It varies from property to property and they all handle it different....

PH Chicago (I am most definitely not a fan of the service here): They ask you to sign the check where you fill out the tip and then only the breakfast component get's taken off at check-out.

PH Washington (one of my favourites): IMHO they handle it the best. When you show up for breakfast, they ask you your room number (and consequently refer to you by name throughout the service). At the end of it all when you ask for the check, they say it's been taken care of. No embarassing situations, no covering gratuity.

Andaz W. Hollywood (another great property in terms of service): They add a standard Gratuity to the check, ask you the sign it and the whole thing gets taken off at check out (again no embarassing situation where you have to fill a number out).


I honestly wish they would all handle it like PH Washington - it's so classy, understated and elegant in terms of the service and the way a Diamond should be treated.

+1

If I don't see somewhere that the tip is covered, I leave one.

"Pad the pockets of table servers."

Oh those lavish pockets.

That extra three or four dollars -- god only knows what lavish extravagance that is affording those "servers."

I know. . . it's the principle of it!

OK...but, what about this:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/16642359-post6.html

I have only experienced the free diamond breakfast at the Hyatt Dulles. Each time, I signed for the breakfast and since there was a spot for a gratuity. I included $3.00 on the check as a tip three times and once when the waiter Henry ( asian guy ) provided really good service I included $4.00 as a tip. After collecting the check, Henry came back and thanked me again by name.

It would be nice if Hyatt listed a tip on the check they provide, so we would know that it was already taken care of. If I thought the tip was not enough for the service provided, I probably would leave a few dollars as a tip on the table.

The one asian waiter at the Hyatt Dulles in the morning reminds me so much of Arnold from Happy Days ( Pat Narita ) with his looks and mannerisms. I watched Happy Days as a teenager when it was first aired on ABC, so in any case, it has been a fun place to enjoy breakfast.

soccer

When I made Diamond at Hyatt two years ago I had to break my habit of tipping in cash and remember to add it to the bill instead. The only time I can ever recall them not covering the entire tip, when added to the bill, was Hyatt Harborside in Boston where 50 cents of it was on my bill at check out. I probably tipped above whatever they would normally cover in that case.

Never really thought about it at the PH's. When I was at Vendome and Zurich, I left 15% I believe. But for future travel, 15% would be close to $100 USD for breakfast for a family of 4. Quite steep for complimentary breakfast!

I did four days at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa and they wiped the food costs but manually added the tip back onto the tab.

I'll follow up with my private line rep tomorrow.

Park Hyatt Vendome Paris and Park Hyatt Chicago both comp'ed anything and everything ordered from the breakfast menus, but in both cases charged the gratuity I wrote on to the room bill. When ordering via room service, both gratuity and the service charge were added to the room bill. Only actual food items removed in all cases.

Tipping is of course a personal thing, but is it really worth the effort to dispute the charge? In my world life is too short.

It might be insightful to find out whether tips added to the check are in addition to the tip Hyatt pays. The GP terms and conditions referenced upthread clearly state that tax+gratuity are covered by Hyatt.

Think that you are missing the distinction. The tip is included (and calculated and paid by the property to the wait staff). You added an extra amount and it is that extra amount which is not included. As noted above, some properties don't get caught up in this and simply write off the extra tip as well.

If you don't want to leave the wait staff a couple of bucks, don't feel obligated to because they are already receiving something from the property. If you want to be generous and reward them, then do.

@Paris: The service is included, so the tip was an extra tip, which you had to pay then.

The problem stems from some properties not making it clear that the gratuity was built into the check

What gets me is how different it can be day to day at the same property (not a good sign at how mgmt runs the ship!).

Back in March I had 2 nights at the Hyatt Miami Blue. First day for breakfast the server was as nice as can be and when I asked for the check, she said the vouchers took care of everything, gratuity included. I left her $5 and she was extremely grateful.

Next morning I was going to do the same but the server never brought the check. He made is seem like he went out of his way to get my breakfast comp'd (I had the vouchers) and brought a little printout to what the gratuity could be (i.e 15%, 18%, 20%) - kicker is the amts suggested were for TWO people when I was the only one at breakfast. I left $1 and walked out.