We leave next Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) for our trip to Delhi, Rajasthan, and Varanesi. My understanding is that we will have the same driver for sightseeing in Delhi and then through Udaipur. What is recommended as the appropriate range for tipping him?

We're also staying at a range of hotels from high end, to havelis, to a guest house in Varanesi, and it'd be great to know what is a good range for the staff at these hotels.

(Our excitement is a bit reserved for right now as I'm battling a bad case of bronchitis; am on antibiotics--and "bed rest" for a couple of days, so am keeping fingers crossed that the meds do their stuff!)

Thanks for guideance on this.

This is probably a case where local practice and US practice will differ quite a bit, so you should do whatever you feel comfortable doing. I have seen locals tip Rs 10-20 to people carrying bags. This is about 30-50 cents US. I personally tip more like Rs50 per bag (100 if they are really large and heavy as mine usually are), as I can’t bring myself to give someone a 30 cent tip. But know that 30 cents is certainly not a <i>bad</i> tip in India. It will be appreciated.

For people who will “guard” your shoes at temples and sights (Taj Mahal) a 10 or at most 20 Rs tip is enough. (You will want to have a good supply of small bills, it can be hard to get these, esp from an ATM, ask your hotel to turn these into smaller bills.)

In many restaurants, esp in hotels, there is a service charge automatically added to the bill. If that is the case, it is up to you whether to leave additional money (as in many cases the waiter does not actually get the tip, or only gets a small portion of it). From what I can see, a local would not leave any additional tip, so this is up to you. In any case, I would think that a 5-10% tip would be quite generous. In smaller family restaurants, I would just leave 20-40 Rs unless your bill is very large.

For hotels, other than porters and waiters which I have mentioned above, I don’t think the amount you leave would be less depending on the type of hotel, as the work is the basically the same. Some hotels (like many Oberois) have a strict no-tipping policy and individuals won’t accept tips. You may find this to be the case in smaller havelis as well. In that case, you can lave a tip for all service with the front desk when you check out, and it will be divided up among staff. In that case, I think I would also go with the 5-10% range, based on the quality of the service. Otherwise, for daily tips, the amounts can be (to you) on the small side, certainly something like 50 Rs per day for housekeeping is generous.

I would not tip taxi or auto rickshaw drivers, however you can leave change.

For priests in temples who may perform special rituals for you, you are supposed to leave a tip. I have problems with this, as I don’t like to hand money to a priest (must be the Catholic girl in me), and I also never know how much to leave. It’s something I have not worked out yet myself. For things like a blessing in a line (fairly topical in many temples), small coins or 5 Rs are fine, as I just follow what the person ahead of me does. As you are on a tour, you might ask your tour agency about this. I’d be curious to know their advice as well.

I haven’t used a driver for a multi-day journey, so perhaps others have reccos for tips for that. I am guessing something in the 100-200 Rs per day range is fine. I also would not rule out gifts like Ganges water from Varanasi to give as gifts (you can buy this already sealed in little pots in Varanasi). In my experience, these make nice tokens to give to Hindus who live elsewhere. Or tapes or CDs of Bollywood music, or CDs from home of music you enjoy.

Many thanks, Cicerone. This is very helpful. We're not on a tour--not sure what made you think that. We have a private car and I'm pretty sure our agent, Ajay from Yatrik, said that it will be the same driver through Udaipur.

I'll check with him--and also ask about suggested tip for the driver.

I think you'll find Ajay's recommended tips for the driver to be much higher than what Cicerone proposes. Do get well and enjoy your trip. You're in good hands with Yatrik.

Thanks, Marija. I kind of figured Ajay's suggestions might be on the high end, which is one of the reasons I elected to ask on the forum first. We want to be fair--but not crazy. Whenever someone's service is really fine though, of course, we want to make sure to reward it.

We chose Ajay because of the many good experiences with him cited on the board, and so far, ours has been quite good also.

Cicerone didn't say anything about local guides, so ifanyonehas an approximation that would be much appreciated.


I did wonder about bringing a gift for the driver as well, and the suggestion of cds is a good one; they're easy to carry.

