Couldn't find a forum to ask this, but what do you normally tip the maids at a hotel? For me, if i stay longer than 3 days, i will leave $20 U.S on the bed right before i check out. Just curious....i will try to save as much $ as possible when traveling, but i understand maids are not very well paid.
We leave a couple of dollars each day rather than all at once- after we noticed that maids often have a day off somewhere in our stays and so perhaps a tip might be picked up and kept in it's entirety by a fill in maid who was only servicing the room on the one day we left it all.
Oh Lulu, great minds ....
I do the same thing $2.00 on a daily basis rather than waiting until the end of my stay.
well...i don't request maid service until the day i leave...i always have the DND sign outside my door, but otherwise, i would do the same thing you did. there are benefits at some hotels which give $5 discount coupons per night that you don't request maid service to be used at the hotel shops, eateries, etc....all for the environment so they say.
Edited: 6:55 pm, December 19, 2012
Tipping standards vary greatly around the world. It is wise to learn the local customs on this matter before tipping so good for you for asking the question.
In much of Asia for example, there is no expectation for room cleaning tips outside of the international luxury hotels. And if you leave money, they would be much more concerned about accused theft than thinking you had left money for tip and wouldn't touch it. We've even had hotel owners call us on our mobile to tell us we left some money in the room by accident when leaving. It was just some small change we wanted to leave for a very nice cleaning lady.
So best to study up on the tipping customs before traveling. I'd suggest just asking the local destination experts (DEs) on the TA forums in the particular destinations you are going to.
Have a nice travel trip.
We lay our few dollars daily on a little note on the night table on which we have written "for housekeeping" so there is no confusion about our intent.
Pruske, if I recall we do think alike- remember the " Iffy Fly" post on the Air Travel Forum???
I usually try and find out at the beginning who is our regular maid, then nearly half way through tip her in person and again on departure. It usually produces good results in that when I tip her half way through, the maid usually asks if I am leaving tomorrow and I reply no I have another 8 days here. The next 8 days the service is fantastic, extra towels and extra chocolates automatically appear, at the Radisson in Malta (where we have a suite) the kitchen is spotless with extra coffee and dishwasher tablets, as well as anything left in the sink is washed up and put away rather than put in the dishwasher and switched on.
I did this at Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disneyworld on each of our three visits, suddenly signed photos of Disney characters were left on my daughter’s bed, the maid on one trip even made things out of face cloths and towels and left them on her bed.
Macl1uk
Macl1uk that is good information for traveling in an English speaking country but it is often the case in other countries that there may just be 2 girls cleaning and then the language barrier. Parts of Central America (just got back) are so poor that a dollar here and there is appreciated. When a small real nice hotel/hostal with private bath costs $25 and a dorm $8, a dollar tip is good. I am just saying that the country and the type of hotel/hostal one stays in makes a lot of difference in tipping. A good example of how "tips" have changed, 15 years ago in Mexico, a taxi driver never got a tip. Travelers started to tip, not knowing the custom, and now taxi drivers in high rent district (Cancun) will ask you for a tip. That really caught me off guard when it first happened and now they all expect tips. I wonder if this is good for them, or is it because travelers did not know the custom and changed the custom.
I believe that in most countries that the maids are poorly paid so even if language is a barrier which I have found in the past, it is not difficult to find out if it is the same maid each day. I just go down the corridor and look out for the cart and look at the maid, it is easy to establish by watching her work her way towards your room that she is likely to be your maid as there is no other cart in sight and if it is the same maid the next day then yes the odds are that she is the regular one as a stand in would not likely to be there two days running.
It is easy to indicate with hands that I go in 7 days!
Not that easy for me, maybe for you which is great. Traveling recently in second/third world is difficult. Some are so uneducated that they don't know to even take out toilet trash after many requests so I have had to do it. Some will not lift a finger and leave you with one sheet. Many managers or owners do not care, not being mean they just have no clye yet.
I find out the tipping guidelines for the country first, over tipping is not good, then I try to hand over the money myself, why?? A lady I know personally worked as a maid in Gulf Shores, Al. and she told me that on the day people were due to leave her supervisor would inspect the rooms first, she and the other girls never saw a tip and I don't like tipping someone who didn't do the work, just takes the cash.
I like tipping boxes that way hopefully everyone gets his or her share, cooks are often not paied very well also, but who goes in the kitchen to tip them?
