Gratuities for housekeeping in a resort????
 

What do you recommend for a tip for housekeeping. We will be staying at three resorts in Hawaii in August. I always thought housekeeping gratuities were $l.00 per person per day. What is the proper amount. I do not want to undertip.

So begins a new discussion of tipping. I only have my opinions on this so please do a search on this forum for many others. I lean to $5 a day , and maybe another $2 for turndown service. Yes this is crazy, but crazier is paying a valet guy for 30 seconds, a waiter for a couple of minutes of service. The time and service the housekeeper spends deserves much more then they are paid. If I can walk in the room without flipflops......they deserve the best tip I can offer. They deserve the most, yet are the least recognized. Have fun on your trip, and pack a bunch of singles for tipping!!!!!!!

Hi Stephanie82, what ever you decide is the proper amount I would suggest that you leave the tip in an envelope with "Housekeeping" written on the enveope each day. Often you will not have the same person taking care of your room each day so that way the person that does will get the tip. They will also know the money is for them as if you just leave the money say on the nightstand or the dresser it is not clear if it a tip or not.
Have a wonderful time in Hawaii.

We generally tip $2-3/day. If we have turn down service we will tip another $2 but we usually leave the "do not disturb" signs on our door:)

usually 5/day.

Some resorts charge a per-day or per-stay "resort fee", which may include housekeeping gratuities. If not, even a couple dollars a day will be more than the housekeeping staff gets from many or most other guests.

I always tip daily, typically $3 if it's just me, $5 if it's also spouse. we are strongly in the "they do the most work, are the least appreciated/paid". I do have to say that I often feel a bit self-serving - suddenly, you have extra towels, for example, or very sunny smiles in the hallway. Seems to me that the money is so very appreciated - I always feel that a couple of extra dollars per day is in no way going to affect my life, but makes a difference in the staff's.

I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. We usually tip about $3 a day. I live in Vegas and have been both a bellman and a valet. When I was a bellman, I would go into rooms to retrieve luggage and sometimes there were tips left for housekeeping, a few times there were good tips like $30. upon checkout. I would not reccomend tipping only when you checkout, as it could be your housekeepers day off and they have been taking care of you all week, then someone comes in to reap the rewards. If you tip a few bucks each day it goes directly to the one cleaning your room. I have spoke to many housekeepers and believe it or not, most people do not tip them. I think tipping a housekeeper is a nice gesture to let them know you appreciate their hardwork and they greatly appreciate the couple of bucks each day. Someone mentioned it is crazier to tip valet. I don't think it is crazy to tip valet if the valet is free, but if the property charges for valet, then I do think that is too much. Here in Vegas valet is free, so a couple bucks in and a couple out is great considering you get door to door service and they take care of your car. Those guys & girls that run valet earn their money, it is a physically demanding job, and they are in the elements all day. Therefore, they greatly appreciate the couple of bucks as well.

I also wanted to mention that after I became a bellman, I realized that a great place to leave the housekeeping tip (and also where most people did) was right on the bed. Make sure the covers are pulled back enough so they see the tip on the sheets. An envelope is great or even scribble a note on the complimentary notepad.

I leave $2 every day right on the unmade bed (that is for one person only and at a very low key not expensive hotel).

Thank you for your responses, I appreciate it. I did not want to undertip.