When do you pay for room service

For one, room service originates, well, from your hotel room, cabin, or other guest lodging. Lastly, you simply have to take your dishes out into the hallway, leaving it for hotel staff. The guest calls room service directly, or calls the front desk or concierge to be connected to room service. Some guests call the concierge for recommendations on what to order and what the house specialties are.

Then a room service attendant, a desk attendant or other hotel staff member takes the meal order via phone. The meals are then topped with lids or other covers and placed on special room service carts or trays to be delivered.

The room service attendant prepares the cart, making sure the guest has everything she may need, and delivers the cart to the hotel room. When the waiter arrives with the meal, the guest may dismiss him, or ask him to set up and serve the meal.

At the time the concept was ultra-lux: guests could order a variety of food and have it delivered to their doorstep in 30 minutes. In , the Westin hotel chain took the concept a bit further and began offering a hour room service; customers could order caviar and lobster at 4AM if they were so inclined.

Last year, travel website TripAdvisor conducted an experiment. Data sourced from TripIndex. Why are items that typically only cost a few dollars so expensive on a room service menu? One reason is that hotels exercise price discrimination. Those who value saving time enough to order room service are likely also people who make a lot of money with their time, and have the cash to spend on the service.

Another factor that plays into this is consumer myopia , or the underestimation by a consumer as to how much additional services will cost for a purchased good or service. But the biggest factor is that there is a willingness to pay. Or is it? That should solve for any ambiguity. However hotels should proactively address the points of pain, confusion, and anxiety of their guests — which they know are there, and repeated in interactions every day, the way that the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress does: by telling guests exactly what to expect, and what is expected.

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer. More About Gary ». More articles by Gary Leff ». So as you suggest, I asked the person who delivered my food. Or did he say that just hoping I would tip extra? That should be your money. And you pay everything before you even get your order, so the tip does not reflect the quality of the service.

This tip culture got out of control in some places. If the server says he only gets part of it, then this is a restaurant where the servers pool tips.

In Las Vegas there was a lawsuit over who is included in the tip pool. The instance of having a service charge and also still having a blank tip line on the bill is really offensive.

I would never again order from such a place. I love that hotel. As a parent of kids who eat real food rather than chicken fingers and cheese pizza, this is fantastic. Just so I understand you correctly: An additional tip line on a check is offensive, but you will always hand the staff cold hard cash? That seems contradictory. This is refreshing. Some would dispute whether the service is extraordinary, but I, for example one, would be impressed that their notion of hospitality does not involve shaking me down pay employee wages.

How utterly pathetic it is that the major hotel chains are unable to come up with a system that has clarity and fairness, instead shifting the problem onto consumers …often resulting in unnecessary double payments. One in a million…. The tipping culture is indeed toxic. It should be illegal under labor law for employers to pay staff under minimum wage and shift the burden on to their customers.

Hotels are notorious for making billing mistakes, often in the form of double charges. For example, you ordered one movie from the room's TV but the hotel charged you for two. Thank you for subscribing! Got it! Thank you! By Juliana Shallcross. Get Inspired for Your Next Vacation.