I've never been to Thailand so maybe it is the same fee. I've never had to pay a service fee in Lima before.

OP, I'm a bit confused by your post for a few reasons:

1. Hotel service charges are commonplace in many countries and (rightly or wrongly) have been for some time now.
2. I paid the same 10% service charge on my last stay at Hilton Lima Miraflores back in 2013.

FWIW, I doubt that this amount goes to the staff as a gratuity. I cynically believe that service charges are (unless specifically required by law) used to pad the room rate. Ultimately, what matters to me is the total amount I must pay (inclusive of all mandatory taxes and fees), and I choose hotels on that basis.

If ti's a points reservation, are you charged 10% in points, or nothing?

What if it's a free weekend night certificate?

The pain of 10% instead of flat is obvious, but the beauty of 10% is that it shouldn't apply if you pay no money. (Flat fees, on the other hand, can apply even on award reservations.)

I've never seen a service charge before but most of my stays are in North American and Europe. I looked at the bill from my last stay in December of 2016 and wasn't charged this fee.

I would like to know if it is really being split between the staff. It makes a big difference on if I decide to tip the staff or not. It's like the baggage storage fee, if a hotel charges it and I find out it is going to the bell staff I don't tip them.

This is quite common in Asia at the full line Hilton/Conrad properties (maybe others), and a reason I like using points there since you can't charge a % service fee on a $0 rate :D I'm staying at the Conrad Beijing later this month and their "service charge" is 16% :rolleyes:

Based on your post I went back and looked, and I paid the 10% service charge at the Hilton Lima Miraflores in Sept 2016. So this is clearly not a new development.

A service fee in lieu of gratuity at restaurants and hotels in Asia and much of Latin America is common at mid level hotels and higher.

Was the OP staying on points on the last visit?

I stayed here on money last visit, not points. I have seen service fees added in some restaurants instead of tips (or in places like Miami beach they still include a tip line on the charge slip and add in the service charge anyway). I can understand restaurants but 10 percent seems absurd for a hotel. I normally tip the maid or the bell staff if I ask them to hold my bags. If it's a restaurant they have a place on the chit for a tip.

I'm sure points stays they just waive the fee like a property does with the resort fee or it's build into the points rate. This property would be a poor use of a free night certificate seeing how cheap the rates were unless someone had a certificate that was about to expire and they need to use it.

For others who have paid this did you get points on this charge and did you pay tax on it? I don't understand why they just don't jack up the rate ten percent since they aren't exempting corporate rates from this.

I stayed a few nights on points in late December. There were no fees on top of points.

Kind of weird a lima hotel is concerned with gratuities for all their employees, especially of that dollar amount, seeing it seems uncommon to tip a lot of people in Lima who you would normally tip in the US.

Almost every coffee house in the US has a tip jar and I don't remember seeing any at the coffee places I was at in Lima, including the Starbucks. It's common to tip tour guides here and when I did the water park tour in Lima I was the only one who tipped the guide and he seemed really surprised and grateful at the tip. I always tip my uber (unless it's a super high surge or the service was really awful) and taxi drivers here and in LIma the tip is included in the negotiated cab fare and my uber driver seemed really shocked when I gave him a tip. I also noticed no one was tipping bartenders.

That is true in other industries and part of “cost of doing business”. I don’t see airlines institute a mandatory service charge for the crew any time soon. My doctor collects a copay, but not a service charge for his staff.

It is admirable to offer competitive compensation to retain good employees. But don’t sell it to your customers as a fee (and hide it in competitive price comparisons, apparently thinking that your customers don’t need to know or care about the actual price)

Regret to advise that this kind of price gouging is quite common in many parts of the world - besides Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong etc. I have also come across it with Hiltons in Japan - where it can be as much as 12%. In Europe it is not so common because most of the EU has a legal requirement to display the final price to the consumer. However, like you, I do not like it.