dimramon

I am new to Marriott, and I am staying in a Courtyard this week.

When I got to my room, there was a tip envelope sitting on the desk in front of the lamp. It had the name of the housekeeper and my room number on the envelope.

Yesterday, I cleared the desk to put down some paperwork and when I got to my room at night, a new envelope was up there, again with my room number and the name of the cleaning lady.

I have never seen that before in any of the hotels I stay at. I don't want to get into a discussion around tips, but I think it's very tacky and would definitely not encourage me to leave a tip.

Also, why would my room number be on there... Is she keeping track of who tips and how much and for what purpose?

Fwiw: this is what the envelope looks like: http://www.americanhotel.com/Product...px?R=U72RATP-W

I dont know if this is a Marriott thing, or if this is something that housekeeper does?

Often1

At higher end properties, the staff keeps track of everything, including tips. That's why some people get great rooms when they come back and others get the ice machine. Or, it's why room service arrives cold and so on.

4getofn

Never seen a "tip envelope" ... My stays however, are only domestic.

dimramon

Interesting. However, I doubt a Courtyard falls into the category of higher end properties.

Same here, most of my stays are domestic, including this location.

mrsjon01

IME tip envelopes are more common at the lower end properties, across many brands. I have no idea of the real reason why, but my guess is that they expect the guests who frequent these properties to be less knowledgeable about tipping etiquette. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, just that it's my guess.

4getofn

So what Courtyard are you staying at ?

Eujeanie

I've seen a card with the housekeeper's name on it "my name is so and so and I'll be taking care of your room" as a gentle hint but never an envelope.

dimramon

Providence, RI.

4getofn

I have stayed there a bunch of times but its been a couple of years ... Wasn't that way when I was there. I am at a Courtyard today and I know the GM well. They do have in our rooms the card with the picture of the housekeeping person. I'll ask her what she thinks of the envelopes and I will see if she knows many that do it .. I'll also ask if the picture of the housekeeping person is to encourage tips...

ohmark

Like most of us, I always leave a tip for the room attendant. Never heard of a "tip envelope."

SkiAdcock

I've seen that occasionally.

Cheers.

writerguyfl

Just speculation, but I would guess that a formal tip envelope is there to eliminate the "is that a tip or just money left on the table?" that Housekeepers sometime face. And perhaps the room number is there because the employees are required to turn in their tips so that money is properly taxed.

I'm not sure I like the ambiguity, however. I would have no qualms if the envelope indicated that tips were optional.

Doc Savage

This is of course the reason.

Why would the housekeeper need to have the room number written down? She knows where she got it. Sounds like a corporate heavy hand there.

And I highly doubt hotels record the maids tips as Often alleges. Sounds pretty paranoid to me.

writerguyfl

I've worked in two upscale hotels. In one, tips weren't tracked. In the other, all cash tips were meticulously tracked. It had nothing to do with the guest. Rather, tips were tracked to ensure that the employees were adhering to tax laws. Additionally, that data was collected and used during union labor negotiations.

I can only speak to where I worked...but, I agree that idea that tips are formally tracked is far-fetched.

First, as a general rule, the overwhelming majority of Housekeeping employees don't ever use computers. That fact means they aren't tracking guest tips.

Second, the people who are assigning rooms are usually managers or supervisors. Even if tips were tracked via guest profiles, there would be no incentive for those folks to give a high tipping repeat guest a better room than a stingy repeat guest.

nacho

Saw it once in Pleasant Marriott.