Is it a ‘thank you for prepping my room’ or ‘please clean my room today’? If you tip post cleaning, it’s likely going to someone else the next day. Many hotels now only do housekeeping on demand. How do employees feel about this - do they miss the tips or are they happy for a less stressful workday?
ETA- I’m in the US. Does the rest of the world tip housekeeping? I always have when traveling because I do at home, but I don’t know what the norm is.
It’s a percentage because the $60 steak was assumably at a nicer restaurant where you received more in depth service.
Fine dining servers may only have a couple of tables at once, or even for the entire night. You’re paying more for more individual attention.
It also scales in reverse. A server on a shift with a $10 blue plate special will probably have 10 tables before things go off the rails. They’ll also put serious work into getting your ass off that table the minute your plate is clean.