Tipping in Thailand
 

How do you when you are in Thailand?

I know, round up the taxi fare and the food bill. Service is included in nicer restaurants.

What about the bell staff in the hotel who brings your bags to your room...how much do you give them? We flounder around with this all the time. How about the boat man for longtails? Housekeeping?

I usually make sure I have lots of 20 and 50 BHT notes to dish out. I often use the States as a benchmark and try to give the equivalent (or half) in purchasing power. The Thais are so hospitable so tipping them is a pleasure.

Tipping in Thailand is generally not a local habit but Thais will leave a very small tip in a restaurant where they feel the service has been above the ordinary. Apart from that they do not usually tip even for taxis. For tourists it should be done as they see fit but certainly not like back home especially those used to tipping in north america. Here is a suggested guide that I use.

Taxis - I still tip taxi-drivers because I think on the most part they do a wonderful job under very trying circumstances. From the Bangkok airport, if the driver has been helpful, courteous and driven at a reasonable speed a 50 baht tip is about right. In the city, if the fare for example is 90 baht, pay 100 (or about 10% of the fare).

Restaurants - Many eating establishments will add a service charge onto the bill and in these cases a small tip (10-20 baht) should be left only if the service has been exceptional. Where no service charge about 10%. At the free hotel breakfast buffets a small tip is appreciated, 20-40 baht

Hotel Porters - 20-40 baht per suitcase.
Bell Hop - 20 baht
Hotel Maids - If the service is good then a 20 baht tip each day is about right
Lavatory ladies - 10-20 baht

we tip the hotel maid well as they provide the best and most abundant service to you during your stay...for a week i might give her 500 B or even more if she has done special things, which they almost always do....also the turn down people but a much smaller tip...i try to give it to them in person as you never know who will get it otherwise...

again doorman and porters according to what they do for you....especially tip well if you plan on leaving suitcases in their care for a while...

kim you have been so many times i was surprised to see this posting...

I suppose living in tip free Japan for so long has left us clueless about tipping. I have the same questions about the US (not about restaurants, but about hotel staff). I know that in the past, in Asia, we have way overtipped. We tipped a babysitter once what we thought was good, and she was so stunned and refused over and over and finally hesitantly took the tip...on check out, when we paid the bill, we realized what we had done wrong...we had tipped twice as much as the total charge for the few hours of babysitting. So, I was just curious about what others did.

As mentioned, tipping is not expected. Indeed, your hotel adds a 10% service charge to cover the things we usually tip for in the US. I give an additonal tip for exceptional service. So, when the bellman brings up my bags and the stored bags (stored for free) when I check back into my hotel, I add a tip.

I round up for taxi drivers, and may add more if there was something special the driver did for us.

In restaurants, I add a 10% tip if there is no service charge. There have been times when I've left much more.

you can never leave too much....you give what you feel is fair and for services which were above and beyond....you can also do the opposite....when we had terrible service last december at china house at the oriental, we left nothing...

Yes, you can tip too much. You change the expectations of the people serving you, which is bad for the tourists who follow you and worse for the locals. Why should "when in Rome do as the Romans" not apply to tipping?

so the guy that hands out the mink coat to the toll attendant on the highway has ruined everything for the world??

You should only tip in accordance with the practices of the country that you are visiting. According to whom you talk to Thais either do not tip at all or tip in very small amounts. Visitors should follow close to the same and tips should be given only for good service and amounts shouldn't be disproportionate compared to local standards.

A guy giving a mink coat to a toll booth attendant is a self-aggrandizing idiot. If he has to flash his cash like some latter-day King Cophetua he could at least buy all the attendants something useful that won't get them mugged, or attacked by the next PETA-person through the toll booth.

Better, he could join the movement for a living wage, but I guess that wouldn't give him the same ego-boost.

