It really is a good idea to tip daily, since maids might change shifts. I usually leave $2-3 a day.

Are people that cheap that they can't spare 2-5 dollars a day for the maid? Are these the same yuppies staying in 300 dollar a night hotels and drink their 7 dollar cosmos only to jip the maid out of a couple of bucks? Makes me sick. Is Nina still around? I make sure to leave at least $3 and if the room was messy for whatever reason, I leave 5-7 dollars for them.

I was a chambermaid while I was in college. YOu would not believe a) how little chambermaids make union on nonunion and b0 how cheap most patrons are. Yes cleaning the room is thier job but it is also the bartenders job to pour the drink and waitresses job to bring the food adn yet nobody thinks twice about tipping them.

What I find is proper for tipping is $2 per day minimum for one person or $1 per person per night for families.

I always tip since I have been the one to clean and I know it is appreciated by the maid.

Do the maids have an arrangement about sharing tips? If you leave the tip at the end of your stay, is it divided among all the people who worked on your room?

I agree with the realistic part of the responses...
Tiping the maid is for us natural, and amount depends not on the rate of the room but on the quality of service...
Romms at 50 $ in a utah motels in the middle of nowhere(recapture lodge in Bluff) or luxurious room in Durango in the strater hotel : 2 $/day and if we are with the children, in the same room, 1 $/personn/day or 2 $/room if in different rooms...
But if the service is not as good that we attempt, the tip is less...
Good idea to give it every day because I don't know it the tips are shared by the entire staff or only room/room.
The difficulty is more in restaurant : if tiping in a Mc Do is unuusal, tiping in a "diner" in a small town can ,with some very cheap meals be too low if the
15 to 20 % "rule" is applicated...In contrary,sometimes in great restaurant I find the 15-20% application too high for the quality of service...
Elsewhere, tiping has to be accorded with quality of service and undependant
if possible of the standing of the
hotel and/or restaurant, in our mind.
Erik and Anny MONPETIT.

Might as well add my 2 cents.
We ALWAYS tip the maid. The amount may vary depending on the place and circumstances, but a dollar a day is the absolute minimum.

Yes, we do tip the maids. If we remember, we do it daily but otherwise at the end of our stay. I do think it is better to do it daily because I doubt if they share the tips - but don't know for sure. According to the tipping guides on Fodors: "hotel maids in upscale hotels should get about $1 per day of your stay". Does this mean you only tip at upscale hotels? Well, we usually tip either way and we usually give about $2 per day. What gets me is the tip jars at Starbucks or any similar place. But I guess that is another topic.

I tip $1 per day and per persons.
2 weeks ago I was living my room in NYC waiting for the elevator. A mother was waiting for her son, she was apparently checking out. Her son (around 7) arrived running after her with a $20 bill in his end... "you forgot that mom..."

I'd just like to say that my parents never tipped the maid, I've never seen friends tip the maid, and therefore, until I read this thread, I didn't know you're supposed to tip maids. I guess I never thought about it, I don't know why. I will start doing it now, but I just want to put my voice in as one who never ever knew you were supposed to, we are out there!

love
roxy

Wow! I was brought up to always tip the maid because it is the right thing to do.

And Douglas, yes, your boss is being cheap besides displaying a total lack of class!

I read Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed" recently. It is about the experience of low-wage earners in this country and it is a great book. If you read it, you will never under-tip again. I was so grateful to have my eyes opened. The extra few dollars doesn't make that much difference in the quality of my life, but it really does for a hotel maid.

Oh, we tip $5 a day in any hotel or motel. What's the difference how upscale the place is? Vacuuming and cleaning toilets is the same anywhere.

(Is there a way to edit one's own post once it's been sent?)

I tip every day during my stay. I just want to make sure that the maid cleaning the room that day gets the money.
It ranges from $3, if it's a room to $5 if I get upgraded to a suite.

Just a follow up to the original question. I'm a neat freak, so usually the rooms are in pretty good shape when I leave for the day, but it is amazing how some people manage to trash hotel rooms. Do these people behave the same way at home?

Boss is cheap; that's why he is the Boss. I run my own show and always tip.

Ah, how this makes me nostalgic for the old "tipping the pilot" thread. Anyone else remember it? I laughed so hard tears ran down my face.

Marilyn -- tipping the pilot is truly one of the best (<--- funniest) Fodors threads ever. It's on the European board.

would have loved to see that pilot thread! I tip $3 -$5 each day. I don't get this whole new service charge included thing. 10% 20% service charge applied.....I simply don't believe it's getting to the person who is actually cleaning up after me...I find it a ripoff....so call it a kind gesture. I would never stiff housekeeping.

I like KGN was also a maid during college. I now travel frequently and I not only tip the maid, I thank him or her. Clean someone else's toilets a hundred times a week - I think you'd want a little appreciation both monetary and otherwise.

I tip a lot the first day and boy do I get perks! And either each day or a good tip at the end.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
TIP THE MAID!!!!!!!
Sooo..."they can earn up to $12 an hour"
Big deal!!!. If we can afford to stay...we can afford to pay...after all what are we talking about $5??
I've never seen a maid drive up to the Biltmore in a limo........