Digital tipping is coming to a hotel near you

TipYo debuted on Apple’s App Store in November, promising to streamline the tipping experience for travellers everywhere. — Tipyo

It’s the universal travel faux pas: You arrive at a hotel, receive your luggage from the bellboy, reach into your pockets, scour your wallet, and turn up ... nothing. Or, perhaps worse, a large-denomination bill you’re too embarrassed to ask them to break.

Bashar Wali, president of Provenance Hotels, lamented the sorry state of hotel tipping in a post on LinkedIn this past July, in which he argued around the idea of tipping as fair compensation, and that it’s more like an expression of gratitude, a "personal acknowledgment” to those who "are exposed to the worst parts of us [piles of dirty laundry, hangovers, room service leftovers] and get the least appreciation”.