Tipping and tipping norms

[ciao_yall]

I've never heard of tipping someone for cleaning a room at a hotel.

My parents taught me to always leave a tip for the people who clean hotel rooms. It can be a nasty, low paying job.  If they are cleaning the room daily, leave a tip on counter in room each day.

I always tip a few dollars each day. It bugs me that the women who clean our hotel rooms work harder and longer than the guys who valet the cars and make the same tip.

[jerseyjay]

Some more random thoughts:

I don't usually see much of a correlation between level of service and tips. I usually tip (at a restaurant) 20 per cent (usually in cash). I don't really like this, and I think it is a way for the restaurant to put part of the cost of running the business on the customer, or perhaps better put, to make the cost of eating out seem less than it really is. In my opinion, if you do not have the money to tip 15-25% on top of your bill, you shouldn't be eating out (or you should be ordering less). If the service is really really good, or if there is some other reason (it's Thanksgiving, say), I might tip more. I will not tip less than 15% if I don't like the service--just like I won't pay less for the dinner if I don't like it.

My recollection is that studies have shown that there is a high correlation between perceived sexual attractiveness (e.g., gender, clothing, attitude, race, age, etc.) and the size of tip, at least when the tipper is male. Again if I remember correctly, there is a link between tipping jobs (bartenders, waitresses) and the frequency of sexual harassment.

I do not tip other professionals--lawyers, accountants, dentists, doctors--for doing a good job, although I would more likely accept a higher fee for a better service provider. But again, these people are not paid a wage that is below the legal minimum for everybody else.

Finally, it is certainly true that one good night can bring in a large amount of money, especially if a waiter is working at a high-end place. I have known many waiters, and the reality is that while a good Friday night might bring in a large amount of money, not every night is a good Friday night, and the tips tend to average out over the month.

[lightning]

Your mother worked for hotels? I want to know how much to actually tip the person that cleans the room after check out. I have never left even 10% of the rate of the room.

Yes, but her education was in all things customer service related and what she was referring to in the percentages for tips was in restaurants.  I've never heard of tipping someone for cleaning a room at a hotel.

A very close friend of mine has been running hotels for more than two decades, and I can never get a straight answer out of him about tipping the housecleaning staff. He also dealt mainly with customers if he had to get out of his office and work the front line, so he has no idea. He never actually went to individual rooms when they were being cleaned.

Internet searches don't tell me anything definitive either.

I'm just wondering if the people that hang out in the fora could give me an idea of how much they leave on the desk in the hotel room, if at all.

When housekeepers used to clean hotel rooms daily (pre-pandemic), I would leave $2-3 daily. Now that most hotels only clean after a guest checks out, I leave $5 flat if I stay more than one night, regardless of the final bill.

I tell my veteran hospitality friend that's what I do for tipping housekeepers, and he says there is no standard tipping custom and that there is no expectation for tipping housekeepers. At the same time, I know that hotel housekeepers get tipped. Tipping housekeepers seems to be a big mystery, even for the folks that run hotels. And it seems housekeepers themselves keep the amounts that guests leave on the desks, a big mystery.

Hence, that's why I asked.

[jerseyjay]

Regarding tipping hotel cleaners: this depends in part what type of hotel/motel I am staying, how dirty I am leaving it, and whether I am getting reimbursed by work.

When I travelled for business (before my current professor job), and I stayed for several nights at a higher-end hotel, and my work would reimburse me for tips, I would leave between $10 and $20 per night. Once they paid for a multi-room suite for two weeks, and I left $300 in tips--again, reimbursed by my work. I do not stay in higher-end hotels on my own so I don't know what I would have tipped otherwise. When I was travelling with my family (i.e., children) at a mid-range motel and they made a mess I tipped more than when I was staying myself and barely touched anything.

My wife and I just got back from a nice weekend (no children) and for two nights staying in a small room that was not cleaned until we left, we tipped $10. If they had cleaned the room nightly, I probably would have left more.

[RatGuy]

I think we need to assess the assumption that "tips make servers work harder or more efficiently, or otherwise provide better customer service."

In a serendipitous coincidence, our student paper ran a piece this week about the waitresses at a local pizza place. It's not exactly candlelit Italian, but it's considered "upscale" for my town, and is frequented by faculty for happy hour. All the front-end servers are attractive young women (that's part of the local stereotype). The student paper's focus was on some of the servers to wear their hair in pigtails or braids -- making them seem younger but also sexier? (The article also referenced an episode of the TV show "Community" in which a character's perceived youthfulness is overly sexualized).  Servers claimed in the interview that there is much that's out of their control, esp in regards to how customers view their competence. So they lean into something that [the servers themselves] they think the customers think is sexy. And it has led to more tips.

And, as Caracal says, I'm not sure I'm in a place to adequately judge whether or not a server "deserves" a tip.

Finally, I'll add that it's clear that many Americans -- even those who think tipping is terrible -- would rather pay $25+ $5 tip for their meal than pay $30 menu price with no tip. Restaurants who raise menu prices 15% and say no tipping found that they lose customers.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Your mother worked for hotels? I want to know how much to actually tip the person that cleans the room after check out. I have never left even 10% of the rate of the room.

Yes, but her education was in all things customer service related and what she was referring to in the percentages for tips was in restaurants.  I've never heard of tipping someone for cleaning a room at a hotel.

A very close friend of mine has been running hotels for more than two decades, and I can never get a straight answer out of him about tipping the housecleaning staff. He also dealt mainly with customers if he had to get out of his office and work the front line, so he has no idea. He never actually went to individual rooms when they were being cleaned.

Internet searches don't tell me anything definitive either.

