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Tips on tipping

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How much should you tip after an event? CMP certification literature recommends between 1 and 1.5 percent of the total bill, including food and beverage, audio/visual, shipping and room rental.

William R. Host, CMP, assistant professor in the Manfred Steinfeld School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Roosevelt University, recommends factoring gratuities into the budget. “I always tip for services provided to me on an individual basis, but I provide gratuities to hotel staff based on the wishes and the practices of the client,” he says. “Not all do.”

Host recommends keeping a notepad of names and the service provided, and having staff do the same, to keep track of those who have gone above and beyond in the service department. Check with vendors to find out which workers already are paid gratuities from the service, set-up and delivery charges you’re paying; they can be eliminated from your tip list.

“I ask my conference services manager (CSM) to provide me with a list of folks who have worked the event, and at the end of the event [we begin] sorting through the names, writing thank-you notes … each one gets an individual note and a cash gift ($10 to $100 or more) placed into a company envelope with a business card. I try to distribute the gratuities myself, but often leave it up to the CSM who has a list of names I ask to be initialed and returned to me.”

Host says he usually distributes gratuities in descending amounts from the CSM ($100 if possible) to managers ($50), administrative staff ($25 to $35) and the houseman pool ($15 to $20 each). “What I have learned is to not feel bad about any amount, no matter how small,” Host says. “So few of us do this that even $10 says a lot to a person about your appreciation for their services.”