Tipping Etiquette: Hotels– Who Knew?
Tipping at hotels was a surprising thing to research for this series. I travel quite a bit both domestically and abroad and always thought I knew the ins and outs of the business. Obviously you tip the bellman if he takes the bags to your room and leave something for the room service if it isn’t included. But I learned that some people also consider it customary to tip the concierge, maids and doormen as well.
I don’t have any problem managing my luggage so I’ve never tipped for bellman service, but I always thought a couple bucks was standard. Well it turns out I may be way off base. Tipping.org lists a standard tip for the bellman around somewhere between $5 and $10. Much higher than I would have thought, but a dollar tip doesn’t go very far anymore apparently. Some other sites put the figure around a dollar per bag, but bump it up if he actually prepares your room and shows you amenities.
Concierges accept up to five bucks for making reservations. Though as always, extraordinary service might require a better tip. The rules are a little stranger for the taxi stand’”you don’t need to tip there, but you do if someone hails a cab from the street. Maids are tipped depending on the quality of the hotel. Average hotels are worth one or two dollars per night while higher end ones are worth three to five. ( I don’t know what the rules for couch surfing are.)
As far as how you tip the maid? They don’t make it easy. In Europe where coinage is much more common I routinely left piles of Euros lying on the nightstand and table. It never got touched, even though many of those places might have accepted tips. To tip the maid you need to make use of the hotel stationary and write “Chambermaid” or “Maid” on the outside of a sealed envelope. It’s difficult for me to imagine anyone doing this, but that’s how it’s done.
I’ve spent at least a year of my life living in hotels and have never once tipped the maid or seen anyone do it. It’s entirely possible that everyone in my family and the people I travel with are all universally cheapskates. But I can’t really believe that all this time there’s been a common expectation of gratuity that I was completely unaware of. The importance of tipping maids and concierges certainly isn’t as vocally emphasized as it is for servers.
I probably won’t change my habits in light of this new information, but then I seldom handle the finances when I travel anyway. If the hotel industry wants to make tipping a draw for their employees then they need to step up and make the expectations clear and easy to follow.
What about you?
When not travelling to exotic destinations, Mike writes Broken Cupid, a dating blog for single gay guys.
Generally I think that too many people today expect a tip just for doing the jobs they are paid to do, but I disagree with your rationale for not tipping hotel maids. I find that they directly influence my hotel experience more than the bellmen, the conceirge, etc. on most stays. My tip is not charity, but I also think that hotel maids are particularly deserving given how little they are paid for the amount of work it takes to clean a hotel room properly.
Although I don’t advocate tipping the maid as a quid pro quo, I rarely find that the tip goes unacknowledged. Sometimes you just find extra towels in the bathroom. Other times I have received more elaborate fruit bowls, an extra bottle of complementary wine, etc. Those are extreme examples from hotels outside the US, but even at budget priced hotels here, I have been surprized with an obviously brand new bedspread after the first night’s stay.
I have a few guidelines on hotel tipping:
1) Tip nightly; don’t hold the accumulated tip for the last night of your stay in case you have a different maid each day.
2) Place your tip on a pillow on the bed. This placement has worked for me all of the world without confusion.
3) $1/person/night in a budget hotel; $2/person/night in business hotel; $5/night in a suite or luxury hotel
I may roll my eyes whenever I see a tip box in a Starbucks, but I don’t consider tipping a hotel maid optional considering how much they do for me when I am traveling.
Interesting. I’ve never tipped a bellman (like you, no need) nor a concierge (usually no need) and I rarely stay in hotels with fancy service. But I ALWAYS tip the maid. Always always. I wouldn’t think of checking out without leaving at least $1-2 a night for the maid service — it’s a really sucky job, and I appreciate the hard work they do.
@ Tim: Great advice. The pillow is a lot easier than an envelope.
As far as the perks it’s something I never considered. I usually find the whole daily use of maid service unecessary for my personal comfort and probably wouldn’t even notice the towels. My bed at home gets made about once a month (when my cleaning lady comes). I suppose I could just refuse the service next time I travel.
The Itialian bed & breakfast place where they brought fresh fruit and coffee in the morning was the only time I ever saw anyone tip. But that was more like room service.
Mike: As a business traveler, it’s hard to justify cash tips in the corporate expense reimbursement process. And all that cash starts to add up. Two bucks here and there multiplies quickly over the course of a year if you’re traveling 2 or 3 nights a week for work.
But unfortunately, this trend seems to stick with me when I’m traveling for pleasure and I haven’t made it a practice to tip for maid service. I feel like a cheap ole schmuck after reading the comments from Tim and Jan… perhaps I should change my ways.
Not only do I not tip the maids – unless we ask housekeeping to send something to our room, in which case we tip on the spot – but I generally put the Do Not Disturb sign up for my entire stay so that they will stay out of my room the whole time I’m there.
If we need extra towels or anything else, for some longer stays, I’ll usually see them in the halls and just ask for what I need. I’ve often traded used towels for fresh ones this way, or gotten toilet paper or whatever.
Some people may think we should still tip for the service rendered before and after our stay. But I think that whatever they are being paid should cover at least that much. I tip 20% in restaurants unless the service is unusually bad, so I don’t have anything against tipping per se. I just don’t believe in tipping for service I’m not using.
I am frankly appalled that so many people not only do not tip hotel maids, but claim that the custom is completely unknown to them. When I was growing up, my father always left a tip for the maids when we stayed in hotels(his rule, one does not tip if staying only one night, but for multiple night stays, tip daily). I am a consultant and travel constantly. I always leave at least $5 a day. Leaving it on the pillow works fine without putting it in an envelope or leaving notes. At my company, tips for the hotel maids is reimburseable, so it appears that this is indeed a common practice. This seems to be universally understood. Hotel maids make low salaries and work very hard. We tip hairstylists who make far more an hour; they too are “just doing thier jobs.” The fact that the people who make our stay more pleasant are “invisible” to us does not make them less worthy.
I fall into the category of business traveler and I spend 2-3 weeks a month in hotels. I can’t justify spending $30 or more every month on maid service that I will not be reimbursed for. It’s not my choice to be away from home, and my company only reimburses me for expenses I can show with a receipt. Am I a horrible person? I mean, even though I am in a hotel, it’s not like I am saving money on rent/cable/etc because I am not using them at home.