Au contraire. Service improves proportionately with the tips, in my experience.

Actually, the amount maid's receive depends on how strong their union is in a particular state, eg A vegas maid gets more than one in a less unionised state.
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It's a joke to say to a maid you get x plus tips - maids more often than not do not receive any tip. They are mostly invisible and consequently not tipped.

Without non-tippers, us tippers wouldn't be as appreciated, I suppose.

I tip the same wherever I'm staying. Europe, South America, Asia, US, etc...

~$3 if I'm staying in a regular room and ~$5 if it's a suite and/or it has a separate tub/jaccuzi, shower, as I use both and create a little mess doing it. :D

I tip daily. The maids change daily, so it wouldn't be fair to the maid that cleaned my mess for few days and another maid scheduled to clean the room after the last night getting the entire amount. (I doubt very much s/he would cheerfully share the tip with the other maid).

Since I started tipping, I noticed that I do get "more" and "better" service after the first night. Sometimes it's nothing, but if I ask for extra "this or that", I get few "extras" instead of just one. Other times, the maids are proactive and start leaving more shampoos, more soaps, few more towels, etc.....


and I've also noticed that if I tip well, the word gets around and the overall service improves. The room service, the concierge, the bell boys, can't wait to help you with anything you may require, and that is true ALL over the world...... ;)

This attitude I find very annoying.... And some locations people find it offensive or patronising. (Though they would be too polite to say.)

And where it does have an effect, you're buying a privilege/priority over local service users who cannot afford to flash their USD around.

When in the US, I hate the habit the apparent love of it. But I reluctantly go along with it.

Please don't try and export the habit.

The ONLY place I would not leave a tip is when visiting Japan. Please tell me about other places where the tip would not be appreciated :confused:


and ultimately the maid has a choice of leaving the tip where s/he found it and I would get the message. No harm/no foul.....

and that has not happened yet......(I always leave the tip with a Thank You note on the desk so it would not be difficult for the maid just to leave it alone....)

My own father (a non-London UK cab driver) gets annoyed at people trying to push tips on him. It also annoys him because in the end some cab drivers start "competing" for the airport pick-ups involving American airlines because they are more lucrative.

You mentioned Japan - in fact it doesn't seem normal throughout most of Asia - including Taiwan where I have spent alot of time. Of course the enthusiasm for tipping by some does drive the expectation - so perhaps you're staying in the kind of places where Americans often go - and tipping is becoming expected.

The offence often comes from colleagues behind the scenes and other customers (who can't compete with the cash). Also managers can be unhappy - because you're "buying ownership" of their staff. They are working for them, not for you. Its just an unwelcome distortion.

If you have the cash to spare, then I think its better to give it to worthwhile charities in those locations where it is better focussed.

"I've also noticed that if I tip well, the word gets around and the overall service improves." I think it would do, for you. But what about others? Its drifting towards bribery in my opinion. And that's the final cause for offence - especially in countries where having to offer extra money to get something done is a real problem that locals are trying to eliminate.

so now your argument went from the fact that tipping was offensive (and I proved you wrong, as I didn't force it on anybody and they still pocketed it), to make it into some kind of social, what's good for 1 only is not good for the society, bribing, and "stealing employees" issue :confused:

You do it your way, I will do it my way..... ;)

Do it your way in your country, do it my way in my country :rolleyes:

Eggs-Ackley. That's correct. "when in Rome....." This thread was started by a FT-er asking about proper hotel maid tipping procedures in the U.S. That's BEEN answered. Now, to our bretheren who prefer not to tip in the U.S., do you also not tip SkyCaps at airports if you use the service? I see no price nor tipping policy signage in an airport, yet eveyone knows what to do.

what country is that?

I agree, but I usually leave a dollar in a limited service hotel....more in a full service hotel....assuming, of course, that the room has been cleaned and serviced correctly. My understanding is that less than 50% of American hotel guests tip. I totally agree that I don't need to tip, but I'm happy to do so when the person who's serviced my room has done his or her job properly.

On the other hand, if the room is less than clean, if supplies are missing, etc. there's no way I'll leave a tip.

As a practical matter, I'd say I leave a tip about 90% of the time. (Usually on the pillow....and regardless of what country I'm in).

Quite a few actually, all outside the US .....

Can someone tell me why Americans are so "proud" of their tipping habits ?

so I guess the maids are also "proud" to collect the tips that I leave on the desk with a Thank You note..... :rolleyes:

1) It's a conspicuous sign of affluence. We are more accurately a plutocracy than a republic. We sometimes want faster service than everyone else, and so we offer $5 to the waitress to "Bring me my turtle soup and make it snappy!" 2) It is a way to offset the burden of taxation to the working class. Got to remember the little people. 3) It acts as a rebate to employers by allowing for acceptably lower wages. 4) Some jobs come with incentives. In certain occupations in the U.S.,these incentives are supplied by the consumer. It tells the employee "Hey, you're not just getting paid to do a job. You'll make more if you do a good job, less if you do a poor job." 5) It's fun to have people say things to me like "Oh THANK you, Mr. kaukau!", "God BLESS you, Mr. kaukau.", "Is there ANYTHING else you need, Mr kaukau?", "The front desk usually charges for the additional coffee, tea, and bottle water, Mr. kaukau, but I don't tell them about yours, Mr. kaukau".
How's that for starters?