Hotel CEO: Big Tips Could Ease Labor Shortage, Asks Guests to Opt in

[rcjordan]

^{Wishful thinking.}

https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-shortage-hei-hotels-resorts-bigger-tips-retention-gratuities-darnall-2021-6

[Drastic]

hahahahahah such a desperate reach.

[ergophobe]

Some hotels have been raising salaries and offering bonuses, but Darnall said that this has "never been the solution" for hiring challenges in the hospitality industry.

Obviously.

The chain is also considering adding a minimum gratuity to restaurant checks. These tips would be pooled and distributed among staff based on the number of hours they work, he said.

*groan*

[ukgimp]

Get fucked. What a ludicrous idea. .

[martinibuster]

That is disgusting.

CEOs etc. are doing whatever they can to hold on to obscene earning levels and keeping workers from earning a fair wage. Certain people advocate for taking America back to the way it used to be and while there were many things we should never return to, one thing we should is a fair living wage where a person could purchase a home and a car and live a comfortable life.

[ergophobe]

I was curious what the general response to this is.

Predictably, most of the business press just repeats Darnall's talking points as if it's the smartest idea since eating bat soup from a wet market.

But travel writers are less enthused...

I'M NOT TIPPING MORE TO SUBSIDIZE HOTEL CORPORATE PROFITS...
https://liveandletsfly.com/tip-hotel-workers-more/

"@HEIHotels trying to razzle dazzle guests into cruise rules on land is why the scumbag American tipping culture STILL won't die! Pay your damn employees a living WAGE with bonuses,CEO Ted Darnall!"
https://twitter.com/trotmanstravels/status/1408667802035236866

"This is a good excuse to remind you that tipping culture in America is used as an excuse to put the burden of paying their workers on the customer rather then pay then a living wage."
https://twitter.com/PhilodoxPils/status/1409350290021654530

"Maybe CEOs should live off tips. I'd be happy to drop a quarter in a jar if that's their sole source of earning from the business."
https://twitter.com/Patrixmyth/status/1409908371512119302?s=20

Other people point out that paying workers via tips saves companies on benefits, unemployment, disability insurance and all that if they can just get workers to not declare their tips.

But you have to cut him some slack. Poor Ted Darnell can only afford a very small yard
https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/ted-darnalls-house/view/google/

[rcjordan]

"a 23 percent service fee added to every order.

The service fee will replace traditional tipping, the restaurant stressed on its Facebook page. Guests will still be allowed to give an additional tip if desired, the restaurant owners told the Business Journal.

Of the 23 percent service fee added to the bills, 21 percent will go to servers and hostesses to ensure they make a living wage, while the other 2 percent will support kitchen staff and managers"

Restaurant Adds 23 Percent Service Fee To Help Pay Servers
https://patch.com/north-carolina/across-nc/s/hnglo/restaurant-adds-23-percent-service-fee-help-pay-servers

[ergophobe]

I just wish they would simply update their menu prices. I get it. If they do, they can't compete.

That's what drove our hotel to add the "resort fee." Everyone else is doing it and so, when you get listed on Expedia with your nightly price, you appear $35 higher than the other resort.

Airbnb incentivizes you to add a cleaning fee. There are very good reasons for having a cleaning fee, but the incentive they give is they usually show your nightly price net of fees. There's a major management company here that adds a large cleaning fee, a substantial linen fee and a small management fee. Then of course there is the Airbnb fee (10-12%) and the tax (13.5%). So something that appears as, say, $500 for two nights, might be over $800 at checkout.

They are all dark patterns.

[rcjordan]

>show your nightly price net of fees

I *think* I've seen potential legislation or maybe corporate policies (Tripadvisor??) that requires all fees to be added in the advertised price. This fee-hiding started with local occupancy taxes, then got out of hand.

[ergophobe]

Yeah, I've mentioned that before. We got banned from TripAdvisor because the revenue manager did not want to show the resort fee in our nightly rate. TA insists on it.

However, they all play with how they display this and do A/B tests on conversions, so just because you have to supply it in your data feed does not mean they will chose to display it that way. TripAdvisor is the only one that I know where you can count on the quoted price on the list view to be the one you pay at checkout.

>>fee-hiding started with local occupancy taxes

Our local law prohibits us from including taxes in the topline price and requires it be broken out as a line item. I'm not sure why, but presumably it makes it easier for them to audit businesses and see whether or not they are actually charging tax correctly? Not sure. Maybe it was a standard ask from industry lobbyists anytime there is an occupancy tax ordinance under discussion.