How would I pay a tip after the fact?

You can send it through the mail citing all of the following or part: your confirmation number, date of stay, and room number. You can also in lieu of money write a letter about how happy you are with the cleanliness of the room to customer service if the hotel has a website.

Actually, maybe cal the manager and ask directly the best way. Maybe they can put it on your credit card? Like restaurants do? Not sure. Pied_pfeffer worked in hotels for years, she would know I bet.

I had no idea you were expected to leave a tip at a motel, when did that start? I did a lot of traveling for dog shows and never left a tip but that was a long time ago.

Forget about this and promise yourself you’ll remember next time.

Leaving a tip for housekeeping staff is not at all universal. It’s not like a tip for wait staff at a restaurant.

To me, a tip for a hotel maid is not as vital as the tip for waitstaff in a restaurant, as the restaurant staff makes a low wage and thus relies on tips, whereas hotel maids make a regular salary (albeit a low salary, but not $2 per hour or whatever restaurant staffers make) so tipping is not considered a necessity for the hotel maid. It’s nice of you to do, don’t get me wrong, and many people do it, but it’s not expected as it is for restaurant wait staff.

If I like the food, then only I leave a tip.

It is so kind of you to leave a tip when you stay at a hotel and even more so that you want to follow up on what you consider an oversight. @JLeslie‘s suggestion of sending a letter is ideal. Address it to the General Manager. Include a few dollars, if you wish. While the money may buy them a soda or go towards bus fare or gas, the recognition is invaluable.

@rooeytoo Tipping expectations vary by country. In the US, a tip is expected in a restaurant. Servers are legally paid below the federal and state minimum wages because of this. Other than that, the US custom is to tip taxi drivers, vallet car parkers, bell staff, etc. The general practice is to tip anyone that assists you.

If anyone wants to make a boatload of money, become a hospitable bell person at a posh hotel. The amount of tips that they get, under the table, is astounding.

With hotel room attendants, a tip isn’t expected, but it sure is a nice touch. These are the people that are cleaning up after us. I suspect that the reason they don’t receive more tips is that they rarely come in contact with the guests they are servicing, so there is no personal connection.

I remembered on a question of mine about tipping maids at a hotel wunday had mentioned he tips on the bill on his credit card. Here is the link.

@rooeytoo It must vary by country as @Pied_Pfeffer says, but I almost always leave a tip. Sometimes on one night stays I don’t. As I think about that, it is probably more work for maids on one night stays, having to change everything. There are books on tipping guidelines by country, I would guess the information is online now also. I can’t imagine in any country a maid in a hotel is really paid what he/she is worth. Maybe in countries like Denmark that pay people fairly similarly no matter their job? I have no idea really. Many times the job is done by new immigrants to a country, usually cheap labor.

I just gave a huge tip to the two men taking care of my cabin on my cruise. They get paid nothing I think. Literally nothing. Just given room and board and live on tips, and work every day from what I can tell? On ship, Holland America, almost all the people tending to the rooms, waiters, etc, are Indonesian. My parents also left a big tip, but their friends who were also along just left what the ship automatically deducts from your credit card for tipping and left nothing extra. So, it varies widely I think. I guess on a cruise it is more obvious the tips are expected since they will automatically deduct a minimal tip from your credit card unless you stop them. The link I provided in this answer at the beginning shows how some different people tip maids.

Maybe in some countries it is not permitted to tip? To accept tips?

@9doomedtodie The service that you receive at a restaurant, by the wait staff, has nothing to do with whether or not you like the food (that is your personal taste preference). The wait staff does not make the food, so you are, in essence cheating them out of a tip. If you don’t like the food because you are a picky person, then you should not fault the wait staff or the chef. If you don’t like the food because there was something wrong with it, you should speak to the manager and explain the problem. A good manager will want to rectify the problem rather than have you leave and never come back without ever knowing why.

I actually abhor the idea of tipping, it’s demeaning. I think service staff should be paid a decent wage in the first place, so that tipping wasn’t necessary, but until that happens in the US, we shouldn’t cheat the service people out of tips that should be part of their regular pay. They’re not slaves. Then, if the service employee doesn’t live up to the standards set forth by their company, then they’d no longer work there. Just like with regular jobs.

Here’s a service tipping guide from Travel and Leisure

@YARNLADY As for your specific question, it would be a really nice gesture to mail the tip to the motel, explaining what happened and letting them know that you would like the tip to be delivered to the particular housekeepers that serviced your room on such and such a date : )

@9doomedtodie Do you live in America? In America wait staff is paid much below the regular minimum wage, because part of their wage is assumed to be tips from customers. @Kardamom is right, the waiters didin’t cook the food, why should they be punished if you don’t like it? If you don’t like their service, then I can see tipping less, but still, I don’t think I have ever left nothing in an American restaurant. If service is terribly bad I might leave as little as 10%, but it is extremely rare. In other countries the customer does not get a choice, the tip is built in to the prices of the food, or mandatory gratuity.