I’ve never tipped a hotel maid

I tipped a hotel maid once. I tipped her over with the flat of my hand for refusing to swallow.

I never do. Personally, I put the DnD sign on the door the first night and leave it until I check out. I'm not messy and often strip the bed for them before I leave anyways.

I've never understood the American fascination with tipping. It's one thing for wait-staff (which, IMHO needs to go or go away from a percentage base -- no reason why a waiter should get a $10 tip on a steak dinner vs a $4 tip on a burger dinner when the work is similar), it's another thing when they're already getting paid at least minimum wage. It's not my place to supplement their income - an agreement between them and their employer.

Luv2Run wrote:

Most ofWait staff are paid a low wage since they are tipped. I doubt maids are since tipping them is not customary from what I can tell.

Except somewhere in the middle of MT, haven't you noticed that most housekeepers are foreigners? I am certain housekeepers get paid far lower than a legal minimum wage since my guess, most aren't here legally. I don't want to hear any crap from build a wall crowd. I am including eastern Europeans also not here legally. The reason why housekeepers want to work at higher end hotels is due to better tips. Cleaning a room at Double Tree isn't harder nor is it easier than cleaning a room at Motel 6. Difference are the tips. Tip your housekeepers!

Tip your housekeepers! wrote:

Luv2Run wrote:

Most ofWait staff are paid a low wage since they are tipped. I doubt maids are since tipping them is not customary from what I can tell.

Except somewhere in the middle of MT, haven't you noticed that most housekeepers are foreigners? I am certain housekeepers get paid far lower than a legal minimum wage since my guess, most aren't here legally. I don't want to hear any crap from build a wall crowd. I am including eastern Europeans also not here legally. The reason why housekeepers want to work at higher end hotels is due to better tips. Cleaning a room at Double Tree isn't harder nor is it easier than cleaning a room at Motel 6. Difference are the tips. Tip your housekeepers!

That was poorly written on my part.

Servers are paid below minimum wage because tipping is customary.

Maids are paid at least minimum wage (or are supposed to be).

The only time I've ever tipped a hotel maid was on the Disney Cruise. Interestingly I was tipping him each day only to find out at the end they expected me to tip him on the final bill.

I think tipping the maid is the right thing to do. However, I hate these new square cash things that are popping up imploring you to tip people you wouldn't otherwise. Not sure how prevalent it is in other parts of the country, but in the NYC area, if you go to a coffee shop (take out - not sit down) and pay by card, the ipad machine thing will ask if you want to tip. Often times the cashier is hovering over you and I bet a lot of people tip because of this added pressure. It's obnoxious and I see it a lot more at hipster type joints.

That if you are staying in a room for more than one night... there are some really disgusting things that maids can do to your stuff. Just saying... Think of it as insurance.

Is that a thing? Who tips me for doing my job?

Lynching Park wrote:

Is that a thing? Who tips me for doing my job?

I left the maid a stock tip (buy AMZN), I hope that counts.

IllinoisPhotographer wrote:

I never do. Personally, I put the DnD sign on the door the first night and leave it until I check out. I'm not messy and often strip the bed for them before I leave anyways.

This is the same mentality I have. I look at it like this...If I were at home, I'm okay with using the same towel(s) for a few days. I make my own bed. I certainly don't clean/vacuum my room every day. Why do I need this done for my hotel room?

The only time I've tipped is when my wife and I were in NYC for a long weekend. Met an awesome housekeeper at Marriott Marquis in NYC (Ms. Norma from Jamaica!). She was really, really cool and we talked track and running for the first 15 minutes when first arrived (she still had her Jamaican accent). She wasn't even actually our room attendant, but she was there every day...happy go lucky, full of personality and many many great stories. Hooked us up with free breakfast passes and bottled water. At the end of the stay, I think we gave her $50 and a gift card to Starbucks. She was so appreciative and only after a lot of convincing, accepted it.

Hotwired wrote:

Most of the time, it never even occurs to me...especially if I’m only staying somewhere one night...it’s not like I’m ever going to see her.

Ha ha ha ha!

I had initially read it as 'tripped'.

Ha h aha ha!

world traveller wrote:

The thing about hotel maids is, I often just don't carry cash, or only $20 bills, which is a lot to tip when I spend

If you take that $20 bill to the front desk, they will change that to $5s and $1s. Why is that so hard to figure out?

I tip because I want to, not because society says I have to. When I get second rate service I won’t hesitate to leave no tip. Mr Pink said it best

https://youtu.be/Z-qV9wVGb38

Why should I tip the maid? When I check into a hotel, the first thing I do is hang the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. They never step into the room and, therefore, never do anything that merits a tip.

old hobby jogger wrote:

I almost always tip the maid. I don't expect much, but I do like extra towels and shampoo, etc. and I want them to leave my personal stuff alone. I don't know how much they make, but probably not enough o deal with the hassles of that job and I won't miss a few bucks a night anyway. I have noticed they seem to do a better job once they know I tip them.

Ignore my handle , but you are spot on !

+ 1

Malmo too

I'm a regular business traveler who typically stays at nicer properties, but nothing that would be considered luxury/high end. Think Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridian, and similar, but not Four Seasons, Ritz, or St. Regis. Standard for myself and my co-workers (and many other business travelers), is to tip housekeeping $5 per night. An allowance for such is written into our expense policy. Our expense policy similarly allows for tipping of wait staff 18% of our checks. We don't have a policy for tipping bellhops (the hotels we stay at don't typically have them) or valets (we are encouraged to self park if possible).

If you're going to be staying at a property regularly, it always pays to tip generously - especially bartenders and wait staff. If your a regular with a reputation for being a decent person and tipping well, then the staff will generally go the extra mile for you when you need it and will be generous with comped food, drinks, etc. Plus, its just the decent thing to do as most of the time these people are overworked and underpaid.

I tip 5-10 per night in most hotels, 10 at the higher end places. This is pretty much standard anywhere you look up tipping guides for travel here in the States. The real debate is whether you do it daily (recommended by most) or at the end of a 3 day stay (easier to remember). Looking at the number of rooms they have to clean each day and the low wage, hard not to tip the people actually working to make sure you have clean sheets and don't have to deal with the previous occupant's filth.

But then again, maybe these responders on this thread are not typical letsrunners and only make 30k a year so 19k a year seems a living wage.

I always tip at least 10 dollars per night because I'm not a cheap SOB

I've been a housekeeper and cleaned rooms at a nice hotel at a destination ski resort during high school and college. While I was doing it to make money for books, etc., the ladies I worked with did it as their full time job to support themselves. We only made minimum wage. And I can tell you that in the 4 years that I worked there, I was only tipped ONCE, and that was because a wedding party utterly trashed their room and we had to put it out of commission to repair it. I think they left the housekeepers $50. And I'm sure they were billed for the damages. And given the age that I was, I just couldn't understand the things that I was seeing and was asked to clean up. One of which was a large black piece of plastic in the bathroom that was covered with water and goodness knows what else. At the time I was thinking that they made a Slip and Slide to play in the tiny bathroom, but idk, I still shake my head at that one.

From the perspective of someone who has cleaned rooms, if you make a mess above and beyond what's normal, please tip. Those kind of rooms take longer to clean and it can put us behind schedule. We're assigned a certain number of rooms to clean between check-out and check-in, and it can be hard to turn over the whole hotel (or a significant chunk of it) in that short period of time. Stay-over rooms take time too. And if you're a guy who sheds a lot, please rinse your hairs down the drain. Just as it's no fun to be the next guest and find them, it's also no fun to clean them.