[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

Fint being Fint.
https://riddlesbrainteasers.com/missing-dollar/
There is no missing dollar from the original $30 because after getting $1 back, the three travelers had paid a total of $27 for their room ($9 each), not $30. Out of that $27, the hotel has $25 and the clerk kept the remaining $2. If you still want to work from the original $30, the travelers have $3, the hotel has $25 and the bellboy has $2. The misleading part is adding the bellboy’s $2 to the $27, when in fact it should be subtracted.

Sooner being later:

That is not what the problem said or the answer posted. According to the problem, the $27 did not include the tip. That is where the dollar is lost n the original calculation...but not really lost.

" Three travelers stop at a motel and ask for a room. Manager says the room is $30 and they each pull out a $10 bill. Later, the manager comes to them with five $1 bills, and reporting he erred by charging them the weekday rate on a weekend when rooms are actually just $25. The travelers notice the five $1 bills cannot be evenly distributed among them, so they take each take $1, and the remaining $2 becomes a tip for the manager. At this moment, each traveler has paid a net amount of $9.

Three times nine is 27. Add the manager's tip and you have $29. Where did the remaining dollar go?"