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Tipping TS Housekeeping

CalGalTraveler

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What is the appropriate amount of tip to leave for TS housekeepers? Unlike hotels they only clean once a week, with a midweek refresh, however they can have a big job to clean up after a family with a kitchen and two bedrooms.

In hotels it is $1 - $5/day depending on the services. I thought it was a good idea to pay them daily if you have daily cleaning get better service and to recognize that not everyone cleans the same room.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/travel-etiquette/how-much-to-tip-hotel-housekeeping
 

Passepartout

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There have been lots of threads on this. But quick & dirty, I leave $20 for a week in a 1BR. More for daily service
 

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I leave $20 for the week too.
 

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Okay, the curmudgeon is checking in now.

I've never left a tip for housekeeping as essentially I didn't (and do not) see the need. I mean where does this end - should one tip for every service one receives? I just came from the grocery store - do I tip the cashier? The bagger? The guy pulling carts in from the lot? At the resort, do I tip the check in staff? Activites staff?

IMO, it is up to the establishment to pay the wages it needs to attract and retain suitable talent. The establishment's performance (which includes all of its employees / associates) influences whether or not I am likely to return again in the future. In a hotel or timeshare, I'm already paying a considerable amount of money to be there, the resort (or hotel) needs to pay its employees / associate suitable wages.

This article looks like a covert effort to transfer more costs from the resort / hotel to the consumer.
Pass.
 

Steve Fatula

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I would consider tipping, but I keep getting different people every day. I don't want only one person to get my tip, not fair. I haven't seen many that work like hotels where often it's the same person.
 

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I would consider tipping, but I keep getting different people every day. I don't want only one person to get my tip, not fair. I haven't seen many that work like hotels where often it's the same person.
I tip when I leave this way the person cleaning up after me gets the tip. They are actual doing the most, getting it ready for the next arrival.
 

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We actually have started tipping during our recent TS stay by tipping on the midweek refresh. Last time we did it they wrote us a very nice thank you note and there were some nice extra amenities, such as water bottles, flowers, chocolates and shampoos that showed up and extra care cleaning our room. They also gave us offers for more towels even though it was not our day.

We have also started to tip hotels every other day if not daily and have found much better service.

Sure you can save a buck by not giving a tip. But if you were the maid and had the choice to serve two different customers, one who tipped you mid-week - with the prospect of more to come at the end - or the one that did not tip, which room would you clean better and which would you cut corners?

You get what you give.
 
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pedro47

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We normally tip $20 for a week; the only problem is that the person who cleaned your villa may be off the following week.
 

bbodb1

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We actually have started tipping during our last TS stay by tipping on the midweek refresh. Last time we did it they wrote us a very nice thank you note and there were some nice extra amenities, such as water bottles, flowers, chocolates and shampoos that showed up and extra care cleaning our room. They also gave us offers for more towels even though it was not our day.

We have also started to tip hotels every other day if not daily and have found much better service.

Sure you can save a buck by not giving a tip. But if you were the maid and had the choice to serve two different customers, one who tipped you mid-week - with the prospect of more to come at the end - or the one that did not tip, which room would you clean better and which would you cut corners?

You get what you give.

I certainly see your point and recall the adage that honey is a better attractor of flies than vinegar.
Perhaps it is a function of where we have stayed and / or how we use our room but I cannot recall ever receiving a mid week refresh (and we've stayed at a variety of resorts for a week (or more) over the past years). It may also be that how we use our room decreases the likelihood of a mid week (refresh) visit - I can't say for sure.
It may also boil down to the fact that as long as our room was clean and adequately stocked at check in, I prefer all staff stay out of our room until after we depart (at the end of our vacation). One reason for this is we do prepare a good number of meals in our room so we tend to have a lot of items out on the counters.

CalGal, I also wonder if where we have traveled to recently is a factor worth considering - for example, our last two stays were at Wyndham Skyline Tower (Atlantic City). I mention this because that facility certainly won't appear on any list of upscale destinations. Perhaps you are staying at destinations a bit nicer?

