Marriott hotels launch envelope campaign to get guests in the habit of tipping maids

[SheilaT]

71. I am very aware that the people who clean my room when I stay in a hotel

are paid as little as the hotel can get away with. I always tip. And I give $10/day. When I'm staying several days, I often get a sweet note from the cleaning person, and it's clear that all to often guests tip nothing.

Yes, I agree that it might be better to pay everyone a genuine living wage. Until then, while I am not rich, I do budget that $10/day at a hotel. It's gotten so when I stay in some sort of budge motel I'll tip less, and then I feel extremely guilty, because the maid there probably makes even less than the maid at the high-end hotel, and why should I give her less just because the room cost me less?

There's an interesting scene towards the beginning of the movie "My Blue Heaven", where Steve Martin, who's playing a mafia guy in a witness protection program, and Rick Moranis are on an airplane. Martin orders a drink, tries to tip the flight attendant who of course refuses the money. A minute or two later he slips the money into her pocket, saying to Moranis something along the lines of "It's always worth tipping people who help you in any way." That actually had a profound influence on my tipping behavior. As I said, I'm not rich but I budget for the tips, because I'm still a whole lot better off than many people.