A question to my readers who are World of Hyatt Globalist members, do you add gratuity when signing your breakfast bill even though gratuity is included?
Hyatt Globalist Breakfast Gratuity: Do You Add It?
For years, I’ve added gratuity to my breakfast bill…I figured I had to sign for the breakfast, why not sign for the gratuity too? My concern was that if I did not, the waiter or waitress would end up with the short straw and get nothing.
Here’s how Hyatt defines its Globalist breakfast benefit:
When staying at a participating hotel or resort that has a Club lounge, Globalists will receive access to the Club lounge. When staying at a participating hotel or resort that does not have a Club lounge (or if Club lounge is closed), Globalists will receive daily complimentary full breakfast (which includes one entrée or standard breakfast buffet, juice, and coffee, as well as tax, gratuity and service charges) for each registered guest in the room, up to a maximum of two (2) adults and two (2) children. The age cut-off for a “child” is determined by each hotel or resort in its sole discretion.
As you can read, tax, gratuity, and service charges are included…
Some hotels make it very simple. For example, the Hyatt Regency Chicago O’Hare does not even present a bill for it breakfast buffet for Globalist members. But most do and I’ve always added the gratuity unless it was already added (some hotels add gratuity automatically but still leave an extra line for an additional tip).
But during my last trip report, a reader questioned the practice, saying he never leaves a tip because it is included and if not, he has to argue to have it removed during checkout.
Yes, there have been times in which the breakfast bill has been removed but the gratuity, but my Globalist concierge has always taken care of it…and at least for me, it does not happen all that often.
Am I doing this right? Do other Globalists also leave a line-item tip? How often do you have to fight to get it removed from your final folio?
No
Yes, I would
When I travel overseas, I don’t tip, as I know the staffs are well paid, plus if I add a tip to the bill, I doubt the waiting staffs will actually get the tip. If I have exceptional service, I will just leave them a cash tip.
However when I travel in the US, I always tip and prefer leaving a cash tip to adding to my bills. I always travel with a stack of $1 and $5 bills and will just leave them on the table, give them directly to the waiter/waitress, or leave them inside the leather bill wallet/envelope (whatever you call that). The amount of tips will depend on what I have and how the service goes, but $5 is my minimal.
For Hyatt Place/House with free breakfast, I rarely leave a tip unless they have a tip jar out. I always tip if I ask for fresh egg dishes. I understand the argument from both sides, but since I have closed family members, who work in hospitality, I always tip, unless the service is truly atrocious.
Everyone’s answer should be no.
Stop perpetuating the tipping culture!
Better yet, stop visiting America.
I’m not going to stop visiting the United States, but the entire tipping culture drives me absolutely crazy. Any additional “service charge” is BS, whether it be a hotel, or the 12.5% that fancy London restaurants automatically add to the bill. You should know how much it costs to offer your product, down to the last cent, and charge enough to cover living wages for your employees without lumping another tax onto the bottom line of the bill.
Understand how this could be very confusing. In the U.S., states and cities can determine minimum wage (doesn’t really make sense), but in some states like Texas, an employee who’s job includes tipping as compensation allows employers to credit estimated tipping against state minimum wage. As a result, servers in Texas can be paid as low as $2.90 per hour in 2025! The last time this was increased was 1991. When I was a hotel restaurant server, my hourly wage was $5.50 per hour and my hotel HR was proud to offer this higher hourly wage. Add to this the fact there is no requirement for medical/family leave days, you don’t have any usuable vacation days after a full year (it accumulates over your first year of employment), one usually has a 90-day wait period for employer sponsored insurance that will at minimum cost $150 per month with a $1,000 annual deductible. All in all, it’s hard for these folks.
Outside Texas, some (progressive) cities (LA, San Fran, DC, Seattle, NYC, etc.), have more sensical approaches, and minimum wages of $15+ p/hour are common, however, I still tip as costs of living is much higher in those cities.
Tipping 15-20% is the norm ACROSS the U.S.A., unless you see it included in the check already. If included, it must be disclosed as a service fee or gratuity, but again, service fee may not always be gratuity. That said, if you have bad service, tip accordingly…
Some Hyatts have done this, some do not.
This isn’t always the case. A buffet tip should be 10%, as the servers are only clearing plates and serving drinks for you.
This perspective is way off if you ask the tipped employees I know. Question: which tipped job do you take, the one with a $3 hourly rate or the one with a $17 rate? Answer: the one in which your total compensation (wages and tips) will be higher. In many cases, that’s the lower wage-rate job. Often, a higher hourly rate is offered because tipping is poor.
Every good (i.e., receives high tips) tipped employee I know say they would hate a world with higher wage rates and no tipping. They know the fixed no-tip hourly rate would be less than their current effective (wage + tips) hourly rate. Oh, BTW, many tipped employees will “cry a river” on social media hoping guilt spurs tips. One more point, do you think tipped employees pay income tax on all their tips, as is now the law?
No.
