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OpenThread / Gratuity Included Hotels / Tips / Tipping / → All Tags

Is the Service Better or Worse at Hotels That Include Gratuity?

While we're on the topic of tipping today, we wanted to know what you thought of Gratuity Included Hotels, i.e. hotels where they automatically tack on gratuity to a food and beverage bill, spa treatment or other service.

Obviously, this is common in Europe (everywhere, not just at hotels) but here in America, it's still quite unusual or helpful/offensive, depending on where you stand on automatically tipping for service.

We encountered this recently at the Canyon Ranch Miami when we dined in their Canyon Ranch Grill and noticed that an 18 percent gratuity charge had been added. The same thing happened after we went to pay for our pedicure in the spa. Apparently this is standard for all Canyon Ranch hotels.

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Hotel Bars / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel News / Tipping / Tips / → All Tags

Watch Out For Tips Included When Drinking At New York Hotel Bars

The rooftop bar at Hotel Gansevoort.

UPDATE: In response to this story, the Gansevoort Hotel Group let us know that the Hotel Gansevoort does not include an automatic 20 percent tip on all beer, wine, and cocktails ordered, and has never done so. The Gansevoort Park Ave, however, had included a 20 percent gratuity on all bar tabs since opening in the summer. But, as of today, this automatic gratuity has been eliminated. Yippee! Moving forward, the only automatic gratuity charges at both hotels will for large parties and bottle service.

As you might have guessed from our frequent Hotel Cocktails and Hotel Bars coverage, we're fond of a tipple. But a tip? We prefer when that's left to our discretion. Unfortunately, as reported by the New York Post, we can't always get what we want. Many hotel bars in NYC are now charging mandatory tips on drinks tabs.

Hotels mentioned in the article include top spots in the city for getting sozzled--such as Hotel Gansevoort, The Standard NYC, the Tribeca Grand and the Ace Hotel.

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Hotel News Briefs / Hotel Delays / Valli Herman / Tipping / → All Tags

Hotel News Briefs :: Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica Gets Delayed

There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.

· Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica Delayed: We've spent a lot of time today talking about hotel openings and delays here so it's fitting we end the day with another. The Hotel Shangri-La was to re-open tomorrow after a long renovations process. However, the reservations line says the hotel will open at the end of October. Meanwhile, the website is only taking bookings for after November 12th. Either way, it ain't opening tomorrow.

More news briefs are after the jump.

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Tipping / Room Service / OpenThread / → All Tags

HotelChatter OpenThread :: Should We Tip Extra for Room Service?

Tipping. Yikes. While most of us know to regularly tip our bellmen and some of us routinely tip our housekeepers (and all of us should!), things start to get a bit dicey when it comes to room service.

See, in most hotels, gratuity is included on a room service order. But then when you open up your folio to sign off on your charges, you breeze past the line detailing the auto-gratuity that's been added...and you encounter it: the additional gratuity line before the total.

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Snapshot / Housekeeping / Tipping / → All Tags

Snapshot :: May We Remind You Again to Tip Your Housekeeper?

From Post Secret. Also see this video for more reasons on why it might be a good idea to get on hotel housekeeping's good side. So give them a tip or two. Well, you know...not the ones that are actually cleaning the toilet with your SonicCare.

Colin Cowie / Tips / Hotel Books / Tipping / → All Tags

Hotel Book Reviews: Hotel Tips From Party Planner Colin Cowie

Colin Cowie's main jobs are as a celebrity wedding designer and a luxe party planner but he's also the proprietor behind the CBar in Greece inside the Belvedere Hotel so he knows a few things about the hospitality business.

We got a copy of his book Colin Cowie Chic: The Guide to Life As It Should Be and we are a little tickled to see a section on travel and staying hotels.

Colin's #1 thing as soon as he's checked into his hotel? Change into exercise clothes for a quick workout that includes some push-ups, sit-ups and stretches.

If he has more time, he'll do some cardio. His reasoning is valid--after being on an airplane for a while you want to get those vital organs jump-started.

Our first thing we do when we check into a hotel? Check the internet connection. God, we're such geeks!

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