• Welcome to the FREE TUGBBS forums! The absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 32 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 32 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 32nd anniversary: Happy 32nd Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    All subscribers auto-entered to win all free TUG membership giveaways!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Wish you could meet up with other TUG members? Well look no further as this annual event has been going on for years in Orlando! How to Attend the TUG January Get-Together!
  • Now through the end of the year you can join or renew your TUG membership at the lowest price ever offered! Learn More!
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

New level of tipping insanity culture at Marriott

WBP

WBP

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
923
Reaction score
586
I usually try to bring cash to tip the housekeeping and bell staff or valets if I use them. I would not use the app to tip, but I can see the appeal for many people who no longer carry any cash.

Not a fan of hotels or other places trying to get me to cover their expenses via encouraged tipping or mandatory fees.
 
I'm sure the staff now prefer tips since it will largely be tax free. At the same time, people carry less cash, so they've probably found that gratutities have gone down overall.

I just stayed at a Marriott family property in Dallas. Beautiful hotel and I was able to get a massive suite upgrade using my award certificates for once. The stay was booked using points so overall was a good value; however, they ding you with all these fees such as a $30/night amentities fee. The restaurants in the hotel had a mandatory 20% gratuity added plus a 2.5% recovery fee for the culinary staff. To top it off, the Titanium elite breakfast vouchers only covered the "American breakfast". I was charged full price for ordering oatmeal, which was $13 cheaper than the American breakfast. Normally I would leave a generous tip ($20/two people) in cash for the staff on breakfast comped via voucher. Quite frankly, the servers in the restaurants knew they were already getting their gratuity, so it was some of the most impersonal service I've experienced in a long time.

Parking could only be via valet, and this was $60 + tax (so $206 for three nights). When requesting your vehicle via their app (which was a nice feature) you were prompted heavily to give a tip, but when I went to do so it wanted to add $1 to the $5 I would normally give for retrieving the vehicle - so I just ended up giving cash.

Some of these fees are avoidable (like valet); however, when I'm being charged a ton of extra fees in addition to the normal price of the room I'm not exactly in the mood to leave a gratuity for housekeeping, the bell desk etc. I feel the hotel can pay appropriate wages out of the fees I'm paying if they are going to take this approach.
 
I tip hotel housekeepers when they clean my room. I’m tidy anyway so the most they have to do is make the bed, wipe down the counters, take out the trash and change out the linens. But I appreciate what they do a lot, so I leave a tip with a thank you note. Sometimes I get a nice note back 😊
I don’t tip at MVC’s because I do my own housekeeping. I do tip servers at restaurants but I prefer to eat in on the balcony, enjoy the ocean and tip no one if I’m in a MVC condo. The mandatory “resort fees” at hotels are a pain. They usually give me a daily allowance that equals the fee to use on site so I try to claw some of that back, but I’m not always able to.
 
I now tip 22% less as I feel that most recipients are in that marginal tax bracket or higher. Thank you Uncle Sam.
 
We were recently at an Autograph hotel in CO. Immediately met with a big $60 per day valet parking. If you didn't do that, you would end up god knows where or with a tow job because you overstayed your cheap lot. Also a $30 per night resort fee. Then the breakfast. We forked over 750 points daily for the meal tickets and then did not have the "Marriott Breakfast" explained so ended up with an $80 bill for oatmeal and yogurt the first morning. Luckily the server, a long time Marriott employee, saw our dismay and "fixed most of it". The next morning we ate sparingly and paid nothing. But with the bare minimum attention from the wait staff.

We did cash tip the valet, they were super helpful, but no other tipping.
 
sea&ski said:
We were recently at an Autograph hotel in CO. Immediately met with a big $60 per day valet parking. If you didn't do that, you would end up god knows where or with a tow job because you overstayed your cheap lot. Also a $30 per night resort fee. Then the breakfast. We forked over 750 points daily for the meal tickets and then did not have the "Marriott Breakfast" explained so ended up with an $80 bill for oatmeal and yogurt the first morning. Luckily the server, a long time Marriott employee, saw our dismay and "fixed most of it". The next morning we ate sparingly and paid nothing. But with the bare minimum attention from the wait staff.

We did cash tip the valet, they were super helpful, but no other tipping.
Click to expand...
This seems to be a theme with the Autograph hotels lately. Most have been wonderful with no breakfast issues and reasonable valet parking - but my last two stays make me question whether I made the right choice.
 
jabberwocky said:
To top it off, the Titanium elite breakfast vouchers only covered the "American breakfast".
Click to expand...
Did the property have an M Club lounge? We just stayed at a Marriott in downtown Knoxville and it was the same way. The breakfast voucher only covered the "American breakfast". They said they were providing the same breakfast option we would have got in the M Club had the M Club been offering breakfast. The lounge was open but I guess they don't have any food items over the weekend.

We've had better breakfasts at JW properties though they tend to be buffet style rather than a la carte.
 
This is getting crazy. I think almost all of the USA has forgotten what tips are supposed to represent.
 
I’ve grown tired of big corporations attempting to guilt me into supplementing their employees income. Pay the employees a decent wage and charge a reasonable price for your service.
 
Tipping was for service beyond the standard service provided by an employee. Now even some take out restaurants employees, like the cashiers who take you order want a tip.
 
dioxide45 said:
Did the property have an M Club lounge? We just stayed at a Marriott in downtown Knoxville and it was the same way. The breakfast voucher only covered the "American breakfast". They said they were providing the same breakfast option we would have got in the M Club had the M Club been offering breakfast. The lounge was open but I guess they don't have any food items over the weekend.

