To tip or not to tip, that is the question. And it's one that causes British tourists more buttock-clenching moments of embarrassment than almost any other issue. However, a handful of London's top hotels have come up with a cunning solution to spare our blushes. They've started adding a discretionary service charge to guests' bills.
The Savoy, the Connaught and Claridge's are among the five-star establishments which have decided to take the matter into their own hands with an optional 'gratuity' charge of 5 per cent. The practice is widespread in hotels in the United States, Asia and the Caribbean and is already estab lished in many British restaurants but until recently has not been adopted by hotels in this country.
Trading standards officers say they are receiving increasing numbers of complaints about these charges and it's not difficult to see why. If you are paying £300 a night for a room at the Savoy, surely you'd be entitled to expect service to be included in the price. And what could be more irritating, if you've been lavishly greasing the palms of porters and room-service staff as you go along, than to face a service charge at the end of your stay: the implication being that you are too miserly to take care of this yourself.
Are these hotels instructing their staff to hand back tips with a polite explanation that guests will be billed for service on checking out? I suspect not.
The insistence by the hotels that charges are 'optional' is disingenuous. We may find tipping embarrassing, but it's more embarrass ing to stand at a reception desk and insist that this charge is removed from your bill.
Unfortunately this development is part of a wider trend in the travel industry to strip out elements that were once included - meals on flights, resort transfers on package holidays - and then to charge for them as 'extras', all in an attempt to make the price look competitive.
Hence the initial rate for a double room quoted to me by the Savoy is £159, but by the time Vat, breakfast and discretionary service charge have been added it's rocketed to £245.
The hotels claim that the charges supplement the income of low-paid back-of-house staff who rarely receive tips. Hotel workers are among the lowest-paid in the country with average wages for a room attendant or a porter at a five-star hotel in the South East around £5 an hour. Everybody knows London hotels have been hit hard by the downturn in American visitors, but asking guests to subsidise the low pay of their staff and disguising it as a charge is an underhand way of making more money. What next? A charge for having the sheets changed on your bed?
If hotels need to earn more money to pay their staff a decent wage they should put room rates up or cut their overheads. But leave the tipping up to the guests.
