Ayesha123

Hi everyone,

We are leaving for Egypt in 10 days and I wanted to find out a little more about the tipping policy. We're going with Lady Egypt tours for 2 weeks; do we tip at the end of each day or at the end of the trip and more importatnly, how much do you normally tip?

Thanks.

sandi

There are many threads here on Fodor's re tipping. Do a search. Tipping/gratuities, always depends on quality of service. Still you tip the guide at the conclusion of his/her services, whether for a day or a few.

You don't indicate whether you have a single guide throughout, in Cairo and on Nile cruise (if taking one) or elsewhere. If only in Cairo, then at the end of the two or three days here. If same guide on cruise, then at conclusion of service. If using the Nile Cruise guide, likewise, tip him/her at the conclusion of the days guiding at shore temples/sites (can be anywhere from 3-7/days).

Don't forget hotel staff - porters/housekeeping; if on cruise, also porters, housekeeping, waiters, kitchen - often this is a shared tip with lock-box at boat reception.

Axel2DP

You should've received a tipping guide sheet from LE. If not then you should ask Amanda about it before your trip. When you arrive in Egypt, your tour rep there will also give you an information packet. I believe that has a tipping guide sheet in there also.

If a guide or driver will be with you for multiple days then it's ok to tip each at the end of your trip. Do check with them as to how long they'll be with you when you first meet them. The tour rep usually only see you when you first arrive and then when you leave the city or country.

Casual_Cairo

Remember all the time that what ever they give you is a "GUIDE" not the law. You can choose to go higher or lower depending on the service you feel you got from the guide.

Another thing to remember, is that IF you shop with them when they take you to a Carpet School, Perfume Shop, Papyrus Factory/Museum, or Gold store that they are taking a huge amount of your purchase price as a commission. Your guide does not take all of it, the company takes a fair share, but keep in mind that if you buy a $3000 carpet, or a $300 piece of papyrus, your guide has been tipped VERY well at that point.

It doesn't just happen in Egypt. If you bought wine in Italy on tour, or wooden shoes/cheese in Holland, the same thing was going on.

alina555

I am actually in the middle of a two day private tour of Cairo with LE. We did not get any tipping recommendations from Amanda prior to the trip, but the tour leader gave me recommendations on the way to the hotel. He said the driver gets at least 50LE a day, the Egyptologist 100-150LE a day, and he (as tour operator) gets 100-150LE a day. These guidelines seem to be double what my Fodor searches on this topic yield. I actually am not too opposed with following their guidelines and possibly overtipping the guide and driver, but I am not sure what the tour leader does to warrant the same tip as the Egyptologist? The tour leader greeted us at the airport and joined our ride to the hotel, and then left once we met the guide. He shows up again at the end of our tour, presumably to collect his tip. Am I wrong to tip him considerably less (50-100LE) even though he's told me what he expects?

Axel2DP

Like CC mentioned, the tour rep give you a tipping guide. If you think the tour rep should only get 50LE then you should feel fine to give that. I sometimes feel the same way as you regarding the role of the tour rep. On some part of my trip, I met the tour rep a few minutes when I arrive and then only see him again a few minutes when it's time to leave the town.

I wish I still have the tip sheet that LE gave me. I think it was in the welcoming packet.

When I was in Egypt in March, the tipping guide was more along the line of the following:
guide: 50 LE/day/person
driver: 10 LE/day
tour rep: 20 LE
bathroom stop: 1 LE

I give the driver more if he has to get up very early or drive me a long distance between towns, etc. I also tip the guide much more if I think he's very good.

Axel2DP

October is a high travel season for Egypt? Maybe that has a effect of the price of everything.

jat

I am getting ready to leave on a LE tour next week, and I, too, am puzzled. The tipping guide Amanda emailed me is roughly comparable to what Axel2DP mentions above. It is (per person):
tour rep 20-50 LE total at end of the time in the city
guide 50-100 LE per day
driver 10 LE per day
cruise staff 10-20 LE per night on board.
Would appreciate advice about whether these seem appropriate guidelines, per person, for two people.

sf7307

I'm always the negative voice here on this subject, but so be it. We had a private tour with LE a couple of years ago, and there is no way (even though our guide was excellent) that I was tipping $60.00 per day --- I just find that ridiculously high.

