Should You Tip Hotel Housekeeping Staff?

It is not uncommon for you to spend a number of days in a hotel and yet never really meet the housekeeping staff. You simply find a well-made bed, a cleaned carpet and the room that you may have left upside down in the morning is neat and clean. Like the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind” you are very likely not to give a second thought to the person who did all that.

Personally, it was not that I never thought of the housekeeping staff, it was just that I was not sure if I am expected to give them a tip or not. It can be a bit confusing, considering you do not ever see them so you may not even know how to find the particular person that worked in the room.

CNN’s Marnie Hunter wrote about this and it touched some of the key concerns I have always had about tipping housekeeping staff. You see some of the questions I had were:

• Is it okay to tip them?
• How much is acceptable?
• Do I tip every time they clean or at the end of my stay?
• Should I just leave it in the room or give it to the person at the desk?