Maximizing tips for non-owner inn keepers?

[virginia]

What ideas do you have for maximizing tips for non-owner inn keepers? Our monthly pay is pretty low. We do a good job and get many compliments from our guests, but they just don't materialize as tips in the envelopes that are subtly placed in the rooms.

 

[Alibi Ike]

What ideas do you have for maximizing tips for non-owner inn keepers? Our monthly pay is pretty low. We do a good job and get many compliments from our guests, but they just don't materialize as tips in the envelopes that are subtly placed in the rooms.

There's no such thing a subtle tip envelope. Do you have a nice handwritten note with it? We find that helps. Not just the note, you do need to put the envelope out as well. The 'To Our Guests' on the envelope helped when we did that.

 

[Alibi Ike]

PS- like the blog!

 

[JBloggs]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

 

[JBloggs]

Explosive breakfast here today, but ended up okay...hope everyone is having a good day!

 

[Alibi Ike]

Just read a few more blog posts and am wondering the same thing as JB- are you looking for tips for yourself or looking for tips for the housekeeper? ie- the tip envelope in the room says 'for the housekeeper' or 'for the innkeeper'?
I'm doubting you're going to get anything for the innkeeper. So, if you're cleaning rooms with the housekeeper, that's about all you can expect. As innkeepers we have received one cash tip in 7 years. And that was from a woman who was delighted we could entertain her 80+ year old parents while she got some stuff done around town. All we did was listen to their stories.
BTW, the folks who LEFT their 80+ yo non-ambulatory mother in the living room didn't give us a dime.

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

Wow, we get tips quite often. I'd say at least an average of $20/week or so. I've even had guests ask about the envelopes (we don't have any, but are considering).

 

[seashanty]

i was in your position. non-owner innkeeper. got lots of great compliments, hugs, little gifts sometimes, but low pay, and low appreciation from owner of all that i did. (that was me, maybe not you) what i SHOULD have done, and what i believe you should do NOW, is speak to the owner(s) about a commission on each room successfully booked and used. it doesn't have to be a lot but would quickly add up. and it would be a great incentive for you.
after i left, the paid innkeepers hired and fired earned so much more than me, for a business up and running, that i started from 'scratch', it made me ill. i so totally under valued my services!!
most of my guests assumed i was the owner and owners of businesses aren't usually 'tipped' in my experience. i did have tip envelopes in the rooms at the housekeeper(s) request, they felt they got more tips that way. it had wording i got from another forum member, maybe she will chime in ...

 

[Tom]

Explosive breakfast here today, but ended up okay...hope everyone is having a good day!.

"Explosive breakfast " ... Prune surprise ?

 

[virginia]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.

 

[JBloggs]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.
.

We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.

Wow.
I think it would be quite presumptuous to put tip envelopes in the rooms for the innkeepers. As the guest would think and i would agree, you are doing the job you are hired to do (or as the owner, they are paying the room rate to do) so if you go beyond the call of duty to make their experience fantastic, then they can leave what they want to or send a thank you card. etc
I would be offended to find two tip envelopes in a room. ...the next comment will be "No one has ever said as much" They don't need to say it to think it and feel it. I would bet that those two envelopes are actually stopping the housekeeping from getting what they would get.

 

[Alibi Ike]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.
.

When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.

I have had dinner at a lot of nice places and I have never given a tip to the owner/operator and that's the person with the vision, often working in the kitchen. Most people will assume you are either the owner or you are being paid for the service you are providing. As an owner-innkeeper I would be stunned to see a tip envelope in a room that was for the 'innkeeper'.
I think many people get that waitstaff doesn't get paid by the restaurant (in most states) but makes their money thru the tips. I would never assume the innkeeper wasn't making a good salary if they were not the owners. The owner-innkeepers generally plow the money back into the biz plus having a place to live.

 

[Joey Camb]

Could the envelope say "Tips for staff"? or "service providers?" covers everyone then whatever you do. When I worked in a private hotel one time all tips went into a trunk and was split twice a year like a christmas bonus. It meant the people behind the scenes like the kitchen porter who never met guests got a share to.