MissGreen

I just returned from Egypt & Jordan with Lady Egypt. Our Rep was Ahmed and he was so friendly and great that I gave him 200 LE the first day I saw him just as an "introductory thank you". Whether or not he thought this was a sign of things to come and so went the extra mile I dont know. He did a magnificent job. We were upgraded to a suite at half the hotels we stayed at, including the Mariott Dead Sea. We were given flowers & fruit baskets in many rooms. At one restaurant, we were seated and he disappeared and returned a few minutes later and said he asked for us to have a better seat near the floor show. We tipped him accordingly at the end.

I liked our driver Mamoud too. He was young and married, so I figured he needed money. He was due to pick us up after our Jordan trip, however, someone ran in to his Lady Egypt car in the car park and it had to be towed so we got a hire car home with our rep. At the airport after the car was towed, Mamoud came over to us smiling and saying he was ok (in his limited English). I was worried that he would miss a day's pay as he didn't drive us so I put some money in to an envelope to give our Rep to give to him to explain what it was for, however, we were lucky enough to have Mamoud one more time so we could give it to him. He said "la, la la" telling me he wouldn't accept the tip. I pushed the money into his hand and closed his fist around the money - probably very inappropriate ettiquite for a western woman and Egyptian man - but I didn't care!

Axel2DP

When you tip people I think you're supposed to discretely put the folded money in his hand.

Casual_Cairo

10 LE for a driver is minimal and should probably only apply when there are at least 5 people in the van...so he is getting a good 50LE for the days driving. Simply 10LE would be less than $2 if you are the only passenger..... not much at all.

IMHO anyway.

LE150 for the guy that greats you and sees you to your hotel and then sees you off to the airport at the end is generous.

jat

Casual Cairo (or anyone who is knowledgeable about this), does this seem about right for the tip per person for two people on a tour (with the possibility of more than that for great service??
tour rep 20-50 LE
guide 50-100 LE per day
driver 10 LE per day
cruise staff 10-20 LE per night on board.

Casual_Cairo

To me 20LE per day for tipping a driver seems like WAY too little. That is like less than $4. The minimum you are going to give your guide per day is $10 and you want to give the driver less than $4? Maybe he doesn't have as much education (but don't assume that around here - my guide has a college degree) and sure, he didn't talk to you as much, but he was up hours before you and the guide to clean the car from yesterday, and he is mostly awake the whole day and his driving is what keeps you safe. He will watch after your bags and whatnot all day long so you don't have to worry about carrying them with you all the time, so now he is more than a driver, he is a driver, a carwash, a security man and probably a translator for you, now and again and he gets less than $4 for a tip. Drivers work hard and if he is friendly and not a big grump, give him $10 for all he does for you.

jat

Thank you! I hadn't gotten around yet to converting LE to dollars, so didn't realize how little this was. Do the tips I listed above for guide and tour rep seem reasonable?

kch246

We also are traveling with Lady Egypt this November. I asked Amanda whether we can tip in US dollars or LE and she said either one is acceptable. Thoughts on this?

MissGreen

I am all for giving what you can rather than the minimum of what is acceptable. wages are low. be kind.

Axel2DP

I think it's better to tip in the local currency when possible.

I admit that it's not always instinctive to do dollar conversion when travelling in a foreign land. 100 LE is not the same as 100 US dollars, but when I hear 100 LE I would immediately focus only on the 100.

Casual_Cairo

So long as the bills you hand to them are clean (not torn or written on) they can exchange them at the bank, but if you can tip in EGP it saves them the hassle and any grief a banker that thinks he is better than a driver exchanging a few dollars, wants to dish out.

Casual_Cairo

NEVER use coins - except Egyptian coins, for a tip. THEY CAN NOT exchange them and they sit around begging people to do the exchange for them on site which most people don't like very much.

On the otherhand, when a shister at the pyramids asks for 1 EURO for a necklace that is worth 20cents, give him a coin if you really want it. It serves him right for asking for 1 EURO. I'm mean. I won't exchange their coins, but if a bathroom lady shows me 30EUR in coins she has recieved, I'll change her coins for EGP every day. The shisters I'm not too sympathedic with.