Shipping shopping to hotels?

[jetlagger]

Happy to tip in restaurants. Hotels, not so much.

We wouldn't want Australians to ever be considered as 'bad/stingy" guests would we.. ?

 

[legroom]

A bit off topic, I guess, but what is the difference between restaurants / cabs / hotel services ?

One common denominator is Customer Services.

If you are well served with a smile, show your appreciation & courtesy by saying "Thanks" and a little tip, esp in the US where the minimum wage is lower than what we have in Oz.

Unless you are in Japan where it is universally frowned upon, I would normally tip unless the services are gross.

Happy to tip in restaurants. Hotels, not so much.

 

[Travel Guru]

This is a pretty newbie question for me, given my shopping habits and trips to the US.

I am thinking of ordering some stuff online and getting it shipped to the hotel we will stay at next week in California. Do I just ship it? Do I email the hotel and let them know? What can I do to ensure the parcel gets there and stays there until I check in??

I normally ship stuff to work or a friend's house before a trip, and have never shipped to a hotel.

I do it so regularly I don't even worry about emailing the hotels anymore (I've never had any hotel ever tell me I couldn't out of dozens I've done it to), I just address is "Hotel Guest - Mr Travel Guru" and it always finds it's way to me whether it's a tiny parcel or a large box with $1000 of nutritional products.

Most hotels just have you call guest services on arrival although the hotel I stayed at in Santa Monica last week had them waiting in my room on arrival.

TG

 

[burrco]

If buying through amazon - amazon lockers are very handy - no tipping required!

 

[Timsboot]

They will tell you what their policies are and if there are any costs involved.

This is critical. I have been hit with $5 a box charges plus the need to tip the bellhop that brought the boxes to my room

 

[lovestotravel]

Happy to tip in restaurants. Hotels, not so much.

So you never tip housekeeping ?

I'd be keeping a close eye on your toothbrush

 

[markis10]

So you never tip housekeeping ?

I'd be keeping a close eye on your toothbrush

Whats a toothbrush?

 

[legroom]

This is news to me, really.

But all is not well with this model.

Off to search for a 7-11 near my Hyatt !

If buying through amazon - amazon lockers are very handy - no tipping required!

 

[Mardi]

The last couple of years I've stayed at the same hotel in New York and have not had any problems getting stuff sent there. They don't charge anything and the last time we went we arrived to find we had, perhaps, been a bit too trigger happy on the purchasing and had a massive pile of boxes waiting in our room!

We're off to NYC again on Monday and to my surprise a couple of orders I've placed online have been rejected with the explanation that they don't ship to hotels because the deliveries go missing. Bummer!

 

[Kiwi Kid]

Never had a problem & always enquire with hotel first regarding charges. Most Las Vegas hotels use UPS and you incur a charge based on weight. A tip if you have problems getting your credit card accepted - set up a Paypal account and use a generic USA address (I use a hotel in Vegas) - gets around the systems of Bath & Body Works + other makeup companies. FYI I now get B&BW shipped rather than purchasing in store as they are always cello wrapped & have never had leakage issues. And as others have said, tip when you uplift those parcels - it's just a courtesy thing. Given all the money you've saved buying from the USA, just factor it into the cost.

 

[amaroo]

Never had any dramas - the hotel will find you.

 

[diana]

I was recently in Waikiki and ordered some goods online and had them sent to the hotel. I rang the hotel and also emailed them with my details. On the order there is a space for special instructions. I had my name as a guest at the hotel and asked for them to be held until my arrival, also the arrival/departure dates in the american format. When I arrived I found the parcels in my hotel room waiting for me and of course I did not tip anyone as I did not know just who had placed them in my room. On thanking the staff at the desk I was told that it was "my pleasure ma'am, we are here to serve". No mention of any charges at all, that is service.

 

[h15t0r1an]

We wouldn't want Australians to ever be considered as 'bad/stingy" guests would we.. ?

Sadly, when I worked weekends at the best restaurant at Harrods in London during my studies, the 2 nationalities we could always rely on NOT to tip us were Australians and Germans.

 

[diana]

Sadly, when I worked weekends at the best restaurant at Harrods in London during my studies, the 2 nationalities we could always rely on NOT to tip us were Australians and Germans.

Of course we tipped, when we left the hotel we left a substantial tip in our room for housekeeping. We were not able to tip on receiving the parcels as just who were we to tip?
If it was the housekeeping staff they were well rewarded when we left, if we tipped the staff at reception how could we be sure that we were tipping the staff member that placed the parcels in the room before our arrival.
I think you will find that most Australians that travel in the US are made aware of the tipping culture and leave a tip. I also think that nowdays most Australians tip when traveling o/s.

Having lunch one time in a small New York restaurant a group of 6 people, tourists and not Australians, left without leaving a tip. Well they did not get too far as the waitress and everybody else in the place were very loudly made well aware that they had not left a tip, they very quickly gave her a tip.
This is not the usual behavior of restaurant staff but on this occasion I think she had just had too much, they were a very demanding group, not sure of their nationality!

 

[Bindibuys]

Be aware of the weather conditions too. I had parcel delivered to our hotel in Dallas Texas for the Super Bowl, of course massive snow storms days before our arrival, and still snow/ice when we landed. All deliveries were running days behind, so my boots did not arrive even after a 3 day stay.
They ended up being returned to Amazon and my account was credited.

 

[BenSQ380]

I've had a hotel in Vegas charge $5 per parcel. Deliveries are held with the security team and ID checks and signatures are required for release. Not a bad system and a reasonable price to pay for the service.