Tip Question for Hotel

Luggage yes. Normal hotel 1-2€ per piece, a Palais as the George V is considered to be, more.

As someone whose husband was working in a Paris palais up until two years ago . . .you might be surprised at the gap between what the clients are paying and what the lowly employees are getting.

In that same situation, I would tip the valet 1 or 2 euros per bag and not tip the person who walked me to my room. That is what I do at most hotels that offer the service of bringing up the luggage and I never tip the front desk person who walks me to my room. That is what I did when stayed at the George V and I had no problem. On that particular trip, my co-worker in the next room tipped neither one. And, I know that generally tipping is not required in France but I can say I have been in situations in which it was obviously expected.

Based on previous posts, JHK has the most experience with Parisian hotels, so I defer to JHK.

Here's a tip, if you have to ask about how much to tip at a place, that both has a person walking you to your room and a valet in tow, stay at a place where you just get a room number and haul your own bags. Otherwise, do the proper American thing and just drop a 20 euro note to each. They will be suitably impressed.

oh Paul, if you really want to impress why not give them each 100 Euro? 20 is just so tightfisted.

Nigel,

Only because I am cheap, through and through. But certainly others may wish to do so.

We tipped the valet with the luggage, but not the person who walked us to the room. The reason for asking for those who truly want to help educate us, the stay was a one-time only and we had never encountered someone walking you to the room before. That's why we asked. Well aware it is customary to tip in the U.S. and not so much in Paris. But the last thing we want to do is insult anyone. Even though tipping isn't the norm there, I still feel if someone provides a service, no matter where I stay, I should thank them accordingly with a tip. We have been to Paris many times, and never encountered this. And yes, we are perfectly capable of schlepping our own bags, but this situation was different for us. I really just wanted to know what the protocol is in this situation and any suggestions of staying at a cheaper place if we didn't know seems a bit unhelpful..

"Room Walkers". Thanks kerouac2 - wasn't really sure what to call them! And thank you all for the helpful insight on this subject. Now I know.

On many of my business trips and a few times on personal trips, the hotel has been such that I was walked to my room by someone from the front desk and my luggage was delivered by a valet. It never occurred to me to tip the "room walker" meaning the person who walked me to my room but I always tip the valet (the person carrying the luggage). This question was actually recently posted on the Flyer Talk forum and the consensus by a long shot was tip the valet but do not tip the "room walker." One person commented that they had tipped the "room walker" at the Hyatt Park Vendome and the employee looked shocked when given the tip even though she took it.

JHK, your consensus was the same as mine, and that is what we did. Kerouac, I only travel with a carry-on, so the idea of traveling with loads of luggage is not in our wheelhouse. It's nice to know though that I did what most people would have done. Thanks all!