vivi

I leave $5 day for the maid. Always. And I travel a lot. I guess I am so giddy to be in a hotel and grateful that I am not a housekeeper that I never even bat an eye when I leave a tip.

cabicou

I tip once at the beginning of my stay and then again generously at the end. Yet I see no reason to increase the tip merely if I've been upgraded. Overtipping isn't necessary and you should not feel obliged to do so.

Connie

No

leslie

I'm very amused by this thread and the generosity of so many hotel guests that give $1 and upwards to $10 per day to the maid. Yet, many of you are the same people that complain about checking into hotels with filthy uninhabitable bathrooms, finding carpets that are not vacuumed that you can't walk on, finding bed linens that are stained, have visible body fluids on them, are threadbare, are wrinkled, and have cigarette burns. You complain on Fodors in many threads about these things that gross you out and you can't tolerate them, but you still tip the maid! Who do you think cleans the room and leaves it in this shoddy condition? Would you make up a bed for a guest in your home with linens in these conditions? If you wouldn't, then why would you tip a maid that put linens on a hotel bed in these conditions? Do the maids have poor eye sight, poor judgment, or just don't care? It's not as if a maid doesn't have the ability to decide to tell his/her supervisor that she needs adequate tools in order to maintain a room properly.

Some of you sound like hypocrites. Tipping is a judgment call. There is no rule. This is the Internet, so how many of you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth?

Jasmine

I'm an administrative assistant and have worked for executives of various Fortune 100 companies for 20+ years. Having done thousands of expense reports, I can rarely remember anyone claiming a tip for the maid on an expense report (and these are people who would turn in a receipt for a 50 cent toll, so if they were tipping the maid, you can bet they'd be turning it in). Just an observation.

PamSF

Oh for god's sake..yes!

Christina

I don't usually tips maids because they never do anything except the basics, in my experience. I don't think they are allowed to be paid below minimum wage, and they are getting paid for their job -- which is to clean the room. That's the kind of job you get with no skills or education, that's life. I don't tip the cleaners in my office building, either -- and they are doing the same job and probably aren't getting paid any more, and perhaps less. I don't consider cleaning a room to be any personal service that I should tip someone for. So they have a bad job -- I do lots of things I don't like, either, in my job. I don't tip the janitor in the hotel hallway, either, so what's the difference.

If I ever got any individual, special service from a maid, perhaps I would, but I never have. And the majority of the time, they do something poorly (like not cleaning thoroughly, removing towels and not replacing them, removing soap when it's barely been used and not replacing it, etc.)

I have traveled on business and don't include maid tips on expense reports because companies usually do not allow it, that's why. It's in the company's rules. I've never worked for a company that would reimburse for that -- so maybe that's why executives don't include it, but if a company will reimburse, I'm surprised they don't.

I never create any mess in my room and they barely have to do anything, however, and I do not stay in these super-expensive hotels like a lot of other people on here, so perhaps that makes a difference. If I were wealthy and staying in 4-5* hotels, that might be a different story, or if I did create some special mess they had to clean up.

kolohegirl

From: Christina
<I don't usually tips maids because they never do anything except the basics, in my experience.>

<That's the kind of job you get with no skills or education, that's life.>

<If I ever got any individual, special service from a maid, perhaps I would, but I never have.>
----------------------------------------
Christina, ever think that maybe that's exactly the reason you never get "individual, special service"? Because you DON'T tip! Housekeeping staff are not idiots. I'm quite sure they can feel your contempt for them. Your post reeks of it. You're a moron.

leslie

kolohegirl, it's your right to express your opinion, however, to call someone a derogatory name is quite unfair. I see nothing wrong with what Christina wrote, and all she did is express her opinion. I actually happen to agree with Christina, so I guess that you must think that I fit in the same category she does.

Unskilled laborers choose the occupations they do for whatever reasons they have. If they wish to further their educations, they will get themselves better, high paying jobs. Maybe some people actually choose to make careers as maids because of the tips. Having stayed in many hotels, I have had extremely little contact with the maid. However, I guess that they are to clean about 3 rooms per hour. Hey in some hotels they don't even change the sheets and towels everyday (I don't have a problem with that either, as I don't do that in my home everyday either). However, based on a 7 hour day, that would be approximately 21 rooms to clean or partially clean each day. Based on my reading here, the average daily tip is about $4 (based on the responses of this thread), that comes to $84 per day tax free (since I doubt that this is an occupation like a bartender that requires a person to declare tips). If a maid makes $7 per hour, or $49 per day, and taxes are 20%, that leaves a net of $35 per day, plus the $84 in tips. That's not a bad take for 7 hours work, of approximately $120 per day, or $600 per week after tax. Of course, that's based on 21 rooms being occupied and being tipped by each of them everyday. Even if it was $500 per week, that's a great salary for unskilled labor.

If we don't require extra service - extra towels or other amenities, I see no reason to tip someone for doing a job that they are supposed to be doing. All I do is sleep in the room and use the bathroom while I am there, so unless I require something extra, I don't see the need to tip.

I don't tip my cleaning lady because I pay her a fee that we negotiated per hour. If I ask her to do things that are beyond her normal duties, I pay extra for that. I don't tip my hair stylist because she owns the business, but I do buy her a small gift at Christmastime. I don't tip my mailman, he's a government worker and he only drops mail in my box - I never see him. I don't even know who delivers my paper, as payment is made monthly by a direct withdrawal from my checking account, and for that matter the paper is delivered at 5am, so I have no idea who tosses it onto my balcony.

