staff

Forbes has answered a very interesting question pertaining to tipping. With all the luxury services that new hotels offer, there are many more people that you will come into contact with than just the porter and the maid. How do you know who to tip and - more importantly - how much to tip?

The first lesson is that some resorts are all-inclusive and will have a "resort fee" added to the bill (15-20% against the room rate) that is to be distributed as tips for the employees; no additional tipping is necessary here, and many employees will not accept them. If this is not the case at your hotel, employees who should be tipped include the concierge, doormen, drivers, pool attendant and those who offer special services, like masseurs. See the full guide for details on who gets a dollar, who gets 20% and what you should expect in return.

And don't forget the maid. Leave a few dollars a day, depending on the size of the room and the size of your mess.

There is no reason to wait until the next time you're staying at a luxury hotel to enjoy outstanding concierge service. Many companies around the country offer personal concierge services and the ever-helpful Cranky Consumer column in the Wall Street Journal put a few from all over the country to the test. And with a name like "cranky," you might assume that there would be some complaints about some of the service they received, but there were really none worth making.

The upshot of their personal concierge trials was that the companies (Andrea Herbert Lifestyle, NY; Prominent Concierge, Atlanta; Gofer Girls, LA; Upon Your Request, Dallas; Envy Concierge, SF) were all very professional and very helpful. They did everything from playing with pets when the owners were out of town to locating kosher caters for an upcoming party. Having a concierge service available is an indulgence, but when life gets busy or stressful, they can accomplish a whole to-do list in just hours. And with rates ranging from $25 to $50 per hour, sometimes the tradeoff is well worth it.