How much do you tip a tour guide on an escorted tour?
 

I'm thinking of going on a 14 day escorted tour to Ireland. The tour will include almost everything (except a few dinners and lunches) but does not include tips for the tour guide and bus driver. Tips are supposed to be optional but of course are expected. There will be six of us and the tour will cost over $18,000.00. I read in one of these threads that the tips should be around $6.50 per person per day for the tour guide and the same for the bus driver. Do they not pay these people? That's $936.00 for 12 days (I'm not counting the 2 days in air) That just seems excessive to me considering what we are already paying for the tour. Am I wrong? Do families of 6 (there will be 4 adults) really pay nearly $1000.00 just in tips??? What are people REALLY giving as tips? Thanks!

A tip is a reward given to someone for providing you with good service. The amount of the tip is dependent on how good the service was. How can you possibly determine the amount of a tip before receiving the service? To decide upon the tip before receiving the service is to treat the tip as a fee that you are obligated to pay. In short I don't understand the question at all.

What am I missing here.

Larry J

Larry J- I think KarenO has asked a pretty straightforward question. Of course you don't know exactly what your experience is going to be before you take a trip like this,but most people would need to budget for such an expense and would need to have a range of options in mind before going.I'm sure some people who have been in your position,Karen,will come up with some helpful advice,although most Fodorites are DIY'ers. ((f))

I think your question is pretty clear also. Although I don't know what the "going rate" on tipping for tours is I do think that $936.00 is a lot, especially considering you just paid $18,000.

I am sure you will get more advice but I suggest that you go on your trip, enjoy yourself, and then decide what tip you think is most fitting based on the quality of the services you received.

Have a wonderful time.

The compnay providing the tour will most likely discuss tipping in its pre-trip materials and will let you know the normal range for a tip for the guide. How much you choose to tip, probably somewhere within the suggested range, will depend on your own feelings about the guide and the the circumstances of the particular trip.

Of course tipping is for the services provided even if expected. However, I use $5/day for the guide and $3/day for the driver. Though for the latter, remember this is the person that sees to your safety on the roads and can justifiably receive more.

From these amounts, I give more or less based on the actual service received. Does the guide go out of his/her way with special requests, assist in negotiating prices if making purchases, recommends great restaurants, and so on.

When planning a trip anywhere, you have to take more into consideration more than the cost of the trip itself - tipping is one, extra meals, extra tours, even Visa fees, immuizations, medications, etc... and your souvenirs. While a number of these don't relate to a visit to Ireland... you have to include all the possible extras when making your decision as to where to travel.

Of course these tour guides and drivers get paid, have their hotel and meals taken care of... though this can be different in different countries. But these are "service" jobs - so tipping goes along with such positions.

Whether a family of 6 or a couple or a single traveler - these extras have to be considered regardless that you are already paying for an escorted tour. I guess you're just going to have to figure another $900+/- in tips.

Hi karen,

The amount of the tip is about 6% of the cost.

Would you tip a waiter 6%?

((I))

In my opinion, $900 is a lot of money--too much, you are calculating the tip per individual rather than the group, aren't you?

First, you are a single party. You should NOT tip as though you were all individuals (or couples) going on an escorted tour. A better rule of tipping for this instance could be that for each FULL day a driver or guide would be tipped $20 - $30 for the ENTIRE group, depending upon the type and quality of service rendered. A guide or driver for a half-day would receive about $15.

The service people working your group realize it is a group--not a collection of individual payors. That is a completely different kettle of fish. I would, however, make sure you are all on the same page about the trip, and that you do not have members who will demand extra stops not on the intinerary, different restaurants than those planned, etc. Those are the headaches that make the tips very important.

You can:

- go with a shorter tour
- cut a few people in your group
- don't join a tour

I don't see how the cost of the tour has anything to do with this.

I disagree with kswl. The "tip" is the a major part of the income of the tour guide and driver. If they have 30 people on the tour, they expect to get the tips from 30 people. If you follow kswl's logic, then they will earn less if the 30 people are from just 2 big families of 15 people each. How fair is that?

