How Bellyard Hotel Got Tips to Every Housekeeper, Including Contract Staff Without Bank Accounts

HR & STAFFING

Bellyard Hotel is a Marriott Tribute Portfolio boutique hotel at The Interlock in Atlanta's West Midtown, with a team of 50+. Guests kept coming to the front desk asking to tip housekeeping by card. But most of the housekeeping team was contract labor without bank accounts, so the hotel had no way to pay those tips out. Bellyard launched eTip with QR codes on custom wooden stands and a pooled tip system that pays every housekeeping role, contractors included.

Why it matters: Guests don't carry cash anymore. And if your team includes contract workers, most tipping and payroll systems can't pay them at all. The tips guests want to leave never reach the people who earned them.

Every housekeeping role, including contractors without bank accounts, now shares in guest tips.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Bellyard needed a way to accept cashless tips, pay staff who don't have bank accounts, and share tips fairly across the whole housekeeping department, without cluttering a design-led boutique hotel.

Accept Cashless Tips: Guests kept asking the front desk if they could tip housekeeping by card. Bellyard needed a way to say yes.
Pay Contract Staff: Most of the housekeeping team was contract labor without bank accounts. Tips had to reach them anyway.
Share Tips Fairly: Housemen and lobby attendants work alongside room attendants but rarely saw tips. Bellyard wanted every housekeeping role included.

Innovators Mentioned

Bellyard Hotel

eTip

Sirikwan Sae-tae

Executive Housekeeper

Bellyard Hotel

"Most of our people stay because they're happy with the tips."

Sirikwan Sae-tae

Executive Housekeeper

👍 Executive Housekeeper Sirikwan Sae-tae said that On what changed for the housekeeping team after launching eTip::

"Most of our people stay because they're happy with the tips."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Sirikwan Sae-tae evaluated eTip's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that eTip was the best fit solution:

Executive Housekeeper Sirikwan Sae-tae said, about their decision: "Most of our employees are contract labor, so they don't have bank accounts set up. The housekeepers lose a lot of opportunities to earn money."

📈 The results: Tips now reach the entire housekeeping team, and Bellyard's Executive Housekeeper credits them with keeping people on staff. Nearby properties and contract labor companies have since asked about the program.

Better retention. "Most of our people stay because they're happy with the tips," says Executive Housekeeper Sirikwan Sae-tae.
Housemen and lobby attendants, roles that rarely saw tips before, now get a share through pooled tipping.
Custom wooden QR stands match the hotel's earth-tone design and give guests a clear, simple way to tip.