People were livid when Hilton hotel's CEO said he didn't tip housekeepers. Should you?

[TexasTowelie]

SALT LAKE CITY — They make our beds, clean our toilets and put out fresh towels, but 70 percent of Americans don't believe hotel housekeepers warrant a tip, multiple studies have shown.

Even the CEO of Hilton hotels said he didn't leave a tip for housekeeping until public outcry in June convinced him to reverse his position. The backlash over Christopher Nassetta's admission has renewed debate over whether housekeepers should be tipped just as the vacation season begins in earnest.

Nearly 100 million Americans plan to take a family vacation this year, and 68 percent of them will do so in the summer, according to AAA Travel.

“The great American road trip is still one of the best ways for families to relax and reconnect with one another,” Stacey Barber, executive director of AAA Travel Information and Content, said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900076679/hilton-hotel-ceo-vacation-tips-marriott.html

[Skittles]

1. I always do

on work TDYs I handed them a thank you card with nice cash tip

[alphafemale]

2. On a stay of a few or several days yes. Just one night, probably not.

Over a few days you are probably going to interact personally with a person or few and you tip them personally.

Example - dug up the change for a hotel wash but needed change for the dryer.

Gave a five dollar tip.

He brought it back to the room ---- FOLDED and warm.

Tipping is good.

[bluecollar2]

3. I always do

Whether it's one night or a week.

It's a thankless service industry job, like waiting tables.

[watoos]

4. It's the wrong question,

Why do guests have to subsidize housekeepers? The question that should be asked the CEO is why don't you pay your housekeepers more money so that guests don't need to tip them? I am guilty, I always tip, but tipping allows the CEO to pay less.

[MANative]

6. This. N/T

[LuvNewcastle]

18. I agree.

It's gotten to where everybody expects a tip nowadays, from cashiers in convenience stores and fast food places to the guys who change your oil. Waiters and bartenders have always been tipped positions in the U.S., but now more and more people expect customers to make up for what employers are too stingy to provide. I really wish we would do away with tipping altogether and have a respectable minimum wage across the board.

[maxsolomon]

21. I'm supposed to tip cashiers in convenience stores?

I didn't know. I'm a horrible person now.

[LuvNewcastle]

22. Some people around here leave them the loose change.

I have to save my change. I'd like to be able to give money away, but I have to be careful. If I give it away, it's usually to a homeless person.

[cbdo2007]

23. I don't know anyone who tips because they think the person isn't making enough money...

they are tipping as a sign of gratitude for the person doing a good job and giving them good attention and service. As a consumer at a hotel it really isn't my business what the staff makes but I will certainly go out of my way to tip or send a Thank You note to employees who go above and beyond in helping me enjoy my stay.

[Ms. Toad]

35. You are joking, right?

The ONLY reason I tip is because of the sub-minimum wage employers of traditionally tipped jobs are permitted to (and do) pay. In case you are not aware, it is $2.13 per hour (at the federal level).

[lunatica]

33. Because it has always been understood that tipping makes up for lower wages

I used to be a waitress and my tips added up to triple or quadruple times more than my paycheck. Tax free cash tips. I was customary to declare tips and the taxes which came out of the minimum wage paycheck. So I would get very small paychecks. It worked quite well for the waiters and waitresses who usually tipped their busboys and sometimes the cooks and bartenders. Working for tips is a very good way to make a living. And it’s one of those things that the better you are at your job the better your tips. It also happens to be among the hardest jobs to do physically.

[planetc]

5. Yes.

[whistler162]

7. Never

I will leave them money but I will never physically assault them by tipping them.

[TexasTowelie]

8. Ah, we finally found the cow-tipper on DU.

True confessions...

[Hugin]

12. +1

There's your tip, funny one.

[katmondoo]

9. I would feel embaressed and cheap not to tip

[Hugin]

10. What is the appropriate rate to leave for housekeeping?

I'm never quite sure.

However, if I'm flying out, I leave any coin change I have on top of the balance of the gratuity. Usually, it's two or three Dollars extra.

