To give or not to give tips in hotels

The average new Yorker every day tips in beauty salons, restaurants, Uber or Lyft. But as the majority of going on vacation? Whether or not to leave a tip for room service? If you need, how much and how often?

According to statistics, only a third of Americans regularly leave a tip the maids, while add to the expense of tipping in restaurants is considered the norm 97% of the interviewed people.

Several years ago a well-known hotel chain Marriott has implemented a system of informing its guests about the need to tip the staff. On arrival guests received an envelope containing a polite reminder to leave a small reward to the service personnel. However, this initiative had the opposite effect. Most of the guests is such a shameless attempt «to get him in his pocket» caused a negative reaction. Hotels started to receive complaints and questions about whether they pay their employees adequate wages.

The most important rule of tipping is always voluntary and at the discretion of the guest. Nobody has the right to demand or to remind you of what you should pay for the service. At the same time, there are generally accepted standards of etiquette according to which to leave a few dollars a day for services rendered qualitatively quite acceptable and even commendable.

In the end, a situation in which to get lost easy. On the one hand, the guest owes nothing to anyone, because he’s already paid all the services, but on the other hand it’s easy to accidentally pass the Scrooge McDuck of the famous cartoon, and quite unexpectedly for himself. Most often such situation occur in large hotels where the guest are served daily by dozens of workers.

To help consumers came from the American Association for the hotel industry, which has developed a special checklist for the tip. It shall specify in what cases and to what extent it is desirable to leave a tip, so that the guest will not have the leisure to think about it.

To give or not to give tips in hotels

Maids

Tip: $1 -$5 per day

The work of the maids is one of the most difficult and debilitating in the service sector. Work includes daily cleaning (so that even the most picky guest could not complain) not less than 15 rooms. To meet the norm, they often are forced to work during your lunch break, or after shift end. Their job is not only to vacuum or fluff the pillows. After all, it’s a hotel and people come to relax, so the rooms most often is created a complete mess, especially if it’s a family room or a rest youth. But this is not the most unpleasant in the work of maids. Most often they work in pairs. And it’s not because they are so fun. This rule is installed for security purposes, to prevent attacks.

To give or not to give tips in hotels

And despite all the difficulties of the profession, it was least likely to leave the maids a tip. Simply, we don’t see, don’t cry. It is still recommended to leave a small tip in the room before leaving. Moreover, it is desirable to put money in an envelope marked, as maids often do not take the money left from-for unwillingness to get in trouble.

The drivers on the transfers to and from hotel

Tip: $1-$2 per person if required

Resorts often offers delivery. Hotels strive to create the most comfortable conditions for your stay – you don’t even need to go from beach to restaurant or in the room. So why not pay one dollar for this pleasure to the person who will be happy to take you anytime and in any place with observance of all safety requirements? If you travel with a small company, you can leave $3-4 for all of them. Of course this does not mean that if you 10 times a day use hotel train, you should include $ 10 daily expenditure. But in the evening it can be done.

To give or not to give tips in hotels

Valet

Tip: $1 -$5

Usually the valets always leave $1 -$2 in gratitude to the services rendered, because you trust that person his property, while the wage is $9.30 an hour. So it is better to tip and easy to leave his business, knowing that your car will be all right.

Corridor

Tip: $1 -$5 per person or suitcase

In most hotels, guests don’t have to bear your own things in the room. Included services service bellhop (bell boy), who will deliver the bags. The only task is to mark your number on a special tag attached to the suitcase. Bellhops usually leave $1 -$2 on the day of arrival and departure. It’s not much, agree. If you have very heavy or non-standard size suitcases, or you need to make the delivery in the room – will be ready to pay $4 -$5.

To give or not to give tips in hotels

Concierge

Tip: $5 — $10 per person per day or for the service

The hotel Concierge is your personal assistant. Its main task is to create for the visitor a comfortable atmosphere, to make sure that he in no way needed. To book a table at the restaurant? Please. Choose a tour for you? The case 10 minutes. So tip the Concierge depends on what job you gave him. If your family member’s birthday and you want to order greeting – enough $5, but if you need to get concert tickets or book a Golf course you might want to give $10.

Delivery service

Tip: $2

In this case, tips should be given only if your request is beyond the standard service of the hotel. For example, if you have a leaky faucet and you need to troubleshoot the problem – of course you should not leave a tip. But if you need something extra (towels in room, phone charger, extra blanket), tip should be about $2.

Room service

Tip: 15-20% of the order

If you want to order in the room, then consider that you make a reservation in the usual restaurant. Same as in any restaurant, gratuities will depend on the amount of the order. We recommend you first verify that your desired order is not included in the room rate at the hotel, and only after that to order from a delivery service.

The final decision to pay a tip or not is always the client. Nobody has the right to insist on this. However, according to the generally accepted rule tip indicate that the client is satisfied with the service, so if you don’t keep the rewards, staff can think what made somewhere a mistake.

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