A disturbing new trend? UK hotels adding a service charge to your room rate

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• Lee says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:08

  The same issue is happening at many restaurants in hotels and elsewhere.

  A discretionary 20% tip.

  I object to such a tip being added to my bill for bar food or anything else.

  If I wish to leave a tip I will – I do not expect it to be added to the bill in this way.

  Of course – will the hotel make a note on your account ‘removes tip – beware!’ and therefore future stays come without an upgrade or poorer service at meals?

  Ironically room service has a tray charge for them bringing you the food – but no extra ‘tip’ – so whilst they have to come further – their added fees are often far less. Which just goes to show that it is a way to get more money from punters.

  • Hotelier says:

    13 Sep13 September 09:28

    Room service 99% of times has a tray charge AND service charge.

    • Dr C says:

      13 Sep13 September 11:33

      IC in Slovenia had NO service charge or tray charge which I found really good!

• Mikeact says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:16

  We have a family celebration next weekend for 15 of us. Nice local hotel and a very nice dining room. They have made it clear that there will be a 15% surcharge added to benefit all staff. As we know the place very well, we will have no problem with that at all particularly being a Sunday.

  • Anna says:

    13 Sep13 September 10:23

    But that’s presumably a meal, not a stay? This is quite common for large bookings, I assume it reflects the greater amount of organisation involved in serving a party.

    • Rob says:

      13 Sep13 September 11:03

      This is totally normal at any restaurant for a party of 6+ and is there to protect the staff, effectively (because human nature means that people get a bit neurotic about tipping £50 on a £500 bill even though that is the usual 10%).

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:51

    Also, crucially, that’s been flagged up and agreed beforehead rather than sneaked on at the end deceptively and mentioned only in the tiniest of small print. So that I have zero problem with.

• Richie says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:18

  Annoying your customers for the chance of getting no more than an additional 5% really is a bit of a bad business move. Aren’t returning customers important?

  • Char Char says:

    13 Sep13 September 11:34

    Not to penny pinchers. they don’t have the concept

• ZF says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:19

  Restaurants are getting worse with this. A few weeks ago I was presented with a bill that was food: £16, then the usual 12% service charge (not on the menu or posted, but whatever) then some donations (??) with the total price of £20. Asked to remove all; I can grit my teeth at the service charge, but cmon’ let’s start arbitrarily add more things?

• DEREK HOGG says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:22

  Seems like an attempt by US hotel chains to introduce the ghastly American tipping culture to the U.K. In the US, bar staff, hotel staff are ‘paid’ in tips. The hotel / bar gives them the space to do their ‘gig’ and they rely on the public to pay them through tips. The establishments are getting away with paying nothing for service, relying on the public’s generosity, and essentially using emotional blackmail to force the punter to tip the server. I once hired a US hotel, a Sheraton, to do a hospitality event for my company, and on receiving the advance invoice, thee was an additional $2000 added on for ‘gratuities’. I told the hotel that it was to my customers discretion whether they should pay gratuities, but the hotel made it clear that the ‘gratuity’ an obligatory up front charge, to pay the wages of their serving staff who were graded as ‘minimum wage, non skilled servants’. I was aghast to realises that we were actually hosting an event where the staff were essentially slaves. I mentioned this to the hotel, saying that I was surprised that they could get away with it as I understood that slavery had been abolished in the USA. The hotel had no response to that, except to re iterate that I must pay the additional charge.

• Colin MacKinnon says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:27

  I don’t understand this at high-end London hotels – do their customers really choose between them based on a few quid as revealed on a price comparison website?

  Tips – the barber, rounding up to the nearest £1 or fiver in a cafe, and similar – in cash – in a restaurant. Taxi drivers and pizza delivery drivers I speak to say they almost never get tips now everything in cashless, except at Xmas.

  No-one tips me at work!

  Gift aid: sorry, I don’t actually pay income tax.

  Charity: I actually run a not-for-profit – hence not paying income tax!

  Facilities fee (or whatever): the only time asked for one – in Hawaii – I told them I’d walk, and sue if the other hotel was more expensive. It quickly disappeared.

• Peter says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:29

  In general it is really annoying that there is such a big tipping couture here. Everything should be included, that makes it fairer for everyone. And why would a tip be based on a percentage? If I order a glass of water or beer or a steak vs pasta is the same amount of work. Also unfair for more expensive Vs staff that work in cheaper restaurants.

• GHT says:

  13 Sep13 September 09:31

  Just…no. Pay your staff properly. I am a huge fan of restaurants that are “service included”, where the costs are a little higher on the ticket price (usuall c17-20%) but you know staff are paid properly and aren’t reliant on (rationally) having to suck up to big-spending tables for large tips. For so many reasons the tip system is ludicrous and o can’t wait until it disappears.

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