Splitting the bill in Europe!
 

I have been to Europe several and always travel with my wife. So there is no splitting the bill! I WISH! but seriously I will be traveling with my brother-in-law and we would like to try to keep things seperate as much as possible and not to confuse our funds anymore than they are. It's hard when one does all the booking and planning; one's credit card gets a lot more use. So is there an attitude towards this?

Certainly in Holland, the home of going Dutch, (yes the Dutch really do "go Dutch")they don't like splitting bills in bars and restaurants I'm afraid. You do normally get a very detailed, computer generated bill, so it is calculators at the ready if you really want to split things.
Why not agree that one will pay one day and the other the next?

In France, it's not that difficult, unless a group is trying to have a bill split 4 or more ways or to have separate cheques. The waiter usually often brings a handheld credit card reader to the table, so it is easy enough to ask him or her to charge x euros to one card and x euros to another. Because taxes and service are already built into the prices, it can actually be easier to calculate how to split a bill than it is in North America. But a tiny calculator would be helpful. Don't forget to have a little small change to round up the bill as a supplemental tip (we round up to the nearest euro on cheques under ten euros, round up plus add a euro on cheques up to thirty euros, and round up plus add 2 euros on cheques up to 70 or so euros).

Splitting the bill is the norm in Germany, no matter how many people are in your party. Abroad it's called "paying the German way" and gets increasingly popular ;-)

You going to any of the above places, Scottstig?

I have never had trouble with splitting the bill. Nowhere in Europe. But it is easier on the waiter if you tell him/her that you will pay separately. Already when you order.

There's no such country as "Europe".

Are attitudes on this really the same in Tierra del Fuego as they are in New York?

flanneruk - well said!
(I would have posted a smiley face, but can't work out how to do it!)

No problem at all in the UK. I habitually eat out with whole bunches of friends who all throw their credit cards on the table at the end of a meal. I'm sure the waiters aren't thrilled at having to split the bill 6 ways and run six cards through the machine, but hey, money is money.

However, I think splitting the bill equally is the only way to go, nothing more tacky than going through the whole 'well you had an extra glass of wine and I only had a salad' palaver.

Kate wrote: "I'm sure the waiters aren't thrilled at having to split the bill 6 ways and run six cards through the machine, but hey, money is money."

I deplore the attitude implicit in that sentence. It suggests that making things hard for staff is fine because you are paying.

You could just keep a note of what everyone's spent on agreed common spending, and divvy it up at some point: just add all the totals, divide by the number of people and work out who needs to transfer what to whom.

Another way is to pool eating money in advance but that means not using a credit card.

i agree with PatrickLondon's suggestion IF you can refrain from watching what everyone else is eating, and how MUCH, rather than simply enjoying the meal.

Before traveling with your BiL, remind him that Amex may not be accepted at many restaurants where you're traveling. One of my friends likes to put all his restaurant charges on his Amex, but I am trying to wean him from this habit.
From your other posts, I think you're going to France and Italy...is that correct? I have found staff in many restaurants in those countries willing to divvy up the bill into two. But sometimes not, so ask first.

So which contry/ies are you going to ?

Kate, re "However, I think splitting the bill equally is the only way to go, nothing more tacky than going through the whole 'well you had an extra glass of wine and I only had a salad' palaver." I do agree in many circumstances, if there isn't too big a difference. On the other hand, as one who likes her food & drink & generally wants the most expensive thing on the menu, I don't want to split the bill equally if I'm going to want 3 expensive courses and a lot of wine and another person is having 1 or 2 cheap courses and little wine. If the other person were to insist on splitting the bill equally I'd feel constrained to have fewer or different things to what I really want.

Hi Scott,

We have found that if you tell the waiter before ordering that you wish to have 2 separate checks, that they almost always comply without comment.

This has been our experience in all of the countries that we have visited in Europe.

((I))

((I))

It's often those who take the expensive things on a menu who advocate splitting the bill equally! I approve of Caroline's attitude.

There is a middle course between doing the sums and splitting equally: make fair-minded estimates, along the lines "My main course was more expensive than yours, and I had a digestif while you didn't, so I suggest that I pay 30 and you pay 25".