Hey, in the US, many restaurants put a mandatory service charge for groups of 6 or more, specifically to protect the servers of the income for serving big groups.

People should think from the other side. The guides and drivers are professionals doing a full-time job. If you don't want to pay, don't use their service.

Rkkwan, this is not a tour she has joined, this is a single family group traveling together. Also, tipping is usually considered as a percentage of the total cost---until the cost reaches a certain amount. Common sense tells you there is a ceiling amount beyond which you wouldn't pay. The service rendered just wouldn't be that valuable.

>A better rule of tipping for this instance could be that for each FULL day a driver or guide would be tipped $20 - $30 for the ENTIRE group,..<

That's $30 for six people compared to
6 * 6.50 = $39.

The difference is $125, split among 6 people = $20 pp or about $1/day.

Sounds sort of trivial to me.

((I))

Not if you're tipping $30 for an excellent job by a person who really goes out of his or her way, and $20 as a general rule.

What's the difference between people travelling as single/couple or as a group?

If say 2 people from the "group of 6" don't come down for breakfast at the designated time, is it the tour guide or KarenO who responsible to go find them? Or should the guide say "oh, I see KarenO here, that means her party must be all here"?

Doesn't the driver need to count all the bags within KarenO's group when loading luggage onto the coach still, or doesn't the driver need to stand by the door to help KarenO's group when they get on and get off the coach?

BTW, most tour companies will say in their brochure what their suggested tip is. It may be more than $6.50 x 2 per person per day, may be less. She needs to check and find out. And no, if the service is not up-to-par, then she should complain, and if necessary cut the tip. But right now she's just "thinking" about joining a group and already thinking the tip is excessive.

Anyways, put the tip into the budget. It's a $19,000 for 6 people for the tour, for example. If she thinks that's too much, then do something else.

Karen--Just want to say you deserve credit for THINKING about this ahead of time. People tend to have a very hard time by the end of the trip tipping these people if they have not mentally budgeted this possible cost.

I think Sandi's yardstick is rather good. If someone really goes out of his way, increase. If the value added is poorer, decrease. On one trip we took, we decreased our per person payment to the guide because he added no value and we then gave his "share" to the baggage handler who went out of his way on four separate occasions to make our trip better.

Once again, getting over the sticker shock now is so helpful. We truly believe in paying for service, but mentally adding that amount in at the end of a trip when we've exceeded our budget for everything else is extremely difficult. You deserve a lot of credit for thinking ahead.

Hi Karen

We had this issue come up on our Trafalgar tour. Our tour director came up with a suggested amount. At around 20% of the tour cost I thought this was ludicrous. The rest of the passengers thought so too. We more or less agreed on what the range of amounts to tip. At the end of the tour I gave the tour director the tips in two sealed envelopes - one for him and one for the driver. This way I avoided any awkwardness.

General guideline: $10/day per tour worker from EACH person in the tour group OR 5% of total base costs divided among the workers. In this case, 2.5% to guide and 2.5% to driver ($900 total tip for the group of six). The tipping is done per person on the tour, so all 6 people should tip if you tip.
FYI, unfortunately, many tour companies all over the world take into consideration tips from the tour participants and thus give their workers a much lower salary. As a result, these tips are highly appreciated as many workers are dependent on them (not unlike the restaurant waitstaff in the US). And they most often will work very hard for them.

The few group trips I've done, all tour workers did an outstanding job and more than deserved their tips.

Here's how it works on Cosmos tours:

After you confirm your tour, they'll send you a booklet with all the information. In there, it has a suggestion of the daily tip amount. It probably depends on where you're going, but in Europe, I believe they suggest US$3 to US$5 per person per day for the tour guide, and the same for the driver.

Now, Cosmos is a cheaper tour than what you're cosidering. Their Europe tour is usually about $100 a day, so a 14-day tour is about $1,400; and even including airfare it's about $2,100.

