Tipping in Hotels?

Forgive me re-opening an old thread here ... but I've not been around in a while.  We (Lisa, originally from USA) and I (from UK) run a hotel in the UK, with a small team of staff. Tipping by our hotel guests is unusual; in our cafe, tipping by guests is very common indeed. Our team certainly doesn't rely on tips to make up their pay to a liveable amount.

For the sake of fairness to all, all tips go into a common pot and are split out based on hours work over a period. That way, it's not the morning person who changes beds after checkout who gets any rewards, but also the evening receptionist who's been so helpful in planning the guest's tour around the area, and has served up dinner for them too.

Most guests are pretty tidy at our place ... and we appreciate that.  Where we may get a bit grumpy is where thoughtlessness gives us significantly more work to do on the room - a spill that they didn't tell us about but hid, or an arrival planned for early checkin but guests arrive at 10 p.m. "we changed our plans".   These things are very rare - we love our customers and don't ask or expect them to pay more than the price we agreed; that price includes the cost of looking after our staff!

Something that I was surprised to learn when one of DH's grandsons was working in an up-market restaurant in Cheshire a couple of years back is that SOME restaurant owners take ALL the tips.....the wait staff do NOT get them.

Apparently it is allowed (or was at the time). The owner uses the tips to pay part of the wages...not over and above the wage, but the actual wages the server is supposed to get. I would therefore ask the server what the restaurant's policy is, and who actually gets the money. I personally would never subsidize the restaurant owner, but would tip 1) if service deserved it and 2) the server actually got it.

We once went out for dinner with some friends back in the US and there was some kitchen mixup and one of the meals was very slow in arriving.  The management said they would not charge for that one.  But our friend saw that the tip was included as a percentage in the bill and protested that it was not fair for the wait person to be penalized for the kitchen's fault.  He was quite stroppy about it and it was kinda embarrassing but I'm glad he stood up for the waiters.

We went out for dinner Friday night, and hubby's fish was swimming in grease, which surprised us because it was supposed to be baked. He was able to eat his starter, the baked potato that came with his fish, the unlimited rolls and his dessert, but the manager took his meal off the bill because of the fish. I thought that was quite kind of her, considering he was able to eat the rest. A percentage off would have been a kind gesture.

I still tipped the waitress for her amazing service. She had a knack for coming at the right times, just often enough, never when our mouths were full, very friendly and fun.

An owner keeping the tips to use as part of the salary is just cheap and crappy, even if it is allowed by law. I would think it would discourage people from trying harder to keep people happy, if they aren't going to get the extra for a job well done.

An owner keeping the tips to use as part of the salary is just cheap and crappy

Absolutely cheap and crappy.