 

[Alibi Ike]

Could the envelope say "Tips for staff"? or "service providers?" covers everyone then whatever you do. When I worked in a private hotel one time all tips went into a trunk and was split twice a year like a christmas bonus. It meant the people behind the scenes like the kitchen porter who never met guests got a share to..

Could the envelope say "Tips for staff"? or "service providers?" covers everyone then whatever you do. When I worked in a private hotel one time all tips went into a trunk and was split twice a year like a christmas bonus. It meant the people behind the scenes like the kitchen porter who never met guests got a share to.

That would be the best phrasing for an envelope where the innkeeper is getting some of the money. But I think it would probably shortchange the housekeepers.

 

[Joey Camb]

Could the envelope say "Tips for staff"? or "service providers?" covers everyone then whatever you do. When I worked in a private hotel one time all tips went into a trunk and was split twice a year like a christmas bonus. It meant the people behind the scenes like the kitchen porter who never met guests got a share to..

Could the envelope say "Tips for staff"? or "service providers?" covers everyone then whatever you do. When I worked in a private hotel one time all tips went into a trunk and was split twice a year like a christmas bonus. It meant the people behind the scenes like the kitchen porter who never met guests got a share to.

That would be the best phrasing for an envelope where the innkeeper is getting some of the money. But I think it would probably shortchange the housekeepers.
.

Im just thinking of the places where the innkeeper does all the work or splits the work with the housekeeper that way you keep it or split it with your housekeeper.

 

[EmptyNest]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.
.

Sorry but I think that is pretty cheeky to be asking for innkeeper tips. If you want to share with housekeeping that is something else. People don't know you are not the owners and I for one don't leave innkeeper tips unless they REALLY REALLY went out of their way to do something VERY SPECIAL for me. I never expected a tip as innkeeper / owner, it was just a nice treat when someone left something.
If your salary is so bad that you depend on tips, you need to rethink your position and reneogiate with the owner.

 

[Alibi Ike]

Could the envelope say "Tips for staff"? or "service providers?" covers everyone then whatever you do. When I worked in a private hotel one time all tips went into a trunk and was split twice a year like a christmas bonus. It meant the people behind the scenes like the kitchen porter who never met guests got a share to..

Could the envelope say "Tips for staff"? or "service providers?" covers everyone then whatever you do. When I worked in a private hotel one time all tips went into a trunk and was split twice a year like a christmas bonus. It meant the people behind the scenes like the kitchen porter who never met guests got a share to.

That would be the best phrasing for an envelope where the innkeeper is getting some of the money. But I think it would probably shortchange the housekeepers.
.

Im just thinking of the places where the innkeeper does all the work or splits the work with the housekeeper that way you keep it or split it with your housekeeper.
.

We split the work with the housekeeper but she gets all the tips. It's just how we do it. If she takes a day off (not a scheduled day off) then we feel free to keep the tips for ourselves, otherwise, she gets them all. Few as they may be.

 

[egoodell]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.
.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.

I would be turned off by two tip envelopes as well. I would think they just need to raise their rates and be done with it.
Riki

 

[virginia]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.
.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.

I would be turned off by two tip envelopes as well. I would think they just need to raise their rates and be done with it.
Riki
.

"I would think they just need to raise their rates and be done with it."
That doesn't help, then the revenue goes to the owner who is not us.

 

[EmptyNest]

Good timing on this topic (and welcome to the forum, I will spend my morning coffee with your blog after I deliver breakfast and serve at the table!)
Okay I am back, so you have housekeepers, and think guests should be tipping the innkeepers because? I am looking for feedback on this. So putting it right out there.

.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.
.

Thank you for the welcome.
We have Inn keeper and Housekeeper envelopes inthe rooms.
When the guests tip, they usually do both. My question was really asking others for ideas on encouraging guests to recognize the quality of work and cuisine they are getting. After all they wouldn't leave a restaurant having loved the meal with out leaving a tip.
I think the booking commission is a great idea though. Thanks to all.

I would be turned off by two tip envelopes as well. I would think they just need to raise their rates and be done with it.
Riki
.

"I would think they just need to raise their rates and be done with it."
That doesn't help, then the revenue goes to the owner who is not us.
.

Sorry you are not getting much sympathy here :-( You need to re-negiotiate with your employer because tips aren't going to come easily if at all.