Originally Posted by Warrenlm
When the room is a one night stay, I don't see it practical to tip the person cleaning up after me. Why? so the room will be extra nice for the next guest? If I could designate a tip for the person who cleaned the room for me, I'd reconsider.
In the cases of multi night stays, and the housekeeping staff is the same, I can see tipping, either as you go or at the end, as reasonable. But that seems rare.
Just as you tip the waiter at an end of a meal to reward good service (rather than at the beginning to incent good service), it is standard practice (AND THE RIGHT THING TO DO) to tip the maid when you leave a hotel room. Yes, there is a chance that the recipient of the tip will not be the same person who cleaned the room in preparation for your arrival, but (1) the rooms typically are serviced by the same person each day, and (2) even to the extent they're not, it should all come out in the wash (no pun intended).
As another poster has pointed out, these people work for incredibly low wages and rely on tips to supplement their meager wages. It would be nice if they were paid more (which, of course, would translate to higher room rates), but they're not, and not tipping won't help them any. So rather than pay the tip in the form of the higher room rate, why not just give it to them directly?