So, if you go with the upper suggested amount, or $10 per day per person, which percentage-wise is lower than your $13 per day per person on a $3,000 14-day tour.

And they hand you an envelope on the last day of the tour. So, if you're unhappy about the service, you can definitely give less.

KarenO - to answer your question, "Do they not pay these people?", the answer is no, or not very much.

Trafalgar Tours has a BB and there are numerous heated discussions about this topic. You might want to check out the following, as it might answer some of your questions:

http://69.20.21.250/ubb/ultimatebb.p...=001800#000000

KarenO, don't worry, about 2-4 weeks before the tour starts you will get a package in mail with everything spelled out, including amount of tips expected which will look approximately like this:

recommended tips for tour guide $3-$5 a day, for bus driver $2-$4 a day.

So you will see how much you like them. Take 2 envelopes from home, and give them on the last day of the tour.

Last time on the tour of New England (Boston area) for 8 days tour some people gave only $20! So don't feel bad if you downsize it a little.

I didn't like the tour guide, but thought the driver was outstanding, so I tipped him more. It's all up to you.

Just my opinion - but on many escorted tours, the tour director makes only their tips. They work 24/7 behind the scenes - making sure restaurants have the particular food requests by fussy clients, getting people's air flights reconfirmed, making sure the luggage gets on the bus, calling ahead and reconfirming reservations, tours, weather info...you name it, the list is endless. I was on one group tour (Seriously) that had a woman who claimed she went insane and grew enraged if she had a hotel room with the color "Orange" anywhere. The TD had to make one hotel on our tour dig up new blankets and replace the drapes for this woman. Thank god the carpets weren't orange she would have had to get a different hotel for those nights!

No one has to tip any thing - but if I have had a great time, and have seen all the work that goes into making a group of people flow easily through a tour on a daily basis, all the while the TD smiling and answering unending questions about the most mundane things I think the trip director deserves a tip that says 'thank you'. I have been on trips where people have gotten sick and the TD has had to go out to an all night pharmacy for medicine, skipped breakfast and lunch and driven to an embassy over a 100 miles away to make sure travel documents got straightened out - not to mention dealing with all the various personalities that they are essentially stuck with for a week or two. Also, because the hours and work are so grueling, most TD's that I know only work about 9 months a year because they have to take a break or they'll collapse from the strain.

Like I said, just my opinion that I think the majority more than earn their tips. But essentially it is still an individual choice and if you go on a trip and the TD is an idiot, unhelpful, a pain in the neck and generally unresponsive, by all means feel free not to tip.

Just got the package for upcoming Globus tour of Switzerland. Guides for tipping: $3-5 a day for guide, $3-5 for driver.

Also, Karen, there are always "optionals", you don't have to make decision at home, but you'll be asked if you want any at the beginning of the tour. The list and prices included in the package mailed to your home address before the tour.

I've been on a couple of these, although it was sort of semi-escorted. We weren't joined at the hip to the tour guide 24/7, in other words. They did give ideas, as I recall. I tipped them because all of the ones I had were absolutely wonderful, without a question. They really were excellent, I couldn't believe it (this was TWA Getaway which doesn't exist anymore).

Now the driver is a little different, as I wasn't on some long bus tour or anything. We had an occasional bus driver for the few day trips with did (or morning sightseeing in a couple cases). Bus we weren't on a bus every day for any great deal of time. I tipped the bus driver just a bit for the few short trips we had taken of a few hours.

I don't know if I tipped $6 a day to the tour guide or not. It was a long time ago and I was only on them 10-14 days, so it's possible I tipped about $50 (the equivalent in today's dollars, anyway). That doesn't seem too much to me for a really great tour guide over 10-14 days.

I don't agree with the above opinion that the tip is for a group of people. That has nothing to do with it, the services are rendered to each person, not as a group. Each person is getting the guide's advice and help and perhaps lectures. The tip for the driver is for doing a good job in transporting you. Everyone on these tours is in a group, so to speak, whether you are in the same family or not is irrelevant in that regard.

