Tipping

Factual Questions
1

This wasn’t answered in the IMHO thread, so I’ll ask it again here:

What’s the protocol for tipping a chaimbermaid in a hotel? I’ve heard from one source that it’s $2 per day, which seems ridiculously low. Form another source, 15% of the room cost, which seems ridiculously high.

Which is it?

2

I’ve always heard $1 - $2 a night. It does seem low, but depending on how many rooms she’s able to get done, the total tips might add up to a significant amount. Has anyone a clue about how long it takes to make the bed and clean up the room?

3

Around 20 minutes, from my very limited observations.

The last place we stayed, it cost $185 per night, and we stayed 7 nights. The maid spent at least 20 minutes one day (we had to wait for her while she finished). We left a tip of $30, which amounts to a little over $4 per day. She seemed mighty pleased with it.

4

If you want to be a sport, I suppose the sky’s the limit, but I’ve always gotten a fair bit of gratitude for a buck or two a night, maybe five if I’ve been making a lot of special requests. As mentioned, if everybody did that, it would be a decent chunk of change. On the other hand, since so few people do leave something for the chambermaid, it doesn’t take much to make a good impression. I know this is GQ, but I’m not sure there is one solid answer to this.

5

There is never a black & white answer for tipping because customer judgement is involved, but the customary guideline is $1 per night for basic service and $2-3 in a luxury hotel or large room.

This site gives good advice, suggests more than I do, which is OK.

http://www.ehow.com/how_1977_tip-hotel-maid.html

BEWARE that some hotels (maybe not too many in the US) charge a service charge on the room (upt to 15%) that is intended to cover tips, but you can still tip anyway if you like the service.

6

The problem I usually face is that I don’t normally stay in Holiday Inns. I stay in small B&Bs, so I feel compelled to tip a little more. Ain’t that many rooms.

The place we’re staying this weekend presents a further problem. It’s really just a house, with 2 rooms to rent. The owner (a little old lady) does her own cleaning. Tip her?

7

Good site, but it does say this:

If the site is telling urban legends as truth, how accurate can it be?

8

My understanding is that any situation where the owner is waiting on you does not merit tipping, as when you go to a hair salon and the owner does your hair. They’re making their money by charging for the service.