Tipping in hotels

[gp0560]

Do you tip housekeeping by the day or by the stay? For example, if you stay three nights and don't use maid service during your stay, do you tip for three days or for one?

 

On the one hand, the maid only has to make up the room one time. On the other hand, she stands to lose two days' worth of tips she might have had with three one-night stays.

 

Your thoughts?

[+ azdr0710]

I tip housekeepers at the end of the stay, though, now that I think about it, daily tipping would be better since some may take varying days off.....once read to also include a "thanks" note with the cash so the housekeeper doesn't treat it as lost-and-found.....

[geminibear]

I travel a lot and I tip the housekeeper daily with a note saying "For the housekeeper, Thank you". I tip daily because as was mentioned they usually have varying days off. I was told by my grandmother tipping is why they used to provide an envelope as part of the room stationary. Most don't do that in this day but do provide a pen & notepad. Cash daily is best but you can also add the tip to the room charge at most hotels.

 

Remember these are some of the lowest paid persons in the service industry.

[Rudynate]

I leave it laying beside the pillow, on the bed, evercday, because who know what theirworkshedule is.

[jakeleyman]

yep - tip every day. a few dollars. More if I want clean sheets or have other special requests. I keep wishing they'd hire more cute young gvuys as maids.

[BSR]

What is the standard tip for housekeeping? I always leave $5 each day because in a three-night stay there might be three different staff members who cleaned the room. Wait, I leave $10 if I need the beddings changed because changing bed linens is such a chore. Most hotels give guests the option of keeping the same sheets or changing them by leaving a placard on the bed to indicate preference. If I sleep alone, I keep the same sheets. If I had company the night before *ahem* I ask for new sheets. No matter how impeccable an escort's hygiene, I really don't want to be sleeping in sheets soaked with his sweat the next night.

[LouieD]

$10 per day is over-tipping, unless the housekeeper has performed some extraordinary service for you.

[SelfIndulgent]

I always leave just a few dollars or euros on the desk or table with a note saying "thank you" every day. If the hotel has really nice toiletries that I want to swipe extra of, I will ask for them in the note and leave a 5. This always nets out to MANY extra little bottles!

[MRNJR]

You should tip daily. Not only may a housekeeper have a day off, many are given different rooms different days.

[bigvalboy]

Along the same lines. Assuming you pre-pay gratuity when on board ship. On an upcoming cruise, NCL just raised it to 14.95 per day. (that amount is suppose to cover all tipping for on-board situations) and is automatically deducted from your account, so assuming you have a gracious room steward, what is the appropriate tip on a seven day cruise, or would you not tip beyond that amount?

[geminibear]

Along the same lines. Assuming you pre-pay gratuity when aboard ship. On an upcoming cruise, NCL just raised it to 14.95 per day. (that amount is suppose to cover all tipping for on-board situations) and is automatically deducted from your account, so assuming you have a gracious room steward, what is the appropriate tip on a seven day cruise, or would you not tip beyond that amount?

 

On a cruise, you usually have the same steward for the whole trip. $14.95 is a pretty good daily tip but if the steward were to go above and beyond what you think is normal I would leave $25 at the end of the cruise. What is above and beyond is a hard call, because my experiences with cruises the room stewards have been very attentive not just making the bed and cleaning in the morning to turning down the bed in the evening.

[geminibear]

$10 per day is over-tipping, unless the housekeeper has performed some extraordinary service for you.

 

The rich don't get rich by over paying, over tipping or remembering the helps birthday.

[bigvalboy]

On a cruise, you usually have the same steward for the whole trip. $14.95 is a pretty good daily tip but if the steward were to go above and beyond what you think is normal I would leave $25 at the end of the cruise. What is above and beyond is a hard call, because my experiences with cruises the room stewards have been very attentive not just making the bed and cleaning in the morning to turning down the bed in the evening.

 

Thanks Geminibear. I always remember that the $14.95 is used to pay numerous people on the ship, and yet the room steward is the one with whom I have most personal interaction with.

[whipped guy]

Evidentially most people tip by the stay as I did have a discussion about it with a maid with whom I have become a bit chummy when in NYC. She said that on some shifts you get lucky and get a lot of rooms where guests are checking out. Other days it's not so great. However she shrugged and said that in the end it all usually evens out.

 

If a maid has done an exceptional job I usually ask if she is going to be assigned to my room for the entire stay if so I'll wait to tip her. If not I'll take care of her beforehand. It does not seem fair for someone who did not service your room to get the tip, but as noted above it all usually evens out for them in the end anyway. Still, tipping by the day is probably the best way to go.

