Concierge Tip - How Much
 

Have to admit I'm completely ignorant about this. Just read this month's Conde Nast special Asia issue. Says a good concierge in China is a wonderful help -- and they expect the same kind of tip as in U.S. Trouble is I've never used a concierge in the U.S. so I have no idea how much to tip. We'll be staying at the Great Wall Sheraton in Beijing.

Any advise on how much is appropriate?

i think it really depends on what he/she does for you....if he suggests a restaurant a small tip would be appropriate...if he arranges a car for you for the day then a larger tip would be appropriate...
if he finds you last minute tickets to a sold out show a huge tip would be appropriate...

anything from a few dollars to $50 for a huge undertaking is appropriate imo...

if he does lots of things for you during your stay, tip him once at the end...remember this is his job, first of all and everything he does for you is expected...tips are for exceptional service...

Hey, Bob, I thought all you yankees tip because you feel guilty, about being so wealthy, and all!

I do not need a lecture on tipping, from anyone! OK!

China is not a country where staff expect a tip. I travelled there in 2003 and did not feel obliged, anywhere I stayed or travelled with, including the Grand Hyatt Hotel, to tip anyone.

I dislike tipping as a rule! Although I tipped a Singaporean hotel concierge this year, for providing me with the name of an excellent spectacle maker. S$5 was the amount. He saved me around $S50 so I thought 5 bucks was appropriate.

Use you noggin and play it by ear! Maybe you won't use the services of a concierge! If you do they might ensure you feel suitably guilty enough to cough up with a wad of Renminbi!!

Have a great time!

lyndie...you are just cheap!!!!

of course i have to remember in OS it is not the custom...you only sit around the bbq and drink cheap wine!!!

i am a concierge at a major hotel in maui.
my recommendation is....if you plan on using the concierge for multiple services...ie...
restaurant reservations, activity and tour information, to reconfirm flights etc....
then you should tip at your first meeting...then the concierge will always be attentive for any other needs you may have... if it is just occasional info or help,
then tip according to what services you required.
on maui...at 4 star resorts...i have gotten anywhere from $2 tip from a little old lady
for performing a miracle for her (i,e, i recovered her camera that she lost and wasnt even sure where she left it) to $10, $20 and $100 for dinner reservations....
it really should depend on what you are asking or requesting ...but all tips are appreciated..$5 -10
is an average tip for minor services...more for somewhere who really goes the extra mile for you

I was baffled when I saw this in CN Traveller. Asia is a non-tipping geography! CNT should know better!!!!

If the locals don't tip then the tourists and travelers shouldn't either.

We all should observe local customs and norms while traveling - bartering where bartering is the norm, donning appropriate attire to visit religious sites when appropriate, not tipping where tipping isn't the norm.

Let's not mess up Asia any faster than we have to.

If I know that I will be using their services, I always introduce myself and give them $20.00 right from the start. Then the service is flawless. Then at the end, I tip based upon what they did. You'll be amazed what $20.00 will do.

I agree with you cjbryant! OK, I thought you're not supposed to tip in China!?!? ....or does that only apply in restaurants???

I'm also with cjbryant; and, sorry, divediva, but I can't see how your experience in Maui is at all relevant to China, where people who tip are generally considered to have more money than brains.

This is not a matter of being "cheap", as rhkkmk would have it, but avoiding the introduction of customs alien to to local practice. For the same reason I wouldn't dream of refusing to tip when in the United States because the practice is neither common nor necessary, in my own country - that would be arrogant and thoughtless on my part, now, wouldn't it?

I expect foreign visitors to my own country to extend to us the same courtesy, on the grounds that we have no desire or need to import foreign pay practices.

Incidentally, US$50 in China is as much as many workers earn in a 6-day week - grossly out of touch with reality and likely to catapult hotel concierges into an economic class that really useful people like doctors and schoolteachers, denied the opportunity of kow-towing to spoilt foreigners, could only dream of.

I guess my question would be - does this hold true in some of the more "international" hotels? For instance, I would expect the concierge at the Peninsula in BKK to be more expectant of a tip than a concierge at a hotel that caters more to non-foreign travelers.

