Multi-Billion-Dollar Company to Customers: Pay Our Workers for Us

Andy Cush
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A new campaign launched by the hotel chain Marriott-a company that reported $13 billion in revenue last year-encourages customers to leave a tip for the maids who clean hotel rooms. What could possibly be objectionable about that?
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According to the company-review site Glassdoor, on average, Marriott housekeepers make a paltry $8.32 per hour. (The site pulls from a relatively small sample size). The campaign, titled "The Envelope Please," will place envelopes in rooms at hundreds of Marriott hotels with the intent to remind guests that a tip of $1 to $5 per room, per night, is customary.
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It's true: As long as hotel workers are paid peanuts, you should tip them. But the answer shouldn't be gratuity, it should be giving them a raise. Because the company can't be bothered to pay its own employees a reasonable living wage, it's hoping to guilt its customers to chip in a little on top.
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Tipping is a broken system. Remember the last time you were totally going to give the delivery guy a few bucks, but didn't have the cash? Or you decided to slip the maid a five after she smiled at you on the way out? Service workers' paychecks shouldn't be subject to the whims of their customers. For cash-strapped restaurants with widely understood tipping customs, the model is defensible on some level, if less than ideal. If you're a multi-billion-dollar company and you think your employees deserve a little more money, you should be giving it to them yourself.
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