Tipping the Scales in Their Favor

July 3, 2019

“Nobody ever went to Hell for over-tipping.”—Me

I recently stayed in a hotel in New York City. Even my father, the world’s stingiest man, would leave tips for maids at the motels we used to stay in when I was a kid. So I know that tipping is important.

Considering that the housekeepers have to change the sheets, tidy the room, and clean the bathrooms (and you know how unpleasant some people can make bathrooms), I was prepared to shell out some serious cash. You’re supposed to tip a concierge $2-$3 for helping you procure tickets to something or map out a route for you—and they’re just working at a computer! So I figured that all that physical labor would be worth quite a bit.

So I was stunned to see that the rate for tipping a housekeeper—in New York City—was $1-$2 per person per night. In New York City!!! I checked 3 different sites to make sure. And I checked the date of the sites, to make sure that they weren’t several years old.

It seemed outrageous to me, so of course I over-tipped. But considering all the work the housekeepers did, I don’t really think that it was over-tipping.

But I do think that somebody may want to re-think the tipping scale.

(Guess what? Before I posted this, I looked again, and found a site that said $1-$5 for housekeeping in NYC. So I feel better.)