Or is this weird? (Hotel)

[napalmskies]

So twice I’ve come back to my room on holiday and the maid has already been (clean towels, bed made etc)

Then I’m just getting a drink and getting changed and I hear a knock at the door and someone just walks in (don’t give me chance to open the door) and says house keeping, how was your service?

and then they quickly leave

I can't imagine having a service and not tipping, I'm amazed by how many people are not tipping housekeeping. And I can't tag (don't know how too) but too the lady who said she'd rather just go to a place that charges more than tip so she knows the person is getting a decent wage 😂 that doesn't mean they're getting a decent wage just because the service cost more, they barely see the money in most industries.

We recently stayed somewhere where they said the hotel service charge was split between all the staff. Later we went on a technical tour of the hotel and I saw a letter stating that in February the total service charge was $127K approx and that this worked out as $x per employee. I was impressed by the hotel’s transparency.

When the housekeeper for our room put a heart made from petals on our bed DD & I were not impressed - complete waste of time & we look similar. It seemed weird & I don’t want towel art either.

There are plenty of low wage jobs that provide a service that no-one hardly ever tips. Retail and care work being the obvious examples.

I'm continuously baffled as to why people tip for serving food, making beds or carrying out beauty treatments, but don't offer the same courtesy to similarly paid people who provide personal care, or sell goods in shops, which often has the same level of advice/skill as waiting staff. For example, DP used to work in a high end bike shop for a few pence more than NMW.

He would provide advice on individually fitted bikes, saddles, pedals,wheels, clothing etc, which would take time and customers would be spending thousands. A handful of times a year, someone would bring in a crate of beer, but that was absolutely nothing compared with what he would have got if he had been selling them a pizza.

Fowles94, I don’t want to go somewhere that charges more because I think that means the staff are paid more, I know there is little correlation between the bill and the staff wages- what I meant is that I would prefer a society where companies paid their staff a living wage (probably enforced by having a much higher national minimum wage), and I would be happy to pay more to facilitate this. Even if you tip, many of the staff won’t benefit anyway (kitchen porters have a worse job than waiting staff but nobody is nipping into the kitchen to tip them after dinner). And as someone else pointed out, there are many other low paid service providers who don’t get tips, but all deserve a decent living wage.

When I'm in hotels I

• put the Do not Disturb sign on the door handle
• put the chain on and/or
• turn the key in the lock and leave it in the lock.

I feel much safer that way.

Only left a tip once in Barbados. Had the same maid all the time, she didn't ever seem to have a day off. Did see her once outwith hotel with two children. I asked if they were hers next day. She did a terrific job everyday hence the tip. Before I had even left the room the girl was telling her supervisor about the money. I was told she isnt allowed to accept it. Having a few hours to spare I went to shops and bought some clothes that hopefully would fit her two children. Got store to wrap them in carrier bag. I then got a newspaper and wrapped them up again and asked at reception for a bit of paper and sellotape, wrote the maid's name on it and asked reception to ensure she got it. Told them it was something I had borrowed from her and forgot to return. Didn't leave ny name but sure maid would know who had left it. So unusual, compared to the usual 'hand out" waiting for a tip.

In the USA hotels often do security checks and hotels no longer have do not disturb signs.

In the USA hotels often do security checks and hotels no longer have do not disturb signs.

There was a do not disturb sign in the hotel in NYC I stayed in last week.

What I'm going to say now isn't likely to be popular, but it has occurred to me, in general really but this thread has brought it to the fore.
Locking yourself in overnight could potentially be dangerous in the event of a fire, if you're not woken by the fire alarm for some reason, and staff can't gain entry. You'd have to stay there until the fire brigade arrive to break the door down. Which is fine if you're well away from the fire, not so fine if it's above, below or next door. It also means staff can't gain entry if the alarm indicates the fire is in the area of your room, to see if it's that sensor that has triggered it, and if indeed there is a fire. I carry an emergency key that opens all doors on me at all times on shift, for this reason, and yes, if I need entry in those circumstances, I will knock, call out and then use my key to gain entry. It could ultimately save lives. And at that point safety is far more important than being caught in the shower or whatever. I've known drunk people, or those with hearing problems sleep right through a fire alarm at night, it does happen.
I'm not sure how this sits with privacy though, other than that maybe it's better to not lock your door from the inside at night.

I wouldn't stay at a hotel whose security checks consisted of entering my room uninvited. And I'd make my own 'do not disturb' sign if the room didn't have one.
Locking yourself in a hotel room is no different to locking yourself in your home if your home is in a block of flats. People with additional needs presumably make alternative arrangements (like not locking doors) to cover for the possibility of a fire. People without additional needs should be able to rely on the fire alarm.

I've been in a hotel when the fire alarm has gone off in the middle of the night and you'd have to be deaf or already dead to not hear it.

@BarbaraofSevillle

Or blind drunk. It has happened to me, from the hotel side, more than once. People not accounted for and found flat out asleep, luckily not an actual fire, but a cigarette end put in the bin not quite out that smouldered and produced smoke, then put out with water by occupant. Had their doors been locked I wouldn't have been able to get them out. Or if the room the bin was in was locked from the inside and the person gone out or fallen asleep, it could have been different. You see it from a different perspective when the fire alarm goes off at 3am and you have potentially lives in your hands - and people don't even move half the time either, which is really scary.

@ferrier

Some don't notify of special needs in the event of a fire, and even more scary, chatting to some guests and they said they'd stay put until told to evacuate (off topic I know) but that's what the fire alarm is for - to tell you to evacuate!

As I said, I don't know how it sits with privacy and I have been walked in on before. However, if by 'security check' you mean me gaining entry to the room in an emergency situation, the fire alarm telling me the fire is in that room, then unless it is obviously ablaze, I'm going in, I will knock and call out, but I can't afford not to. That's the only circumstances I would enter a room without permission, that and if a guest doesn't check out, answer the door and phone several times, then we have a policy to enter the room. That's usually the general manager though.
I wouldn't dream of going into an occupied room without knocking first in normal circumstances, and I do think that anyone who is barged in on should complain to reception, management may not be aware housekeeping and duty management are doing it.

I have it on the night to when they come in to turn down the sheets.Just walk in without going in to much details but think carry on

Were we go in Mauritius the maid always brings us a postcard with her name on and asks if we have been happy with housekeeping they come in three times a day
We always have and i always give a generous tip on the last day to her and i have kept the postcards

Yikes this should not happen- speak to someone and ask that it stops. I don't think you should be made to tip this behavior. do not disturb sign and chair under door handle. Comment on this on the hotel website, so we can all avoid it.

What is the purpose of making the bed in the morning in the impossible to sleep in hotel style and then coming again in the afternoon to 'turn it down' whatever that means? Why can't they just make the bed once a day and leave it ready to use?

The security checks in the USA hotels are because of the Las Vegas hotel shootings. Many hotels I have stayed in recently have removed the don't disturb signs.