Originally Posted by Blumie
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?
It is not standard practice. Standard practice is approximately 15% at a restaurant and $1 for an alcoholic drink at a bar.
Hotels, ice cream parlors, sandwich shops, letter carriers, doormen, etc., are tipped more often than factory workers, but it is certainly not standard to tip them.
I would much prefer to pay $3 more a night and see a big giant sign on the room door that says "NO TIPPING", than to have this odd setup where you leave money to a total stranger you have never seen before and will never see again.