Two years ago we took a trip to the Canadian Rockies for our 25th anniversary. About 10 days before we left I actually wrote a handwritten note to the manager of the JAsper Park Lodge telling him we would be there on our anniversary and we had never been to Canada. We had booked a $200 a night room. Upon check-in we were led to a $1100 a night lakefront suite, we stayed in luxurious bliss for 4 nights. I wrote the manager a thank you note when we got home and left giant tips for the housekeepers. Yes, this did require a tad bit of effort (finding mailing address, managers name) but the results were worth it.

Second hand information about the Maitre d' experience--
My husband used to work for a large corporation based in Miami. He was told to take clients to a specific well known restaurant to entertain. It is supposed to be first come first seated based on when you walked up. However, the rest of the instructions were to give the maitre d' a $20 and you would go to the top of the list and be seated immediately. He did as he was told and that was what happened while others waited.

Hmmm. Sounds like the famous Joe's Stone Crabs in Miami Beach. It's long been known that if you don't want to wait, you have to tip, but if that's the place, I think Kay's information may be a little dated. Last I heard, $20 won't get you very far up the list. It takes at least a $50 to move ahead much, and $100 is not unusual with Miami's high rollers. Pay nothing and you'll probably be waiting a couple of hours.

How can anyone make a blanket statement about whether or not a "tip" will work? And is it kosher to tip the person AFTER he or she upgrades your room? Or is that an insult?

I'm betting it depends on the person who did the upgrading.