Tips Fall Off Behind Rise in Fees and Slow Economy Tipping for hotel concierges, bellhops and housekeepers moves up and down with the economy, but lately it has also been affected by changes in corporate, airline and hotel policies. The airlines" checked bag fees offer a prime example. Since luggage got wheels, more travelers have been eschewing porters and taking their own bags up to their hotel rooms. But the airline fees have made things worse, said Adam Weissenberg, a vice chairman at Deloitte & Touche who leads the firm's American travel, hospitality and leisure division. "People are packing lighter so they can bring just a carry-on and avoid the fees," he said. The other day, I was sitting in a lobby for 20 minutes, and not one business traveler used a bellman. The bag fees have also affected skycap tips, said Calvin Harris, who has worked as a skycap for five years at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. He said that he was paid $2.13 an hour plus tips, and that those tips had decreased by 30 percent since the airlines started charging the fees. "The more people have to pay for baggage fees, the less money they are going to give to skycaps," he said. It would be nice if the money could trickle down to the workers who are giving the service. Business decisions that hotels made when the economy was weak have also affected tips. Many upscale hotels cut their rates to attract customers and fill rooms, but the clientele they attracted was not the tipping kind, said Joseph Sundberg, porter captain at Kimpton's Hotel Monaco in Portland, Ore. In the down economy, "guests who come on a budget may not be able to tip as generously," he said, "or maybe they don't know the customs." Guests may leave luggage and laptops with him for the afternoon, he said, and ask multiple times if it will be kept safe. But when they come back to collect their belongings, he said, they often do not leave a tip. "If it is so valuable to them, isn't it worth a couple of dollars for the person who kept it secure?" said Mr. Sundberg, who has been at the hotel for 16 years. Tips, he said, can be a significant part of a bellhop's total compensation. He added, though, that repeat guests who travel for business tended to tip the same amount no matter what was going on in the economy. "If their business is bad, they're not going to let it affect you," he said. Greg Frutchey, who has been a bellhop with the Morgans Hotel Group in Manhattan, said he had had similar experiences with budget travelers who were not familiar with gratuity customs. They may shop for bargains in the city, he said, and then ask the bellhop to weigh their suitcases and wait while they repack them to avoid airport overweight charges, without leaving a tip. When the American economy faltered, said Kayse Gehret, a massage therapist who works as a contractor at a number of San Francisco hotels including the Ritz-Carlton and the St. Regis, many of her American clients disappeared, but her appointments with foreign guests increased. "That really affected my income because many of them were not aware that people in the U.S. tip for services," she said. Some hotels now automatically bundle the gratuity in with the service, she said. The economic downturn also meant fewer business trips and trips of shorter duration, both of which affected housekeeping tips. "When people just get in and out, they may not feel as obligated to tip the housekeeper, compared to when they've stayed for a longer time," Mr. Weissenberg said. Some hotels leave a note saying who cleaned the room to remind guests of the service they are getting, although they are wary of making the guests feel uncomfortable if they do not leave a tip, he said. Still, housekeepers" wages are generally low, so leaving $3 to $5 a day can make a big difference to them, he said. Freddie Floyd, a concierge at the Sanctuary Hotel, an upscale boutique hotel in Midtown Manhattan, said that tips for housekeepers were more affected by the economy than his own tips were.