See, when I was growing up in Wildwood, NJ my mom had several jobs, one of which was a chambermaid. If you don't know what that means, I'll 'splain. A chambermaid is the person who comes into your hotel room while you're not there and makes your bed, vacuums your carpet, cleans the bathroom, changes out your wet towels for clean, dry towels, and generally makes your room pretty again (so you can come back in after a long day and trash it again). And they don't make a whole hell of a lot of money.
I just read this article on AOL and it got me thinking about this. It's a campaign by Marriott where they leave envelopes in the room to bring attention to the fact that the chambermaids are cleaning up after you and they deserve a little tip. $1-$5 per night is what they recommend, more if you're rich and staying in a higher end place. I think it's a FANTASTIC campaign because I don't believe these hard working women (and yes the majority of chambermaids are women) earn enough with the amount of work that they do. My mom would come home with stories of cleaning up blood, puke, crap, booze and other horrific stuff I don't even want to get into.
I'd like to know what YOU guys think. Do you tip when you stay in a hotel? Were you aware that it's customary to do so? Do you think they deserve it? Why or why not?
Next time you're in a hotel and you leave that towel on the floor, remember my mom. She'd have to bend over and pick it up. She'd have to clean up after you. Tip these folks. Do it for my mom.