Such an approach would be cumbersome for larger groups. If the members of a larger group want to divide the bill, it works better if they advise the server when ordering. I favour ordering in small groups rather than individually, say four people together. There is a balance to be struck between managing the transaction and giving the staff a bad time.

Padraig.. Maybe you don't need to deplore the attitude that you claim was implicit in Kate's statement as
running 6 credit cards through a machine isn't exactly 'hard for the staff'. It might be considered a small extra service but quite often there is a compulsory service charge for groups of 6 or more and/or many groups tip more.

highflyer, did you note the bit I deplored, where she said that she was sure that the waiters weren't thrilled about it, but money is money? It does not take much skill at reading between the lines to interpret that.

With my brother's family, this was how we did it.

We kept all receipts, and a record of who paid for what, exception being souvenirs, etc. which were one's own responsibility. Then once home we plugged it all into a spreadsheet (extremely easy these days if one uses a Palm pilot or similar to do the accounting as one goes along), and balanced the outcome. It saved time and aggravation on the trip, and also made things simpler during booking as well.

This arrangement of course calls for explaining to the non-planner about cancellation penalties, and other contractual terms for which they will be jointly responsible. You also might wish to establish how you will distribute any points earnings with this arrangement. (It's easy enough when booking air tix as you just supply each party's FF plan number, but it might not work that way at any hotels that provide points, etc.)

I traveled through Central Europe last year for 4 weeks with a friend I hadn't traveled with before. Prior to the trip I made all the advance reservations and paid for them with my credit card and she paid me before we left on our trip.

During the trip we decided that instead of splitting any bills we would just take turns paying. This included not only meals, but train tickets, shows, entrance fees etc. We saved the receipts and at the end of each day would right down a running tally of who paid for what that day. Once or twice a week we would total the tally to see where we stood with expenses. If I had paid more during the last few days she would pick up the next few expenses. It always seemed to even out nicely.

When we returned and did the final tally it ended up with my friend having spent just a little more then me, so I paid her what I owed.

This process worked well for us, I understand it might not work for everyone, but I liked it because it didn't cause us to be standing around trying to figure out who owed what.

Reading between the lines does take skill. There's always someone else's interpretation. From experience equally dividing a bill by 6 and running six cards through a machine is easy. I don't think many waiters would be unhappy with doing that and if they were well they're probably in the wrong industry.
Money is money and the customers have to pay and it's the job of the waiters to take the payment so there's no need to split hairs over the transaction details.
In principle I totally agree with you i.e. making things hard for the staff because you are paying is wrong but I didn't interpret Kate's statement as that because of personal experience.

I don't recall calling Europe a country now did I! Simply you can split a bill in New York as well as LA!

We've split the bill in Italy several times without a problem. Even if we didn't tell the waiter ahead of time.

I will be going to Italy and France! Yes, two seperate countries in "Europe" I should have been a little more specific. Not so much splitting the bill but getting two seperate checks. Thank you for the info. Appreciated!

Been to five countries in Europe. Never experienced a problem with splitting the check.

Who said Europe was a "country"?

Never had a problem anywhere we go doing just that. Some sort of modern myth, I fear.

I'm not sure about getting 2 bills.

It's completely normal to get 1 bill and as Janis said, for everyone to put down their debit/credit card & the waiter/ress to take the nominated amount from each.

I'm not sure that in restaurants with computerised tills, they'd be able to run 2 simultaneous bills for the same table.

Why do you feel you need 2 bills ?

If there is a good reason for this, how is your Italian and French ? At a minimum you're going to need the phrases "due conti, per favor" and "deux additions, s'il vous plait" and you'd better use them when you order.

Just a cruious note, what if I do all the booking and I get credit card and hotel points and such, never been in the suitation but some people can get quite stingey about a few AmEx points.

dadaland, I would regard you as entitled to the points as compensation for doing the work and, perhaps, being temporarily out of pocket.

I would not be comfortable travelling, and more particularly, trying to manage a shared budget with anybody who took a different view.