777 global mile hound

Hi All,

It's been some time since I reviewed my tipping habits and found through this new Travel and Leisure article
that I am a tad under what I should be tipping when on the road staying in a hotel
The two categories I apparently have been way under are housekeeping where I left 3 dollars a day or 5 a day in a suite and valet parking where I also typically give 3 dollars.
I was actually over in the bellman tipping
I'd certainly like to hear from our community the overall consensus on tipping when it is appropriate and customary to do so
Thanks in advance for your input
Cheers 777

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/hotel-...223121700.html

• Bellman: $1 to $2 per bag.
• Concierge: $10 to $20 for performing a special service, such as scoring tickets to a sold-out event or wrangling lost luggage from your airline.
• Doorman: $2 for hailing a cab in rush hour or in the rain; $1 for each bag.
• Housekeeping: $5 to $10 per day. Leave it at the front desk if you want it divided equally among all your housekeepers.
• Room Service: A service charge is almost always included in the bill. To personally thank your server, 5 percent will suffice.
• Valet: $5 when your car is delivered.

Note: Gratuities are often lower or not expected outside North America. Follow local tipping customs when traveling overseas.

schriste

sigh... think I'll move to Japan.

todorovic

Here is my take:

• Bellman: $1 to $2 per bag - sounds about right.
• Concierge: $10 to $20 for performing a special service, such as scoring tickets to a sold-out event or wrangling lost luggage from your airline - sounds about right.
• Doorman: $2 for hailing a cab in rush hour or in the rain; $1 for each bag - this is OK if it requires actually stepping into the rain or hailing the cab in the street; however, if all it takes is to raise a hand/blow a whistle to get a cab parked a few feet away then I typically don't tip.
• Housekeeping: $5 to $10 per day. Leave it at the front desk if you want it divided equally among all your housekeepers - this is too much IMO, especially during longer stays.
• Room Service: A service charge is almost always included in the bill. To personally thank your server, 5 percent will suffice - agreed.
• Valet: $5 when your car is delivered - depending on the level of effort it takes to get the car (how far it's parked, weather conditions, rush hour service, etc) and the speed of service (relative to the required effort) my range is anywhere from $0 (very slow service) to $10.

LASUA1K

I used to Valet cars, and 5 dollars is a bit much for average service. If it's a long run or if the car is ready then 5 bucks is good.

Bellman seems a bit low to me. People always forget the doorman! Doorman tips seem to have gone away in recent years. Tip your doorman!

MSPeconomist

Housekeeping and valet amounts are too high. My norm for the bellman is $2 for the first bag and $1 for each additional bag, unless something is especially heavy, with these amounts increased for luxury properties or historic buildings with lots of stairs.

For room service, many hotels have a $3-5 delivery fee in addition to a gratuity of 18-20% already on the bill. I wouldn't normally give an additional 5% for normal service.

I usually prefer to tip for special services, such as the person who brings my Diamond food amenity or the housekeeper who delivers a bathrobe (unless it should have been in the room), a special toiletry request, or pillows.

I'd be reluctant to leave tips with the front desk. I like to see the money actually to to the person who provided the service.

In very upscale properties that impose a service charge on everything, I would tip only for extraordinarily special service that really goes above and beyond what a top employee in a luxury hotel should do.

Often1

The only real variable is the concierge. $10-20 is fine for routine "pulling rabbit out of hat." Sold out opera at the Met in NYC ought to be $100. All depends.

RichardInSF

If the way the concierge gets sold out Met tickets is by going to a ticket broker for a healthy premium over face, that isn't worth $100 to me. Probably not even worth going to a concierge for that. There is hardly any event where enough money won't get someone to sell, I don't call that a miracle.

I rarely, if ever, tip housekeeping If valet parking is charged, and especially if it is mandatory, I cannot imagine giving $5, more like $1 or $2. If a (usually substantial) service charge is added to room service bills, I won't trip.

Too many of the ridiculously generous tipping "rules" seem to be set by Manhattan residents, who are untypical of the rest of the nation -- these folks are currently claiming that taxi drivers should be tipped 30%.

777 global mile hound

That's helpful advice and one sure way to dodge tipping

777 global mile hound

I say spot on in your assessment overall.
I never really gave much though to how far they go to get the car and if they save me time and have the car right there I actually feel that may be worth something
so I am not waiting ten or 15 minutes to have someone retrieve my vehicle.
Count me in as cheap I've never given more than 5 dollars to a Parking valet as a tip
I have tipped bellman 10 or 20 dollars if they are seasoned professionals especially if they have been with the hotel and treated me well and with past and present service

suite2suite

I used to tip until my son who invited me to the Four Season's told me several years ago:
"Do you realize dad that the valet/doorman makes more money than you?"
Now I never tip people who make more than I do.

mrredskin

$5 for valet?? $5 to $10 for houskeeping???? hell, that's 10-12% of the room rates at a lot of places for housekeeping.

777 global mile hound

I should say that's the major cities I am going to tip more in than I would say in Chattanooga TN
Its also dependent on the caliber of property and the degree of professionalism and courtesy/kindness

Maui4me1

The housekeeping $$$ gets me. We have always tipped housekeeping but not that amount, usually $3 per day especially on a long stay. If they do something exceptional it's $5 but not just for normal service.

canyonleo

Why tipping is so important in the U.S.:

Other than tipping for extra service/effort provided (e.g. bellman running to a drugstore for you, concierge using their pull to get a reservation at a sold out place, etc.), a primary reason to tip in the U.S. is that the U.S. (unlike some countries) has a different and much lower minimum wage for tip earning jobs.

I don't know what minimum wage is currently ($7/hour?) but the minimum wage for tip jobs is much lower ($3/hour?). Thus, for some jobs (bellman, bartender, waitress, etc.) we should view tipping (10-15%? $1-5/bag or checkin) as mandatory. I follow this logic, tipping a minimum of 10% even when service sucks, and about 18% normally).

For other jobs, which receive a full wage (e.g. housekeeping, doorman that hails a taxi from the line of taxis 20m down the driveway), I don't tip.

There are some exceptions I can think off, such as taxi drivers, hair salon, bike and ski techs, where I do tip 15%.

gengar

$5-$10 for housekeeping? Yikes.

I tip $5 daily only if I'm in a suite. And I've had housekeepers thank me for that tip on many occasions (just this past weekend, a housekeeper cleaning the room next to my suite stopped me when I was re-entering my room to personally thank me.) $5-10 seems pretty high especially for just a normal room.

Sure - but be aware that the minimum wage tip credit only applies when the tips received are at least equal to the credit. No tipped worker is actually allowed to have total income less than minimum wage, minimum wage tip credit or not.

The more compelling argument is that, in some cultures, service people such as waiters are compensated less on their base wage because customers are expected to subsidize the managers/owners' payment to those waiters via tipping (regardless of whether any individual happens to agree with the cultural phenomena).