I'm puzzled why you would bring CDs to India to give as gifts. You can buy pretty much anything in the big cities and I would venture that the driver would prefer money to spend as he wishes.

Oh, I was just picking up on Cicerone's suggestion. We would ONLY give something like a CD in addition to money!! I have wondered, however, whether bringing something "personal" for the driver would be appreciated. Not knowing someone's taste in music probably means it doesn't make sense. We have tried to think of something representative of NY that might be appreciated (in addition to money) but since my shopping time is getting ever more limited by this miserable bronchitis, may just stick to money.

Another question, however: is it advisable to bring a certain amount of dollars/cash? I know that there are ATMs in most places that we'll be staying, and that the rates are basically the same as here, but there have been places we've travelled where having American dollars was a better way to go. (With the dollar weakening it's harder to know--and it may be too costly for shopkeepers or the driver to exchange them.)

Stick to the cash. Indian rupees tend to work best in India. Dunno why.

Don't know about CDs, but DVDs from USA do not work in many other countries, eg UK, so may not work in India.
Not that you are bringing DVDs, 520--just thought that bit of info might help someone who wonders similar question in the future.

I agree with Cicerone in that, i dont care HOW much i'm "advised" to tip--there is j no way i can give someone a tip that is equal to 30 cents US, for lugging bags, etc
Same with driver--no way would I limit a tip to $ 4 or 5 per day IF he's great driver.Perhaps I am just lucky--those working for Faith Pandian have been excellent.

If they want to stereotype me as a "rich American tourist"--fine. I AM "rich"and fortunate in many ways--like being able to even travel to their country!! Having a wonderful time with an informative and SAFE driver, depending on that person for my life (literally) i cannot in good conscience tip for an day's conscientious work, what i earn in 10 minutes.

that is just me. I am sure msot drivers are perfectly happy with $5/per day. If you are not feeling safe and cared-for, you shouldnt keep them longer than a day anyway!

Thanks, Cali. Some of what we've been told by friends who have travelled in India is that ballpoint pens are good gifts in the villages, and that bubble gum is good to bring for the children. I'm really hesitant about the gum. If it seems all right to give ball point pens in the villages, will be happy to do so. We certainly don't want to do anything offensive--and I'm unsure about the children....

For the driver, I had been figuring on quite a bit more than $5.00 per day, but wanted some guidelines; I'm with you that he deserves to be rewarded for doing a good (hopefully a great!!) job.

I also wonder what is about the right tip range for local guides (????) I've just asked Ajay about all of this and will see what he says.

We won't be doing CDs/DVDs, but I'm sure your comments will be helpful to anyone reading this. In the past when we've been in Africa, VietNam, Cambodia we've brought baseball caps from the local NY baseball teams--or something else very symbolic of New York, and our drivers seemed to really like them. So maybe we'll do the same this time.

We tipped our drivers around $15 per day, (there were two of us) and gave small gifts from Canada. I understand that it was too much by other foderites so perhaps $10 would be more appropriate. I think anything above $5 per day is not an insult and more if you can afford and think that the service was worth it.

We brought pens and weren't at all pleased that we did. If you take them out you'll be mobbed and have kids trying to grab them by the handful and then you'll feel sorry for the more timid kids who didn't get one. Donate to a charity for street kids.

Handing out pens or candy (or money) to street kids is a bad idea. Not only does it reinforce the message that begging is a good alternative to school, but it also can be quite scary if you don't have enough to satisfy all comers.

A driver charges $15-$25 /day for his services and car. Your $5 tip will amount to 20% to 30 % of this gross. Our driver, who was quite honest, thought that was a crazy amount of money to receive on top of the amount you'd already negotiated with him. (Not that he didn't appreciate it though!). I've found that baseball caps with city or team names were appreciated as gifts.

Thanks so much for assorting this.

S20 - listen to Jaya.

I'll repeat it so I KNOW you heard it.

<i>Not only does it reinforce the message that begging is a good alternative to school, but it also can be quite scary if you don't have enough to satisfy all comers...</i>

Please, don't do this. <b>Seriously.</b>

Then tattoo what Marija said on your forehead. When the wise and wonderful Marija learns a lesson, you can be verrrry sure, it's a lesson worth learning.

