When checking out of a hotel,is it customary to tip the maid?And if so,how much? 10 dollars seems kind of cheap after a week’s stay,that’s not even 2 bucks a day to make a bed and keep the place clean
Definitely. Always.
I always try to leave anywhere from $3 - $5 a day, depending on the mess I’m leaving, which is usually not much at all.
Also, I read somewhere (maybe here?) about a year ago to throw all towels in the bathtub before you leave. I’ve been doing it ever since.
When I first read the title, i thought it read: “Tripping the maid,” and I thought, what a mean thing to do. :rolleyes:
Yeah, I agree with psycat90, it depends on the mess I leave and the number of ridiculous requests I make to staff. 
If I stay a weekend I will leave $5; for a week, at least $10, maybe $15 or $20, depending.
Don’t tip your hotel maid!
Tip cows!
Won’t someone think of the ungulates?!!1111!!1
Swear to og…
I know an engineer nerd, who took one look at his knockout Latina hotel maid and asked her to marry him. She allowed that this might be a good idea, so they tied the knot.
Then about a year later he told me she’s pregnant . But added that, uh, he had a vasectomy before he married her. Nevertheless, he figured the kid might be his and everything was AOK.
Trusting soul.
I’ve always been told between $3 - $5 dollars a day depending on the type of hotel/motel. Can’t remember the source right now but the suggestion was to tip three dollars in cheaper motels and upwards to five in nice hotels. Didn’t seem fair to me because I’m just as messy in Motel 6 as I am in a Westin Hotel. So, I tip $5.00 per night no matter where I stay. I leave a tip on a daily basis with a little note that says thanks for cleaning my home away from home.
IIRC, in these parts a hotel maid gets $5 (no benefits) and a half hour to clean your room. If it takes longer it’s coming straight out of her pocket.
I don’t stay in hotels much, but when I do I leave $2 every day and I don’t make much mess. If I did leave a mess I’d leave a much bigger tip.
Question: do you get the same maid every day? For sure? Because if not, leaving a tip at the end of your stay may mean that someone who cleaned your room at the beginning will never see it.
Back when I was working in tourism and explaining tipping to Japanese tourists 15 years ago, the general rule was $1.00 per person per night, unless, as noted, you make a particular mess. That rule’s worked for me nicely enough over the years. If two people are sharing a room for a weekend, I’d say bump it up to $5.00 at the end of the stay.
CJ
I don’t get it; is the tip some sort of apology for leaving a mess ?
I understand that hotel maids are poorly paid, but I don’t go around handing out cash to the gardeners and janitors and window-washers.
I tip well (25%) at restaurants and $1/drink at bars, but it never made a lot of sense to me to tip somebody whose job is done before I get to the room, or after I leave. I travel about 20 times a year on business, usually for just one or two nights, and I can’t recall ever leaving a “mess” that would take more than 3 minutes to clean up. Okay, just once I did bleed all over the towels (got mugged in New Orleans). I put them into a garbage bag.
Reading a thread about this maybe a year ago made me feel a little embarassed about not tipping the hotel maid, so I made it a point to leave $1/day in the little “My name is Rosalita, I make up your room” folder at the Red Lion when I stayed there for a week.
Guess what; the sheets were just as folded as they’d been the last time I was there and didn’t tip at all.
So, my new principle is that if there is a little “My name is Rosalita” tag, I leave a little “My name is George Washington” in reply. If there isn’t one, I don’t leave anything.
Any hotel workers or managers on the Dope board want to tell us what they expect ?
Hijack:
E, anyone who proposes to someone based on her looks, and then marries her without divulging the fact that he can’t father children, deserves what he gets, IMO.
Back on subject, $5 a day, no matter whether the hotel is 2 stars or 5 stars.
Actually, that sounds like more time than is needed to clean the typical hotel room. I think you’d be able to do it in about ten minutes.
Tipping hotel maids? What, do you just sneak up on them and push?
I’m in a hotel 4 nights a week (likely to last through March). I tip $5.00, as do my other road warrior cohorts who spend more time in hotel beds than in their own. $5.00 a day to make a bed and replace one set of towels. Ha! I can just see me trying to expense that.
I also tip the hotel shuttle driver $2.00 - $3.00 per trip to or from the office, when I need their service.
It pains me to tip the hotel bartender, as their prices are outrageous. But I do, as the prices are not the bartender’s fault. And don’t get me started on room service. Automatic 18% gratuity and a $3.00 service charge. Then the delivery dude or dudette wants a tip on top of that? Yeesh!
I tip $5, every morning. I usually write a note on the little bedside notepad that says “For the Maid”, with the sawbuck hiding the coda: “Thank you”.
All my expenses are reimbursed, including tips. In fact, if you don’t expense tips, you are liable to get a talking to from a particular director. Apparently he is an ardent believer in tipping, and expects his employees to be generous. I am, to a fault.
The official rule is that the company will reimburse $5/day, but I’ve turned in as much as $20 a day when staying at nicer hotels. $2 for the doorman, $5 for the bellman, $5 for the concierge, $3 for the room server, $5 for the maid.
I don’t even try to be sneaky about tipping – I’ll ask for change if I’ve only got a large bill, and I openly hand the money off – no palming a bill for me.
Because I go back to the same hotels several times over the course of working with one client, I do tend to get good service, and the staff remembers me.
I asked a bellman who I’d gotten to know fairly well if $5 was an appropriate tip. He said “$5 is great. Hell, for $20 I’d help you move a piano.” He paused, then added “For $100, I’d help you dispose of a body”. I’m not sure if that attitude is entrepreneurial, or just acquisitive, but it does point out the power of generous tipping.
A good friend will help you move. A great friend will help you move a body.
I’ve never tipped the maid, because it has never in occured to me to do so.
It’s true the bed is just as made, the towels are just as there and all that if you don’t tip. Some things I do notice that I think are because of tips are stuff like a couple extra little mints on pillows, one or two extra regular coffee packets (I do likes my morning caffiene!), a little note saying “hope your day was good” with the maid’s signature, extra soaps or shampoos (ok, don’t really need those but I’m talking about two or three of each), and other little stuff. I think tipping causes those things to happen, but I could be wrong. I do, however, appreciate the extra regular coffee packets even if I didn’t request 'em.
I didn’t either. I don’t stay in a lot of hotels, but the ones I have stayed in certainly never had anything indicating I should tip the maid.
See and here I was thinking that maid services was included in that room rate I pay. 
It has never occured to me–except when I make some odd request and then I will leave a few dollars.
Why would you leave money every day? Because their job isn’t so fun? My job isn’t so fun. I only make $7 an hour, too. Are you going to tip me when you pick up your tax return? (Not trying to be snarky, just sayin’).
That’s right: maid services was included. What? It’s late! I’m sleepy!
. . .
Fine! I’m from Bakersfield, happy? That is my only excuse.