Yes, tip the hotel maid
Questions: When traveling throughout the U.S., how much should we leave for the maid? Does it depend on whether it’s a motel, hotel, charming inn, etc.?
– Ellen Switkes, Sherman Oaks
Answer: Switkes gets a gold star for being thoughtful enough to remember to tip the housekeepers. Many people do not.
The experts I spoke with agreed that housekeeping staff should be remembered with something monetary, but that’s where the unanimity ended. They disagreed on how much, where and even when the tip should be presented, so it’s no wonder we mere mortals have trouble with this one.
It’s a relatively new topic for tipping, so that may explain why it’s not yet standard, like the 20% we often add to a restaurant bill. Taking care of the housekeeping staff has come about in only the last 10 to 15 years, said Joe McInerney, president and chief executive of the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., based in Washington.
Having spent the last year of my college life as a dormitory janitor, I applaud the tip idea. My year of clean living taught me that many people who think they don’t have to clean up after themselves behave, by and large, like pigs. The hotel maid is letting you indulge your inner swine, so be kind.
How kind? Shawn Gracey, general manager of HotelIcon, an independent boutique hotel in downtown Houston, said $1 to $3 kind. So did McInerney, adding that it didn’t matter whether the housekeeper worked at the Ritz or the Rodeway. Steven Parker, the general manager of the Millennium Biltmore Los Angeles, fell in the middle of that range at “a couple of dollars” a day.
But Cathy Margolin, who owns an L.A.-area cleaning business that works at Hyatts, Hiltons, Four Seasons, Peninsula and others, thinks the guest at the five-star hotel should leave $5 to $10 a day.
And, she added, that money should not be left on the dresser or the pillow or the bedside table, even with a thank-you note, as the other experts suggested. Instead, it should be placed directly in the housekeeper’s hand because, she said, he or she is trained not to remove anything from the room.
Margolin also thinks tipping immediately upon arrival helps establish a rapport with the housekeeper, who then will go that extra step for you.
Some of the experts said guests could wait till the end of the trip to tip; others (and I fall into this camp) said it should be done daily.
So do you have to tip? No, not really, Boss Hogg. In fact, all it takes is doing nothing to live life full boar, as it were.
Have a travel dilemma? Write to travel@latimes.com
8 Comments on “Yes, tip the hotel maid”
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October 10th, 2009 at 7:50 am
I leave a tip for the maid each day (usually $2). The maid may be different each day so that is why I prefer daily tipping vs. tipping at the end of the stay. Some hotels have envelopes for the tips; otherwise I leave the money near the coffee pot, since they will see it when they replace the coffee. I wish hotels would let us charge the daily tip to our bill… that would make it much easier than having cash and the maids would probably get more tips.
Carol http://www.smartwomentravelers.com
October 10th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Do you get the maid every day? Or do they change on a daily basis? My question then is: do you need to leave a tip every day, or can you leave a lump sum tip at the end of your stay?
October 10th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I always tip everyday and in the hand if possible. But i think $5 to $10 is to much. I tip better % wise in other countries
October 11th, 2009 at 12:14 am
When I pay hundreds of dollars daily for a room in a good hotel, don’t I have the right to expect maid service included in return? Not tipping in an environment that can’t assure me the minimum-wage help will actually receive the gratuity (I seldom see my room maid during a typical hotel stay) does not make me a “boar.” Or make me feel like one. But if leaving a tip for maid service makes you feel magnanimous or assuages your insecurities about receiving service, then by all means leave a tip! Ultimately, hotel management is responsible for fairly compensating its employees. My taxes pay for labor regulators to police those that don’t.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Dear Catherine Hamm, Thank you for writing this article. I’m in the leave $1 to $2 per day for maid camp. I also write “thank you” on a piece of paper and leave it in an uncluttered area. Why does it surprise some people to tip the maid a buck or two when in places like Las Vegas they don’t think twice about tipping the car valet. The maid scrubs your toilet for crying out loud!
October 17th, 2009 at 1:46 am
I am not a tipper of housekeeping staff because that is what my $200+/night pays for, and I clean up after myself and hang towels when finished. I also stash everything away in case the entitled maid decides to mess with my toiletries if I don’t leave a tip. To many horror stories of toothbrushes become toilet brushes left on the counter for your next use.
Tipping has become so out of control in the USA — specifically in Los Angeles where everyone is entitled. In a few years you’ll see emails being sent around of how 50 years ago there was no tipping.
Tips are no longer a gesture of appreciation, the are now demanded by every industry.
First it was the server in restaurants, now it is the car wash, nail salons, hair salons — the stylist, the colorist, the shampoo person, massages, cosmeticians, furniture movers, taxicab drivers, housekeeping in hotels, bartenders for snapping the cap of a beer, delivery drivers, valet guys who charge me to park in the lot, and they want a tip to hold onto my keys. Skycaps, Shuttle drivers to and from the airport. I could go on, and on.
Why not tip the pharmacists for giving out advice at the drug store?
October 17th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I always tip the maid whenever I travel. However I was enraged to find at one hotel in Dallas, the owner/manager entering rooms when he thought guests had checked out to take those tips left for the maids. My partner and I discovered this after returning to our rooms that the tips we left were gone- but the rooms had not been touched- except for an empty yogurt container that had been left in my partners room. We had seen the manager eating yogurt earlier.
Disgusting. Hand your tip to the maid directly.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
My well-read 1947 “Etiquette” by Emily Post lists everyone in the hotel that should be tipped, including the chambermaid .25-.50 per night or as much as 1.00 per week. This is about the same tip for the bellboy or elevator man, who do not clean toilets. Tipping as a form of paying for services, rather than the establishment paying for work, is nothing new in America.