A Tip for More Than a Tip for the Hotel Housekeeper

When you want to leave something besides cash for the hotel housekeeper, a simple step will keep her from getting into trouble

I just returned from a Society of American Travel Writers Western Chapter meeting in Mazatlan. In addition to printed material, our kind hosts presented us with gifts. Mine included a plastic briefcase, two T-shirts, three baseball caps, a zip-up rain jacket of a material like a lightweight Tyvek, a Nalgene water bottle, a mouse pad with three USB ports, several pens and probably some other schwag that I can't remember.

I will need the press materials and brochures that I gathered, and I already had filled much of the space in my one piece of luggage with Tarahumara baskets and other handicrafts. Sometimes at such meetings, there is a place in the press room where gifts we are unable to use can be returned to the hosts, but this time, there wasn't even a press room. My inclination would be to leave the stuff I couldn't take home for the housekeeper -- along with a gratuity, of course.

My well-traveled colleague Bob Bone suggested that when we do that, we also leave a signed and dated note with the giveaway material, specifying that perhaps the housekeeper or her children might be able to use it. He said that without such a note, a housekeeper might get into trouble if her supervisor sees her leaving with goods. Good point, and I did that.

Sometimes we take clothing or footwear with us for one last wearing before we plan to discard it. Doing this, especially in a developing country, can benefit someone down the line -- but not at the cost of getting the recipient into trouble.

Thanks, Bob, for the excellent suggestion.