Reply To: Kimpton Fitzroy discretionary service charge on room rate

[Swiss Jim]

JDB wrote:

slidey wrote:

Discretionary charges should be opt in, not out. The reason they get added automatically to restaurants is cos theyre more likely to get it than when it was opt in.

Why should it be upto the customer to subsidise staffing costs? Either include it in the price thats displayed on the menu or dont charge it.

Paying tips/service charges in a country like the UK with a strong minimum (living) wage is not a way of subsidising staff costs, it’s a ridiculous argument, albeit the standard argument of the mean. If you are in the very privileged position of eating in an expensive restaurant or staying in an expensive hotel, offering some small token of recognition to low paid staff is the very least one can do.

Where else do you tip, @JDB? Nurses? Refuse collection? Your local corner shop? Focus should be on increasing pay, not artificially keeping it low through the excuse of tips (having worked at senior levels in the industry it’s not a ridiculous argument of the mean). Are you pro the US approach?