For many travelers, one of the nicest indulgences on the road is room service. Especially after a long day when even heading down to a hotel restaurant seems too stressful. But even with the best room services, there’s always one little extra stress: what to do about the tip?
Most hotels already add hefty surcharges on to their room service pricing, often a “delivery charge” and a “service charge.” And those two charges usually add over 20 percent to the total. So it’s easy to figure that the waiters is taken care of already. Except that’s not usually the case.
In fact, when I have asked, most room service waiters have indicated they don’t get all the service charge, though none of them will volunteer how much they do get. (If seems as if they are not supposed to divulge any more details.) And Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s new “late night service fee” is not a tip at all.
At the Grand Hyatt Kauai, one of my favorite Hawaii hotels, I noticed a step towards transparency. A note on the bottom of their room service menu said that “a portion of the service charge is being used to pay for costs or expenses other than wages and tips of employees.”
But what portion?
I personally am happy to tip for good service, and room service in particular can be a lot of work at odd hours. But if a waiter is already getting, say ten or fifteen percent, then I would be a lot less likely to add a large amount on top of that. On the other hand, if they are getting five percent, then I would probably add a lot more.
Clearly hotels use the service charge to defray some of the room service cost, and I have been told by hotel managers that in general the service may not even break even. But wouldn’t it be nice if hotels simply put a flat room service delivery charge to cover costs, including the cost of paying service staff?
And if some items cost more to deliver, or are more time-sensitive — for example, complicated dishes that need to be served quickly or especially hot — the hotel could also just raise those prices. accordingly.
As to the service charge, it would be easy to include one, but state where it goes; ie to the waiter, to be divided between the service staff, and/or to be shared with the kitchen staff. Then travelers wouldn’t be torn between feeling like they are either over-tipping or short-changing the waiter.
Especially when the meal or dessert they bring is the best part of the day.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
