Thanks, guys. This looks like it’s doable.
I honestly hadn’t even considered bars. I’ll tell the others.
It is also customary to tip cab drivers, barbers/hairstylists/other salon or spa service providers, hotel cleaning staff, valets, porters, etc.
Duly noted.
I’m sure some people tip hotel cleaning staff, but I wouldn’t call it “customary”. If you’re staying in a nice place for an extended period, sure, One night at the Holiday Inn? No.
You know, I never tip hotel cleaning staff. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until shortly after I signed up here in 2005. I was in Florida on business a few months later and left a $5 bill on the nightstand. When I returned in the evening the bill was still there. I’ve never attempted to leave money since.
Where should I have left the $5? Or is $5 too embarrassingly small for the cleaner to have even cared about.
See, I think of the group tip as the “average” tip expected, not split between average and excellent, and 18% is the standard here, too, generally, for groups.
Like I said, I think it varies a lot by location, with bigger cities having a higher tipping standard. Here’s one article asking if 25% is now the new standard. Certainly not around here, that I’ve noticed, but 18-20% is.
I found this from 2006 saying the average tip in Chicago, according to a Zagat survey, was 19%. That survey also says the national average is 18.9%. But that was in 2006, and I don’t know how well the survey was conducted. That’s from a survey where the average bill per person was $33.75 for meals here.
It’s also customary for the OP to tip everyone who responds in a tipping thread. 
Leave the bill(s) under a piece of notepaper marked"Housekeeping"
ETA: Or in a marked envelope.
Naw, $2-$3 per day is more than fine, considering a lot of people don’t even bother to tip. Hell, I don’t always remember to tip housekeeping myself when I’m at a hotel, and quite often, I just don’t even have any cash on me and forget to get some while I’m out. $5 is a generous tip for a single night.
But unless you’ve checked out, you shouldn’t expect them to just take any loose money lying around. You could see how that might be problematic. Note or envelope works, although the hotels/motels I’ve been in recently often had their own envelopes provided in the room for housekeeping.
In big fast food chains, this is true. Big chains like that won’t have tip cups on the counter. At any place where there is a tip cup on the counter, it’s appropriate but not required to slip the coins from your change into the cup. You won’t be thought of as rude if you don’t tip, but it’s nice to do so. Remember, over here our coins are extremely small denominations; the largest you’ll encounter is worth only $.25.
A note or envelope, hand it to them directly if you see them, or leave it when you check out. The cleaner would most likely not be making much more than minimum wage, so would not scorn your $5.
Customary is a difficult thing to define, but I disagree.
I’d tip $5 for a night at a Holiday Inn, or even a Motel 6. Why be so stingy?
Have to disagree with this. Tipping 20% or so may make me feel good in the respect that I may be helping out someone who’s trying to make ends meet, but it most certainly makes the server feel better about life. Tipping has become the norm because waitstaff are typically very low wage earners. In some cases they’re paid below minimum wage because employers are allowed to take tips into consideration. Since tips don’t always make up the difference, employers are required by law to make up the amount to make sure minimum wage is met. I can imagine how it must feel to spend eight hours on your feet, only to be stiffed by some cheap bastard. Visitors to America may be forgiven for not knowing the custom here, of course.
I expect to find what I left on the nightstand when I return. The cleaning staff certainly shouldn’t help itself to it, and won’t. Leave it on the pillow when you leave the hotel for good, or write a note mentioning that the money is a tip.
I guess I’m just naturally neater than you.
My very first line on this included the statement that I tip 20% because waiting is often a lousy job. So I started out saying just what you said.
You missed my later nuance. Tipping policies in this country are mostly absurd. This is the 10 millionth thread about tipping and I’m not saying anything new here. People have a long list of complaints about tipping and the inequalities from restaurant to restaurant or other place of business. The waiter can never know whether I’m an overall generous tipper or they did something particularly good. In places where the front desk is paid they never see the individual tip at all. Mostly it would be a much better world for proper salaries to be paid and tipping eliminated, which a few restaurant seem to be doing.
And none of that is very important for this particular OP, who doesn’t need a 50-page argument over the politics of tipping but could use a quick rule of thumb to prevent worry.
I usually tip around 20% give or take no matter what, and I think that’s being generous.
Remember that even if you don’t tip well or at all, a waitstaff employee is still going to make at least minimum wage. The way it works in the US is that waitstaff can get paid an absurdly low hourly rate (like $2.50 an hour or something), but if they don’t make enough in tips to push them up to the minimum wage (varies by state but is usually around 6-8 bucks an hour), then the employer has to make up the difference.
Of course, my personal belief is that being a waiter is a ridiculously thankless job and exhausting as well, so I think they should make way more than minimum wage. I just want to point out that legally, nobody is going to starve if you don’t tip, because the employer is required by law to at least pay minimum wage if the server doesn’t make enough in tips to earn at least minimum wage.
Double the tax, rounded up to the next buck.
Ah, I see now. And you’re right: it’s been done to death along with “does hot water freeze faster than cold”.
I don’t tip hotel staff, it isn’t considered a tipped position.
As for tips and logistics - if you are tipping a portion of a bill (at a spa or a restaurant) you can either write the tip into the charge receipt (I’ve been to a few salons that don’t have that capability, but the vast majority do), or leave it on the table (at a restaurant - spas sometimes have little envelopes which you check out). For room service or someone handling your bags, you give them a few bucks in cash (or pizza delivery). If you are handing someone in a tipped position cash (a bartender for a drink, a taxi driver) many of them will assume “keep the change” unless you are clear. “I’d like $5 back and you can keep the rest.” I’ve gotten in the habit of saying that since they work you - you set out a twenty for a $6 drink and it disappears and you are left saying “I need $14 in change” ten minutes later and they look at you with this hurt look bartenders have perfected to keep a $14 tip on a $6 drink. (Cabbies are the worst for this). If you pay in cash at a restaurant table, they always bring back the change and you can decide what to leave. Good wait staff gives you sufficient fives and ones to do it, even if the change was $20.19.
I tip 20% in a sit-down restaurant unless the service was egregiously bad, which is rare.
Major fast food chains like McDonald’s that don’t have a tip jar = no tip.
Smaller chains or places that I go regularly (like the Starbucks where the barista knows my order), I will drop something in the tip jar every few times I go.
Another type of restaurant the OP may encounter is the sort of chain where you order at the counter and the staff brings your food to you, and maybe roams about asking if you need a drink refill or anything else and clearing away plates. In those places, I leave a dollar or two on the table.