How do you figure a tip for a hotel housekeeper when you check out?

Question

Does it depend on how long you stay?

Answer 1

It definitely does depend on how long you were at the hotel. Most importantly, it "lies" with the quality of the service she rendered to you. I wish you well. Peace, Love and God Bless.

Answer 2

Well, my mom worked in the hotel industry for 28 yrs and from her own experience the minimum is $2 a night.

I usually stick to that unless they've done an excellent job and I'll up it, like leaving extra towels or glasses, etc. If there's a roll- away I'll add another dollar. Or if we've been really messy we'll do a big tip too.

The main thing is leave it every night. Most often than not, you do not have the same housekeeper every day especially for the larger hotels. If you've seen especially good service it's always good to get an envelope from the front desk and stick the tip there with special instructions to leave it to the housekeeper who did that days work (sometimes you should see little tent folds with the names of your housekeepers).

I co-managed a vacation owner-ship/time share property and they did not have daily cleaning so it was based on the initial cleaning upon check in. In that scenario, it depended on the size of the unit and if it had a full kitchen or not. For a two bedroom unit with full kitchen $20 was the standard for a week stay.

Answer 3

I stay in a hotel room 4-5 nights a week, as I travel for my job. If I am in a place for more than a week, I will make sure to find out who my housekeeper is, or the days she is working, so that I don't tip on the wrong day and give a weeks worth of tips to the person who cleaned my room only once. I typically will leave $2-3 a night, depending on the service I have received. When my kids are with me, and the room is much more of a mess, I typically add $10 to that figure to make up for the extra work we caused. I have received a nice return on the tipping, when I check back in, I typically find I am treated to extra services, such as a towel laid out for my toiletries to be spread out on, extra towls, and just a lot of the little things that they can do to make my stay a little easier. I should also say that when I am at a place for a longer period of time, I tip once a week, otherwise I tip daily.

ANother warning on tipping at hotels, a lot of hotels are starting to add 20% tip to the room service bill, in addition to the charge for the food, and delivery. I was in a second week at a hotel before a honest delivery person pointed this out to me. Needless to say, he got his extra 20% but I stopped doing that afterwards.

Answer 4

Having been a Housekeeping Manager for years I found that leaving a couple dollars for each day in an envelope at the front desk is best. That way if more than one housekeeper cleaned your room they all get tipped fairly.

Answer 5

I tip $2 per night, and I like to do it at the beginning. The only exception is if there is a party in a hotel room. Then I've tipped $10 if a mess was left.

Answer 6

The standard for just staying, no turn-down service, etc., is ONE dollar PER person PER night. But if the housekeeper did special things like give you extra towels or pillows, add at least one more dollar. Remeber most housekeeping staff are paid minimum wage so tips help.

Answer 7

It depends on the way the hotel room is maintained. The little things. If she/he is doing a good job, I usually leave $5 per day for my stay. If I have to repeatedly ask for things such as extra towels or if the room is not as clean as it should be - I don't leave anything.

Answer 8

no it depends on if the room was clean when I got it. and if I was their for a few days, was it keep clean and fresh and neat too!

Then I tip at 10% for the hotel staff, so the number of people divided into 10% to each. If they didn't do a good job, their not on my list.

It is kind of like the Santa list, good and bad kids get to see a reward and the size of the reward is in direct proportion to the service rendered.

Answer 9

I'd say that most people dont ever leave a tip, but yeah i'd say depends on how long you stayed. If you stayed a night then just leave em like 2 bucks. add on each day you stay. they do get paid hourly. It's not like they are servers where it actually matters to tip.

Answer 10

It also depends on how big of a mess you make :)

Generally, after a long stay, a few dollars is appropriate. For a single night, or even a few nights, leaving nada is appropriate too. Most people don't bother.