When readers of The Gate With Brian Cohen were asked if breakfast attendants at hotel properties which offer a free continental breakfast buffet should receive tips and gratuities from guests, the comments were mixed — although a higher percentage of readers were against the practice — but since that article was published on Saturday, February 16, 2019, are breakfast attendants hungrier for tips and gratuities?
Breakfast Attendants Hungrier For Tips and Gratuities?
The hotel properties which offer a continental breakfast buffet as part of the room rate include Holiday Inn Express & Suites, where pancakes are printed from a machine at the pressing of a button. If the pancake machine is out of action, should guests still leave a gratuity if they enjoyed the food?
If guests cannot find a place where to leave a gratuity for the breakfast attendant at a Hampton Inn & Suites, they do not need to waffle after enjoying a waffle which they created themselves…
…they can just simply see no fewer than three indications of where to leave tips to show their appreciation.
Final Boarding Call
The photograph featured at the top of this article was from that same aforementioned but unidentified Holiday Inn Express & Suites, which had no fewer than two tip jars in the same breakfast area.
The tipping culture is way out of control in the United States, in my opinion — especially at mid-range hotel properties where a continental breakfast is included in the room rate.
I not only have observed more of these breakfast areas including a tip jar where guests can voluntarily leave money; but the act itself is seemingly more aggressive than in the past — especially when breakfast attendants seemingly have fewer responsibilities. For example, I have seen more breakfasts offer pre-packaged hard boiled eggs than simply boiling them themselves…
…and these packages contain one or two ice-cold rubbery eggs packed in water. Yum.
Room rates at many hotel and resort properties have already increased significantly than in years past, as room rates greater than $200.00 per night have become increasingly common at hotel properties such as Fairfield Inn & Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites, and Holiday Inn Express & Suites. These hotel properties should simply pay their breakfast attendants the extra money. Guests already serve themselves mediocre food with disposable plates and utensils and dispose of their refuse when they are done. The experience is not exactly one of luxury. Let them enjoy their breakfasts without feeling guilted into unnecessarily parting with more money.
The attendants at breakfasts where guests serve themselves do set up the area, replenish the food and beverages, clean up the tables, and put everything away when breakfast time is over. Their wages are probably minimum wage — or if more, not much more — and a gratuity or gift card would likely brighten their day…
…but that slippery slope towards either an undesirable precedent or having leaving tips and gratuities for breakfast attendants being more commonplace has already started…
All photographs ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
