Tipping May Be the Norm, but Not for Hotel Housekeepers<br />In 2014, two longtime housekeepers at the JW Marriott Santa Monica Le Merigot recalled, guests were regularly leaving cash tips when they checked out of their rooms, a result of the<br />hotel chain taking part in “The Envelope Please,” an initiative started by the nonprofit group A Woman’s Nation to make it easier for customers to show appreciation to housekeepers.<br />“I couldn’t let people see my hands.”<br />Yet housekeepers say that, without the gentle nudge of initiatives like “The Envelope Please,”<br />only about 30 percent of guests leave a tip — a figure Professor Blum found as well.<br />Though their wages are above the median hourly wage of $11.37 for hotel housekeepers reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2016, the profession’s<br />earnings are less than the pay for housekeepers in other industries, like hospitals ($12.74 per the Bureau of Labor Statistics).<br />“If it’s a one-night stay, 90 percent of the time they won’t leave a tip.”<br />But said she would never push guests, even those who have booked an extended stay, to leave tips for Casa Madrona’s housekeepers.
