Kevin AA

I've never tipped the maid and never will. It is not my responsibility to pay the help. That is the hotel's job.

edcho

I've stopped tipping ever since a few of my good friends that are directors at large hotel chains told me to not tip them.

I did notice that while I was staying at Disney, my friend tipped housekeeping every day (just like $5 per day) and got her towels (+ extra towels) shaped into animals -- and it was impressive! It would've taken me at least a few hours for me to do anything remote like that (I had no idea you could make Mickey Mouse out of towels).

squeakr

squeakr

I can find the housekeeper who is actually cleaning my room. Easier than it sounds. And I tip at the beginning of a stay and ALWAYS get extra towels, soaps, extra clean bathroom, water etc etc.

darthbimmer

I don't understand why people tip the housekeeping staff other than in exceptional circumstances. They are not being paid below-legal-minimum wages with the expectation that customers will make up the difference (as is the case with restaurant servers in the US), so there's no need to tip for ordinary service. And what constitutes extraordinary service? Cleaning up after you've made a wreck of the room? Yeah, if you've pulled all the drawers out of the cabinets and soaked half the pillows in the bathtub[1] I totally understand leaving some money as a form of apology for the extra work you've created. But assuming you haven't made an unholy mess, why tip?


[1] I have a relative whose daughter does things like this when she is "expressing" her "creativity".

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

I thought this was standard at the Disney hotels, regardless of tipping.

Passmethesickbag

I always leave a modest tip in the US (never anywhere else) when I check out regardless of the length of stay, unless I'm particularly unhappy about the standard of the housekeeping (or them banging on my door with fresh towels when I have the Do Not Disturb sign on). I figure that (1) they earn less than me and (2) it won't hurt if I should forget any of my property behind.

User Name

I never tip housekeeping. I regard it as a 'standardized' service. There are not varying degrees to which my room can be clean, my bed made, my towels replaced and my soaps etc. re-stocked. I do not want or need to bribe them to supply extra water or shampoo (if I need more of the latter I'll simply ask for it at reception) and I do not need a towel shaped like an animal, or indeed anything shaped in any other way than God intended.

edcho

I've never seen it at my stays at Disney hotels -- this time we had a block of rooms at the same hotel and we never got anything like that except for my friend -- my other friend tried tipping on the last day though and he got some nice things made for him.

Yaatri

Yes, of course, that's a the obvious solution. One can skip breakfast too. Or not eat any meals. That was not the point though.
The Federal Govt per diem rate for London was more than double that amount. There is a reason why those rates are published so that people don't have to slum.
That's why I am surprised at how they got away with it. I am sure you know London is not cheap. But all of this is OT anyway.

That's a really weird response. I did not solicit opinions on what I should have been managing my meals.

Yaatri

The impression I got from the thread about no housekeeping over X-mas was that the percentage of tippers and expectation would be higher. It seems that there is expectation of a tip too.
Good idea. I will do that.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

This is a wikipedia link to Towel Animals. Not that it's authoritative or anything, but they mention that it's often done. Maybe it's more sporadic that this page leads one to believe.

Towel Animals

When I went on a cruise, I got towel animals every day after they cleaned my stateroom.

zcat18

[rant]

This may sound harsh, but the tipping culture in this country has gotten woefully out of hand. I understand that some of these professions are criminally low paying and that bartenders' and servers' salaries are designed to rely on tips. However...

Servers at even low-end restaurants demand at least 20% for the bare minimum of service.

Cab drivers--who tend to be serial ripoff artists in the first place--openly sneer at a $2 tip on a $6 fare.

Horror stories are floating around about skycaps putting garbage in people's luggage if they don't tip over $5 (personally, I'll never use a skycap).

The sense of entitlement among some service personnel has become extremely disproportionate to the value of the service that they provide. A line has to be drawn, and housekeeping is where I draw it.

[/rant]

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

But housekeeping still has access to your stuff while you're there. It's best to draw the line with the cabbies. Just pay the man and run out.

zcat18

LOL--true, true. However, for reasons that baffle even me, I'm far more comfortable acting like a complete and utter @$$hole to cabbies than I am to other types of service personnel. It's highly therapeutic, so I justify the tip by telling myself that it's not for good service, but instead for putting up with my deliberate rudeness towards them.