When I’m on vacation, tipping housekeeping is a no brainer. In fact, any time I stay in a hotel for longer than a few nights it’s just included in the budget. But for business trips I’m usually in the same place for a night or two, and in the hotel hardly at all. It’s not that I don’t want to tip housekeeping; it often just slips through the cracks as I’m dealing with work craziness. I tip room service, valet, and bellhops—why do I forget housekeeping? According to CNN’s tipping guidelines, $2-5 per night is appropriate. Maybe I just need to remember to bring more cash….
So I’m interested in what everyone else does. Do you tip housekeeping if you’re somewhere just one night? How much?
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Always do the Green Choice @ SPG hotels. Extra starpoints!
Wow. Only 18% of us tip? $5 isn’t going to break the bank. Most of us are getting upgrades, points/miles, working some sort of promo. I tip and I also write a “Thank you housekeeping, Acker” note.
Housekeeping has an hourly rate that conforms to a normal wage. Valets, bartenders, waiteres, bell boys etc mostly live off tips.
It angers me that peopl even make this an issue. I have not nor will I ever tip a house keeper.
I always tip, I don’t want them to spit on my toothbrush
Only when traveling abroad, never in the US.
company won’t reimburse for tips so I rarely do on busqiness. On personal trips, I try to a few times a week.
We just got rid of Ben’s poll on this and now another one (with more options)…
Don’t know what’s up with people and tipping housekeeping. It’s not one of the jobs where you’re supposed to tip.
If I ask for something and they have to make an extra tip to my room, then I’ll tip for that. Otherwise it’s included in the room charge.
It probably started with people not paying for the hotel from their pocket. When you pay $500/night or more and you’re not in a developing country it seems unnecessary.
@Andrew – Why only abroad? It seems like tips are more expected in the US when compared to anywhere else.
I’m in consulting. Please tip me 15% of my fees because in America we are a spoiled and entitled cr
Hmmm, if Sean is right and hotel housekeepers do get paid an hourly rate that comforms to a normal wage than maybe I shouldn’t be tipping. For some reason I assumed their pay was very low.
Their pay is very low. I am not sure if tipping is warranted, but I figure a couple of bucks won’t break me.
I would much rather tip them than most of the cab drivers I deal with.
Do you tip housekeeping/ janitorial staff at your office? If this differs from your hotel housekeeping tip answer …why?
Housekeepers tend to earn around $15/hour. Not high but not the $2-3/hour that waiters in the US are paid
Probably only in the last year or so did it even occur to me that I should be tipping housekeeping and I read that $1-2/day was appropriate. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do, but I’m finding that most of the time my cash tip is not touched by housekeeping. If they don’t take the money after the first day or two I just give up and keep it. I haven’t tried leaving a note explicitly saying its a tip. I feel like if they are expecting a tip they wouldn’t need a note.
Also curious where people leave the cash. I read that putting cash on the nightstand has bad implications so I try to put the cash on a desk or by the tv.
i always put it on the bed since they have to strip the sheets or make the bed anyway.
I would be annoyed if housekeeping took money I left in the room and assumed it was a tip.
When in a hotel for a week, I wouldn’t mind leaving a tip, but that would only reward the last-day housekeeper, probably substitute Saturday help (I generally depart Saturday AM).
It is hard to find a workable solution.
I tip $2 or €2 per day at the end of my stay, unless the room was poorly cleaned/restocked. I write ‘For Housekeeping. Thank you.” on a paper and fold it around the cash, so they are clear it is definitely intended for them.
I realize this does only reward the last-day housekeeper, but I’m not sure how to get around that without rewarding before they clean the room. Probably about 1/8 of the time they don’t restock or clean reasonably, and I don’t want to tip in those cases, nor do I want the inconvenience of having them reservice the room while I’m on a call at the end of the day.
I tip $2 a day placed by the TV each night I am in a hotel – these people are taking care of my room which has my things it in – it’s a gracious thing to do – my rooms are taken care by my employer of so I view this as coming out of my per diem as I am not reimbursed – I also stay for months on end at the same hotels – checking in Sundays out Thursdays. To the people that say they average $15 please check your facts.. their wages are between $7 and $13 an hour…
I am currently a housekeeper at a hotel. Where I work we are responsible for cleaning guest rooms, laundry, breakfast, cleaning the public bathrooms and the conference rooms. This is a hell of a lot of work for $8/hr. We are regularly short staffed and often times have 20+ rooms a day. We greatly appreciate every dollar we get in tips though most times we don’t get any.
I am a manager in the housekeeping department. My girls work very hard and make 7.50 an hour. If they are making 13-15 an hour than it is most likely in an area where the cost of living is much higher. It is a very hard job with high expectations for quality. For God’s sake people – tip them, they are providing you with a service no different than a hair cut or a cab driver! Anyone who waits on me and does a good job gets my gratitude and always will! Oh and try saying thank you more and talking to them , not at them. Last I checked , they too are human beings and NO one is less important than anyone else!
Thanks for the insight susan. I do tip, but just because they are a service job, doesn’t entitle them for tips. Like others have said, their are hundreds of other jobs that are service and low paying… How about that cashier who is helping you check out your groceries. I bet if you gave her a tip she’d speed up the check-out process and give you better service. How is that any different?
Tipping should only be done when their salaries are lowered because of it, or if you are feeling especially grateful for their service.
Wow, surprised at how many people DON’T tip. Housekeeping is definitely a tipped position. Scratching my head on this one.