Tipflation: Why You Hate Tipping Housekeeping And Airport Vendors But Won’t Admit It
We’ve all experienced tipflation: an expectation that we tip more, and more often, than ever before. When you walk up to an iPad to pay for a purchase you know what’s coming next. You’re literally standing in line to pay for something you picked up from a shelf yourself, and you’re about to be asked to tip for it. How does this make sense?
And then you’re presented with choices, maybe 20%, 22% and 25%. When did tipping expectations go so high?
- In the 1950s you might tip 10% in a restaurant
- By the 1970s it had gone to 15%. But this was usually on the pre-tax amount. Or maybe you’d “double the tax” in the 80s.
- Now 20% – 25% on the bill total, including tax?
While we may express frustration in general with tipping, there are few individual situations where we’re willing to admit – in the moment – that it’s gone too far. You’re standing in front of someone who is going to know you opted out of tipping, so there’s pressure to go along.
Back in January at the Austin airport, where I picked up a bottle of water, the machine was programmed not even to accept a $0 tip at the register.
Maybe nothing represents the contradiction of tipping out of control and an unwillingness to speak out against it than the practice of tipping housekeepers which doesn’t even make housekeepers in general better off, it reduces the wages that hotels have to pay to attract staff. The CEO of one hotel ownership group is explicit on this, wanting to get guests to tip more to avoid having to raise wages.
In 2019 Hilton’s CEO admitted he doesn’t tip housekeeping and he got roasted for it. We’re so ingrained in the U.S. that tipping is expected of us that one hotel booking website even solicits tips when you’ve made a reservation and no human was even involved.
Sam Bankman-Fried admitted it after getting caught, we play “this dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shibboleths and so everyone likes us.” He gave away a lot of money, influenced a lot of politicians, and gained favorable coverage by ‘saying the right things.’ And we all have to pay lip service to struggling workers, especially those who clean up after us. Those thoughts may even be genuine.
And yet 79% of hotel guests say you should tip while only 30% actually do so. This is framed as a problem that people are confused about the etiquette so you need to give them a list of whom to tip, how much, and when.
Plan on tipping $3 to $5 per day, or, if you have a bigger crew, $1 per person. But don’t tally it up and leave a big tip at the end..To indicate that the bills you’re leaving out are, in fact, a tip, put the money on a side table or on the bed along with a note indicating who it’s for… Luggage attendants: Tip $1 to $2 per bag carried up to your room. If you only have a bag or two, tip a minimum of $5 to make it worth the trip..Valet parkers: Give $2 to $5 when they pull up with your car.
The problem isn’t that people ‘don’t know what they’re supposed to do’ and it isn’t that hotels just need to make it easier to tip with QR codes so that they can lower wages. It’s that the tipping has gotten out of control.
People say that they should tip because you’re supposed to express concern for those whom you’re tipping. It’s the shibboleth. But deep down, when nobody is looking – you’re leaving the room at the end of a stay and not coming back – you feel like you paid a room rate, it’s supposed to include a clean room, and it’s the hotel’s responsibility to pay their employees. And you aren’t even getting full housekeeping during your stay anymore, anyway! Why have tipping expectations gone up?
Hotels cut back on housekeeping services but are pushing that you should pay more even as you get less. And that doesn’t sit well.