Cali, you know I'm your pal - but you are way, way off base here. I love your enthusiasm but IMHO, you have this topic completely wrong. Actually, they don't just think you're a 'rich American tourist' - they think you're a fool as well.

Now, let's all read Jaya and Marija's comments again...

We gave the school supplies that we brought with us to the schools that we saw and let the teachers give them out. I think that they were appreciated.
When we were in Udaipur, our first day in India, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us around. We were walking through a market and these young children came up to us and said 'choclate, choclate...'
We asked the driver what they wanted and he said sometimes tourists give them choclates. We asked if that is what we should do and he said yes.

we went to a small vendor and bought a bag of individualy wrapped choclates and I started handing them out. It didnt take more than a couple of minutes before I was mobbed.

It was awful. I gave the bag of candy to the driver and let him deal with it, which he did. I thought to myself...what the hell was I thinking?

</i>I thought to myself...what the hell was I thinking?</i>

Live42 is getting closer to the nub of it.

Unfortunately, too many of us have to have that learning curve in the midst of a mob of over-excited children who now, because of kind people with good hearts, see foreigners as pencils/chocolates/sweeties/pens... and of course: 'ma-a-a-aneeeeee...'

All is not what it seems.

I hope you'll excuse me if I repeat a small excerpt from 'Twilight at the Apollo' - one of Dogster's Mumbai tales - just to illustrate...

NO PENS. NO CANDY.

In Kerala you will hear, "Pen, pen" and s people think, isnt that cute, they want a PEN so they can write!

Faith, our travel helper who lives in India, put it in good perspective--it isnt that they need pens.There are perfectly good cheap pens in India. It is the materialistic patina of it being foreign, and it reinforces begging, which is exactly what should NOT be done.

It means a lot more to meet those school children who are happy to meet you for you, rather than what you HAVE.

If you want to help, there are marvelous, honest charities to which you can donate.

Dog, lol re: your honest and no doubt true assessment that they think me a fool and a pushover-- guilty as charged, MiLud! Still, I get quite a chuckle imagining no sooner was my back turned, than local-language cries (or whispers) of "Suckerrrrr!" were expressed!

'An elderly man with carnivorous eyes stood nearby, rather elegantly draped in a grey kurta. Perched on top of his wrinkled head was a pure white Nehru hat.

The man was a genius.

Faced with the growing fact that there were now more tourists in Colaba than low-life to live off them, this man had a brilliantly simple idea – he would import more beggars.

He made the long trip home and made his Bihar village a proposition for a new local industry – they should grow beggars and export them to Bombay.

It would be a syndicate, a co-operative scheme; six months in Mumbai, pool the proceeds, guaranteed food and lodging, a weekly stipend and the profit as a bonus once they came home. Everybody was an earner.

'He brings them in from Bihar, two teams each season, fifty people a team,’ Bongo said, ‘there’s another group down that end of town…’

He needed cute kids and filthy babies, women who could be pleading mothers by day and whores by night and he needed a couple of old women to keep them in order. The men were of no use to him, there was more than enough dumb testosterone in Colaba – they stayed back on the farm.

Bihar was in the beggar business.

His émigrés thrived in Mumbai – conditions on the street were much better than life in their village at home. That they lived in chaos seemed not to disturb them; that they created chaos seemed not to disturb them; that their combined efforts drove tourists crazy seems not to have occurred at all. Indeed, they loved their work.

The Beggars of Bihar grew into a phenomenon. They went out and did their duty every day without fail, reducing visitors to gibbering rage for a business – all because of the man in the white Nehru hat.

‘Now he owns three hotels and a block of apartments,’ Bongo whispered.

Like I said, he was a genius. He’d discovered a job that even a baby could perform. All anyone had to do was be born, be dirty and sit on the street...'

<i>You can read the full piece here:</i>

http://thedogster1.wordpress.com/4-t...-the-apollo-2/

Bless you Cali. Our posts crossed. Thank you for taking my words as I hoped you would.

This topic is one of the most fascinating aspects of travel in India. It's taken me five long trips to work it out - and still, as one young gentleman Jimmy once said to me in Colaba:

'You don't know <i>anything...'</i>