Like most, I take advantage of not having to make my bed when I stay in a hotel. I also like not having to squeegee a shower door after I take a shower. And another task that I don’t have to do while staying in a hotel is take out the trash. All of these tasks are minimal and it sounds really lame that I enjoy not doing them while I’m away from home. Most likely a person from the hotel support staff; specifically housekeeping comes to take care of our room for us. Not just our room, but room after room. Housekeepers clean, replenish supplies and they do these jobs because it is included in the price of using the hotel room for the night.

However, because of environmental awareness, even before COVID, housekeeping hasn’t been operating on an “every room is cleaned every day” basis for years. Hotel management has been strategically posting literature in the bathrooms proclaiming the importance of keeping the environment in mind instead of being frivolous with the towels etc. If “every day” housekeeping service is necessary, one must make special arrangements. Otherwise, housekeeping is on a specific rotation in order to conserve energy and labor. By cutting down the “every day cleaning” routine, the amount of laundry is dramatically decreased. I think using the same towel for two days in a row is not going to kill anyone. Not to mention, since labor is scarce these days, knowing that housekeeping is on a schedule will help everyone’s expectations stay realistic.

When I was in my early twenties, I learned about tipping housekeeping staff. My boyfriend at the time was counting how many nights we stayed at the hotel so I asked him why and he explained that he wanted to make sure he left enough tip for the housekeepers based on the number of nights we stayed. I had never heard of tipping the housekeepers before. I recall being proud of him and impressed with his thoughtfulness. For me, when I was growing up, my dad would leave the coins from whatever change he received while we were on the trip. He would always leave the coins by the TV so that it was obvious that he meant to leave his money. I thought that was cool. You can imagine how I felt when the old boyfriend purposely left dollar bills.

Later, when I was able to stay at fancier hotels, there would be business size cards left for the guests to find. The cards would say something like, “This room was specially cleaned by…” and there was a blank space. Using handwriting, the space was filled in with the name of the housekeeper. At first I thought putting the card out meant, “Don’t forget to tip this person.“ However, now I think the purpose for those cards is bigger than that. I believe the cards were more of a movement to remind us that the hotel housekeeping staff are real people with real names. Having eye contact and addressing them by name would be welcomed and appreciated. I love these cards. Thank you hotels for investing in them.

Recently, during these transition days for my family (especially the hub), we have been staying at hotels. The home away from home cliché is very much relevant for us. Even though I know that I can leave our hotel room messy since it’s my prerogative, the TYPE-A in me must have order and usually that means, I clean up around the hotel room. Many people could care less about what others think of them; particularly when it comes to hotel rooms. For me, I worry about what housekeeping thinks about me and my family. Which is so dumb because I won’t ever see them again. Unless you’re my hub who has seen the housekeeping staff at the hotel for over six months.

This leads me to the concept of “never seeing these people again”. I think that exact concept is the reason why I was filled joy as I left behind some hotel thoughtful pinches for our housekeeper after our last hotel stay. He was a very nice man and he didn’t clean our room the whole time my daughter and I stayed - which was four nights. However, he did bring me towels which I appreciated. The look of surprise on his face when I gave him a couple of bucks as he handed me the towels made me worry that people didn’t tip him often. Anyway, before we checked out of the hotel, I made sure to leave behind two passes for free dessert at a restaurant, some barely used gift bags, a bottle of wine, moving wrapping paper with packing tape and money. The pinches that I left behind were for him to either toss in the garbage, keep or give away. I was aiming for that same look of surprise as he came into the room when it was time to clean. I won’t ever know. I may never see this housekeeper again but that made it even better to give him something. There were no strings attached. No expectations for a thank you card. Nothing.

What I love about leaving a thoughtful pinch for the housekeeping crew is that unless you’re a regular, you’re never going to see these people again. Who knows how this can effect that person’s day. What if they are in such a good mood after receiving something cool, that they are thoughtful to someone else? That $10 bill could have helped them get some dinner that night. Or they now have an opportunity to share a bottle of wine with someone they love or they can sell it for cash. We’ll never know but that is the beauty of it. We will never know.