[geminibear]

So I will expand this a little bit to beyond housekeeping. Keeping in line with bigvalboy's cruise question. I am a fan of the all inclusive resorts where tipping is discouraged. I have found that if you find a good pool/beach side waiter the first day and slip him a $20 on the first day he will have the best spot saved for you by the pool/beach everyday. The drinks will come often and be strong. At the end of the week kick him another $30. You will be feel like king for the week.

[robberbaron4u]

Being that I patronized small hotels in my travels, I took the time to acquaint myself with the staff, and, to know the names of the housekeeping employees assigned to my room in the course of my stay; I took the time to leave a gratuity for each employee who had rendered me service in an envelope with their name on it. My efforts did not go unrewarded: on one sojourn of a week at the old Pontchartrain Hotel at New Orleans, my car was always waiting for me in the morning on the curb centered at the marquee ahead of Tom Cruise's limousine.

[rguer]

On a cruise, you usually have the same steward for the whole trip. $14.95 is a pretty good daily tip but if the steward were to go above and beyond what you think is normal I would leave $25 at the end of the cruise.

 

The $14.95 is not for the steward alone, but for every service worker who doesn't get separate tips - so it covers the steward, the assistant steward, the waiters, assistant waiters, etc.

The rich don't get rich by over paying, over tipping or remembering the helps birthday.

Maybe, but tipping the maid an extra $2/day won't make them poor either.

[geminibear]

The $14.95 is not for the steward alone, but for every service worker who doesn't get separate tips - so it covers the steward, the assistant steward, the waiters, assistant waiters, etc.

 

Maybe, but tipping the maid an extra $2/day won't make them poor either.

 

My quote probably didn't come off correctly. I agree with you rguer. I am all about tipping and helping the working poor.

[+ WilliamM]

I have been retired for a while, so no more business travel. I usually stay in cheap hotels that do not require much housekeeping.

 

The exception is hotels in places like Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Berlin where much housekeeping is required in very good hotels, $10 a day is fine there (especially for Russia), in my opinion.

 

I have never taken a cruise or booked a tour of any kind.

[Rudynate]

What is the standard tip for housekeeping? I always leave $5 each day because in a three-night stay there might be three different staff members who cleaned the room. Wait, I leave $10 if I need the beddings changed because changing bed linens is such a chore. Most hotels give guests the option of keeping the same sheets or changing them by leaving a placard on the bed to indicate preference. If I sleep alone, I keep the same sheets. If I had company the night before *ahem* I ask for new sheets. No matter how impeccable an escort's hygiene, I really don't want to be sleeping in sheets soaked with his sweat the next night.

 

 

To me, $5/day is very generous. I usually tip in a hotel or motel, $2/day. If I'm staying in an apartment or condo, I tip in the neighborhood of $5/day.

[Guest Starbuck]

Over the course of my career, I frequently worked with hotel event planners. I remember having a discussion about this with one of them because I wanted to be sure I was handling the tipping of housekeeping staff appropriately. She believed that daily was the way go, but what I remember even more about our discussion was her respect for the HARD WORK of the housekeeping staff.

 

Apparently during a strike (or something) at this hotel (it was a Westin), the professional staff was required to pitch in and do the housekeeping. This included some "heavier lifting" that most of us probably wouldn't think of--like flipping mattresses--and the event planner I spoke to said that it's work your body really feels after a full day of it. She also told me that after her experience, she became a more generous tipper during her own travels...

 

...and then she gave me an earful about how many hotel guests have no qualms about being absolute pigs in their rooms. (No, not in the fun way ... maintain your focus, boys!) All in all, hotel housekeepers are low wage earners who perform back-breaking labor picking up after a bunch of slobs. If you can afford the room and the Rentboy, you can afford to be generous to them.

[tanman4u]

$3-$5 per day and I leave it under the TV remote laying on top of the bed. Will go up to $10 if the sheets are......well.......you know.

[+ Axiom2001]

If I am staying at a hotel for more than an overnight, I always tip the housekeeper on a daily basis! When I was in Cuba in March of this year [2015], I did the norm.

I'm glad that I did, for the last day of my stay was also the last day of that week for my particular housekeeper to work. She left a lovely note for me [...written by

someone who could write English; I'm sorry that I failed to have someone write a note to her in Espanol so that I could have left one in return for her!]

[Zman]

I tip $2 or $3 per day by leaving it on the bed near the pillow. I wondered if this was too low but it seems to be in the ballpark from what others are saying here.

[gallahadesquire]

I leave $5 daily, and a note saying "Thank you!" The note is to make sure housekeeping knows it is for them.

 

At a small Inn on Martha's Vineyard, they leave an envelope every day. I give the tip daily, as housekeeping does change sometimes.