Tipping at Hotels? Yay or nay?

Recently Chris and I took a weekend trip to Las Vegas. During this particular trip we stayed one night and no maid service was required. No bed turn down, no morning cleaning (except when we checked out), hell we didn’t even ask for an extra towel. But as we were leaving I asked if we should leave a tip. This got me thinking.

Why’d I even ask about a tip? Is it normal to leave one? And how much is the right amount for a tip? Do I tip once or every day?

I began asking my friends what they thought about tipping housekeeping and they all had the same confused response. Well they’re doing their job, right? So no tip required. But they’re cleaning up after you. So then yes tip them. But in our case about our weekend in Vegas, we didn’t leave a mess and they were just setting up for the next customer. No one knows!!!

This note totally deserves a tip!!!

As I look more and more into it, it seems like really, no one knows. Etiquette experts and hotel hospitality experts all have different opinions about the situation but generally have the same guidelines.

In a USA Today article from 2009 experts suggest $1-5 per night is acceptable depending on the hotel you are staying at. The nicer the hotel the higher the tip. However a more recent article from CNN quotes an etiquette expert from Emily Post Institute suggesting that at motels no tip is necessary for a one night stay.

What’s my opinion? What’s an extra buck or two after I’m already spending $120 a night?

When I was in college I was a waitress at a few different types of restaurants. One of my co-workers once said to me, it is just an extra buck or two to the customer for them to tip us well, but if each customer gave us an extra buck or two, it adds up at the end of the night. At a hotel say two housekeepers clean 100 rooms together. If each room leaves a $2 tip a day that gives the housekeepers an extra $200 to split.

As for when do you tip, leaving a tip with a small note each day your room is cleaned is what seems to be the norm. That way the person who is doing the work each day gets the tip. Not one big tip at the end of your trip.

Fewww I am glad I got that cleared up. As for our trip to Vegas at the end of the month, well housekeeper, I now know what I will be tipping you.

Do you tip at hotels? What’s your general rule of thumb?