I’ve never tipped a hotel maid. Do they get paid under minimum wage?
I do tip servers, bartenders, food delivery people, and of course any kind of optional convenience service like valets, taxis, etc.
Even if they do get minimum wage, that’s a pittance for cleaning up people’s shit and puke and finding the occasional cadaver.
True, but I’ve never left any of those things in a hotel room.
I tip sometimes. If I’m staying for more than a day or two, or if I make any special request or mess, I’ll tip.
I only did it for a few years a long time ago, but in my case I was young enough they didn’t have to pay me minimum wage and payed me under the table to get around the legalities of hiring young.
I do know that the hospitality industry, like the restaurant industry, is notorious for using illegal immigrants and paying under the table so they don’t have to pay minimum wage.
Usually $2/night, sometimes more if the kids made a mess. I think I left $10 the time my son got a nosebleed and bled all over the sheets, blankets, and pillows.
Question: One time we stayed in a Fairmont (work conference, paid for by work), which tacked on a daily $24 “resort fee”, which supposedly included all gratuities. Did any of this fee actually make it into the hands of the maids, valets, bellhops, etc? That was the one time I didn’t tip, and I was never sure whether or not the help thought I was a prick.
If I ever leave something like that in the room, I’d leave a substantial tip.
Slight tangent: If you don’t plan on leaving a tip, should you request no maid service at check-in?
Yep I tip, usually $2 per night at the end of my stay. It looks like hard work, I wouldn’t want to do it and I am deeply deeply grateful to anyone who makes my bed for me.
If you have valuables they can be left in the hotel safe, if you don’t want strangers touching your stuff…
I have tipped house keeping before, our youngest likes to leave pictures for them. When we go to Mexico we usually leave money for them along with our son’s gift.
No. Like others, I don’t want anyone messing with my stuff. I always tell the clerk upon check-in that I won’t be needing housekeeping’s services during my stay. Some places will make note of your request, others won’t saying to use the Do Not Disturb sign. At Disney World if you don’t initial off indicating that you don’t want the services but you leave the Do Not Disturb sign on your door, housekeeping will leave you a FULL compliment of towels, wash clothes, soap, etc. hanging on your door in a plastic bag —EVERY night— which is really a waste because I’ll re-use a towel.
When I leave I always straighten the room and tear down the beds. I pile all of the sheets and pillow cases at the head of each bed along side a separate pile of pillows, and another of the comforter and cover. I leave the mattress pad in place. Tearing down the beds seems to be standard first step of room prep in most hotels where I’ve noticed the maids working.
I tip, whether in Canada or the US. I usually leave $2 every morning on the pillow, rather than tipping at the end of the stay. Someone once pointed out that if you tip every morning the tip will go to the people providing the service, and not the one who happens to clean your room at the end of your stay.
$2 to $5 per night, depending on the length of stay, and how clean the room was the night before.
I’ve been stuck in less than fabulous accomodations, and I have never had a penny go missing. I don’t cart the crown jewels around, of course, but have left a few profitably disappearable items in plain sight and in tucked away. Even dishonest maids generally don’t have time to go rooting through your things, and are rare anyway.
Yes, $3 to $5 per night, but left as a lump sum in the room on the last day as I check out. My experience has been that if I leave money before check-out, they won’t take it. (And good for them.) Also, I’m not motivated enough to leave a little note of thanks, nor to always have $3 to $5 cash every day.
Having worked in motels (front desk), I know that hotel maids get paid jack/shit and these days many of them are guest workers from points South, so to speak. And cleaning hotel rooms is hard fricking work, too. So I tip.
I’m fascinated by the comments where people have said the money they leave won’t be picked up. In all of my years of vacationing, I’ve never once come back to find the money I’d left still there. I always leave it on top of the pillow.
But now I’m going to be paranoid about managers stealing tips.
Money on (or under) a pillow = tip. Money on desk/dresser/flat surface = not tip.
If you leave daily tip, management is less likely to have a chance to snag it.
I write “For the Maid” on the notepad, and below that I write “Thanks”. I cover the “Thanks” with a $5 bill.
Always.
I’m one of those people who clean up after themselves even if I’m paying for it. The only thing that the service staff has to do is replace the linens and empty the trash cans. OK and wipe down the shower stall. I always leave the toilet immaculate.
So no tip for you.
That’s what I figure, too. These folks are getting paid very little to clean up my mess. It’s not going to break the bank to leave them a little extra. But then I don’t strip the beds or tidy much before I leave, either.
This, every morning, every day. I’ve worked in service industries (including hotels) where tipping was part of my income, and now that I’ve got the money to do it, it’s time to pay it back.
Of course, this depends if tipping is customary where we’re traveling. Still feels weird not to tip though.
I’m a Canadian who used to not tip (because I didn’t know it was expected) but who now does.
Usually between $2-$5 a night.
In my mind, I am of the population that could have ended up doing crappy, minimum wage jobs, so I tip them $2-$5 per night (every morning, not at the end), and go up to $10 if I’m staying at a high-end hotel.
I’ve never had anyone not take the tip – I leave it right next to a lamp, with the light turned on so they know it’s there on purpose.
For people who don’t like strangers mucking around with their stuff, wouldn’t you feel better if you knew the mucker considered you a good guy?
[drifting away…]
I make it a point to know the names of my building’s janitors and try to chit-chat with the secretarial staff. I would hate to feel so anonymous that the higher-paid employees wouldn’t even smile and say hello.
[/drifting]