I like the Marriott chain but this is wrong ...

I am a big fan of the Marriott chain of hotels.  They are clean, comfortable and modern.  But this story (link here) is troubling.  I understand a policy of splitting tips so that the folks, say, working the desk or in the back room get a share -- that's fair and right -- but to demand the tips be split with the owner is wrong.  If the owner needs more money, raise the prices. Tips are for the staff:

Hand over your tips or else, posh Muskoka hotel warns staff

A posh Marriott beach resort in Muskoka is threatening to fire spa staff who won’t fork over almost half their tips to the hotel — just as Premier Dalton McGuinty seeks a ban on “tipping out” to the boss.

The ultimatum, detailed in a letter obtained by the Star, will see spa customers at the Rosseau Muskoka near Port Carling charged a higher 20 per cent gratuity on their manicures, body wraps, massages and other treatments with 50 per cent of the tip going to staff who perfom the hands-on services.

But that’s less than the existing 18 per cent gratuity deal in which they give about two percentage points to the spa’s administrative workers. Roughly 20 employees are affected, mostly women, sources said.

“Should continuing your employment with The Rosseau . . . under this new policy not be acceptable to you, your employment will terminate at the end of the four-week period as outlined in this letter,” hotel general manager Tony Tamburro wrote on June 11.

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In the three-page letter, the hotel — where rooms start at $269 per night — maintains the clawback is necessary “to efficiently manage our costs and to remain competitive within the industry.”

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Under the new policy at The Rosseau Muskoka, the 20 per cent gratuity would see 10 percentage points go to the spa staff, 8.75 percentage points to the hotel and 1.25 percentage points to administrative associates in the spa.