imverge

I don't care if the "Marriott" hotel I'm staying at is owned by Marriott or a franchisee. Marriott Corp. does have pull as in ensuring staff are being paid fair wages! Marriott should be auditing their properties it's their name and brand after-all.

envgeo

my employer (large non-US bank) will only pay for $3 of cash tips per trip.

FWAAA

Depends on the state. Here is a handy DOL chart showing the states that permit employers to pay less than the federal minimum wage by factoring in the "tip credit." Bottom line is that in some states, tipped employees earn as little as $2.13/hr and in others, like CA, all employees earn at least $9/hr, whether or not they're tipped.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

satman40

When Burger Flippers are paid $15.00 an hour, all will be well, and mist of us will want to be Burger Flippers..

Please tip your dishwasher, talk about a hot tiring job, that no one tips..

JackE

That works out to 10 cents a day. How do you split that between housekeepers, car valets and waiters?

ZorbaTheGeek

Scribbling little notes?

Serious case of middle class guilt goin' on right there.

puntamita

I always give $3 tip unless upgraded to large suite, then $5. If I forget cash, I hide my toothbrush!

Buster CT1K

This is so totally classless. Marriott should either pony up or raise it's standards. So completely shocking. Even as a marriott gold member I refuse to stay there.

mbece

I really feel bad for not leaving tips at hotels but I usually stay three-four nights and never use the maid service (until the check-out day). And I seldom have cash on me. I'm usually a pretty decent tipper at restaurants and places where I can charge it to my card despite the fact that I loathe companies for not paying a living wage but I understand maids (or other lowly paid employers) are not to blame --they're the ones scrapping by stuck in a system where they have to find ways to supplement their income.

My employer usually reimburses me, but I usually forget to submit these small cash things for reimbursement. If there was a way to put it on my card (and ensure the maids got it), I would consistently tip them. As it stands, I'll only tip in the rare cases where I have cash on me or at the end of longer stays where I'd go to the ATM and personally give the maid $20-50.

acvitale

The below letter was emailed to the two media contacts for the Marriott " Envelope program", [email protected] (Angela Wiggins of Marriott) and [email protected] (Sierra Wilson of A Woman's Nation)

I would encourage others who feel as I do to reach out to them and let them know how misguided this is and that it will be exposed for what it really is!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ladies,

It is somewhat sad and definitely pathetic that "A woman's nation" would support the latest effort to shift an honest days pay from the employer and on to hotel guest.

Marriott on the other hand should be ashamed outright but, in nothing more then a blatant attempt to shift the expenses from a company that netted over 1.7B in profit last year for its housekeeping staff to the guests whom are already increasingly getting nickeled and dimed with every stay.

The net result is this...

The guests are livid. I am an Marriott Rewards Platinum guest who stays at least 75-100 nights a year and control over 1000 room nights a year with my staff. We are effective Oct 1st, 2014 until this misguided campaign ends going to book away from any Marriott branded and affiliated properties. Your loss is going to be Hyatt, Starwood and Hiltons gain.

We are not the only ones. We suggest you start reading the frequent traveller message boards and blogs. This campaign and its efforts to further nickle and dime guests with housekeepers not being adequately compensated is going to cost Marriott real dollars from the most frequent travellers.

The fact that the media has been supplied with patently false information by your campaign is even worse. Here is a hint, It is not a societal norm to tip housekeeping staff when only 1 of 14 rooms left a tip according to a recent article. That actually would prove that tipping is the exception.

A more relevant fact is that MOST companies (ie over 50%) do NOT reimburse cash tips and at least 70% including most fortune 500s have hard limits on tipping that do not cover the already mandated valet, bellman and lounge attendants so this cost is born by the actual traveller.

Lastly, Based on the cleanliness of many of the rooms I have stayed at in 4 and 5 star hotels leaves a lot to be desired and is NOT exceptional service.

Tips are for exceptional service not another form of corporate welfare on the traveler's expense.

Hopefully, you will soon see how truly misguided this campaign is and remedy this decision before it hurts your respective organizations. Meanwhile myself and many others will be working together to create a campaign of our own to expose this horrid corporate welfare program and the misguided efforts of a "Woman's Nation" to short change the hard working housekeeping staff at Marriott properties.

We will be making ourselves available to media outlets, buying media space and going to social media to ensure this program and its accomplices are exposed for the heartless and greedy corporate goons and naive social groups that are working to active disenfranchise the working American housekeepers who are just trying to make it.

Oh and by the way, I am one of the ones who does tip for "Good or Exceptional Service" but, I am not going to be browbeat into doing so.

Sincerely,

ACVITALE

puddinhead

Can I deduct the tip from the resort fee?

hotelfanatic

Saw this on NBC news this evening and was not aware of this program even though I've been staying at a few different Marriotts this year. This is a prime example of a bad idea getting worst by the day and they don't seem to know when to stop the bleeding. Compare this to the Starwood Green program, One makes their guest feel guilty and the other rewards their guest. Knock knock - anyone there????

Give yr employees a living wage. They are people too.

dank0014

I have a big issue with this whole tipping housekeeper thing. I agree with what some individuals have said that maybe the bill should have a tip line or something.

When I was in college, I use to work at a hotel (great job to work front desk, do homework, especially those night audit shifts!).

What I learned quickly was how housekeeping worked. This seemed to be the case at many hotels. Housekeeping usually has a housekeeping supervisor, who usually goes room to room and starts prepping rooms (like pulling sheets off bed so they can get started with laundry quicker), and confirming things such as mini bar (to see who gets charged, etc). I hate to say this, but we live in a crappy world and people steal. Who is to say the housekeeping supervisor doesn't pocket some or all of the tip, and how would the housekeeper ever have a clue?

I always hide the tip under the bar of soap - laugh all you want. I think this may encourage more employee stealing and cause a lot of employee issues as many hotel employees have master key cards and if they know someone checks out to rush to see if a tip has been left. Just saying....

The flip side is us saying charge to room, but now the housekeeper will be taxed on that as it will go reported with credit card tips. Both sides of the picture here....

CouponSurfer

Press Release has some interesting wording ....

" Marriott International will place signature envelopes in more than 160,000 guest rooms at participating Marriott-managed hotels in the U.S. and Canada"

Based on that, I'm guessing the program will be run in about 1/2 of the Marriott Hotels in USA/Canada. Does that sound about right?

jxd

I don't see the need to tip the maid unless I'm asking for extra or special requests. I'm already paying $200 up for a room with my hard earned money, why should I help the hotel to pay their staffs who are just doing their job?

The tipping culture is getting out of hand. You see "tip jars" at cafés, cashiers and what not. Why the heck do I tip you for collecting money, it's your job.

Do you tip bus drivers for driving you safely to your destination? Do you tip dishwashers for washing your plates? Do you tip the laundromat for washing your clothes?

The point of this is - you pay more for the extra services, and it's the company's responsibility to pay their staff properly and not rely on customers to contribute to their pay! I'm not blaming the maids or any service staffs, I'm putting the blame on these companies for not paying their staffs properly.