London travel questions
 

My sister and I have booked a tour of London that includes private transportation. How much should we plan to tip the driver? We will be there for a week an are supposed to have the same driver each day. The tour, hotel, and airfare are all paid for.

We are also wondering how much cash we should take with us in pounds and if we should be concerned about using our US credit cards there.
Thank you!

Welcome to Fodors. My goodness, that must be a pretty expensive package. A private driver guide for a week must mean your budget is quite generous.

No need to take any £ at all but if you just want a some to have on hand you can just get some from a cash machine/AtM when you land at LHR. When using the ATM besure to click that you want the £ without conversion . . . i.e. to be charged in $ not the local currency. Wording on different machines may be different so just make sure you get the cash amount calculated in your own home currency - not £.

Tipping is a sore subject with Brits and other Europeans. They feel strongly that Americans waaaaaaay over tip and blame us for the fact that many restaurants now charge an 'optional' service charge. You ca tip anyone you like but definitely NOT like you do back home. maybe add 5% or 10-ish% to restaurants, leave 1 or 2 £ for houskeeping. But don't just tip willy nilly. ;)

As for how much to tip your driver guide -- no way to tell since we have no idea how much this service is costing you (or what s/he is doing for you other than just driving, or doing full on tour guiding, or ??

I may be misreading, but those two bold sections (my emphasis) seem to contradict each other? My understanding would be that one wants the first one -- local currency without conversion. Apologies in advance for any misunderstanding on my part.

OOPS -- I edited my my post and got it really screwed up Thanks. Its early enough that I can still edit/fix it . . .

why would you tip? The person will have a job and be paid as per contract.

If I was doing this for a week I would consider a £10 or 20 at the end of the period, but probably not.

The social niceties of having staff for a period of time are more complicated than mere tipping. Do you want to invite them to eat with you and you pay? What happens if they reject you. Good luck with all of that. I've done this sort of thing as a Brit and invited our driver on the last day to eat with us and we paid. But it has to be aproached carefully. After all they may be Plymouth Brethren.

If it helps, I live in the UK and haven't used cash for roughly 6 weeks now, since my last hair cut.

Not sure if Janis mentioned this, but regarding your credit and ATM cards make sure you call your bank(s) to let them know when your trip is and if you might be using yiur card(s) overseas. If anyone will still be at home (spouses, for example) and using those accounts while you're away, they may need to know that, too.

Kind of makes the whole ATM thing obsolete, doesn't it... regardless, I still get some local cash, but wind up saving it for the next time.

We now mostly use our credit cards when we travel but take out a small amount of cash from an ATM once we arrive. We do notify our bank when we are traveling.

Our banks do not even require notification. We used our phones to pay almost exclusively. We never had a taxi refuse to accept credit card/applepay payment. Almost too convenient, really.

On my recent trips, I've used only credit cards. The only problem I've had was when I went to church and had nothing to put in the collection plate. Couldn't exactly put in an IOU.

Plymouth Brethren don't eat?

Recently in UK and Belgium. The only times I really needed cash was to pay to use the toilets.

With tipping, please don't. It's a North American custom.

Yes, but they only eat with other members of their flock.

If I choose to thank the room attendant for cleaning my hotel bathroom and freshening the room, I certainly will.
This small act increases my pleasure in my vacation.

I don’t believe it affects the attention your hotel room receives.

Unfortunately many Yanks just don't get it and assume our way is the only way.and that's how things should be done everywhere else . . . :(

(Tipping housekeepers in the UK isn't a huge deal in the scheme of things one way or the other -- but just try that in say Japan! )

What part of "when in Rome, do as the Romans" do you not understand??

I bet you would criticize a foreigner who did not tip in the US. Well, it works the other way too.

People do what they are comfortable doing and if a maid or driver get a few extra Euro now and then it won't destroy the culture. Servers know when they have tourists so I can't think that just because an American leaves an oversized tip that they will expect it from everyone. I try to follow local customs but understand that I miss the mark. I've had servers make a point of stating that the bill does not include the tip, which really makes things uncomfortable because I know good and well that service is included, they are paid a living wage, etc., etc.

Aye yee aye. Every time tipping comes up, things get heated. Many of us were called insane on a similar thread for not tipping hotels a couple of months ago. Do we really need to go down that path again?

Tipping is expected in North America. In North America, staff in hospitality are paid less than enough and are expected to collect the difference in tips. In Europe the hospitality staff get paid what is supposed to be enough. The staff are not underpaid and expected to collect the difference in tips. North American keep insisting on giving tips in Europe. Originally in Europe tipping could seem like an offence, like the tipper was implying that the staff picked the wrong profession. Now many staff in Europe could be used to getting tips from Americans. They are wrong. Do not give or offer your driver or any staff even one pence tip (even if it would make you feel good or even if other repliers act like its fine to give a small tip). In Europe your tip was already included in the original fee you paid them.

I took the London Underground and possibly the London Overground, multiple times in 8 days in London.

So you're saying Americans are too naive (or dumb) to know better??