We've had better breakfasts at JW properties though they tend to be buffet style rather than a la carte.
Click to expand...
They didn’t mention that there was an M lounge, but a quick search indicates that they do have. I’m surprised they didn’t mention it when I checked. I guess just another sign of the lackluster service.
 
In some ways this is starting to remind me of the issues standard retail started having in the late aughts. Service cratered as wages plummeted and at a certain point it became a better experience to just order online, as well as saving money and time. And retail "disappeared".

While hospitality can't be replaced in the same way, I'm starting to see why AirB&B took off and is still popular even though the "top line" price isn't cheaper than hotels anymore, and maybe why for me VRBO actually is better (all fees are disclosed and collected up front, no surprise fees). So far there's no attempt to get me to tip anyone, and I don't have to (usually) deal with anyone to check in or out. There's no "tricks" around parking (so far as I can tell) or breakfast. You usually get a kitchen like a TS, so just prepare your own for much less money. The only downside is the cleaning, but with the expected tips for hotel staff to do the cleaning, and the now every other day at a lot of hotels, you start to think doing your own cleaning isn't so bad.

I have yet to be quite so annoyed by the Hilton places I've stayed - never had a "special kind of breakfast" limit to it, either the buffet is included or it's a straight dollar credit to whatever you order. No complications thank goodness (so far anyway).

The other thing though is I'm continuing to test out the Priceline Partners integration via II and try other brands - in those cases I just don't tip for what ought to be included IMO. I'll tip for a bellhop to help with our bunch of luggage, and sometimes at drop off or check out of a valet, but I'm sorry - tipping for housekeeping - NO. It's a basic part of the purchased service at hotels. Just like I'm not going to tip the front desk for checking me in. Just like I won't tip for pick up of a take out order if I'm walking up to the counter and getting it. I'm not tipping the fast food person either FFS. And I think instead of these required 20%... if it's required, it should just be part of the prices on the menu.

I don't care what you have to charge to make the money you want to to provide the good or service, but I really wish it could just be priced into the top line price. I think that really ought to be a law. Let me actually compare prices.
 
jp10558 said:
I don't care what you have to charge to make the money you want to to provide the good or service, but I really wish it could just be priced into the top line price. I think that really ought to be a law. Let me actually compare prices.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Sadly, consumer protection laws are being watered down everywhere right now. Set your expectations accordingly.

If I have a choice, I simply do not frequent companies which encourage tipping for what should be an included service. Even tipping housekeeping is ridiculous - we don't usually interact with them, they provide an essential service for the product purchased, and it's extremely rare that they provide a superior level of service which might justify a tip.

Of course, the root cause is that at least in this country, companies don't have to pay a living wage, so why should they?
 
Cornell said:
I was presented a tip option on a screen at a
Ken555 said:
Absolutely. Sadly, consumer protection laws are being watered down everywhere right now. Set your expectations accordingly.

If I have a choice, I simply do not frequent companies which encourage tipping for what should be an included service. Even tipping housekeeping is ridiculous - we don't usually interact with them, they provide an essential service for the product purchased, and it's extremely rare that they provide a superior level of service which might justify a tip.

Of course, the root cause is that at least in this country, companies don't have to pay a living wage, so why should they?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Deleted
 
Last edited:
Another major causes of this tipping problems in the timeshare, the service and hotel industries. Major corporations are now contracting these services out to third parties contractors ( liked MasterCorp) and these contractors are only paying the federal minimum wage. Imho

Workers from third world countries are happy with this arrangement.
They are working in the United States and are paying into our Social Security Program.

Major corporations do not want to employ these employees on their payrolls and offer these employees any company benefits, liked hospitization, retirement benefits or paid holidays. .

These are my opinions/observations only.
 
Last edited:
pedro47 said:
Major corporations are now contracting these services out to contractors
Click to expand...
Oh boy. We just got back from a 2 wk trip. UA lost my bag on the return. It didn't really matter in the short-run. It had all beachy stuff, and it sure ain't beachy here right now. So, I filed the form and went on with my life, thinking "No hurry". Well, UA contracts this out to a 3rd-party, a 3rd-party full of morons. I got a bizarre series of texts. They sent a text telling me the name of the guy who was supposed to deliver it. So? They didn't say WHEN or HOW. Just a name. Who cares? WHEN?
Then I got a text saying they guy had tried to call but I didn't pick up. Well, cellphones are good at recording calls attempts. No call came to my phone.
Then, :LOL: the next day I got a text around 9 AM saying they had delivered my bag at 5 AM. I knew it was a brain-fart but I went outside to look. Nooooop. Eventually it was delivered, and you know what, it didn't matter what the name of the guy was.
I did tip him though. I was so glad to think I'd never communicate with them again.

And I should mention the UA employee who asked me if my bag had any notable characteristics. All I could say was "Do you mean in addition to the UNITED BAGGAGE TAG with this here # on it? Beside that?"
 
Why isn't Marriott paying the workers more? My tips are included in my maintenance fees.
 
TolmiePeak said:
Why isn't Marriott paying the workers more? My tips are included in my maintenance fees.
Click to expand...
The thread is about hotel properties, Marriott isn't even paying them. It is usually individual property owners that own and operate the hotels under a license agreement.
 
The ridiculous tipping culture, resort fees and the general nickel and diming everywhere are the primary reasons why I currently have no intention on visiting the US anymore. After over two decades of pretty much annual visits I've had enough. It's a shame as there are still a number of national parks that I want to visit but even they have fallen victim to price gouging.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
dioxide45 said:
The thread is about hotel properties, Marriott isn't even paying them. It is usually individual property owners that own and operate the hotels under a license agreement.
Click to expand...
Whoever is operating the hotels should be paying their employees.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top