tipping may have begun in the late Middle Ages when a master gave his servant a few coins as an expression of goodwill. By the 16th century, guests at English mansions were expected to give a "vail" or a small amount of money at the end of the visit to compensate the owner's servants who did work above and beyond their ordinary duties. Before 1840, Americans did not tip. But, after the Civil War, newly rich Americans visited Europe and brought the practice back home to show that they had been abroad and knew genteel customs. By the 1900s, Americans considered tipping to be the norm and were frequently criticized for overtipping. Benjamin Franklin said, "To overtip is to appear an ass: to undertip is to appear an even greater ass."

https://www.tripsavvy.com/a-brief-hi...ipping-1329249