<<<A maid tip is done in advance of the service of cleaning up your mess>>>

Even if I were inclined to tip the cleaning staff, I definitely wouldn't do it in advance. In general, tips should be for good service. Giving a tip in advance presumes good service that may or may not be given.

And I don't make a mess.

spirobulldog -

By your theory you should tip in inexpensive restaurants - but not in more expensive ones. the staff is still doing the serving - and in a more expensive restaurant you are likely to get much more time and attention than you do in the local diner.

And one tips the maid for cleaning the room the night before - not the upcoming night.

As for hairdressers - IMHO based on the services they perform they deserve every penny (unless they do a poor job - in which case - no tip and go somewhere else.)

We had a hard time getting our maid to <i>take</i> the tip at our hotel in New York. Day 2, I put a note on it "for the maid" and it still was sitting there. I think Day 3 she finally took it.

"I was tipping room maids long before I ever came to Fodor's. Maybe because many of my earliests trips were to *Mexico* where it most definetly is the custom to do so."

That makes sense. I'm just not sure that it's truly the custom in the U.S. If it were, I'd think there'd be a much clearer and defined way of accomplishing it (tip envelopes, etc,). For it to be a norm, there'd also need to be some consequence for violating that norm - try not tipping your waiter or taxi driver.

And all those articles regarding tipping recommendations are usually written by people associated with the service industry which clearly has an interest in adding/increasing tipping across all services, so I take them with a grain of salt.

I don't begrudge people for tipping housecleaning staff in the U.S. and have no doubt that some staff deserves it, but I don't want foreign tourists to think that it is very common or expected. I see it the same as tip jars at a coffee shop - if you want to tip, great, if not, nobody's going to react negatively if you don't.

So don't tip the maid if you don't want to. BUT this is NOT just a "Fodor's thing". As mentioned, Google or research tipping etiquette and hotel room maids are most definitely included.

I agree I always leave a few dollars on the pillow (sometimes there are tip envelopes) and was appalled a few years ago on a business trip when a coworked (college educated well paid professional) said she never tips. I said the people make minimum wage and could use the money. Her reply - they should go back to college and get a better education so they could get a better paying job. Floored me!

jamie, while her response was over-the-top, do you tip everyone you encounter who makes minimum wage and "could use the money"? If not, why not?

thursdaysd... you may not make a mess, but that maid cleaned up my disgusting mess so you could have a perfect room... I know my mess and its worth your tip to clean it as well as mine...

Why would you leave more at a "better" hotel? The wage is probably the same, the job is the same. Leave the same in either. I leave mine under the coffee pot.

<do you tip everyone you encounter who makes minimum wage and "could use the money"? If not, why not?>

No. I only tip people in a service industry where tipping is the custom and expectation... waiters, bartenders, hairdressers, taxi drivers, and hotel maids.

<Why would you leave more at a "better" hotel?>

Because leaving $2 for a $500/night hotel room is inappropropriate to the circumstance.

While leaving $2 for a $25/night hotel room is generous.

I disagree with your math suze, If I'm dining at a greasy spoon for breakfast and my waiter tops my coffee and water, brings me milk instead of cream, is kind and attentive, I am not leaving her $1 because of the math.

The mess you make is the same and the wages the cleaning staff earns are the same whether you paid $25 for $500 for your room. So if you're leaving the tip because of the hard work and low wages involved, basing it on the cost of the room doesn't make sense. It is the norm in restaurants, I agree, to base the tip on the bill, but I'm more inclined to leave extra in a greasy spoon where the waiter worked really hard (a la LG's post) than I am to leave more in a fancy restaurant just because the bill is higher.

sf7307, Since you've already made it clear you don't tip anyways, I don't really see your concern for an explanation.

I'm concerned that the maids in the cheap hotels get decent tips from those who tip :-)

$2-3 per night IS a decent tip for a single person in a hotel, and $2-3 more than you leave, so they are definitely ahead of the game by having me in their room.

i am amazed tht people think nothing of tipping a bartender who is just pouring a drink, or someone who brings your car around - hard work! BUt, so much discussion on whether or not to tip someone who cleans your toilet, changes your bed, picks up after you. I always leave something every day for the housekeeping staff. Leaving it at the end assumes that the entire time you are there, you will get the same person. $2 or $3 is what I leave depending on how many 1.00 I have. Imagine if every room they clean left them $3.00 wow WHAT a great day that would be for them. Bless someone -leave them a thank you tip.......

Suze, I also do not see why a maid working in a nicer hotel "deserves" more then a maid working in a motel. Is the tip to reward and compliment a low wage as some of you say, then do you really think the maid in the motel gets paid more in wages then the maid in the posher place?

Sometimes I tip maids, sometimes I don't. 2-3 dollars a day max,,. Sorry, don't feel the need to overtip to feel special . They spend max 15-20 minutes in my room, and often less if they don't change the sheets daily , which in many hotels is the new thing to save water etc. Sometimes I just ask for clean towels if they come and I am still in room.

I tip 15-20% in restaurants.

I agree with poster who says not to punish waiter/waitress for poor food,, I tip based on service, I am also aware when someone is trying their best but swamped by too many tables and try to be understanding of that .

Bad service gets 10 %. I do not put up with crappy service, having worked in the industry for years, I know the difference between a person trying their best and some loser barely phoning in a performance.

I don't tip anything for bad service, and I let the manager know if I have a valid complaint.