Tipping D-Day Guides???
 

My husband and I have booked a half day D-day group tour with Roel from Victory Tours based on the numerous positive reviews on this site. We are really looking forward to it. Roel has been wonderful to speak with so far in our email communications.

What is everyone's advice on tipping? We don't want to be considered rude - either by tipping or not! If tipping is appropriate, how much per person? Thanks in advance.

Are tour guides <u>ever</u> tipped? My sense is that they consider themselves professionals, rather than service personnel, and might be mildly offended if you offered a <i>pourboire</i>.

Having said that, if I have hired a guide for my family group, I always make it a point to ask if s/he will join us as our guest for lunch.

I found a good tipping guide on Fodors. For instance &quot;a 15% service charge is usually added to the total in restaurants; it is customary to give the waiter an additional 5% - 10% depending on the service and on the quality of the meal. Taxi drivers 5%-10%. Service station attendants .50 EU if they have been especially helpful. Guides about 1EU per person for a half day tour, more if they are very good.&quot;

Ya mean I coulda got away with a &euro;5 tip instead of a &euro;15 lunch???

(Just kidding. Actually, I figure the meal money is well spent, because the guide's history lecture continues between bites!)

Thank you both for the great advice!

Tips for a guide depend on if you have hired them privately - or if it is a public group. If you go on one of those group one-day bus tours to some site - then you should tip 1 or 2 euro - per person - so the guide ends up with 20/40 euros.

If you have hired a private guide for your small group - and have his full attention - I would think anthing under 20 euros as a tip would be - well - quite tacky.

(I mean think about it - if you go to get your hair done - and perhaps your stylist spends 30 minutes with you - does anyone give less than $20? More - up to way more - if its a high end shop? And I've never seen anyone be insulted!)