Right, right. We know we’re a site about RVing. But we do enjoy the occasional break in a hotel or motel sometimes. Do you?
When you do stay in a hotel or a motel, do you usually leave a tip behind for the housekeepers?
A quick Google search will tell you that yes, you should always tip hotel housekeeping. How much? Well, it depends, but the general rule is somewhere between $3-$5 a day. They are cleaning your towels and changing your dirty sheets, after all. It’s nice to tip a little extra during COVID times, if your room is extra dirty, or if you made special requests.
So what’s the verdict? Tell us in the poll below. Thanks!
Almost never. If I find a place where someone really goes a&b then yes of course.
Wife does not like strangers in the room and prefers to clean herself, so we always dnd the door, so no tip.
Finally since covid no one cleans the room during your stay
If I’m staying for more than a day and housekeeping is actually coming by to clean my room and empty trash, yes.
If I wanted to stay in hotels why would I have an RV?
sometimes there is no other way.
We found ourselves in an ice storm in KY and pulled off to stay in a hotel. So sometimes RV or not you gotta consider a hotel.
We took our motorhome for upgrades to Newmar in Indiana from California, where it would stay for 2 months. We drove home and then back. Sometimes we take short trips for a few days to places where there aren’t close RV parks. Been to the Rennsport Reunion several times in Monterey, CA at Laguna Seca Race Track. Couldn’t stay at track and no RV parks close enough. Going to husband’s reunion in Eureka, CA. Again no RV parks (we’ve checked them out previously when we stay at a nice park 70 miles away) we either liked, could fit in or close enough to where the events for 4 days were being held. Just a a few reasons.
Before retirement I worked as a Risk Management Consultant for major insurance carriers. On average I was inspecting five hotel/motels monthly. Over 18 years that gave me a pretty good insight into industry standards. This included major chains and Mom and Pop operations. The laundry was a major point of concern as was the Continental Breakfast when provided. Bottom line, no hotels/motels for us.
I do when we check out. Several years ago I left a tip and then had to run back to the room because I had forgotten something. The housekeeper was there already and had found my tip. She was beyond appreciative, so very grateful for it and I think of her reaction often.
Back in February we had the occasion to stay in a motel when we were in transit to our new home in FL. We stayed in a Days Inn in Lakeland, FL. It was reasonably clean but not great. Since most hotels are owned by foreigners we have found they usually bring most of their standards with them from the homeland which usually are not the same as American standards. It was acceptable but not exceptional, they usually pay poorly and the old saying about paying for what you get applies there.
“most hotels are owned by foreigners” – I would love to see proof. Days Inn is an American company, for example. If you mean managed by “foreigners,” I bet those people are trying to live the “American Dream” and elevate themselves to your standards.
Guess who does all those jobs that “usually pay poorly”? That’s right, people in tough circumstances who will take tough jobs. You don’t want to give them $5?
I have a comfortable life and I’m grateful every day. I’m happy to “pay it downward” to people who are doing the work I don’t have to do.
Bill, Yes Days Inn is owned by Wyndham, which is an American company, but it is also one of the many franchise hotel chains. Most of the big hotel “chains” are hotel franchises that have owners that pay franchise fees and are supposed to follow a company standard. Like it or not, a lot of those investors/owners are not American citizens. I will not get into a debate if that is good or bad.
I think you’re stereotyping foreigners into one bag.
If you think foreign countries have lower standards than the US you need to travel outside the US more.
I worked in Hotel management. Started in housekeeping and overtime I worked my way up. It gave me advantages working from the bottom up. I was a believer that no hotel could function without good housekeepers. I tried to make sure they were thoroughly trained correctly. We never released a room till either my housekeeping supervisor or I checked the room. My housekeepers worked hard and I totally appreciated them and had a program for rewarding them. They deserved the tips they made from guest. Sometimes they went beyond to help the guest.
When I started out in housekeeping I had a couple on their honeymoon in Nashville. They were looking for places to tour and eat so I went and made a list for them and put extra things in their room while they were there. They left me a $100 dollar tip to say thank you and left a nice review and note.
One thing it did make me do when I am a guest is check beds and such. But when they do their job, they do work very hard.
When we find the room clean and smelling fresh upon arrival and the entire place well kept it tells us they care about their clientele. At times this is not the case, if the overall look of the place is somewhat lacking and we would rather sleep in our sleeping bags on the bed, no.
absolutely! we rarely stay in hotels but when we do it’s always at a higher end national chain hotel. housekeeping staff work hard and a generous tip expresses our appreciation.
I traveled for business extensively for decades and generally left a tip and a penned note of appreciation for housekeeping, but only as I left on the last day. In large chain hotels where the cleaning staff might change day to day that might not be fair vs a smaller daily tip. I’m thinking that whoever cleaned the room on the last day would pocket it all.
I had a good friend that did housekeeping for a time. The horror stories of what some people leave behind in rooms for housekeeping to deal with is atrocious! Think things like using the bathtub as the toilet!
These are low paid hard working folks who mostly get little notice or appreciation for what they do.
Always. They depend on tips as part of their hourly salary. Everyone deserves a decent wage.
And the longer you continue to enable employers in not paying a decent wage in the first place the longer they will keep doing it. With hotel prices as high as they are, and low unemployment, now is the time to kill the tipping process (in all industries)
Do they though? These are not servers subject to a lower minimum wage.
Of course now, with a Covid excuse, hotels are not cleaning the rooms every day. Sometimes not even once during your entire stay. So no, I don’t tip at this time!
Always tip $5 a day after first night.
The only hotel room persons we have tipped when traveling are members of an Amtrak long-distance train who insure your traveling bedroom is orderly, make up and turn down your beds and make up your beds while you are at breakfast! Come back and the room is clean and fresh! They ride the rails for days and weeks on end; deserving of special consideration. Tipping is for “exceptional” service – not what is expected or routine. They also have coffee and rolls and a daily paper for you!
No one ever tipped me for doing my job.
Rarely stay in hotel/motels any more but we always leave a tip.
Almost always when I was traveling for my job. A lot depends on the length of stay. If more than two or three nights, yes. I also use two dollar bills, one under each pillow. Staff have sought me out to say thank you and that they had never seen a two dollar bill!
I don’t know when tipping someone for doing their job became a thing to do. I am a retired nurse and we were not allowed to take any gifts or tips from anyone. I don’t believe in tipping someone for doing their job, except wait staff.
If I stay there longer than three nights I do.
I had to answer “NO” because, I’m ashamed to say, I never thought about tipping the housekeeping staff.
My wife traveled a lot for work with numerous hotel stays. Somewhere in all that she started leaving a tip for housekeeping on the day she checked out. We rarely use motels or hotels, but when we do, we usually tip housekeeping on departure day. I say “usually” because sometimes the “service” does not warrant it, but it has to be egregious to not warrant a tip.
We leave a $5.00 tip every morning. It’s not always the same person daily, so waiting until day of checkout is useless.
The housekeeping staff is well aware of the guest and the room number. It always pays to tip to encourage good attention.
My sister asks ‘Why, they didn’t do anything?’ I told her that they cleaned up after those guests who were there before us and will clean up after us in preparation for the next guests.
I was a charter bus driver, I appreciate those who work behind the scenes.
Leaving a tip for them is special way of saying thank you for all your hard work.