A recent discussion created online buzz wondering whether it’s necessary to tip the person who cleans airport lounge showers between each use? The poster prompting the discussion tipped $5 at a Delta Sky Club and felt bad for not tipping $10. This seems to be thinking about the issue all wrong.
Capital One Lounge DFW Airport Shower Suite
Airport workers are generally paid well compared to similar employees doing similar jobs off-airport, and airport minimum wages can be a third or even more above the minimum wage generally.
Raising costs to passengers of airport services doesn’t often drive passengers to alternative airports (there frequently aren’t anyway) and focuses costs on relatively affluent locals and out of towners while concessionaires paying the wages get monopoly contracts. At the same time, wages need to be higher to attract people to commute to airports and going through security checks.
This is different than off-airport restaurant wait staff where they are paid a ‘tipped wage’ that is lower (but where restaurants generally have to make up the difference if tips don’t get them to minimum wage).
To be sure, minimum wage is not a ‘livable wage’ but where worker wages are lower to compensate for tips assumes an expectation of tipping. But an equilibrium where users of a service need to figure out how much a worker makes (without being told) and make up the difference is bizarrely inefficient.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Cabana
At the Austin airport I’ve had a $0.00 tip rejected at self-checkout. So in a world where we now online hotel booking websites, tipping shower attendants in a Sky Club seems, like… I guess?
Although I really don’t think so. I don’t see an obligation to tip in an airport, an airport lounge, or an airport lounge shower.
- The official position, from an American Airlines Senior Vice President, is that there’s no tipping in the carrier’s Flagship First Dining because it’s considered ‘an extension of the cabin’ where tipping is expressly forbidden.
- American Express says that tipping at Centurion lounge bars and spas is permitted, but not expected.
- As a general rule if you’re showering in an airport, there’s a high likelihood that you’re off of a long haul international flight. There’s no expectation that you even have local currency. And therefore there cannot be an expectation that you tip.
First Class American Airlines/British Airways Chelsea Lounge Where Shower Attendants Left Cleaning Supplies Behind
Some will feel the need to tip at a bar. I don’t feel the need to tip in an airport, except that sit-down restaurants in the U.S. come with that expectation even where servers are paid a premium. I’ll tip elsewhere for above and beyond service, not obligation.
For those of you that have taken showers in airport lounges, have you left a tip?
No. Plain and Simple.
I tip the bartender in an airport lounge when I get a drink but not the people that clear the dishes (most are buffet style service so you get your own) and wouldn’t in flagship dining for the reason AA stated in the article. I would not tip someone that cleans the shower any more than I would hand a $20 to the person cleaning the restroom. I consider that a core service offering and there is an expectation it be cleaned before use.
We need to put an end to tipping. Tipping should only be done when service is well above what would be normally expected. I am not paying a tip to someone to do their job. Cleaning a hotel room after I leave. That’s their job. If I leave an unusual mess I might. If I ask for something extra during my stay. I might. People need to start demanding living wages. It not my responsibility to supplement wages because their boss is cheap Bartenders? Make my drink just the way I like it. I’ll tip. But don’t let me catch you measuring alcohol. Servers? Remember who I am and what I like and bingo, you get a bonus. And one more thing. When I do choose to tip, I over tip. Please get rid of suggested tip charts.
Hell No. As for the bartender, almost never either. It takes all of 30 seconds to pour a glass of wine or beer and I’d rather pour it myself if allowed. Maybe more like about 2 minutes to make a mixed drink but it’s not difficult, not personalized, not above and beyond. I think most people tip only out of a sense of obligation or embarrassment if somebody is standing there staring you in the face. I read a statistic that only about 20% of people are stupid enough to tip in places like fast casual restaurants and take out coffee. I thought it was much higher and that I was in the minority since I never do. I also read that 60% of people at sit down restaurants still tip 15% or less, also surprising. Think I’m going to stick with max 15% for sit-down and 0% for everything else. Anyone who has an excess of money or guilt, please tip the people that work the hardest like bathroom attendants not the bartenders who smile and chat you up
I’m done with tipping by default. Sorry, but expecting extra payouts for doing only base jobs (like non-daily housekeeping and people working cash registers) killed it. Go out of your way, get a tip. Otherwise, why am I taking money from my family to subsidize your poor career choices? Nope.
We were at Haneda Airport in Japan recently and no we did not tip. It would be insulting to the attendant in Japan.
American Express says that tipping at Centurion lounge bars and spas is permitted, but not expected. At the DFW Centurion lounge, when you tip the lounge employee keeping the waiting list twenty dollars, just like a hotel maître d’, expecting a handout, you might be able to get priority service without needing to pay thousands of dollars for the AMEX Centurion card annual fee.
Nope. This tipping need to stop
I have tipped a few bucks in the Emirates Lounge showers in Dubai.
No biggie. But I wasn’t made to feel like I had to.