I don't see where Karen said anything about this being a private family tour, as kswl assumed. From what I've read/heard, these guides do earn some base salary, but it's not that much because it is expected to be a tipped profession. I don't know about the bus drivers.

I just came back from a 12 day tour to India with a UK company. I was the only American on the tour. We generally have very different ideas when it comes to tipping than europeans. Most of the people on the tour were british and the handfull that I talked to about it, were only tipping around $20 a person. I wouldn't be surprised if some didn't even tip. Anyway, I thought our guide was excellent, and I was going to tip around $100. But after talking to other people and how little they were tipping, I didn't want to come across as obnoxious or over the top. I ended up tipping $60.00 and he was very pleased with that, however, a part of me still feels I should have given more because he was so good. He gets very few Americans traveling with him so he may also be used to british style of tipping anyway. Personally, I couldn't imagine giving less than $50.00/person.

The only tour I've ever taken was to Israel and that was 7 years ago. When we got our information/travel docs they included information about tipping - and it is strictly voluntary. However, tour guides and drivers are notoriously paid very little and do rely on tips.

I would put aside some money, but reserve the right to give less if the service is not that good. My basis 7 years ago was $5.00 a day for the guide and $1.00 a day for the driver.

You have to remember that the guide has to insure that s/he picks up passengers at the proper time, that no one is "lost", makes certain all included meals are set up, give recommendations for dinner/entertainment during leisure time, and helps with any questions/problems that some one on his/her tour has. On top of this, people usually demand the tour guide be entertaining when necessary and to know when to shut up and just let people ignore - and how to read people to know when to do which!

The driver is responsible to get you safely from one place to another in the most comfortable manner. The driver also makes certain all your luggage gets onto the bus, so I would recommend that your group is bringing along a lot of luggage to be a bit more generous. The driver also is a wealth of information for you if/when you decide to roam somewhere - they can tell you how to get from point A to point B easily. They are also responsible to assist with getting on and off the bus. (So, it would make sense if some one in your group has more difficulty accessing the transportation you give a little extra.)

A tour guide and driver can make or break your vacation. They are the buffer between you and all things bad. The better they provide this buffer, the more appreciation should be shown.

Christina, I assume this is a family party because of Karen's statement, "Do families of 6 (there will be 4 adults) really pay nearly $1000.00 just in tips???"

I think that makes it pretty clear that they have four adults and two children.

Another thing, Karen, I would subtract your flight from the total when you are thinking about the cost for tipping purposes. With the flight cost removed,(and I hope everyone is at least in agreement that the tour director and driver should not be tipped for that), the amount becomes a larger percentage of the total.

As to the notion that tour directors make only their tips and are not on salary, this puts them in a rather bad (and low status) light---basically that of a roving gypsy. Wanderlust, are you suggesting that tour directors have no permanent home and simply travel all the time, taking on enormous responsibility for only the prospect of tips?

And here is another question: say a driver has a bus tour group of 30 people. At $10 per person, his tip is $300. That is more than a classroom teacher makes, and this is in addition to the driver's base salary, however paltry it may be. Sorry, I don't think a bus driver, regardless of how well he drives the bus, is due that kind of "tip."

As I said, it is completely a personal choice. I have a good friend who is a Trip Director with Tauck Tours. She lives only on her tips, she works 6 months a year for them. On a two-week tour of Italy she makes about 2,000 in tips. That is 4,000 a month. That - for 6 months - is $24,000. I don't think that sounds like a ton of money.

The drivers do the same thing. $300 in tips for one week, is $1200 a month. That is $26,000 and change a year. That may be more than a school teacher, but it is still a low salary in my opinion.

Again, it is a personal choice, and I didn't mean to make a big deal about it or ruffle feathers. It was just my opinion.

Sorry, Wanderlust, I was assuming the amount was per day, according to Mibblette's formula:

"General guideline: $10/day per tour worker from EACH person in the tour group OR 5% of total base costs divided among the workers"

And that to me seems ridiculous. They're not performing brain surgery, and I'm sorry if that sounds elitist. (No ruffled feather here, btw, and teachers do make more than tour directors, apparently. As they should.)

