HotelChatter OpenThread :: Should We Tip Extra for Room Service?
May 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized
Tipping. Yikes. While most of us know to regularly tip our bellmen and some of us routinely tip our housekeepers (and all of us should!), things start to get a bit dicey when it comes to room service.
See, in most hotels, gratuity is included on a room service order. But then when you open up your folio to sign off on your charges, you breeze past the line detailing the auto-gratuity that’s been added…and you encounter it: the additional gratuity line before the total.
Man, this extra line is the worst. Are you supposed to add in extra tip on top of the gratuity? Exactly what kind of performance on the staffer’s part might warrant such a bonus?
It’s always super awkward when the person who brought us our delicious burger is standing in front of us and staring us down as we sign off on the charges and contemplate the “additional gratuity” space. And, frankly, sometimes we tip and sometimes we don’t. Depends on how we’re feeling that day, really.
Here’s where you come in: what’s the official protocol for tipping on top of the included gratuity?