When New Hits A Tipping Point

David J. Danto

Travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD on

When “New” Hits A Tipping Point - June 2025

I spent the last week at an industry conference in Orlando and learned a valuable lesson about tipping in cash. Here’s the story.

Instead of booking a room at the high-priced host hotel, I opted for something a little more familiar – and a lot more sensible: the Hampton Inn.

The official conference hotel would’ve cost me three times as much. That price didn't even include breakfast (free at Hampton) and parking would have been $25 instead of $5 at the Hampton. For those keeping score, that’s a lot of muffins and parking lot views for the price of one upgraded lobby.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Hampton Inns. They’re usually clean, well-managed, and the most affordable option in the Hilton family. The room I selected was ready when I arrived, and it had all the basics I needed: coffee maker, fridge, and microwave. You know – the essentials for reheating leftovers you never eat.

What caught my eye, though, was a little desk sign that was new to me.

Apparently, Hampton has rolled-out a digital tipping solution for housekeeping. Just scan with your phone, charge your card, and you can tip the room attendant without needing cash. It felt like the future – frictionless, paperless, smart. A nice innovation.

I always leave tips for housekeeping – their job is hard, often thankless, and increasingly done with reduced staffing. And yes, before you ask: you’re supposed to tip every day, not just at the end of the stay. You never know if it’s the same person cleaning your room. I used to leave about $2 a night, or $5 if I had a suite. These days, I just default to $5 a night unless the room is the size of a Vegas penthouse.

So, I left my tip digitally on the first day. It felt great. No fumbling for change, no begging the busy front desk staff to make change, no looking for the now long gone blank pad to write an awkward desk note. And the website reassured me that the cleaning staff gets 100% of the tips. It was definitely a small moment of convenience – until I came back that evening and realized nothing had been cleaned, no towels had been replaced, no garbage cans had been emptied.

Confused, I checked with the front desk. That’s when they informed me the hotel now cleans rooms only every other day (a detail conveniently left off of both the sign and the website.)

And there it was – the tipping point, literally. I’d paid a gratuity in advance for a job well done to someone who never showed up – and you can’t untip when you do it digitally.

For the rest of the stay, I went analog: hit the ATM, got my fives, and left an actual bill under the sleek digital tipping sign each morning. And wouldn’t you know it – once there was real cash sitting in the room, the room magically got cleaned every day.

So, the lesson? Not every “new” solution works if the people behind it don’t buy in. Technology can make life easier – but it can’t replace incentive. Or accountability.

As Jeff Goldblum famously said in Jurassic Park when the cloned dinosaurs started eating everyone: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Digital tipping is clever – but sometimes the future still needs a five-dollar bill or no one comes to empty the garbage cans.

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.

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