Do you tip your hotel maid?

[Deberg_1990]

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2014/0...ips-for-maids/



HOTELS
Hotel chain's program encourages tips for maids


NEW YORK – Do you leave a tip in your hotel room for the maid? Marriott is launching a program with Maria Shriver to put envelopes in hotel rooms to encourage tipping.

The campaign, called "The Envelope Please," begins this week. Envelopes will be placed in 160,000 rooms in the U.S. and Canada. Some 750 to 1,000 hotels will participate from Marriott brands like Courtyard, Residence Inn, J.W. Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance hotels.


The name of the person who cleans the room will be written on the envelope along with a message: "Our caring room attendants enjoyed making your stay warm and comfortable. Please feel free to leave a gratuity to express your appreciation for their efforts."

Shriver, who founded an organization called A Woman's Nation that aims to empower women, says many travelers don't realize tipping hotel room attendants is customary. "There's a huge education of the traveler that needs to occur," she said. "If you tell them, they ask, 'How do I do that?'" She said envelopes make it easy for guests to leave cash for the right person in a secure way.

So how much should you leave? Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson says $1 to $5 per night, depending on room rate, with more for a high-priced suite.

Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, says his research shows that "30 percent of people stiff the maid," while 70 percent said they usually leave a tip.

Sorenson noted that housekeepers "are less frequently tipped" than other hotel workers because they do an "invisible task." In contrast, workers who carry bags, hail cabs and park cars tend to get tipped because they "make a personal connection" with guests, he said.

Rosario Rodriguez, who works as a housekeeper at Marriott's Times Square hotel, says many guests don't tip and welcomes the envelope campaign as "a good idea."

Jessica Lynn Strosky of DuBois, Pennsylvania, who earns $7.75 an hour cleaning rooms at a hotel that's not a Marriott, says only 1 in 15 or 20 guests leaves a tip. When they do, it's a dollar or two; she's lucky to get $20 a week in tips. "I've talked to lots of people who say they don't know they are supposed to tip," she said.

Unlike waitresses who earn less than minimum wage because tips are expected to raise their earnings, hotel housekeepers are paid minimum wage, and in expensive markets, substantially more. In Washington D.C., Sorenson said, Marriott housekeepers start in the mid-teens per hour.

Not everyone applauds the envelope concept. "It is not Marriott's responsibility to remind customers to tip; it's their responsibility to pay their workers enough so that tips aren't necessary," said author Barbara Ehrenreich, who tried working as a hotel maid for her 2001 book "Nickel and Dimed," which chronicled her experiences in low-wage jobs.

But Scott Lazerson, 42, who lives in Sundance, Utah, said he "had no idea" tipping was customary until his wife told him on a recent trip to Orlando. He said he "feels stupid" for not knowing all these years, and added: "Yes, the hotel industry needs to do a campaign about it."

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by Cochise

I don't see this as a tipping situation. Providing a clean room is a given. You don't get extra credit for that.

Yes, but it's like a payoff to them so they don't shit in your hat, ya know?

[notorious]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

Yes, but it's like a payoff to them so they don't shit in your hat, ya know?

All of this time I thought that was just their personal touch.

[Amnorix]

I do. Typically about $2 or so per night on average, though I will round up and never down. I've been doing that for many years, though so I should probably go up a bit (inflation etc.).

Didn't know others didn't...

[alpha_omega]

Yes, if warranted.

Most of my trips are usually 3 night stays. When i check out on the 3rd day...I'll leave a $5-$10 depending on the service.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Yes.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

You can choose to tip if you want to. That is your choice. But don't say that they deserve to be tipped. They aren't waiters/waitresses that make less than minimum wage and rely on tips as part of their wages. I think it is disgusting for Marriott to leave out envelopes encouraging tipping. If you think your staff is underpaid, pay them more. You are paid to clean my room and you should do that job to the best of your ability regardless of whether you are tipped or not. If you don't like it, find another job. I pay a housekeeper to come in and clean our house once a week. Am I supposed to tip her every week above and beyond what I am already paying her to ensure that she does a good job and doesn't **** with our stuff?