Trafalgar suggests $4/day for the tour director & $2.5 for the driver.
Went on a tour few years ago, the driver wasn't good, therefore tipped much less than suggested.

Last year I was offered a job with Intrepid Travel,a really interesting company that offers adventure-type travel throughout the world.As a group leader,I would make a small (tiny,really)salary and really be counting on the tips. It's really a 24 hour a day job,trying to ensure that everyone has the trip of their dreams.I decided not to take the job,but to travel as much as I can instead.

Kswl,
The guideline I stated come from the companies I have traveled with. The tours are very small groups (no more than 15) and go off the beaten path and include lots of activities. The costs run approximately what KarenO is spending per person on her tour. From what KarenO is paying, I assume she is not doing a large group, less personalized tour.

The guide and driver do A LOT of work. The driver does more than just drive. He/She often is also the one who checks ahead for restaurant reservations, gets the luggage and puts it in the correct rooms.
The guide is meanwhile tending to the people in the group. And it does seem to me that those who travel in the higher priced tours have much greater expectations regarding attention. Both driver and guide have to be available 24 hours a day on the trip. And I have seen them go WAY out of their way to help people. One guest had been planning to continue traveling after the tour was over. On the last day, she decided to return home at the end of the tour. Her next hotel's policy was to charge 100% for no-shows if not cancelled more 2 weeks prior. This had NOTHING to do with the tour but the guide still fought for the guest who just complain but did nothing for herself. The guest got her refund. This is just typical of the services that the guides and drivers provide.
In the time that they supposedly have on their own after dropping off the guests for the night, they have had people follow them to their various favorite "watering holes" (pubs, bars, clubs, etc) and expect the driver and guide to hang out with them until the guests are ready to leave (yes this has happened).

All the guides and drivers I've been with have always contributed to the overall GREAT experience I've had.
I use 5% base price (don't include airfare or any supplements in base) for my tips. Others have used $10/day per worker. This is for the small, higher priced group tours which I beleive KarenO is doing based on her costs. This amount is not "ridiculous" as kswl states. This is no different than paying higher tips in an expensive restaurant.
For the large groups (which I have only done once, never again), I do believe the recommended tip amounts are lower because there is less peronalized service (obviously, if you have a group of 30). I think it was $5/day guide and $2-3/day driver per guest on the trip.

I talked to a former guide about this. If things runs without a hitch, that means the workers did an excellent job. There are so many things that can go wrong, esp with groups (read the many stories on fodors and think of your own experiences) that they anticipate and trouble-shoot. It is very hard work, a lot is done behind-the-scenes, when they are not with the guests. They do it because they love people and traveling. But the companies do pay them peanuts because they include guests' tips as part of the pay (just like waitstaff). Whether this is right or wrong, it is the reality.

Two years ago we were a group of 60 on a two and half week tour. It was suggested by our tour company at home that we tip $1 per day per person for the tour guide and 50 cents per day per person for the bus driver. It would have added only $25 per person to our $3000 costs. But it would have meant just over $1000 for the guide and $500 for the driver.

Well, of course, you can tip or not as you choose. I know, I know...the pressure..been there, done that. I did a tour in 1999 so of course things have changed a bit. I think the company suggested like 3-4.00 per day for the guide. They didn't mention the bus driver but our guide did encourage tips for him and of course we did tip him. The directors I think make commissions aften times on selling additional side tours, and also from the places they take you to shop. As far as what they are paid as base salery, I don't know but, last year I caught a show on PBS, where executives of large companies worked down in the "trenches" for a week with their employees. This show happened to feature the CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines. All the employees on the cruise ships work for tips and that's the idea...better service supposedly. They do get paid a base salery of 48.00 per month. I thought I heard wrong but it was metioned several times again. So, I don't know if the tour directors are set up like the ships. I'm sure their meals and lodging are taken care of...maybe a perdium per day of some kind, but I'm thinking that their major income will come from the tips they get.

