I remember the first time I tipped a hotel housekeeper, I was in Deadwood South Dakota, leading training on elder abuse and interviewing skills for AARP. The hotel rooms were in a separate building behind the casino, up a bit of a steep hill. The housekeeper, a local was headed up the hill in a golf cart and insisted that I ride up the hill with her. I was moved by her kindness.
On a multi day stay, I try to remember to leave a nice tip and a short thank you note for housekeeping on the first day. The housekeepers appreciate it, and will do little things like the fluffiest towels, or extra amenities to show it.
When my parents were alive I was often traveling over the holidays, I would leave an extra large tip and a special thank you, the people who had to work on the holiday.
How much? In the USA $5 a day in most places, $10 if it is an especially expensive location or hotel. On holidays, at least $20. Tipping is less common in Europe, in some hotels the housekeeper will leave the cash on the desk. On the most recent trip I left a bottle of wine for the housekeeper with a short note.
Now this certainly improves the lives of the housekeepers, who work hard to make your travel pleasant. It improves my travel experience by reminding me that I can have a positive impact on the people and places that I visit, an the occasional extra bottle of water is kind of nice.
I suppose we still have housekeepers in more expensive hotels and daily attendance, but it all stopped in Covid times and in less expensive to average priced accommodation, it is now a weekly housekeeping visit, though clean anything or extra supplies are always available from the desk.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea of tipping in advance to receive good service but as you know, I am from a non tipping country and I don't have a good understanding. I wouldn't tip in so called Western Europe or the UK but I probably would in the old Eastern Europe. We tipped in Canada a couple of times and I wish we hadn't. We tipped in the US of course but at the time, the percentage was rising to 15% and we generally tipped 10%. I felt it was quite repulsive that how some waiters, especially women, really worked so hard for tips. Two old gay men are just not interested in have cleavage near our noses as food is served.
20% is common in restaurants in the USA.
DeleteIt's one of those things people don't often think about because you don't really see housekeeping in your room; well, rarely, at least.
ReplyDeleteWe have always left a little money and a note just to say Thanks.
It is appreciated by people work very hard, often for not a lot of money.
DeleteWe're a lot alike. Im a good tipper and they need to make a living as their pay is not that good. And like you said...you get extra towels and such. I love staying in hotels.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy a nice hotel stay.
DeleteMore great advice. I agree whole heartedly. Along with the cash, I sometimes leave the local metro card when it still has money on it that I won't be using.
ReplyDeleteThe transit cards can be really helpful.
DeleteI like to leave a tip for a hotel housekeeper too, such as: "Do not smoke cigarettes when vacuuming this room!" and "Put your money on Deadwood Boy in The Kentucky Derby!".
ReplyDeleteIf the horse is a winner,
DeleteMy DIL worked cleaning hotel rooms for awhile and it can be an icky, disgusting job. I tip for the hotel housekeeper also, altho, I haven't stayed in a hotel for quite a while now.
ReplyDeleteTipping the cleaning help is always a great idea.
ReplyDeleteBuy low, sell high!
ReplyDeleteI tip at the beginning of a long hotel stay, right away with a note saying thank you for caring for me while I am here.
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