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Posted on Mon, Sep, 15, 2014
Envelopes in Marriott hotels invite tips for maids
BETH J. HARPAZ Travel Editor
efforts."
Do you leave a tip in your hotel room for the
maid? Marriott is launching a program with
Maria Shriver to put envelopes in hotel rooms
to encourage tipping.
The campaign, called "The Envelope Please,"
begins this week. Envelopes will be placed in
160,000 rooms in the U.S. and Canada. Some
750 to 1,000 hotels will participate from
Marriott brands like Courtyard, Residence inn,
J.W. Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance
hotels,
The name of the person who cleans the room
will be written on the envelope along with a
message: "Our caring room attendants
enjoyed making your stay warm and
comfortable. Please feel free to leave a
gratuity to express your appreciation for their
Shriver, who founded an organization called A Woman's Nation that aims to empower
women, says many travelers don't realize tipping hotel room attendants is customary.
"There's a huge education of the traveler that needs to occur," she said. "If you tell them,
they ask, 'How do I do that?"' She said envelopes make it easy for guests to leave cash for
the right person in a secure way,
So how much should you leave? Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson says $1 to $5 per
night, depending on room rate, with more for a high-priced suite.
Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, says his
research shows that "30 percent of people stiff the maid," while 70 percent said they usually
leave a tip.
Sorenson noted that housekeepers "are less frequently tipped" than other hotel workers
because they do an "invisible task." In contrast, workers who carry bags, hail cabs and park
cars tend to get tipped because they "make a personal connection" with guests, he said,
Rosario Rodriguez, who works as a housekeeper at Marriott's Times Square hotel, says
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Envelopes in Marriott hotels invite tips for maids 09/1512014 l Miam... http://www.rf ian iherald.com/2014/09/15/v-print/4350180/envelopes-...
many guests don't tip and welcomes the envelope campaign as "a good idea,"
Jessica Lynn Strosky of DuBois, Penn., who earns $7.75 an hour cleaning rooms at a hotel
that's not a Marriott, says only one in 15 or 20 guests leaves a tip. When they do, it's a dollar
or two; she's lucky to get $20 a week in tips. "I've talked to lots of people who say they don't
know they are supposed to tip," she said.
Unlike waitresses who earn less than minimum wage because tips are expected to raise their
earnings, hotel housekeepers are paid minimum wage, and in expensive markets,
substantially more, In Washington D.C,, Sorenson said, Marriott housekeepers start in the
midteens per hour.
Not everyone applauds the envelope concept. "It is not Marriott's responsibility to remind
customers to tip; it's their responsibility to pay their workers enough so that tips aren't
necessary," said author Barbara Ehrenrelch, who tried working as ahotel maid for her 2001.
book Nickel and Dimed, which chronicled her experiences in low-wage jobs.
But Scott Lazerson, 42, who lives in Sundance, Utah, said he "had no idea" tipping was
customary until his wife told him on a recent trip to Orlando, He said he "feels stupid" for not
knowing all these years, and added: "Yes, the hotel industry needs to do a campaign about
it."
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