Never seen things like that in continental Europe

I was at Westin Michigan Avenue last month and am glad they did not have this.

This is the way I'd handle something of this nature, too. The management staff at many hotels isn't directly supervising employees. As such, it's possible they do not know this practice is happening. And it's impossible for any business to fix a problem unless they know it exists.

Of course, it's possible this is approved by management. In that case, you'd need to decide if it's bothersome enough to move your business elsewhere.

No, just put ZERO in that slot.

I havealmost never tipped in a lounge.
I do leave tips for the servers at the Library at the Sheraton Grand Sukhumvit, or at Bamboo Chic at Le meridien Bangkok for my happy hour drinks.
I do leave tips at restaurants when I am ordering breakfast off the menu in lieu of a lounge breakfast.
The only exceptions are when I have used a meeting room in the lounge, and the lounge attendants have brought coffee/water for all
my guests, I like to tip for " over and above service ", especially when they do not try to charge for the drinks.

Do you still leave a tip in the restaurant when the platinum/titanium voucher says, tips are included?

I tip at any lounge in the US where I feel the lounge attendant is friendly, caring and wants to help you. Cleveland Airport Marriott has 2 ladies at night, Kathy and Lynne and I always tip them. They bake fresh homemade cookies every night, are very friendly and go above and beyond. And it's my pleasure to tip them. They work hard.

Don't you think baking the cookies is just part of the hotel's standard operating procedure, and when Kathy and Lynne aren't there someone else would bake them? I don't see how carrying out a function of your job is going above and beyond. Nor do I see how being friendly and polite is going above and beyond.

I carry out my job functions every day while being friendly and polite. No one tips me, and I don't expect them to.

It seems like you're tipping not because they did something extra, or worked hard, but because you happen to enjoy the service they're required to provide. By this logic, you could tip your garbage man, local police officer, firemen, etc. Many of them work hard to provide services you enjoy at low pay too. Do you also tip the front desk clerks when they not only check you in, but go above and beyond by pointing out where the breakfast area is, which way to the elevators, or offer a map of the area?

I'm not judging you, it's your money to do with as you please, just pointing out the inconsistency.

I believe in tipping people whose income relies on tips (such as waitstaff in the US), or where there it's a standard, such as a bartender, bellhop, taxi driver. Not just anyone who is cheerfully performing the functions of their job.

I'm mostly with this, with one modification: I don't believe in tipping, ever. It's a construct that, in the 21st century, is leveraged by powerful industry interests to offload staff costs and risks from the business owner onto the clients and the staff themselves. It's in their interest that it remain a social norm, as it's an effective counterbalance on pressures to raise minimum wages and, to a lesser extent, depoliticize minimum wages by indexing them to regional cost indices. In some cases, tip recipients may say things like "I like tips because I'm engaging in tax evasion, whereas I couldn't do that if I received no tips and an equivalent hourly wage." OK, fine, but I don't look at tax evasion as a great pro-tip argument. From the customer's perspective, it's just a bad, antiquated system. (I'm speaking mainly about the powerful restaurant lobby in the U.S., our political process, and the U.S. IRS here; this may or may not apply anywhere else.)

However, I agree with you in that where it's standard, I try to be an average tipper for that situation. Not a miser, but also not the drunk American slinging abnormally-large tips around. On an individual level, I don't look for confrontations around tipping, with the possible exception of someone trying to inject tips into a traditionally non-tipping situation.

I don't think we disagree at all. But the problem is, I can't change the construct. The only thing I can do is try to contribute in a small way to prevent the spread of tipping to jobs that really shouldn't be tipped, by not doing it myself and by discouraging others from it.

And before someone misreads that, I'm not discouraging from tipping in all situations. Please do tip your server, bartender, etc. But starting to tip anyone and everyone just because you enjoy the service they provide encourages them to start begging for tips. I don't want to see a day where I have to walk into a board room meeting and put a tip jar out in front of me. :)

Yep. Totally agree.

"Can I tip the CEO in stock options?"

I don't, but have seen a post elsewhere that the person did leave an extra tip, because he felt that the Marriott included amount wasn't enough (he asked, and they told him it was something like $1.80 per voucher).

What I find most egregious are the areas where cities have implemented the "living wage" laws and yet staffers still are pushing for tips.

Three examples of where I've tipped in a lounge:

1. I don't eat meat with breakfast and the lounge has scrambled eggs mixed with meat. The staff offers to go to the restaurant and bring up a plate of meatless eggs.
2. I want something that the restaurant has but not the lounge, for example side of avocado, almond/soy milk, etc., and the staff goes to get it.
3. I want to work in the Lounge (possibly with colleagues) for several hours and staff brings water, coffee, etc.

Good examples, rather than tipping someone for just carrying out their job responsibilities.

Numbers 2 and 3 are things you would certainly have to pay for in most circumstances. A tip seems appropriate in those cases.
For number 1, I guess I'd just expect them to not mix the eggs and meat or at least offer 2 egg options in that case. I'm not sure I'd tip for an employee fixing a situation to be what I consider to be a reasonable expectation of the lounge. I could go either way on that one. Unless they wanted to pick through the eggs with a fork and remove all the meat instead :).