I didn't say anything about having to tip that's a personal choice. I was more speaking of earlier posts for who was deserving of a tip. Someone earlier went down a list of will tip wont tip. The I tip the guy who cleans my clubs after a round of golf but wont tip someone who keeps your stay away from home as comfortable as can possibly be arrogant. I can clean my clubs on my own very easily 5 minutes tops. To go out of town for months and buy supplies to clean the room because I don't wanna be disturbed will cost me more than than a meager tip in the long run.

I have spent more time out of town some years than home. I learned if your nice to people they usually return the kindness. Like getting an upgrade in rooms that have couch and recliner a nice work table. Being on a ground level room because I have very expensive survey equipment that needs brought in every evening.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by srvy

I didn't say anything about having to tip that's a personal choice. I was more speaking of earlier posts for who was deserving of a tip. Someone earlier went down a list of will tip wont tip. The I tip the guy who cleans my clubs after a round of golf but wont tip someone who keeps your stay away from home as comfortable as can possibly be arrogant. I can clean my clubs on my own very easily 5 minutes tops. To go out of town for months and buy supplies to clean the room because I don't wanna be disturbed will cost me more than than a meager tip in the long run.

I have spent more time out of town some years than home. I learned if your nice to people they usually return the kindness. Like getting an upgrade in rooms that have couch and recliner a nice work table. Being on a ground level room because I have very expensive survey equipment that needs brought in every evening.

Look who's judging now! I make a value call as to whom I tip, not you. So, my list, is my list. If you want to tip Consuelo for cleaning your room, by all means, tip her. I don't think it's necessary, so I don't.

[Titty Meat]

I give her just the tip

[DanT]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

You may as well tip your Walmart cashier and the McDonald's french fry bagger if that's the standard you're going by.

Both of those jobs seem to me to have more upside potential for the person holding the job than does hotel housekeeping. Many if not most of the McDonald's french fry baggers and other workers at those stores are youngsters just entering the workforce and who have many other jobs in their future. Also, McDonald's does not have a custom of tipping. Instead, they have canisters to collect change for Ronald McDonald house. So I just leave my change there.

In general, I wouldn't tip a cashier, whether at WalMart or at any other large retail store. I would tip someone handling the cash register if the person is also the owner of a small business in an industry where tipping is customary. I'll leave tips in the jars by coffee shops and bakeries and the like, but the workers there are usually doing more than just handling the cash. In my opinion, if a person's primary job is to run the cash register and handle transactions between the customer and the business, then it's up to the employer and the cashier to figure out what's an agreeable wage.

Also, it seems to me that a lot of hotel housekeepers are immigrants who are trying to make a better life for their kids. My mom was herself a hardworking immigrant and all three of her sons ended up graduating college. So I get some personal gratification from tipping folks like that, as I like to suppose that those folks will use the money in productive ways and that down the road their kids will have good jobs and be able to tip well. (To me, based on how I've squandered portions of my own wages earlier in life, productive ways can include smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, if that's what someone does to relax after putting in a long shift at a hard job. )

On the other hand, I also like tipping generously in almost any situation where it is customary to do so, whether the recipient is an immigrant or not.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

Look who's judging now! I make a value call as to whom I tip, not you. So, my list, is my list. If you want to tip Consuelo for cleaning your room, by all means, tip her. I don't think it's necessary, so I don't.

Yeah probably was a bit. But I still am gonna tip the housekeeping for a job well done. I spend to much time away from home many years its kinda nice to talk someone sometime instead of four walls. Ive talked to many Consuelos pretty nice people. And many can speak English maybe choose not to with you. They might sense your not friendly.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Hog

I give her just the tip

And the shaft?

[notorious]

Originally Posted by srvy

And the shaft?

[Steron]

[Dartgod]

Nope. I usually leave the DND sign up for my stay. There's no reason to have my room cleaned every damn day.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by srvy

Yeah probably was a bit. But I still am gonna tip the housekeeping for a job well done. I spend to much time away from home many years its kinda nice to talk someone sometime instead of four walls. Ive talked to many Consuelos pretty nice people. And many can speak English maybe choose not to with you. They might sense your not friendly.

Good on you for tipping, seriously.

When I travel, I'm there to sleep and shower. There's no way they know whether I'm nice or not - because I'm rarely there when they are. However, I have no time or interest in making small talk with House Keeping when I see them, other than "excuse me" (as I get past them in the hallway), "good morning", or "the shitter's full".