Really?
In the last year I’ve stayed at 4-5 hotels, not one have had an envelope. I’ve seen envelopes for tips before, but typically only in higher-end hotels. The Super 8? No envelopes.
I’ve left a few bucks on the dresser and had it there when I came back to my room later. So no, they don’t apparently always know it’s been left for them.
What percentage of your guests leave a tip?
I’d say 20% or less. It varies so wildly from day to day that it’s hard to determine.
That’s weird. The ones I’ve stayed in weren’t really high-end. One was pretty flea-baggy.
That’s probably because you weren’t checked out yet. I never leave a tip while I am still staying there.
We tip Housekeeping a little every day and leave a bigger tip when we check out. As a result, we always have extra fluffy towels and tons of sundries to pillage.
Letter carrier for 18+ years here. If your letter carrier goes around w/ his/her hand out for a tip, report it to the USPS!! Never seen or heard of it happening, but it obviously happens to you.
You left a tip before your stay was finished? What did you expect, for them to take the money on the off-chance that they weren’t stealing from a guest?
Yeah that was weird to me too. My parents give their letter carrier a Christmas gift, because they’ve had the same one for about twenty years. But a cash tip? The OP has no idea what he’s talking about.
Flyer, it’s pretty shitty that some industries underpay their employees and expect clients to make up the difference. But only an ignorant moron would think that taking that out on the worker making less than minimum wage is somehow solving the problem. It says loads about you that you seem to take pride in the tradition of your low-class cheapskate family.
My understanding is that you should tip every day so that the maid who actually cleans your room gets the tip. There’s no guarantee that the same maid will work every day or be the one who happens to get your room.
And no, I didn’t expect them to take money off the dresser, which is why I would either look for an envelope or pad of paper/pen to leave a note. I was saying that I have left money on the dresser by accident and it’s never been taken, so I didn’t think that money left their is automatically assumed to be a tip. I guess if AFTER I left they might think it is, but hell, I also wouldn’t be surprised to get a call saying “Hey, you left money here” if I left it without a note.
Lets be honest. Many letter carriers are tipped during the Holiday season, self included. My coworkers and I don’t promote it or encourage it, but if we receive a gratuity, its universally mandated that we give a thank you card. However, I have never heard of a letter carrier aggressively pursuing a tip from a customer.
If my customers ask, I tell them that I don’t need a gratuity to do my job.
Where are you finding these envelopes? I travel for business regularly and have never, ever seen this.
I’m ignorant and my family is ignorant going back generations. And I refuse to educate myself because I’m happy wallowing in ignorance.
I luvs me my internets.
Massachusetts and Florida, mostly.
They’re always on the dresser, next to the phone, possibly in the little tray where the room key is.
Congratulations! You come from a long line of cheap fuckers. Shout if from the roof tops of your trialer court.
You must be very proud.
As others have said, tipping is a tradition in the U.S. I’m still trying to learn the basics myself (such as who to tip beyond waiters and how much) but even with a minimum wage job and being pretty poor I try to do so because hey, they’re busting their asses at some pretty shitty jobs. You really can’t be arsed to give a dollar here or there? If anything, **YOU **sound like the greedy person here.
I leave a buck or two on the pillow. It’s a pretty obvious tip to the maid when you purposefully set money in a place that they are required to service. I’ve had money laying on a dresser and most maids will leave that alone if there is evidence of occupancy.
And another thing. I’ve seen a lot of hotel/motel maids in my time. None of them ever struck me as greedy.
As for Flyer, he can opt out of tipping if he wants. But to rag on people for showing their appreciation to somebody that cleans up after your messes seems the to be a well deserved request to be called an asshole. Considering that Flyer is in no way harmed by others tipping it shows incredible stupidity that he finds that annoying. Too bad he’s too much of a shithead to realize that.
That really surprises me. I thought that everyone knew to tip the maid.
When I stay at motels (and they are the cheapest motel in the area that doesn’t come with little bitty pets in the room), it is for months at a time where I stay all week and go home on weekends. Because of my background, I refuse all maid service for the week until I leave on the weekend, so they only clean one day a week (and I’m checking back into the same room on Sunday night). Unless I’m late leaving work, the trash is all bagged and ‘dishes’ cleaned. (The nice maids leave me extra trash bags for the week once they realize how I ‘work’) On the weekend, it’s a basic vacuum, change sheets, wipe down counters thing.
I’ve never heard of tipping in a hotel and since I live in them often, I do go through all of the reading materials and have never found these envelopes that you (everyone/non-specific) speak of. Now, I hope that they’ve been taking a 5 min break on the time that they would have been cleaning my room during the week.
My letter carrier has gone out of her way for me last week (she brought a box to my gate instead of making me drive to the Post Office to get it). That she did this really means a lot to me. She also calls me when my mail box is full to let me know that it’s time to clean it out again.
I want to tip her and let her post master know that she’s doing a great job. If I put a letter into the mail box for “Post Master” do I need to put postage on it? Should I be vague about her bringing the box to me (I don’t want to get her in trouble)? Also, can I put a small amount of cash into an envelope marked “Mail Carrier” will she open it or hand it to the post master (I don’t want the post master to know that I’ve tipped her cash).
Thanks for any help
As other posters have noted, nowadays it may well not be common; it seems that probably fewer than half of all travelers follow that custom.
But the OP’s frothingly intemperate assertion wasn’t that tipping chambermaids isn’t common, but rather that it isn’t traditional. And that is just flat-out wrong: it’s a well-established and widely-known practice.
However, it looks as though he may have realized that and calmed down a bit. In any case, he ain’t been back here. (Not even to tip us for cleaning up the mess he left in his OP. :p)
This matches my experience exactly. I’ve never seen a tip envelope in a room. I’ve mostly stayed in hotels on the West Coast/Hawaii, FWIW. I do tip, though, once I learned it was “customary”.