Hotel Tipping

I've known enough people who worked at hotels or motels at some time or other to know how much they are NOT paid. Even the best worker is working for grocery money, or for enough money to pay for his/her child's orthodontia. So I tip if I can.

As I write we're spending a few days - as a gift from a kind person - at a very fancy hotel where I'm being spoiled rotten! Can I ever go back to Motel Sixes?? Our first tip was for the gentleman who brought up our bags (!) and then clued us in on everything around us, including the best place for a steak dinner (a restauarant NOT connected with the establishment!).

We tip the people in the coffee shop when we have breakfast (around 15% of the bill), and we will tip the housekeepers when we leave. We can't do very much, but we do something - the amount also depends on how many days we stay. For the housekeepers I also add a note of thanks (in two languages). I know what it's like to clean up after people.

If the service and the smiles are excellent, there may be a bigger tip. I'm a sucker for a kind word and a friendly smile. But I always try to leave something in any case. During most of our travels over the years, we've actually had little to complain about. The frown or the lack of a towel may come from the person's having been up all night nursing a sick little boy or wondering where her teenage daughter is. Rarely do I deliberately not leave a tip - the only times I can think of were when... but they're long stories and you wouldn't want those things to happen to you either.

I'll admit I'm considered impractical in this respect, but I'd rather do it this way when I can. And a little tip - even a buck, if that's all I can do - is better than none at all.

When I stay in a hotel or motel, I generally put out the "do not disturb sign" and keep the place clean myself. If I need a little something extra, I flip the sign for that day, or I ask for the items I need. If it is a day that I "allow" the service, I leave a $5 for every night I have stayed but have not asked for service out on the desk or table with a note saying "Thank you very much, have a lovely day." or similar such note.

I do the same thing at the end of my stay for every night I haven't tipped for. So, if I stay Monday - Wednesday nights, and have made service on Wednesday morning, I will leave a $10 tip on Wednesday morning, and another $5 dollar tip Thursday morning for the additional night in case the maid servicing the room when I leave is different from the one before. I always leave a little note.

I always deliver my own baggage, so I have no real idea how to tip the bell hop. I would imagine it would depend on how many bags, how well they did their service and how far away the room was.

As others have said. Always greet the staff with a smile and eye contact. No one wants to be treated as a servant or sub human.

I like the earlier posters comment about eye contact and smiles. However those don't help the maid to pay her rent. Hotel employees for the most part make minimum wage and do a lot of cleaning. The norm for tipping is $2 per person staying in the room per night. We always leave it on pillow or under the edge of the phone. These hard workers, change sheets, clean toilets and tubs, vacuum the rooms, empty the trash (you know the huge pizza box and napkins and sodas that didn't fit into the ittty bitty trashcan in the room, sweep the sand up from the ocean, clean up the vomit your child may have spewed onto the floor next to the bed, changed the bedding when a child has an accident etc... they more than earn the little bits of tips they get.

For me, it totally depends on the type of hotel.

In most, I do not. Although I will leave a small tip ($5 or $10 taped to the mirror or under the phone for the maid when I leave). In a hostel or family run little hotel or b&b I might offer to pick something up from the market or cafe, or if they might need anything dropped off or picked up while I'm out? In a 4star or higher hotel I ask the concierge during a lull for the rundown of "not insulting, but on a student/ starting off salary". They usually demur, because that's what politeness calls for, at which point I take up the glove and grin and say I've worked for tips, and hope to be a good tipper later, but for now would soooo much appreciate his/her help in not insulting the staff. At which point I can usually get a frank rundown. After I chat up a few concierges I'm pretty confident of the range. Expense accounts, otoh, are completely different.

The BEST tip I've found from staying in many many hotels of all kinds is eye contact and a ready smile. No one likes being ignored/ treated like they're invisible (or worse like a slave). The few places where that is not enough are a step BELOW where I'm willing to stay. Snootiness is always low class. And I'm not a sub. I do NOT pay to be treated rudely.

If we are only staying someplace one night...we usually don't tip...at the most we will leave a couple of dollars on the bed pillow when we leave the room. BUT if we are staying somewhere several nights..and especially if we have asked for special consideration ( extra packets of coffee...more towels etc) then we always leave a small tip ( 2 - 3 $)each morning. But as Riley said...the nicest thing to do is just be NICE....make eye contact in the hall...speak to them...treat them as you would want to be treated. There is no hard and fast rule...I am sure not EVERYONE tips...if they did....where is the line to be a housekeeper because the money would be great!! lol