I think that might play into Pedro47's experience as he mentions 'villa' - which seems to suggest a nicer location.
 

WinniWoman

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We do $20 for our Pollard Brook one because they come every day and throw the garbage and change the towels and do a mid week cleaning and fresh bed linens as well.

We do not tip at our Smugglers Notch one as they do not come to the unit all week.
 

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These days, we can't be sure that service people are paid a living wage since there is no statutory requirement to do so. And like it or not, in an effort to increase profit, many corporations are downright stingy. Sure, I would like very much if it were like Japan, where tipping is much more than frowned upon, a service person is downright ashamed to be tipped. But in America, service workers are entry level workers, and rely on tips to make ends meet. Most of them are minorities, and thus are not upwardly mobile in their employment opportunities. Put simply, they need the money. And we can afford it. I far prefer leaving a housekeeping tip than seeing a panhandler with a cardboard sign sitting beside a traffic light.

Jim
 

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We tip the mid-week clean person as well as leave a tip on the counter before we check out. I feel that we can afford it, why not? Cleaning is hardwork and we know that they appreciate the tip more than what the money means to us.
 

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I have no problem tipping generously for people that work hard for low pay.
 

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bbodb1

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I have no problem tipping generously for people that work hard for low pay.

Well said, I think I will tip more from now on.

All this is fine and dandy - more power to y'all - but I'd be curious if the two of you would answer my previous (sort of) question. Having just come from the grocery store, do you tip the cashier, the cart pusher, the counter clerk at the deli? Where does the idea of tipping begin / end? Each of the individuals I just mentioned are also providing you a service aren't they?

Edit: FWIW, let me say that I am asking these questions inquisitively, not from the standpoint that there is a right / wrong here....
 

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All this is fine and dandy - more power to y'all - but I'd be curious if the two of you would answer my previous (sort of) question. Having just come from the grocery store, do you tip the cashier, the cart pusher, the counter clerk at the deli? Where does the idea of tipping begin / end? Each of the individuals I just mentioned are also providing you a service aren't they?

Edit: FWIW, let me say that I am asking these questions inquisitively, not from the standpoint that there is a right / wrong here....
In the US, most grocery store workers are well paid, many of the stores starting them at $20+ per hour. When you compare these workers to cleaning folks, the latter are usually paid minimum wage plus physical work is really hard.

No doubt there is a disparity in expectations of tips vs. whether one should really tip. Housekeeping is one area that we want to tip because we know they do not get paid much.

The ones that I have an issue tipping and we do tip regularly because we feel we have to, are the folks working at golf facilities. Loading golf bags onto the carts (2 minute work)... etc. Then the ones that annoy me most are the ones pretending to want to clean your clubs. In the majority of my experience, after the tip goes into their hands, the clubs stop getting cleaned.
 

CalGalTraveler

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It might be the quality of the place. We usually stay at hotel brand timeshares, HGVC, Westin, Hyatt. The one with the thank you note and goodies was the Hyatt Residences Maui. They even greeted us in the hallways and knocked on the door the next day and asked if we wanted to change our towels.

BTW...not all grocery employees are paid well. My son works as an entry level cart pusher at Kroger and he only gets $7.50 an hour.
 
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Steve Fatula

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In the US, most grocery store workers are well paid, many of the stores starting them at $20+ per hour. When you compare these workers to cleaning folks, the latter are usually paid minimum wage plus physical work is really hard.

No doubt there is a disparity in expectations of tips vs. whether one should really tip. Housekeeping is one area that we want to tip because we know they do not get paid much.

The ones that I have an issue tipping and we do tip regularly because we feel we have to, are the folks working at golf facilities. Loading golf bags onto the carts (2 minute work)... etc. Then the ones that annoy me most are the ones pretending to want to clean your clubs. In the majority of my experience, after the tip goes into their hands, the clubs stop getting cleaned.

