Maria Shriver & Marriott put spotlight on tipping hotel housekeepers

You do tip your hotel housekeeper, right?

Well, if you don’t, Marriott International and Maria Shriver are going to remind you to do just that.

According to this AP story published on ABCNews.com, as many as 1,000 hotels in the Marriott system – Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Residence Inn, JW Marriott – are going to leave a special tip-reminder envelope for guests to encourage them to leave money for the housekeeper. (Big hat tip to news guy  and Twitter buddy @Lokay!)

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Envelopes that contain the name of the person (usually a woman) will be left in some 160,000 hotel rooms in the USA and Canada, according to the AP’s story. The campaign is called “The Envelope Please.”

I’ve seen the “leave tip here” type envelope in some resorts before, but this is the first time that they’re being used in a systematic way. (If you know of other examples, please tell us in the comments section below.)

Why is Shriver involved? The AP report says she founded a non-profit called A Woman’s Nation that aims to empower women, and she believes plenty of guests don’t know the custom of tipping the housekeeper.

Interestingly, housekeepers aren’t tipped as regularly as other employees such as people who hail cabs and park cars because they interact with the guest and “make a personal connection,” Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson told the AP.

Readers: Assuming you tip, how do you decide how much to leave? Also, what do you think about the envelopes? Is this the right thing to do? Some of you, for instance, might suggest that hotels should simply pay a higher hourly rate rather than rely on an “iffy” system of payment for housekeepers.