Blog Post #3: Tipping the Heart of the House
(Agreement)
The hotel is consisted of two components: heart of the house and front of the house. Front of the house is the front desk and the restaurant outlet employees, while heart of the house are departments such as engineering and housekeeping. People always think to tip the front of the house employees, but a lot of the times in hotels, people forget about the heart of the house. The heart of the house oftentimes falls behind the scenes, and they don't have direct contact with guests so it slips guests minds to leave the heart of the house tips. I personally leave housekeeping $10, but it often does slip the minds of guests to even leave them a $2 tip.
The article attached states that housekeeping is often forgotten about tipping wise because they are out of sight and out of mind, and people tip employees who they have direct contact with. Similarly, it is concluded that the lack of housekeeping tips is a result of ignorance and some people are just not aware that it is appropriate to tip the housekeeping team. Marriott took on the "Envelope Please" initiative, in which they placed envelopes in over 100,000 guest rooms across the company, aimed at leaving notes and tips for the housekeepers. This resulted in negative feedback, and guests complained that they were being forced to tip when it should simply be their choice to do so.
The second piece of this article states that housekeepers are paid the same as front desk agents, but they have less desirable working conditions. For example, the story mentions a housekeeper who developed an allergy to latex from wearing the gloves on the job. The last portion of the article states that by promoting electronic checkouts more frequently, the hotels can have a "would you like to tip your housekeeper" memo pop up, and it can give the guest a choice to tip rather than forcing it upon them.
I agree with this article. After working in a hotel, I have seen how the heart of the house isn't highly appreciated because people aren't aware of those who are behind the scenes. I don't think that the envelope initiative is a good idea because it can make guests uncomfortable. Tipping isn't an obligation, it's a choice and guests should chose to do so. A guest who had a horrible experience on a property isn't going to want to tip, so making them feel obligated can in fact backfire. But if hotels encourage guests to check out electronically with that extra option to tip the housekeeper, more people will tip. Giving the option to tip electronically will raise more awareness to the guest, will not allow them the excuse of "I don't have cash on me," and it's not so much in their face where they will feel awkward not leaving a tip. If restaurants are proposing the idea of electronic tipping, why can't the housekeeping? I agree that the department is undertipped, and by doing subtle things to raise awareness, they will see the number of tips in the department rise significantly.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/business/hotel-housekeeper-tipping.html