I thouroughly agree that westerners should not try to import their practices into other areas, but when staying at more of an international establishment where the tipping practice has probably been going on for some years, should I tip also? When we stay at the Pen for our honeymoon, we expect to use the concierge a lot to book all of our restaurant reservations. If other guests normally tip, shouldn't we?

Also, I have heard people mention that it is nice to leave a little tip for the room cleaning service in Thailand. Is this true?

If said "international" hotel is in a country where tipping is not the cultural norm of the local population the answer is still "no, don't tip".

What others do or don't do in said hotel is up to them, however, I'll go out on a limb and guess that others who do tip are NOT local as tipping is still contrary to local custom.

Assuming you are a Westerner, would you tip your pharmacist for filling a prescription for you? If you saw someone tipping the pharmacist in the US would you feel obligated to do the same?

Of course not, because in the US tipping ones pharmacist is not customary or expected as part of their compensation.

If tipping has been going on for years at this Pen its because we've been importing the custom. That still doesn't make it right or the norm.

Please don't tip in countries were tipping is not the norm for the locals!

<Asia is a non-tipping geography!>

Asia's a pretty large continent. Are you sure that holds true for every country? Have you checked?

Don't hotels in Asia add a 10% service charge to your bill? So in effect, you are already tipping everyone in the hotel. Once in Singapore I tried to tip the bellboy and he refused the tip, advising me about the service charge. I was amazed that the tip was refused.

Very interesting and thought provoking thread!

I thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth.

I was a bartender for a few years at a place where a group of guys from NZ frequented. They came in once and enjoyed the service so they became regulars. They NEVER tipped, claiming it wasn't customary in their country. I found this a horrible excuse and also disrespectful of them not to tip while in the USA.

I became friends with this group and kindly "educated" them on our customs. They ended up being great tippers!

As they say "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".

That being said, I do not plan on lavishing the concierge, waiter, bartender, etc with tips while I am in Thailand or Cambodia in Feb.. I do, however, plan on tipping our guide in Seam Reap and rounding up to the nearest 5 baht when taking a cab. These are the things that I have read are "expected".

Do some research by reading through the guide books of the country you are visiting. They usually have a section on customary tipping practices.

Personally, I bring little decals/stickers for children when traveling to countries that are less affluent This allows me the opportunity to interact with the children and begin a conversation with the locals. The thank you's I have received from the children and parents are evidence that this gesture is much appreciated!

This is getting off topic, but I don't think the practice of giving small, random gifts/trinkets/candy to children is a good idea. Similar to tipping, I think it creates an expectation of the same from future travelers.

I was in Kenya in February and it was so sad to see so many children standing along the roadside with their hands outstretched asking for money, pens, etc. whenever a vehicle with tourists passed by. They wouldn't have been standing on the side of the road begging had it not been for previous travelers handing out such things. My fellow Americans seem to be the worst offenders in this regard. I heard one traveler describe how he brought bags of balloons and tossed them from the car window and how the children were all running up to grab them. How degrading is that?

I don't mean to equate anyone here with the balloon tossing guy and I do understand wanting to interact with children. It's also very difficult to not to want to give something but think about the consequences.

While the destinations that you currently visit may not have this problem (yet), imagine what it might be like a few years from now if you and other travelers continued this practice.

Stepping off my soap box now.

Point well taken, Patty.

I did this in Croatia last year and in Turkey this year. I didn't see any harm in it.

If you will notice, I didn't say I did this in poverty stricken third world countries.

Yes, tour guides may be an exception, as I suspect that the tour companies may not pay them a salary. When we took a small-group tour of Vietnam, Travel Indochina (which is an Australian company) gave us tipping guidelines, a few dollars a day, ostensibly to reward not only our local guide and driver but the (Australian) tour leader. Out of curiosity I asked whether any of them received a salary but not surprisingly didn't get a straight answer to that one. I did get the impression that our Vietnamese guide and his wife (also a tour leader) did pretty well by local standards.

In another thread on this subject one Fodorite wrote that they tipped because "it makes me feel good". Well, that's honest, anyway - although maybe the writer didn't fully examine the implications of his/her statement. It sounded suspiciously like a status thing to me.

eurotraveller, congratulations on getting New Zealanders to tip :)