"it won't destroy the culture"

interesting view point, which kind of makes the point, that it will

along the lines of I'm a little bit a virgin

I guess it depends on what your definition of a living wage is, since we're constantly told that all workers in Europe make a living wage. To me, that means a hotel maid in London has a decent place to live plus enough to pay bills, save for retirement, and maybe take a holiday once in a while. If they are able to live that kind of life on their income as London hotel maids, good for them! No tips from me. But I get the impression that lots of people in London who earn more, maybe a lot more, than hotel maids still find it very difficult to live on their paycheck ...

Nah, I will continue to tip the hotel maid - the Fodors hill I choose to die on,

When I leave the hotel, I can see that I’m in Rome and will act accordingly.

You can imply that I’m a naive, stupid American - but I do understand economic disparity,
and will always choose to support the underpaid, probably female, immigrant, hotel cleaner.

We're having the perpetual Fodors tipping squabble . . . but it is mostly grumbling at each other while the OP hasn't bothered to return. Maybe she asked the driver how much tip he expects :)

@nyse - no, I don't think you are naive and stupid, that's a straw man. I do think you are self-absorbed and inconsiderate. When the inhabitants of a country ask you to do or not to do something it is only polite to comply. If whatever it is really bugs you (perhaps like covering up in a religiously conservative country) you can always choose to go somewhere else.

It sounds like a lovely trip!
We were just in England for 12 days including London. We had a driver when we stayed in the Cotwolds one day and we tipped him 10%. He was an employee of the company, I don't know if it makes a difference if your driver is the owner.
There is an article in Travel and Leisure which lists several European countries and suggestions for when to tip or not and the amount.

We found most places were cashless, but on arrival, we withdrew 100 pounds, just to have some money and also to break it down for tipping the bellman handling our bags, maids and in a few other situations and we were glad to have it.

We found in EVERY restaurant we ate dinner in, the bill included either a 10%, 12.5% or 15% tip which you could decline to pay.I know the shortage of waitstaff personnel is an issue in many cities, and I wonder if restaurants are using tipping to attract and retain their workers.

London tipping is what happens when a culture of no tipping gets contaminated by other cultures (only a little bit virgin etc)..
Plus of course, the population of London is the most diverse with a large non-British-born population (>25%?)

So all those little "it makes me feel good" add up into a fully contaminated culture. Thank you.

We've been in England (from the US) for two weeks now and have spent zero cash. I understand this is not the way many people wish to do things, but it's quite possible. Google Wallet and Apple Wallet are accepted pretty much everywhere in the UK.

My son lived in NYC for 6 years and worked as a chef. He earned a wage, and was not allowed - because of some crazy rule - to be part of the shared tipping pool of money.
the front of staff were the only ones that split the tips, and they increased their wages dramatically.
He was the one that cooked the meal, but could not get any extra for it. His wage was lots lower the then front of house people.
Some of the front of house staff doublde or trippled their wages in tips, while he just had his take home pay, yet he was the one behind the great meal.
I just did not get this. as the entire experience in a restaurant is the excellence of the meal plus service.

I wonder how many in America realise that the chef and kitchen staff do not receive any tips. I suppose you cannot see them so they do not matter.

I find the tipping culture in the US to be ridiculous. Please pay your staff the proper wages they deserve. And stop throwing your cash around when you travel overseas. Most people find it quite vulgar. I know you are trying to help the menial workers but it really comes off in poor taste.

Life without buskers would suck, and buskers need tips. Some of them take credit cards, though!

Maybe because the IRS doesn't tax "presumed tips" for kitchen staff? I don't know, but it's a possible reason.

For those who say that tourists tipping in a country where it's not the custom doesn't change the culture. It definitely does.

I've been living in rural Le Marche for 25 years. When I first came here, tipping was absolutely unknown. I once saw a waitress chase a customer to his car to tell him he had left his change on the table. In Rome tipping was not unknown at that time, but was not expected.

Now in Rome, tips are expected; even Italians often tip. In Le Marche, we're beginning to see tip jars by the cash register.

There are so many underpaid people who perform services for us every day. Why do we tip the waiter, but not the checkout clerk at the supermarket? It's true that (in the US) the minimum wage for waiters is much lower than for other low-paid professions. However this is a vicious circle: I can pay you less because you get tips; tips are "mandatory" because you're paid less.

My Italian husband hates the whole idea of tips, even though intellectually he can see the reason in the US. He says it puts him in a master-servant relationship with the waiter, and he's a firm egalitarian.


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That's different. What you donate to a busker is just that: a donation, like a donation to your local orchestra.

That is too much of a generalization -- and a misconception even a lot of people in the States don't realize. Minimum wage differs state to state. In some states wait staff and hospitality workers can be paid less on the assumption the difference will be made up by tips. But in many states wait staff get the same minimum wage as every other industry so with tips they earn MUCH more.

​​​​​​​And in California fast food workers minimum wage is $4 per hour more than for any other industry. Fast food minimum wage has been $20/hr since Jan 1 whereas the general minimum wage is $16/ hr.

Yet no US CEOs want to work for tips. How odd. ;-)