Tipping is absolutely out of control. And now that legislation is advancing in Congress to exempt tips from income tax, we can expect it to spread further and faster. When you subsidize something, you get more of it.
It was one thing when hotels just wanted you to tip housekeeping so that they can pay housekeepers less. If part of the wage comes directly from the guest, it’s easier for the hotel to attract and retain staff without increasing pay.
Then they started wanting yo to tip at the self-service breakfast buffet and even tip the foreign hotel ownership group.
But now they want you to tip the front desk clerk who checks you in, too.
I’ve written about a Marriott that wants you to tip the front desk staff at check-in, and not even for an upgrade. They use a QR code, so the employee probably doesn’t even know right away that you’ve paid. The Hyatt Centric Boston was doing this too. So does Marriott’s Fairfield Inn New York Midtown Manhattan.
But it doesn’t stop there. I’ve stayed at this Colorado Springs Hyatt House. At most they check your ID, swipe your credit card, and hand you a key.
QR Code for Tipping Guest Services
byu/Sand-in-my-toes71 inhyatt
Some hotel employees report that a front desk agent at a big, busy hotel can take home from $500 a week to $500 a night this way.
I worked Full Service as FD Supervisor and made anywhere from $400-$500 a week in tips.
…the property i work at has a lot of repeat corporate clients that build relationships with the front desk and tip 20$-50$ regularly, i’ve seen front desk walk out with 500$ in tips, all the check inns tipped 25$ from a account
They used to call this the $20 trick for an upgrade, although it’s more like $100 at nice hotels. This is especially common in Las Vegas.
At the Bellagio $100 got me a Penthouse Suite with two bedrooms and five bathrooms for a four night stay. There was a front desk supervisor standing behind the agent who took my hundred, so presumably the agent was kicking up. You’re not going to get much at Colorado Springs Hyatt House, though.
Staff are expensive, and shifting their cost onto the guest to pay is one way owners manage costs. Another is automating the front desk entirely using kiosks and mobile check-in. Massive tip inflation, and spreading to new scenarios, is a good scam for businesses. But it is time to make it stop. If you see one of these signs soliciting tips for front desk staff, please do not do it.
Or, hear me out, you can just not tip. *gasp*
And, like, they can pay people a living wage, so that workers wouldn’t have to beg… (I know, I know… to some of you, that would literally ‘communism’)
So here’s the good news: you don’t HAVE to tip. Just ignore the nonsense. Don’t tip people who, traditionally, work for wages and not tips. Let those who are super generous (fools?) subsidize your patronage.
Heck, in the many cities/states where restaurant servers now earn fairly generous salaries (I’ve personally seen $18/hour), you can even be a “bad person” and reduce your tip. If your server works for you for 5 minutes, is that worth $20 plus salary? YOU get to decide. That’s the good side of this tipping expansion — you can say “no” if you want to.
@Chopsticks — Well said. I feel like we may have actually suggested the same thing, albeit with different words, perhaps, more or less sarcasm, too.
Now, where are our resident contrarians to push for more tipping…
If you did your research prior to posting you’d see that “Rina V” is housekeeping at that hotel when you click through that QR code… not even one front desk associate is listed; all are housekeeping. Typical over dramatic Gary Leff clickbait
I’m seeing these in the rooms in Hyatt’s now as well. I’ve just stopped tipping all together – I guess you could call it tipping fatigue.
I’m not going to increase my costs 15-25% because companies want to pay sh!t and people are stupid enough to work for that same sh!t wage.
One word:
NO
@Kevin – if you did your research, there’s two QR codes. The second one is indeed to tip guest services.
I’ve worked front desk and as a front desk manager and rarely got tips. Other than one regular that I would allow to check in at 0730 (married guy with his girlfriend) who would gove between $15-20 and sometimes others who just felt like giving an extra $20. Definitely nowhere near even $100 extra a week.
Others would give $2-$5 if I brought them extra towels.
I worked Christmas one year 0700-2300 and didn’t get a penny in tips that day.
@Me — What do you mean ‘married guy with his…’ oh. Yikes.
Gary is right that sadly this legislation will lead to more demands for tips, which is why I don’t support it. It makes no sense to tax(i.e. discourage) regular wages and not tax (i.e. encourage) top income and overtime. If anything we should do the opposite. But of course much of tipping is cash and thus virtually untaxable. Still, I’ve been living in non tipping cultures long enough to no longer give a shit about whether some entitled snotty service employee who does their job poorly wants a tip or not, so it won’t change my habits, but I expect to be annoyed more.
I’ve saw this at a bellhop station recently – when it takes you to the tip screen the minimum is $5!