Skift Take
Housekeepers encounter physical, safety, consistency and pay concerns no matter their boss, which is why the tipping initiative has received pushback for doing too little alongside praise for doing anything at all.
Hotel housekeepers have recently entered into the national conversation due a partnership between Marriott International and Maria Shriver's non-profit organization A Women's Nation.
The "Envelope Please" initiative is an attempt to raise awareness of housekeepers' customer service and encourage guests to leave a $1 to $5 tip next time they check out of a hotel. Marriott, the first partner of the initiative, is placing a tip envelope inside hotel rooms across North America to encourage their customers.
Although the global hotel group's intentions are clean, its actions have raised questions about the salaries of housekeepers, and why they need tips, at hotel chains across the country.
We take a look at the salaries, growth opportunities and schedules of U.S. housekeepers for a clearer picture of the important hospitality workforce.
Critical Proportion of Hospitality Labor
Housekeepers are the largest labor segment in the North American hotel industry, and at Marriott, where 20,000 room attendants make up a quarter of its workforce.
The median U.S. wage for housekeepers is $9.51 an hour, according to labor union Unite Here.
This; however, can vary significantly based on the location of a hotel and whether an employee is part of a union.
Union members make more than non-union workers do at the same job in the same city and often have access to healthcare and a pension. Unionized housekeepers can make as much as $20.94 per hour in San Francisco, reports Unite Here.
According to a separate AH&LA survey from September 2014, 64.2 percent of housekeepers
