Provenance Hotels Introduces Mobile Tipping
On the road with no cash? No problem. Provenance Hotels has partnered with TipYo – a new app that addresses the challenges to today’s cash-free culture – to make the company’s Hotel Murano in Tacoma the first U.S. hotel to offer guests a mobile tipping option. Now, hotel guests’ can download the app on their mobile phone and share a gratuity with valet, concierge and housekeeping teams without an extra ATM run or tracking down someone to break a twenty.
“When it comes to travel, you can do just about everything on your phone and, there’s no reason tipping shouldn’t be one of those things,” says Bashar Wali, President of Provenance Hotels. “It’s all too easy, in our cashless culture, to be caught short when you want to leave a gratuity. Tipping is not just about the money. It’s about being seen. Valued. Offering mobile tipping with TipYo will make it easy for guests to recognize great service. Hotel Murano is committed that 100% of the tips given via the app go right to the people on the front line. It’s a win-win-win.”
TipYo is a secure mobile payment solution that enables travelers to tip hotel room attendants, concierge and valets. Travelers can download the app for free in the Apple App Store. Once installed, all travelers need to do to tip is open the app, select the amount they want to leave, select the hotel they’re visiting, choose the staff to tip and enter their room number before they confirm the tip. TipYo reporting integrates with the hotel’s payroll system, and the tip is passed along to the employee or employees in their next paycheck.
The TipYo app and business model was developed by FinTech entrepreneur Brian Walsh. After years of travel, Walsh found that not carrying cash was the major impediment to his ability to tip: “Ninety-Eight percent of travelers surveyed support a mobile tipping solution. I have yet to have a conversation with a traveler who cannot relate to the critical need for mobile tipping,” Walsh explained.
“We are confident TipYo will help hotels meet their guest’s expectations,” Walsh shared. “TipYo is simple, safe and completely integrated with our hospitality partners’ HR and payroll system. Mobile tipping has arrived.”