Where I live, cart pushers and baggers are paid minimum wage. Cashiers not much more, and, it's certainly nowhere remotely close to $20/hr, it's well under $10. I do want to tip, don't get me wrong, but you have to draw the line somewhere. If I tipped everyone who provided a service to me on my current trip and likely makes minimum wage or so, I'd probably be out 4 figures.

I do recall tipping housekeeping in Cabo, it was the same person every day, and, she did good and was super nice. We gave her $100 USD. She was so happy. That person in Mexico is vastly more poor than the ones in the US imho.
 

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I stand corrected on grocery store wages. I got my pay data from one of the leading grocery store's union that was trying to get other brand stores to unionize. Costco's wage is also supposed to be in the $20+ per hr range.
 

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We do $20 for our Pollard Brook one because they come every day and throw the garbage and change the towels and do a mid week cleaning and fresh bed linens as well.

We do not tip at our Smugglers Notch one as they do not come to the unit all week.

Mary Ann,

Your post made me wonder about our upcoming visits this summer. Sure enough, when we are at Killington,according to the literature we were sent we will get complementary daily towel changes and garbage renewal along with a full mid week complimentary maid service.

This will be a first for us.
 

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I look at housekeeping as a service type position and that’s how I decide who to tip. I leave them $25 a week. I asked them at my home resort and tips are pooled so I just leave it in an envelope when I leave.
 

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In Mexico, grocery baggers work for tips alone. No hourly pay at all. I usually tip a peso ($.05) per bag. It doesn't hurt me, and they (mostly elderly women or pre-teen girls) seem happy. Occasionally, there will only be 3-4 items in a bag. :)
 

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I'm disinclined to tip in exchanges where I'm charged a housekeeping fee, but if I feel housekeeping has done or will need to do some service beyond the norm, I will do so.

At the check-out desk at my doctor+dentist offices, I like to joke that their CC slips need a line for a tip. - They're service workers. - Sometimes they ask, "Who gets the tip?" I say, "You decide."
.
 

Steve Fatula

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I'm disinclined to tip in exchanges where I'm charged a housekeeping fee, but if I feel housekeeping has done or will need to do some service beyond the norm, I will do so.

At the check-out desk at my doctor+dentist offices, I like to joke that their CC slips need a line for a tip. - They're service workers. - Sometimes they ask, "Who gets the tip?" I say, "You decide."
.

Well, if that's the case, I was a business and IT consultant for 30 years or so, that's a service. And actually, sadly, I often did get tipped in one way or another, companies would buy me dinner, take me out to places, whatever. Meanwhile, the employee grunts would get, well, nothing. They of course would then get jealous and almost blame me. So, at one point, I just started paying for some of them who had been nice, just passing on what the company (incorrectly imho) gave me.

Geez, nothing like taking care of your actual employees!
 
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Panina

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All this is fine and dandy - more power to y'all - but I'd be curious if the two of you would answer my previous (sort of) question. ... Where does the idea of tipping begin / end? Each of the individuals I just mentioned are also providing you a service aren't they?

Edit: FWIW, let me say that I am asking these questions inquisitively, not from the standpoint that there is a right / wrong here....

It ends where each of it feels it should. It is irrelevant who else we decide to tip. The issue is do we want to tip the housekeeper at timeshares or not. To each person it is a personal choice and just because I choose to tip I respect everyone elses choice on this matter.

Most housekeeper take the job because of lack of skill set and are out there working hard. They are an example of a hard working person.

My dad came to this country, had a high position job from where he came from, but due to the language barrier took a job at a factory sewing hats. As he learned the language he worked himself up. What I learned from him, he was proud to work, took a low paying job, worked overtime so he could support his family.

I see the housekeepers in a similar way to my dad. Being a housekeeper is a very hard, dirty job and I personally feel that the industry pay is unfair to them.

Thus I do what I can. I have been and will continue, and because of this thread will tip higher to the housekeepers at timeshares.
 
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