Generally, no and it’s not been a recurring issue or expectation.
However, in March 2019 in the MEX T2 Aeromexico lounge the female attendant ‘insisted’ that I tip. As I exited (fully clothed) the shower room, she put herself between me and the hallway and stuck her hand out. I looked at her for a moment, and she moved her hand from side to side. I’ve learned that when traveling internationally, I keep low-denomination local currency in a convenient place. This is in case there’s some need for ‘baksheesh’ and to avoid a larger confrontation. I handed her a ten-peso coin, and she looked at it like it wasn’t enough for her. I shrugged and then walked past her.
Agreed – tipping should be reserved for extraordinary service.
I usually leave $3 to $5 in the shower but don’t stress out about it if I don’t have it or don’t feel like it. I think the “you’re not expected to have any cash on you” it’s a bit of a cop out/excuse. I always carry cash, but that’s me.
US service workers are tipped. $5 used to be a reasonable tip for the shower. With inflation, it is $10.
If you can’t afford to tip in a restaurant, then you can’t afford to eat. If you can’t afford (or don’t have cash) to tip in an airport lounge, then you shouldn’t order drinks at the bar or take a shower.
Tipping is not a matter of excess money. The simple fact is that the US service industry does not charge a line item service fee, and it is culturally expected that patrons make up for the difference with customary tips.
It’s a culture issue.
We have developed a culture in the USA where companies have been ptovided an option to pay less, expecting the largess of the customer to provide that employee what the employer chooses not to provide.
So: socialism for the owner, groveling for the employee.
Where does the problem lie?
@ Gary — Do I have to tip ANYONE? No, but sometimes I do anyway.
@ Larry — Tipping a bartender is a payment for future service (ie, strong drinks). That’s why your tip money should always be displayed before the first pour.
Well said.
JUST DON’T TIP. EVER, except at U.S. and Canada restaurants and bars, and certain baggage handlers, which are the only officially-recognized “tipped” occupations globally (no, shower attendants are not tipped wage occupations).
Generous tipping practices have fueled ‘tipflation,’ and companies are progressively making tippers pay their ordinary costs, especially labor, which as a result is increasingly underpaid.
When people regularly tip large amounts, it can inadvertently set new, higher expectations for revenues through tips. While the intent behind generous tipping is often to reward good service, in real life it contributes to lower wages for workers and ‘tipflation’.
SET A GOOD EXAMPLE: DON’T TIP (outside of U.S. and Canadian restaurants and bars and certain baggage handlers). Period.
Unless, of course, you’re a person with very low morals who uses tips as a form of illegal bribery (I am looking at you @Gene)
Why not tip? Have done this for shower service at the Lufthansa lounges in Germany for years.
i don’t tip any lounge workers in airport, even in the US in spite of stupid american labor practices regarding tipped wages at federal and state level in most cases, with some exceptions. I get most value from a clean lounge so if I see a bathroom or shower attendant doing a good job or lounge attendant clearing dishes doing a good job I will tip them and tell them why, in a particularly loud (american style) voice so other lounge workers and lounge workers can hear me. i see very little value form other lounge service.
also, i know this blog is mostly dog whistling for paige views to leverage for affiliate dollars and advertiser dollars so i don’t usually click (and of course clear cookies before ever applying for a credit card), let alone comment because the thawt leader doesn’t deserve it. imho, “dailin’ for dollars” did it better anyways (sung in the unmistakable voice of janis joplin).
Tip all you want in your dumb country where corporate greed means employees are not paid properly.
But keep your stupid practice confined to the US only please
Normally I’m not one of those people, but this grammar is lousy Gary.
Replay the skycap tipping drama of AA 2008-2010.
I’ve only tipped baggage handlers curbside, to bypass a long linre or at the carousel. I’ve never tipped anyone else on a flight.
I never met a lounge barman nor barmaid competent enough nor friendly enough to deserve a tip.
Any staff I give complimentary social media remarks. Or kudos in airline survey.
Good question about shower and toilet staff.
I mean, lounges supposedly are high class and pre-paid, yet they aren’t really private clubs due to civil rights laws, so the tipping of various and sundry staffers really is a good question. I suppose I should have handy more tipping cash.
No way! If you need to make more money, get a different job.
Have taken showers numerous times at FRA. Never have tipped. I once asked a German national, who was also leaving the shower area about tipping. He definitely said Nein! He knows that the staff are paid decent wages, with full benefits.
But I guess it is tough to be an American. So many guilt trips.
No. What is with the obsession with tipping in America!?
Those who tip at lounge bars and showers are accustomed to strip clubs, where they tip in hopes of additional services.
In restaurants it depends what state I am in. In Calif waiters get $16/hour so I tip 10% for
prompt excellent service. This enables them to make $30/hr on average. In other states the tipped employees only make a guaranteed rate of $7.25/hr so I tip 20% outside of California.