Gratuity is included, so why are you complicating the matter by potentially having to fight to have the charge removed? Just sign the check and be done with it.
Lately,I’ve seen more Hyatt properties include mandatory tipping in the final bill of restaurants. They claim corporate has green lighted this practice.
There’s no such thing as mandatory tipping. Some hotels may add it, and restaurants have a general policy of adding it to parties over a certain number of guests. But tipping is still optional. Just because a hotel is adding it automatically doesn’t mean it can’t be removed if service is bad, etc.
Being a Brit, I wouldn’t add a gratuity to anything. It’s the employer’s problem to pay their staff appropriately not mine.
A Brit perhaps, but a very American perspective. 😉 This is not an employer issue per se, but a more national/country issue. Either way, you get to enjoy the fruits of their labor despite the cost/impact to labor. Bravo.
So, if we adopted the more global norm, our food/beverage prices would be higher. You, selfish one you are, will accept those lower prices in the U.S, and scr£w over the employees.
I don’t think dining prices in the US are lower than anywhere in the world.
I have always read that line to mean that as a Globalist, I will pay nothing IF I decide to tip. I always add a tip though and I have never had to fight the front desk or email my concierge to have it removed. Personally, I wouldn’t expect the restaurant/hotel to tip them if I didn’t write anything based on that language.
In fact, the only time I haven’t tipped is at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. I remember this because I took a photo of the bill since they stamped on the receipt “15% Service Charge Included”. I thought this was an excellent way to handle the benefit and remove the ambiguity you are highlighting here.
Yes. And I don’t care about getting it removed at checkout. Most hotel breakfast restaurants, unless it’s very high end, aren’t that busy and the servers don’t make much and we have more than enough. If my breakfast for 2 is $150, like at the Park Hyatt NY, I may be annoyed at adding $30 for that.
I don’t believe the question can be answered without knowing how it’s handled in house. Is the employee tipped by the house 18-20%?
I personally have been in the hospitality industry, have the resources to do it, and over tip. Because I know the struggles of many in the business and don’t mind helping.
In this case if they aren’t being covered by the house it’s absolutely necessary to tip them regardless of one’s feelings on tips. If they are being covered, it’s still a nice gesture that won’t hurt any globalist.
Overtipping might help the employee, but it’s a misconception to think “it doesn’t hurt anyone”. Tipping 40% adds to everyone’s cost and perpetuates the out of control tipping culture, and lets employers off the hook of paying fair wages. I get if you want to tip an unlimited amount and that’s your decision, but it isn’t quite “doesn’t really hurt anyone”.
As if higher wages will come out of owners pockets and won’t get passed on to consumers.
What Fantasyland are you living in?
@Dave … +1 . The owners have already raised the menu prices .
Wait, restaurants, where net income is maybe 5% or sales, can’t increase server compensation by 15-20% of sales without raiding prices? How dare you bring up logic and economic reality!
@Dave … +1 . The waitresses also deserve a nice tip if they like me and give me a little extra .
There is extreme diversity in practice. Some hotels (Grand Hyatt SFO) will tell you that gratuity is included and tell you not to leave anything additional. Other hotels will not present you a bill (Hyatt Centric San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf). Still others will have you leave a tip and cover it (Hyatt Regency SOMA). Finally, I have been told explicitly that gratuity is not included and have seen it flow to my bill (Mar Monte Hotel).
And this is my main frustration. The lack of consistency, not only from property to property, but Hyatt’s failure to address it in a more straightforward way. I wish Globalists just weren’t presented a bill, period. Or just say what you want us to do, but then don’t deviate from that from property to property.
This has been my experience as well.
I have encountered a few different processes with regards to gratuities and the Globalist breakfast benefit.
At one property that I stay at frequently I was told that it does not matter what I write on the receipt, the server is paid a set amount per Globalist receipt.
At another property they only charge the difference between what I left on the receipt and what they pay the server in the form of a gratuity for serving breakfast to a Globalist.
At other properties, the gratuity that I have left is added to my final bill and after talking to the front desk, I am told that if it is removed from the bill which the properties have always been more than willing to do, the server would not get any gratuity. I have asked about the Globalist benefit including gratuity and I am told that is incorrect and any gratuities that I want to leave are my business.
Generally no, though there have been times where the service was exceptional. In those instances, I’ll leave behind some cash.
I always add because it costs me nothing and it helps out the waiter. I almost never have to fight to have it removed, I remember maybe just once and it was taken care of right away.
Case-by-case basis. If you received prompt extra help then an acknowledgment is appropriate. No hard and fast rules
No
I always write GLOBALIST / INCLUDED on the tip line. I feel this is the best compromise and leaves no ambiguity, like you might have if you leave the tip line blank, cross it out, or write in a zero.
Never any pushback or negative reactions from waitstaff, never any issues at checkout. Part of our loyalty to the brand is that the hotels cover the breakfast gratuity on our behalf. So let them.
