Tip Housekeepers at Marriott Hotels

Marriott Hotels is the first hotel that will prompt guests to tip housekeepers with an Envelope Please program. This is a very interesting move by the hotel chain and I am a little torn on how I feel about it. As it is with all controversial decisions, there are going to be pros and cons to such a decision. Below is a list of pros and cons:

The cons

• It is going to cost guests more money.
• It is going to be difficult to judge how much we should actually tip. Do we tip based on the number of nights that we stay? Do we tip based on the price of the hotel?
• Over time, inflation will probably kick in and whatever we are tipping today, will probably go up.
• Will housekeepers start complaining if they do not get enough tip?
• We will probably still need to tip even if we are using our points for a rewards night?

The list is probably endless for the cons. But here are some pros that I can potentially see:

The pros

• Housekeepers are generally very low paying jobs, which means that these employees will have an opportunity to have more income.
• More income means there will be more people wanting this job, which means the quality of employees can potentially go up.
• Housekeepers will probably be more diligent in their job to ensure that they solidify a good tip.

Even after listing out all the pros and cons, I still feel pretty torn. I think the pros can really work out, but there are just so many cons.

What do you think?