I tip housekeeping staff routinely but based on this thread, I will do so only if I stay at a hotel for several days or housekeeping provides some sort of exceptional service.

I really thought it was the done thing to tip housekeeping staff.

PP's point about tipping the staff at work who clean the bathrooms is also valid. Why would there be a distinction between housekeeping staff at a hotel and those at my place of work? I doubt the latter make much more than the former in wages from the employer.

Anonymous wrote:All that tells me is that most people are cheap, or new to US hospitality customs.

All that tells me is that tipping hotel housekeeping is not "customary" and a substantial majority - like myself - don't do it.

I am not new to US hospitality customs. I tip generously to people whose income is dependent on tips because they don't even make minimum wage.

I always tip housekeeping $5 per day, but I typically do it at the end of my stay. This thread will make me change that - I'll do it daily.

And although I agree that the people who do this type of work deserve the tip, as I type this I am sitting in the bathroom at my office. It never occurred to me to leave a tip here, and I spend a lot more time in this bathroom than a hotel bathroom. Why the distinction?

All that tells me is that most people are cheap, or new to US hospitality customs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never tipped housekeeping staff at a hotel ever.

Nothing stated here changes my mind. I don't tip the guys who collect my garbage other than to give them a gift at Christmas. Neither do I tip the guy who repairs my car although working on my car can be messy.

The good news is that this nutty belief that more and more categories of workers should get tipped is a view held by fairly small minority of the population.

Tipping hotel staff isn't a new thing. If you don't want to tip at the coffee shop or the take-out counter at the deli, I don't blame you. But don't pretend that tipping hotel staff isn't customary in the U.S. It is.

This

Don't know who you are including in "hotel staff" but the statistics do not show that tipping housekeeping is "customary".

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/24/hotel.housekeeping.tipping/

An excerpt:

Survey data shows that about 30% of U.S. hotel guests leave tips for hotel housekeepers, according to Michael Lynn, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of tipping the housekeeper. I am not sure it is as common as some people here seem to think.

were you raised in the u.s.?

No, though I have lived here for several years. Most of the hotels I stay in are not in the US though.

then your experience isn't really relevant. The US is a tipping culture. We know that other cultures aren't and that it would be odd to tip at a hotel elsewhere (in most cases).

Anonymous wrote:I have never tipped housekeeping staff at a hotel ever.

Nothing stated here changes my mind. I don't tip the guys who collect my garbage other than to give them a gift at Christmas. Neither do I tip the guy who repairs my car although working on my car can be messy.

The good news is that this nutty belief that more and more categories of workers should get tipped is a view held by fairly small minority of the population.

Tipping hotel staff isn't a new thing. If you don't want to tip at the coffee shop or the take-out counter at the deli, I don't blame you. But don't pretend that tipping hotel staff isn't customary in the U.S. It is.

Maybe we need some guidance on who we should not tip:

How about the women who clean my house? The guys who mow my lawn? Sales personnel who get minimum wage? Fast food workers?

All of these people barely make a living wage even if they make minimum wage.

I have never tipped housekeeping staff at a hotel ever.

Nothing stated here changes my mind. I don't tip the guys who collect my garbage other than to give them a gift at Christmas. Neither do I tip the guy who repairs my car although working on my car can be messy.

The good news is that this nutty belief that more and more categories of workers should get tipped is a view held by fairly small minority of the population.

Anonymous wrote:Always tip housekeeping. I do it by the day, used to do it at the end but was informed that staff can change day to day so leaving it on only one day may stiff some staff, so I do it daily.

This is how you're supposed to do it. Ever notice how all those hotel jobs that men do such as bellhop and valet are tip-worthy in most people's eyes but women's work like housekeeping is not. If we're in a big room I leave $5 a day because I have a messy kid. Also, you are supposed to write a note of some sort (usually just Thanks, Housekeeper) on the memo pad to indicate that it was not money absentmindedly left out (and in which case the cleaner would be stealing so she wouldn't take it).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of tipping the housekeeper. I am not sure it is as common as some people here seem to think.

were you raised in the u.s.?

No, though I have lived here for several years. Most of the hotels I stay in are not in the US though.

Not tipping because one believes management should pay higher wages is simply unfair to the worker. Your message is not landing with its intended audience.

Not tipping because one believes the employee should "get a better job" is a dick move by a person who is not fit to live in a civilized world.

Do you tip the owner of a hair salon?

Anonymous wrote:The above is contemptuous. Housekeeping is backbreaking, tedious, dirty work. That anyone would begrudge an extra $5.00 because a college grad may not make the king's ransom of less than the national median income but a hotel maid does...is just...contemptuous.

Many types of work are back breaking and tedious and dirty.

People who don't want to do that sort of work should take steps to improve their skills and get better jobs.

I will only tip people who get paid less than minimum wage and therefore tips are considered a reasonable component of their compensation.

There is absolutely no way I will tip all and sundry because there are those who feel that employees should be compensated at a level deemed appropriate based on some subjective criteria.

It is ridiculous how some feel that tips should be given to those whose normal job is to render a service and their compensation reflects the value of those services.