Housekeeper Gratuities
 

How much does everyone tip the housekeeper at full-service Marriott properties (per night)? Is there a typical guideline? Is it dependent upon the rate of the room? Your feedback would be welcomed.

When I'm travelling it's usually just me and only for one or two nights so I typically don't tip at all. If something extreme happened (bloody nose that dripped on the floor/sheets/etc or a friend happened to get sick in the room the night before) then I generally tip a couple of dollars just because of the added hassle of having to clean it up. The way I personally see it, keeping the room clean is their job, and they get paid non-commission, hourly for it, so if I'm not requiring anything special, then they are already being paid and there's no need for me to "encourage" them to do their job.

On the few occasions that I travel with family and there are more needs from housekeeping (extra soaps, towels, etc) then I generally tip 3-5 bucks/day.

$1-2 per night, maybe half that amount in a developing country.
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13F

Just me, personally...

I generally tip $2 per night (or equivilent in local currency) in most instances.
I usually go $5 for a suite or if the housekeeping service goes or has to go beyond the normal line of duty. On the flip side, if there's an cleanliness or service issue during my stay directly relating to housekeeping, I don't tip at all.

(I'm also a guy who routinely goes 20% or more in restaurants, but also a couple of times a year will write "not aplicable" in the "gratuity" line of a restaurant bill if the service is lousy).

Again, this is just me. I'm not trying to suggest anything to the next person.

$2 a night or so if I am alone. $3 or so if it is Mr Sophie and I. $5 or so if it is a girlfriend and I - as we always need lots of extra towels, coffee, want the sheets changed more often, need more shampoos and soaps, etc.

I usually tip $5, but I do it because I often push checkouts past the deadline (even for late checkouts). Most of my stays are at the Marriott Suites in Herndon, and I throw out a lot of newspapers and occasionally other packing materials.

I also tip higher at Marriott restaurants than at other restaurants, and I usually get the benefit of the doubt if I show up late for breakfast. However, I will complain if service falls short with regards to housekeeping or at restaurants in general.

I tip $1-$2 per day leaving the money on the pillow so the housekeeper knows to take it even if I am not checking out. That way the person actually doing the work gets the cash.

OK, I make a lot of hotel stays each year and I have never tipped the housekeeper. Truthfully, I've never even thought about it. But, by the looks of this thread it seems that I may be in a minority?

So, do others leave the cash on the bed? Where else? Do you tip every day, or at the end of the stay?

I guess I am in a minority too.

I guess I now know better.

I almost never leave a tip for the housekeepers. So I guess I'm in the minority as well. :eek:

Actually, I think those of us who TIP may be in the minority - and it is probably like most other things - personal preference; and a reason for doing so. As stated previously, I almost always ask for extras - pillows, coffee, towels - and that is my thank you to the person providing that service. I will say that I rarely tip when I am only in a place for 1 night.....

To answer wlciii - I leave it every day, and I leave it on the pillow. I found when I was only doing it at the end of my stay, it always seemed that the person who had taken care of my room all week was off that day!

When travelling on business, generally I don't tip housekeeping. It is too much of a pain to get reimbursed for it on my expense report. That said, recently my company has gone to only requiring receipts for expenses in excess of $25 instead of receipts required for everything, so maybe I should reconsider on tipping housekeeping.

When travelling with my family (wife and daughter), we generally tip 2 or 3 dollars per day but only when we are staying more than one night. If we make an unusually big mess, we will tip more. For one night stays, we don't tip. Currently, we leave the tip at the end of our stay. As others have noted the housekeeping staff changes from day to day, so tipping on daily basis would be better. We just need to keep more singles handy to start doing that.

Begin Rant

Housekeepers should be paid better so that tipping isn't necessary. I am always torn between tipping and enabling the hotel industry to keep under paying them vs. not tipping which at least in the short term hurts the housekeepers and not the hotels. Further I fear there will always be people who have limited skills and/or language barriers and hence desperate enough for any job, that there will always be someone to take the underpaid housekeeping jobs. Bottom line, I wish the hotels would step up to the plate and just pay them a reasonable wage so they didn't need to be so dependent on tips.

By the way, does anyone know what the typical hourly wage is for housekeepers at Marriott properties (yes I realize there will be wide variances based on the location)? Also do they get benefits, what do they need to do qualify for them (e.g. length of service, etc.), and what do they have to contribute to their benefit costs? My step mother is an HR director at an RI but I have never felt comfortable asking her those questions. Her property is owned by a big franchiser who owns about 50+ properties mainly with Marriott and Hilton flags. At her property the housekeepers do get health insurance but are otherwise low paid. I don't have any more details then that...

End Rant

I would agree that housekeepers should be paid by the employers to the extent that they don't have to rely on tips -- cover the expense by including it in the nightly rate; that would be fine with me.

But the fact of the matter is that my not tipping doesn't address the issue -- the hotels either don't know or don't care; my money is on the latter., but I do. (And I'm glad I don't have to do wrestle with mattresses for a living, or worse, contend with the sometimes unspeakable conditions that a housekeeper may have to contend with in a vacated room.)

In return for the gratuity I expect that the proper job of cleaning be done --

I won't put up with the slap-dash "cleaning-rinsing" of bathoroom glasses or the lack of dusting and I expect my "Do Not Disturb" signs to be respected and reasonable requests (like an extra pillow) to be fulfilled.

I don't know -- maybe it's guilt.

I will never forget one night in the Ren Mayflower when we were late getting out for dinner.

There was a knock on the door -- for the evening room refreshment

I will never forget the housekeeper (a tiny girl)) coming out of the bedroom or our suite (Plat upgrade), clutching the two one-dollar bills we had left on the pillow.

She came over to me, bowed, curtseyed and proceeded to move backwards toward the door, she felt it mandatory to acknowledge, via that gesture, her station in life..

She was so grateful, seemed on the verge of tears as the result of receiving from us what we considered a pittance. So, unless a housekeeper does something that I dislike or is unreasonable I will continue to leave that tip every morning -- whether or not it is reimbursable..

I don't tip unless I asked for something specific, or if someone gets sick. Happened to me one time, and I left a 20$ and a note. I'm pretty sure it made up for it.

HTSC

Usually $5 per stay although I agree its much better to tip daily so the person doing the work gets it for sure. Buts it more work for us to remember and get lots of singles.

I recall a stay at the Marriott Orlando World Center where I was so impressed that the maid had propped up my small kids sleeping toys on their pillows each day that I wanted to leave a large tip when departing on a Saturday. I ran into a maid in the hallway when leaving and asked if she had been servicing the room all week. She muttered an unfriendly and gruffly "yes" and I gave her the tip anyway but I really had my doubts since the personality didn't jive with the action.

I'm definitely in the camp that people should do their jobs regardless of tip motivation and we have gotten to a level of where its expected regardless of actual delivery, especially in the restaurant and livery trades. And employers should build their true labor costs into their products - $250 a night for a room and they can't afford to pay their staff appropriately? Not to mention the whole cash / tax avoidance issue. I'm no fan of paying taxes but I have no opportunity to hide a % of my W-2 income from taxation. Didn't the skycaps at Boston Logan successfully sued American Airlines when they imposed a service fee instead of tipping that cut into their income tremendously - and the stories of what they can make?

Usually, this will provoke a response like "you never worked where you had to rely on tips" but this isn't true as I delivered newspapers from 11-16 years old and tips were a big part of my meager earnings for maybe $15 a week total. It was tantamount to child slave labor and I was too young to realize it being out in the elements 8 days a week. Try and find a paper boy today !

I'll leave nothing if there is any issue like not leaving new shampoo and mouthwash daily.