[StarfishSaver]

14. I leave $5 per night

[Hugin]

15. That seems reasonable.

I'll keep it in mind. It's easier than figuring a percentage.

[tblue37]

17. I leave $10 per night. I never stay more than 2 nights. nt

[Maeve]

11. Almost always

Most of our stays are two nights (weekend travels) and we put out the 'do not disturb' sign so they don't clean the day we're there. We often ask them (or the front desk) for extra coffee and we leave a tip.

Yes, the hotels should pay better--so should restaurants. But until they do....

[StarfishSaver]

13. I always tip the housekeepers

[tblue37]

16. I always leave a good tip. I was a waitress when I was in my teens and early twenties.

Former servers tend to tip well.

[Hotler]

19. I always tip housekeeping. nt

[smirkymonkey]

20. I always tip them.

Usually $5.00 per night unless I am only there for one night and then it's a little bit more.

[TygrBright]

24. Always. Minimum of five bucks for a one-night stay. $30-35 for a week. n/t

[mcar]

25. Yes, we should

and I always forget!

[applegrove]

26. That ****ing kills me. Do you know how many bedrooms those people have to clean

in an hour? They have to speed through with fast hands and feat. The only conselation is they get more tips for their trouble. I knew a woman who did it for a living. Her husband died and she had nothing. Those tips allowed her to be able to afford yarn to knit things for little babies of parents she met on the bus. She was a friend to everyone and dam well more valuable to the world than the CEO of the Hilton Hotels. She was a grandmother, and not a young one too. They'd get into work and find out how many rooms they had to do that day. And they had a time they had to do them in. Tips helped on a day with few rooms and few hours paid. They were a reward for a day when you had to have your motor going at full speed for hours and hours. This is all about uncoupling the people who use hotels from the people who work in them. Leave a tip and you may be doing feeling some empathy. That is a big nono in the GOP. Not even one second of bonding with people who are less fortunate allowed. And people wonder why the country is divided.

[dawg day]

27. What I remember he DIDN'T SAY is--

"We pay our housekeeping staff quite well, like $30 an hour, so they can make a decent living of $60K a year plus benefits and support a family without tips. "

In fact, Hilton pays its housekeepers much, much less-- like $11 an hour, $26K a year (according to Indeed and GlassDoor). So they actually do need tips to make enough to raise a family.

[redwitch]

28. I always do.

When I can I also leave chocolate and sometimes a piece of jewelry (I’m a sales rep)

[Midnight Writer]

29. A tip and a Thank You note. Years ago had a girlfriend who was a hotel housekeeper.

At a dive. She worked her ass off for a pittance and would be thrilled when she got the rare tip.


Fortunately, I have reached a point in life that I can afford a small kindness.

[Kali]

30. jeezus fuck

the rich can be so ignorant!

[UniteFightBack]

31. I tip them and always leave a note saying "Thank you for your hard work". nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. I always tip.

And shame on you who don't tip because you only stay one night. The housekeeper still cleans your room and changes your sheets.

I generally leave $10.

And likewise shame on you who won't tip because you think tipping is wrong and companies should pay their workers better. Yeah, they should, but meanwhile you're being an arrogant asshole by not tipping. Not tipping does NOT improve their lot or make it any more likely that they'll suddenly get a decent wage.

It's beyond appalling that the CEO of Hilton didn't tip, especially given that he probably makes millions of dollars every year. He could leave a hundred dollar tip every time and it wouldn't make any difference in his personal standard of living. But it would substantially help the housekeeper.

[madville]

34. I didn't know tipping the housekeeper was a normal practice

I've been traveling with work for 20 years, never considered that tipping for the hotel room was a common practice. I usually just leave any loose change I have accumulated though.

[MLAA]

36. I tip $5 per night.

In my experience, English is often their second language and they (like everyone else) are working for a better life. I fear they are/could be overworked and taken advantage of because of their language skills.

However I left a tip in a hotel in Sydney Australia and the housekeeper, a young Aussie, returned it and said in Australia they are paid a living wage!

[Buckeyeblue]

37. I usually put the do not disturb sign on the door. I don't need my room cleaned for a short stay