FAQ: Should I Tip Hotel Housekeeping?

It is customary to tip the bellboy that takes your suitcases to your hotel room. It is also common to tip the bartender that served your drinking concoctions. Of course tipping the waiters and waitresses are age old traditions too. But, do you tip the housekeeper that cleans your hotel room every morning?

The Legend of Tipping

Before we discuss that issue, here is a little trivia first. The word ‘Tip’ is actually an acronym for ‘To Insure Promptness’ – words written on a box where customers drop their changes after being satisfied with the services they received. In other words, TIP as we know it now is being rightly used because tipping should be conceived as a reward for prompt and good service.

Hotel Tipping Guide

It is about time to discuss the tipping issue that, despite the fact that the practice has actually been used for several years, still baffles a lot of hotel guests. Break the code behind hotel tipping etiquette and get to know who you should tip.

Like mentioned above, you tip the bellboy, and sometimes the room service fellow who took your meal to your room, some people even tip the front desk staff, for some reasons that are still unknown to many. But why is it that very few people ever think of tipping the maid? Wouldn’t it be nice to tip the woman who keeps your bed clean and goes on her knees to clean your room’s toilet?

How strange it could be that it is more customary to tip the bellboy and not the housekeeper. Maybe the movies and TV are partly to blame. We always see the bellboys getting the tips.

So how do you tip the maid?

In most cases, you should tip the maid before you check out. But this could be a tricky thing to do. Hotel guests simply do not stay behind their rooms just to wait for the maid to show up. Most hotel guests simply leave the tips at the front desk. How can you be sure though that the money will be able to reach housekeeping? You just have to trust the front desk staff.

There is a good option for this, if you want to leave the maid’s tip on the front desk, put the money on an envelope and write the name of the specific person. If you have been receiving your room service from different maids, simply put your room number and instruct the front desk to give the envelop to the housekeeping manager.

At this Alaska fishing lodge I recently stayed at I just left the tip for the cleaning lady on the bed. The maid will get there eventually to clean the room for the next occupant and she will see the money. You can leave a small note so that she won’t hesitate in taking the money.

You can also do the same if you want to leave tips everyday. Actually daily tipping for housekeeping is a good idea if you are not sure if the same lady cleans your room day after day. So, to solve the different maid issue, it is better to leave the tip on the bed with small notes.

You of course, do not have any obligations whatsoever to leave tips. But if you have extra changes and you are satisfied with the way your room welcomes you everyday, then it is only respectful to reward the person that made your hotel room stay comfortable.

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