But saying all of that, I don't think better or worse of people that do tip. It's a personal decision, and that's all that it is.

Kim_W_Scott

As a motel maid, working in a 50 room motel with only 1 other maid in a small town, tips are always appreciated. No amount is too small or too much. We get no benefits, no paid holidays, no raises, make $6.oo a hour, and receive no part of the room rates, taxes, or service charges. We work a lot harder than waitresses, bartenders, pizza delivery persons, and yet most people don't think twice about tipping them. I am not an uneducated nitwit lower class person. I give my guests excellent service and am surprised at how few people recognize it as a service. Do you people trash your houses the way you do your motel rooms? We have toilets that flush now, and trash cans that you can put your discarded food in, instead of stomping it into the carpet. Be considerate and tip your maid! Thank You.

Annabel

There are certain Hotels in which we do tip, and others we do not.

No tip = never see housekeeping, bed made and towels replaced, once per day service.

10 per day= the only place we tip this amount is at Cap Juluca in Anguilla. You have one maid that takes care of your room. She cleans - and I mean cleans -washes the floor, scrubs the tub, empties the trash - 3x per day, delivers and sets up your breakfast, changes the bed linens every day,always has a bucket of ice and replenishes the fridge. She is actually almost a butler, so we tip accordingly. We ususlly stay in expensive hotels on vacation and there is a service charge included for housekeeping so we do not tip. I just feel that the housekeeping staff at Cap Juluca goes above and beyond, and since you always see her it is a more of a personal thing, unlike other 4-5* hotels where the housekeeping is "invisible".

dwoodliff

I am surprised at how many people don't believe in tipping the maid, as I have always heard it was appropriate to do so. This may seem tacky to some people, but that is usually how I get rid of the excess change I accumulate during the trip, which can sometimes add up to quite a bit. Sometimes I tip "per day", and sometimes I leave a big tip at the end -- it just depends on how messy I've been during my stay. I had never thought of leaving a big tip the first day (kind of seems like a bribe). Am I to assume that the maid will do a crappy job for guests who don't do this?

The only time I ever didn't tip a maid was on a stay in LA a few years back with 3 kids (at a moderately-priced hotel). My son, who was 10 at the time, had been given $25 spending money for the trip. Mid-way through our stay, he forgot and left the $11 + change he still had on the dresser (among other clutter), and sure enough, when we returned to the room that evening, it was gone. I guess the maid had no way to know, but do they routinely pick up and keep any money they find in the room?

AAFrequentFlyer

I don't know what kind of hotels you stay in, but NO I never had a maid assume that any money lying around is automatically theirs. If that was the case I would be talking to the manager within minutes of my return to the room.

As I posted above, I do leave a tip, but I always leave a Thank You note with the tips. I would have other change on the desk/nightstand, and so far it never got touched. And that included time when I forgot to actually leave a note with the tip money but yet there was about 15BPs in change left on the desk. The change was still there when I returned.
What you are describing is an actual theft. It should have been reported.

Clematis

Yes, we tip, typically $3 in the morning, on the pillow (so it's clear it's for her). For those of you who don't do it because you think they don't deserve it, try it sometime and see if you don't get extra goodies.

Nomadic1

I have never tipped a maid but I always tip the porters and anyone who brings an item up to my room.

I plan on tipping the maid on my next trip, to see if the level of service will improve. $3 a day isn't much for a little extra comfort.

HappyLC

We always leave a tip for the maid in both rooms, and I agree with AAFrequent Flyer about the necessity of leaving a thank you note. In most hotels they will not take money unless it is VERY clear it's for them.

My sister worked as a hotel maid while in college and she has talked about how absolutely thrilled she was when someone left a tip.

Kim_W_Scott

In regards to leaving money laying out in your motel room, we do not touch it, nor do we touch any of the guests' personal items. We do not assume money left out, as a tip unless the guest has left a note specifying that. Any missing money or valuables should have been reported as a theft to the management. And yes, a daily tip will get you extras and "beyond the requirements of the job" cleaning. It's always nice to be respected as a fellow human being doing a crappy job. Tipping is one way of showing that. A special Thank You goes out to all of my previous and future guests who have left tips. THANK YOU ALL!

sbbongi

My husband works at a4 star hotel in Santa Cruz. CA at the beach. He tells me thatin the most expensive suites (250 a nite)the maids almost NEVER get tipped. They make the minimum wage, do a great job, and I personally have seen the mess they often have to clean up- filthy hot tubs, garbage and all kinds of nasty things.. When we go out of town, we always leave $5.00 a day.

Loki

EVERY company I've worked for has included maid service as an expense item. The guideline of my current employer is $10 per week which I think is kinda cheap especially for shorter stays. I'd be embarassed to leave $1.50 for a night's stay.

It's easy to say, the job pays what it pays because it requires low skills, but I wouldn't be a maid/janitor if it paid twice my salary. I try and tip as many people as possible who fill these roles (garbage men, cab drivers, etc), it's politicians and coporate CEO's that we should be worried about whether or not they're overcompensated.

bonniebroad

I always tip, even when we take the dog with us and do not allow the maids into the room............ then we just collect fresh linens from the maid each morning. I will still tip $2.00 per day, either when I pick up the linens, or leave the combined days' amount on the last day there. I know that those maids probably cannot even afford to stay in that hotel so I feel it's as important as it is to tip your waitress at dinner. I'm sure they'd have a different job if they could......