I'm just wondering if the people that hang out in the fora could give me an idea of how much they leave on the desk in the hotel room, if at all.

When housekeepers used to clean hotel rooms daily (pre-pandemic), I would leave $2-3 daily. Now that most hotels only clean after a guest checks out, I leave $5 flat if I stay more than one night, regardless of the final bill.

I tell my veteran hospitality friend that's what I do for tipping housekeepers, and he says there is no standard tipping custom and that there is no expectation for tipping housekeepers. At the same time, I know that hotel housekeepers get tipped. Tipping housekeepers seems to be a big mystery, even for the folks that run hotels. And it seems housekeepers themselves keep the amounts that guests leave on the desks, a big mystery.

Hence, that's why I asked.

I leave $10 in the room. I typically don't get my room cleaned every day (or at all, if I'm staying for just a few days), so no need for daily tipping.

[Anselm]

This thread is the first time I ever heard of tipping hotel room cleaners.  I did not know this was a thing.

[Juvenal]

This thread is the first time I ever heard of tipping hotel room cleaners.  I did not know this was a thing.

And those who'll scrub the bathrooms and vacuum the halls?  Do they merit tips (sure), but how to manage?  Hard to believe they exist, but they surely do.  Or not?

[ohnoes]

I'm just wondering if the people that hang out in the fora could give me an idea of how much they leave on the desk in the hotel room, if at all.

Most of my travel is single night stays mid-range places.  I leave $5.

[marshwiggle]

Finally, I'll add that it's clear that many Americans -- even those who think tipping is terrible -- would rather pay $25+ $5 tip for their meal than pay $30 menu price with no tip. Restaurants who raise menu prices 15% and say no tipping found that they lose customers.

I think this is partly (largely?) because customers are wary that "no tipping" is really a thing; they don't want to get a stink eye for not tipping even though they're "told" not to. Avoiding the whole thing is easier. I think many customers would embrace it if they were convinced it's real.

[dismalist]

Finally, I'll add that it's clear that many Americans -- even those who think tipping is terrible -- would rather pay $25+ $5 tip for their meal than pay $30 menu price with no tip. Restaurants who raise menu prices 15% and say no tipping found that they lose customers.

I think this is partly (largely?) because customers are wary that "no tipping" is really a thing; they don't want to get a stink eye for not tipping even though they're "told" not to. Avoiding the whole thing is easier. I think many customers would embrace it if they were convinced it's real.

Yes, Marsh. Tipping is the convention. If one breaks the convention, there is no reason to trust the convention breaker and every reason to mistrust him.
Change the question: What if all restaurants put up signs saying "no tipping"? Would custom go down then? No way. The convention has just been changed!

Changing conventions requires collective action. There's no tipping in restaurants in large parts of Europe on account the law says wages have to be paid at such and such rate. That does not mean that the selection process for efficient staff has been suspended, only that it has to rely on second-best measures. Efficient wait staff tend to gravitate to efficient restaurants.

[jerseyjay]

On another aspect of tipping: for a edited volume that I was working on with several other authors and that will be published by a major university press, we hired a professional indexer. (For those of you not in book fields, while an index is required for a book, it is considered the responsibility of the author(s) to either do it themselves or hire somebody to do it.) Of course, we split the cost equally. However, one editor--who has published quite a few books and has used this indexer before--argued that we should each kick in around 30 per cent extra for a tip. I have never heard of tipping book indexers. Is this a thing?

[dismalist]

On another aspect of tipping: for a edited volume that I was working on with several other authors and that will be published by a major university press, we hired a professional indexer. (For those of you not in book fields, while an index is required for a book, it is considered the responsibility of the author(s) to either do it themselves or hire somebody to do it.) Of course, we split the cost equally. However, one editor--who has published quite a few books and has used this indexer before--argued that we should each kick in around 30 per cent extra for a tip. I have never heard of tipping book indexers. Is this a thing?

That editor colleague was merely trying to confuse you with words to get the wages of his friend raised. Look at points seven and eight of the FAQ's on the website of the American Society of Indexers  https://www.asindexing.org/about-indexing/frequently-asked-questions/

[jerseyjay]

On another aspect of tipping: for a edited volume that I was working on with several other authors and that will be published by a major university press, we hired a professional indexer. (For those of you not in book fields, while an index is required for a book, it is considered the responsibility of the author(s) to either do it themselves or hire somebody to do it.) Of course, we split the cost equally. However, one editor--who has published quite a few books and has used this indexer before--argued that we should each kick in around 30 per cent extra for a tip. I have never heard of tipping book indexers. Is this a thing?

That editor colleague was merely trying to confuse you with words to get the wages of his friend raised. Look at points seven and eight of the FAQ's on the website of the American Society of Indexers  https://www.asindexing.org/about-indexing/frequently-asked-questions/

Thanks. I think there might also have been a bit of what I was doing when I tipped the hotel maid $300 on a business trip. So long as somebody else is paying, there is nothing wrong with inflating the cost. Most of my fellow editors could get their departments to cover the cost of indexing. For various reasons, my school won't do that, so it came out of my pocket. (I didn't tip the indexer for the same reason I didn't tip my dentist. I think it is somewhat insulting to tip self-employed professionals.)

[lightning]

Something that I have only recently noticed . . . well, recently, because for most of my life restaurant receipts didn't have the 15%/18%/20%/25% tip amount pre-calculated for me at the bottom of the receipt (which I assume is for the customers who can't do arithmetic in their head) . . .

I've noticed that these pre-calculated amounts are calculated against the total final price before tip (cost of menu items + tax) and not against just the pre-tax total price. I always thought that sit-down restaurant tips were calculated on the pre-tax total price and then the taxes were added to the total paid after the tip was added.