I’ve found that different properties handle it different. It used to be hit or miss on whether my tipping would get removed, and then I’d have to fight it out with the front desk. So the last few years I’ve started asking at front desk how they want me to handle the restaurant tip. If I forget or they’re not clear, I’ll have a conversation with the server, tell them that I’m a Globalist and the hotel is supposed to cover their 18% tip. Then I write Globalist in the tipping line and sign for the same amount.
One property I stay at has told me to write Globalist on the tip line and sign it.
Another property, I stay enough that I have gotten to know a few of the breakfast servers pretty well and I have asked them how they want me to handle the question of a gratuity and I am told that the hotel does not pay any sort of gratuity for Globalist receipts, instead apparently for each Globalist receipt they are given some sort of “points” that they can redeem for things.
I asked what happens if l leave a gratuity on the receipts and I am told nothing, as the Manager comps out the receipt it is never reconciled and thus the gratuity is never charged nor paid out.
In that case, I leave a cash gratuity.
Slow day Matthew?
If so make it count and HIM happy
Being a Globalist, I don’t leave a tip as it says it’s included. I’ve also read on FlyerTalk that other Globalists have reached out to their dedicated Concierge who state that Hyatt automatically adds 20% gratuity. So just sign and go. Ask your Concierge if you want confirmation
That bill for a breakfast is crazy!! wow
Yes. I’d rather double tip than risk the server not getting anything, at least in U.S. hotels. In Europe and Asia if I’m not presented with a bill I’ll figure that the hotel is paying a living wage and not go further.
The only sure way to help the server is to actually put the money into the server’s pocket .
It would be interesting to hear from an actual food and beverage employee (not a concierge who will probably just tell you what you want to hear and is not going speak poorly of the brand) whether management ACTUALLY tips out the server on a Globalist breakfast. I’d be very surprised if that were the case.
I leave a tip at US Hilton hotels. The wait staff should be acknowledged.
Hyatt thread, who cares about Hiltons practices.
The problem with “tipping culture” is that we’re told it’s a “tip” but then mandatory hence you can’t get a “free” breakfast. If a restaurant (which oftentimes, the restaurant in the hotel isn’t with the hotel itself) decides that it’s more profitable to guilt the guests into paying a “voluntary” gratuity and this results in them getting stiffed Global Services, then that’s THEIR game that backfired on them. If they wanted the money, they should have made it into a “service charge” AND disclosed “service charge” on the menu in advance.
Otherwise, “tip creep” is going to kick in.
We could see the days when grocery stores don’t pay their stockboys and cashiers and nag us at checkout about it.
At my recent stay at HR Monterey, the server actually mentioned “the tip is included with the globalist benefit” when she delivered the bill. I thought that was nice of her, but I wouldn’t have tipped anyway because I already know it’s included. I typically just write “globalist” on the tip line when I sign the bill.
Not a globalist, but if you are being served breakfast by a waiter in a restaurant setting, you should make sure some kind of tip is included so the wait staff receives a tip. With Marriott breakfasts in a restaurant, I attempt to include a tip when presenter a bill. Otherwise, have small bills in cash for tips. In the US, wait staff appreciate tips – end of story. If you can’t afford tip, buy a yogurt or something from hotel cafe or a nearby store.
As someone from the UK who often visits the US over many years, what seems an anomaly in the US system is that the % is gradually creeping up.
There is no logic in that as the prices have been going up steadily for the goods, so the actual tip value rises with it, without changing the % upwards anyway.
Seems just greed to me, and people too embarrassed to challenge it!
I usually write in about 25% (unless it’s a location that specifically tells you not to). If there’s anything left over on my folio at checkout it’s usually just a few $ which I’m happy to pay
I feel like I may have inspired this post. I write “globalist” in the tip and total line. Been doing it for years. Never had a problem (except once in Mexico, but I think I know why).
Servers on subsequent days seem happy to see me. I learned the trick on Flyer talk. I think it’s the way to do it.
Of the main topic – despite knowing Hyatt’s policy I always double check at check in or the hostess dais . I make sure the hotel knows that gratuity on my part is unnecessary, some hotels need to learn the corporate policy. I often write Globalist on the tip line, especially a new hotel
I frequent one Hyatt Regency very often and the breakfast staff are so very happy to see me return, every last one of them every single time
… now on the other hand, gratuities are regressive and create an unnecessary tension, they need to go away ten years ago. I don’t carry cash so I don’t tip that way, money is filthy and I won’t use it. Just tell me what things will cost and PAY THE FOLKS a good wage.
Agreed on the last point, but that’s a battle we are not going to win in the USA…
If the question is whether or not you leave a gratuity but first have to decide if someone else is going to pay for it, it begs other questions, in my opinion.
A gratuity, anywhere at anytime should be based on the service provided and if you have to pay for it personally and decide against it because you don’t want to fund it, it does seem a little strange.
If the server deserves a gratuity, then pay for it.
But “gratuity” is explicitly included as a benefit of World of Hyatt Globalist status?