Hotel waiter claiming service charge goes to the big bosses

[FleurdeLion]

I am a former trade unionist who has campaigned for fair tips for staff. I've also worked as a kitchen porter who benefitted from the tronc system where the service charge automatically applied to restaurant bills paid by card, was shared among waiting and kitchen staff.

As of October 2024, 100% of any service charge or tip paid by card must be shared via the tronc system.

This evening I ate at a Hilton airport hotel restaurant where a 12.5% service charge was added to the bill. I know that I can ask for this amount to be deducted from the bill, and that I can give a cash tip that will go directly to the waiter.

I don't generally carry cash and I have been happy to pay a service charge, knowing that it goes to the tronc. Personally I think 12.5% is probably a bit much. I would prefer a 10% charge, or for the hospitality industry to pay people properly. But I am willing to pay the service charge, knowing it will be distributed to the kitchen and waiting staff.

This is not about tipping.

This evening, the waiter said that the service charge doesn't go to him but to "the big bosses" and can be removed. We witnessed him saying the same to an American couple at the next table who paid the full bill with the service charge and gave him a cash tip, saying that this was for him. I don't care what Americans do. If they want to give him cash, I'm fine with that.

I asked him if the money went to the tronc and he wouldn't say yes. I pointed out that the law says all the service charge must be shared by the staff and asked him if the company was breaking the law. Again he wouldn't say yes.

Am I being unreasonable in thinking that he wanted to get the full tip for himself and not share it with the rest of the team?

Should I mention his approach to the restaurant manager? I imagine that he might lose his job or at the very least be disciplined for talking to diners in this way?

But it seeds distrust with diners that the law is not being followed and implies that this mega hotel chain is screwing over its staff.

YABU - who cares, give him a cash tip instead of the service charge.
YANBU - mention it to the hotel management, because he's a CF.

No you don't report him FFS. You know it might get him fired. He's on probably not much more than minimum wage. Hilton are shit shit shit to wok for. Tip or don't tip, entirely up to you but either way, just get on with your day and leave this alone.

I really bloody wish everyone would stop bloody reporting everyone else for every real or imagined infraction of rules/made up rules that have piss all to do with them. Stop it. Eat your dinner. Tip or don't tip. Move on.

Hilton are awful to work for, worked for them myself for nearly 8 years. The issue is there’s no transparency between the amount the hotel receive in total from service charge and the amount that goes to the employees. It’s paid every 3 months and we used to get about £50-£100 with a fairly small food and beverage team - the amount never used to make sense when you’d look at the amount of service charge by customers being paid during each lunch or dinner service.

I worked in a hotel and there was service charge was shared amongst all staff but pro rata to salary so someone earning 40k took home double what the ft serving staff did despite never setting foot in the restaurant.

I thank the powers that you are a former trade unionist. You want to know if it is ok to get someone sacked because they may not have told the truth about tips, but you don't know whether they have or not? Words escape me. Right now "former human being" seems closer to the mark.

The legislation since October 2024 means that 100% of the service charge on a bill is shared between the staff. None of it goes to the hotel. And to have a waiter claim it goes to the big bosses is a downright lie by a CF to get a cash tip for himself. Waiters often get cash tips they can keep anyway z and at an airport hotel they are more likely to get cash from Americans who assume it's the same as in the US.

I worked at a nationwide-chain restaurant maybe five years ago where staff only were eligible for tips paid by card if we completed some online training. I was there for 9 months and I kept bringing it up along with other staff, but we were never given access the online training. Our manager kept telling us he was chasing head office about it but nothing ever came of it. Only three people ever had the training completed to get their share sent to them, and my manager told me that head office kept the rest. Cash tips were split amongst staff, so we did suggest that people tipped cash if they specifically asked about it.

I'm not getting someone sacked. I'm asking if they are acting collectively for ALL the staff or lying about where the service charge goes so they get more of the service charge for themselves.

Until October 2024 I refused all service charges and tipped in cash. Every time I asked the staff where the service charge went they said they couldn't speak about it.

Now that the law has changed to benefit everyone, I am shocked that CFs are lying about it so they get more for themselves. In a hotel where they are very likely to pick up £100 a night in cash tips.

Trade unionism is about the power of collective action. This CF is getting more of the service charge than he would have got a year ago because the trade unions campaigned and won for the service charges to go to the staff and not the hotel.

And now he's after even more.

Yes and since October 2024 the law has changed so that 100% of service charges are shared between the staff. None of it goes to the hotel or restaurant.

So he's depriving his colleagues of their fair share by lying about it. In an environment where he is likely to pick up more money as cash tips that he is legally allowed to keep than in other restaurants or hotels.

And I didn't specifically ask about it. He spontaneously told me the service charge went to the big bosses. Then I asked him about the tronc and whether Hilton were breaking the law.
He's a CF.

Do you really care that much about some random waiter who is probably on minimum wage trying to get a few more tips?

honestly just enjoy your meal, enjoy your trip and leave him to it.

Please just leave the guy alone. Forget it.

I read it more that op is concerned about those middle and back of house staff who won’t get their share of those tips? And that the waiter will take 100% to themselves?

I would assume 0% went to staff on floor. It always ends up like this in big compagnies. That's how people in the top get rich.

So if you want to tip do it in cash.

And if you were kitchen staff losing out on tips because he's lying about the system, you'd be OK with that?

What was the point in me campaigning to change the law then?

How do you know he isn’t sharing it with those working that day. You don’t. You don’t really know anything about what’s going on.

Thank you. That is exactly my position.

Except the law was changed so that all of a service charge is shared between the staff and the hotel company doesn't get a penny.

The service charge is now legally shared among all the staff. So he is not sharing it. He's pocketing it for himself.

I know.
Still don't believe that it's shared 100% and fair on staff on the floor.
Easy to direct higher up and floor staff will never know.

Ffs give it a rest. Leave the poor bloke alone. Tip or don't tip. It is entirely up to you.

Unless you are able to audit the accounts of the Hilton you have absolutely no way of knowing whether staff are paid their fair share in line with the law.

Yet another useless “trade unionist”.

Your time would have been better spent focusing on sector-wide agreements aimed at protecting hospitality workers through the introduction of fair wages.

Could it also be shared by staff not on the floor ? Ie “higher ups” on higher salaries who don’t wait or work in kitchen ?
What does the law say on transparency regarding service charges collected and how it’s distributed?

And how do you know I haven't done that?

The union works on many different issues simultaneously.