Kim,

I tip the same as I do all around the world. 1 or 2 dollars per bag. 15 - 20 % for good to great service at dinners. If a service charge has been added I adjust accordingly. 10-15% for taxis. A buck or two for the doormen. Maids I usually give it to them personally and it's 5 to 10 dollars(5 star hotels) per day(cheap insurance against any theft).

If people do not like tipping in their country and if I have offended anyone I have not seen it yet .....and no one has ever refused the tip, even in Japan.

It seems the only ones that complain are the people that don't tip or are come from a culture that is very thrifty. There is nothing at all wrong with that!

"When in Rome do as the Romans" Does that mean we have to pickpocket every older American that we see in buses and the train stations? (lol) only joking!

I see the difference in tipping as a cultural difference. It doesn't stroke my ego to tip(My ego is too big to be satisfied so easily). It's just the way I was brought up. If someone does you a great service, you reward them as you would like to be rewarded. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't plan to tip in China as I here it would hurt their feelings......Am I wrong? Or are they the losers? All a matter of culture.

All I can say is I doubt that if I tip someone for their services it will ruin all of China for the rest of you, but I bet it will make the service on my trip much better than yours!!!

Aloha!

Interesting this topic should come up - we recently stayed the Royal Orchid Sheraton in the towers rooms under their plan where laundry is gratis. The few times the laundry was returned to our room when we in the room, the guy stood in the doorway, holding the door open, after we had taken the basket of clean laundry. It happened both times and each time we thanked the guy again and he still stood there; we had to practically shoo him out. We wondered if he was waiting for a tip, but as we've read this isn't done in Thailand for a service like that, didn't tip him. Anyone else had an experience like this or know what on earth he was doing? Claire

Some "interesting" responses !

I tip when I have had good service or when I know that I am able to 'spread around a bit of happiness to those less fortunate than myself' any luck that life has been kind enough to give me.

Remember, that because someone in a hotel or restaurant is well dressed and neat, do not pressume that they head home at night or the early house to any other home or comforts that are even close to the level of where they work.

Salaries like anywhere differ, in Bangkok they are higher than outside, and of course they vary, but remember USD 250 ( about B 8,300 ) I would guess is around what someone working in a middle range position might be earning, for a month(!). Many places pay the base minimum which varies from place to place, Phuket is about USD 175 per month, it is high there, other areas about USD 140 a month.

I don't believe anyone really should 'have to tip', anywhere, however, it is up to the individual, like I say, if on the path through life I can help a little here and there, well, who knows, just remember that when your room maid heads home to a couple of small rooms with a family to cook and care for, with bills to pay like anyone else, I doubt they love their work, it's a living, so decide yourself.

There is 'plenty for everyone', if it was just spread out a bit.
If I can help someone along the way then let it be so.

Agree with JamesA and rhkkmk. One can never tip too much! I don't tip in yen in Japan but give in kind for good service as gift giving is big there. Hawaiiantraveler, tipping is very much in the Chinese culture. We invented it!

Claire, you got it right: what he was doing was waiting for a tip.

I guess I am a cheapskate by some people's reckoning. I am definitely in the &quot;when in Rome&quot; mindset. I see tipping, where it is practiced, as a financial transaction and pretty much an obligation because it is <u>custom</u>ary. When I tip I am paying these people. It's not charity.

So the tip for housekeeping seems to be in the range of 20 baht to 10 dollars.

C_D---he was indeed waiting for some tip....ROS is largely patronized by westerners and especially americans so the staff has become accustomed to tips for everything...

if a maid or roomman in a hotel in DC delivered something to your room wouldn't you tip him something?? so why would it be any different in bkk, expecially if the service that he was providing was free to you??

Cilla Tey,

hahahaha you did invent it and we Americans always fall for it. :)

maybe you can invent something for our aussie friends that will work also,lol :)

Aloha!

I'm doing my level best to convert my fellow citizens. Yes, I'm actually an Aussie. Tipping is becoming more common now especially in Sydney, but much more modest compared to you guys. Our Tax Office does not assume you earn a certain amount in tips if you work in the hospitality industry and we have decent wage levels here.