Are you serious, that $48 per month is all the Carnival cruise workers get? In addition to their room and board, I assume. Good Grief!

Obviously there is a wide range of opinions about tipping. I personally think the tour company or cruise line is abdicating responsibility by making their workers so dependent upon tips. A fairly-paid employee, with the right benefits, usually delivers good service. The tips are simply a way to lower costs for the employer and it also represents (from the way most of you apparently tip) a significant increase in the cost of the trip. I haven't been on an escorted tour ever, (although my parents went on them nonstop), and haven't been on a cruise in five years. We're going on an Alaskan cruise in July, and I am glad all this has come up well beforehand.

The "tipping" system exists around the world for tours for a reason - it works.

Unlike on a cruise or even at a restaurant, once you're in the middle of a tour, the guide dictates whether the experience will be good or not. It will not help if you have a problem and try to contact the tour company's headquarter like you can on a cruise.

The tipping system gives the guide and driver a huge incentive to do their job well, and make you happy. That has been working very well forever, around the globe from developed to developing countries.

You are paying for it either way. A tour company can charge more and pay the guide/driver more money, and then do a "no tipping" policy. But then what's going to make the guide and driver "go the extra mile" for you when there's no tipping?

Tipping is a good, valid, proven system. If you don't like it, don't join a tour. Or start your own tour and find a better way... Maybe there's one. You go find it.

Wow! If I'm following this right, I'm saving about $20/day for the two of us NOT to take an escorted tour.

One more reason to research on this board and go on my own.

<<<I would subtract your flight from the total when you are thinking about the cost for tipping purposes. With the flight cost removed,(and I hope everyone is at least in agreement that the tour director and driver should not be tipped for that), the amount becomes a larger percentage of the total. >>>

But shouldn't you figure in the airfare when deciding how much to tip the pilot? :)

Anne

WOW! What a difference in opinions! I think I have a good idea now though what to expect. I guess it all depends on the tour guide we get and from what I've read there is a possibilty that we could get one person who both drives and guides which would certainly make it easier from a tip standpoint. To clear things up it will be a large tour group, no doubt 30 or more, and we will probably use CIE tours ( they don't have "optionals") but our familly group consists of myself, my husband, his parents, my 16 year old daughter and her 15 year old friend (who we are paying for so that she can go with us). The cost will be around $3000.00 per person including airfare ( which will probably run about $700.00 to $900.00 so the remainder is for the tour itself. None of us are the type that a tour guide would find a pain in the neck. We keep to ourselves, figure most things out for ourselves and we try not to be a bother. I doubt there will be any special requests. We are just looking for someone else to drive us and arrange for us to do fun things, stay in decent places and to eat good food. Which is ,I believe, what we are paying over $2000.00 per person for. If the guide is interesting and informative and can make the trip memorable above and beyond then of course they should be compensated for that. I thought it was interesting what rkkwan had to say. I have eaten in restaurants with larger groups where a tip of 17 1/2% was automaticly added to the bill. They were the worst waiters ever! I would have to go looking for them if I needed my water glass filled or wanted more bread. They would deliver the food, after a long wait, and then disappear until check time. What did they care, they got their tip no matter what. No incentive to do their job. Having to worry about how much to pay the guides, though, does cause me some distress and does take some of the fun out of the trip planning. I almost wish that it was included in the tour price but then again rkkwan does have a valid point!

Hi Karen, not to be a spoil sport, but that is why most people here on Fodor recommend that travellers do their trips independently instead of through tour groups.

$3,000.00 times 6 is $18,000.00 for 14 days not including tips.

I am not writing this to make you feel bad as obviously for your family this is the way you want to do your trip but I do hope that others read this post and consider the cost of tour groups versus independent travel.

For sure I wish all of you a beautiful and interesting trip.

Of course you would not tip for the amount of the air fare. You should tip on the basis of per person. I believe that at least 5% would be about right. You chose to take a tour. There are added costs after all.