Let me see if i’ve got this right: you are the guy who does not tip maids in mo/hotels, CookingWithGas is the guy who does tip maids in mo/hotels, and this makes him greedy. 
I had to learn from this board how much to tip at a hotel. Prior to that, my then-GF was tipping like one would tip at a restaurant – that is, 20% of the room rate, times the number of nights. I told her that that was way too much, but I had no idea what it really should be.
On one trip we wrestled with the amount, then decided a $30 tip was about right for an 8-night stay. To be fair, the maid also made our breakfasts.
She found the envelope before we had a chance to leave. She was so happy she was jumping up and down.
The only hotels I tip at are those in places like Mexico or Jamaica. I travel a lot for work, in Canada and the US (mainly Western), in higher and lower end hotels, and have never tipped, nor have I seen this tip envelope people are talking about.
IMHO a letter to my PM that I’m doing a great job is worth more to me than any tip. If you’re going to write a letter, rather than call the PO directly, definitely put a stamp on it. I don’t see how detailing how your carrier goes above and beyond will hurt, but that’s up to you.
Giving a gratuity to your carrier is another matter. technically, we are not supposed to accept gifts over $20 or cash at all. The vast majority of supervisors and PM’s will look the other way, especially at Christmas, but it’s best not to tempt fate, as it were. Should you choose to give your carrier a tip, do it in person, or put his or her name on the envelope, otherwise you risk your carrier’s sub or a temp taking it. Unlikely, but it does happen.
I wonder if these things go together. Count me as another person who has never seen such an envelope. Apparently this is one of those things that varies—I don’t know whether by region, or by type of hotel, or what.
I’m now really curious about the tip envelopes. I’m surprised that some people that travel a lot have never seen one, while I see them everywhere I go. Googling around a bit, it seems that they might be more common on the east coast. I don’t remember seeing one in my room in San Francisco, but that room didn’t even have a dresser. Same with the last time I stayed in NYC, for that matter. But every place that I’ve stayed in MA in the past decade or so had one.
I don’t like tipping either but wow, that was zero to shitstorm in about 5 seconds
What does this mean? Sometimes it is hotel, dipshit.
Yeah, I knew he was full of shit on that one. I give our carrier a pound of coffee at Christmas, as cash for gov’t employees is a no-no.
Neither have I. On the other hand, I never ever even thought that it was anything close to conventional (not that I think 30% of travelers doing something makes a social obligation of any kind) to tip in hotels, so maybe I just wasn’t looking for it and I thought it was a part of the little stationery sets that some hotels still put out.
What? I’ve never seen an envelope or this little tray before, and I spend about 40 days a year in hotels. Mostly Hilton/Marriott types, but sometimes at Westins and sometimes at roadside motels.
I do tip, $2 a night left on the pillow.
Maybe that’s the difference. I tend not to stay at the big chains, I prefer indy B&Bs.
And come to think of it, the only place I can remember with the little tray still uses conventional keys, and leaves the rooms unlocked before check in. I tend to think of that as normal because I stay there a lot.
Interesting note: I just stayed in a quite nice hotel last week for work, and the bill included a compulsory $3 housekeeping gratuity to my bill for each night of my stay.
I’m on the edge of my seat for the OP’s return. Is it possible he never heard of a hotel and is trying to wrap his mind around tipping at a 3 hour crack whore motel??
See, this is the slick shit I’m talking about. It is hard to drop tips left and right, then find out they’ve added some tips automatically. As a black person who overtips to fight stereotypes, I find this kind of slippery shit galling.
No envelopes in any of the places I stay. Not even at the Bellagio in Vegas, where I stayed in February. But I still knew to tip. I don’t know where I learned it, because my parents certainly didn’t tip. Possibly work?
I for one think tipping is getting out of hand (especially when combined with service charges and delivery charges) but I’ve been leaving tips and hotels and motels since at least the 1970’s.
I completely agree. If the hotel is trying to replace the tipping system with a “mandatory gratuity”, i.e., effectively a wage increase for the poorly-paid room cleaners, I’m fine with that—as long as the “gratuity” they bill me for really does go into the cleaners’ pockets without being skimmed off by management.
But in that case, they should be very clear about their “no tipping” policy right up front.
Well, I’m a white guy, but I tend to over-tip to fight the negative American stereotype.
We vacation in St Martin. There is a Dutch side and French side of the island. One side tends to include a gratuity, the other doesn’t. I can never keep it straight.
After a particularly fabulous meal, I had our waitress run down the road to flag us down. A 15% gratuity was included, but I intentionally left more. She thought I didn’t realize and wanted me to take my money back. She kept telling me it was too much. I finally got her to accept it.
I’d have gone with Holiday Inn here but you might not be a rap fan.
Believe me, in jobs where Europeans receive tips, there is no American negative stereotype. Well, US foreign policy, healthcare and obesity will probably still be decried.
I’d be suspicious about whether the workers see the gratuity or not. I know credit card tips may be reapportioned capriciously in places claiming to use trunk systems.
Also, there was a legitimate, principled opposition to tipping: in anarchist Catalonia, as documented by Orwell. In a sense, the act encapsulates a power disparity between server and served and would disappear given worker control. Such a principle doesn’t belong in contemporary US discourse.