A former maid has revealed how much she thinks guests should tip cleaners when staying at a hotel

It’s the contentious area that often catches many travellers out. A former maid has slammed tourists, revealing how much they should get tipped.

How much would you tip a hotel room cleaner?

An author and former maid says hotel guests should be tipping housekeeping staff at least £7.50 (A$10) per day, per person.

Stephanie Land, who wrote the best-selling book Maid, also listed a number of other tasks every guest should do before leaving their hotel room.

She wrote on Twitter: “Things to do before leaving a hotel room: Ball up your towels, washcloth in the middle. Pick the hair out of the drain.

“Flush. Put garbage in the garbage. Tip. ($10 (£7.50)/day, per person who stayed)

“If your stay is multiple days, tip every day you expect cleaning service. Seriously.”

Her tweet sparked a range of comments, with some finding this too much and others agreeing it is a good thing to try to help cleaning staff.

A Twitter user wrote: “I’m so embarrassed that I never thought to tip. I always leave my room clean (same thing for my table at a restaurant) but leaving a tip for housekeeping staff never occurred to me. Will definitely do this from now on. Thank you for the lesson.”

A maid has tweeted why hotel guests should be leaving $10 tips each day.

One person wrote: “I’m always surprised by people who don’t think of this. Housekeepers work so hard with few spare minutes to breathe.”

Some felt it should be even more money: “And I’d add: Double that tip amount for Five Star hotels!”

But not everyone agreed, with some arguing it is far too expensive to tip that much.

For example, a couple staying at a five-star hotel for 1 days could end up tipping an additional £300 (A$558) if they followed the etiquette rules.

One person said: “$10/day per person staying? Are you serious? I consider myself a generous person but you’re clearly speaking to wealthy people or everyone travelling on expense accounts.”

A social media user asked: “I read something a while back (possibly from the UK) that said housekeepers are not allowed to keep money left in rooms, it has to go to lost property, and that some chains test staff using mystery shoppers who leave cash behind.”

Stephanie Land, who wrote the best-selling book Maid, also listed a number of other tasks every guest should do before leaving their hotel room.

Etiquette expert William Hanson previously explained to Sun Online it was not necessary to tip housekeeping for a one-night stay, but guests who stayed for a prolonged period of time should leave $2-4 per night.

This is because cleaning staff can sometimes change, so leaving a tip at the end of the trip may mean some staff are missing out.

And if a hotel porter brings up your bags then offer him $1.85 per bag.

Guests should also learn which items are allowed to be taken from a hotel room and which are not.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission