Tipping for private van/bus driver in Ireland?
 

Twelve of us are heading to Ireland for a week of golf. We are going through a tour operator and will have a private van/small bus to ferry us around each day. The tour operator recommends tipping 10 - 15 Euros each day. Now, to this poor American who saved for ten years to go on this trip that sounds like a lot of money. 120 - 160 Euros a day is $140 to $180/day in tips. I've been a professional ski instructor at some of the top resorts in the USA and can tell you that getting that amount of tips in a day is rare. And, that job requires a lot more skill and stamina than driving a bus for an hour in the morning and in the afternoon.

In addition, Tripadvisor says that Ireland does not have a tipping culture and in a blog post here it says that taxi drivers do not expect a tip. So, I am confused.

I am happy to pay it if that is the norm, but want to check with the experts in this forum. No one likes to be ripped off.

you missed the point, they mean E10-15 a day for the whole bus, not per person.

I think they are being generous, I'd aim for E5 and make sure the guy gets the odd cake/cup of tea and stays dry.

There are 12 of you splitting this. A hundred fifty euros for the week is cheap, not per day. We had a driver and we bought him a round of gold at Lahinch, the links course not the castle course and brought him good balls from the states. We had him on a previous trip. He was awesome and well worth the tip. He also left a bunch of golfers on one trip because they were such an entitled pita group and he had enough of them so don't be that group. Butlers is who we used.

Nope, here is exactly what the tour operator said "In relation to Driver Gratuity we always recommend a minimum of 12 to 15 Euros per person per day."

How much are you paying this driver/company and how much does the company pay him, is he working for tips? I would have found all that out before you hired them. Butler coaches do not expect that. How many courses is he driving you to during your 12 days?

https://www.facebook.com/butlersbustours?ref=hl

bob, they are crazy, no one gets that unless there are hot and cold running chambermaids.

I think you may have walked in and the supplier saw the words of Mr T "fool" written on your forhead. I'd suggest an alternative supplier.

Working for tips.... what sort of country do they think Ireland is? Puerto Rico?

Maybe they mean 12 to 15 per person driving the bus.....

Could be.....

We took a rural pub tour by small van, 6 of us, tour was 6 hours, we tipped 35 euros for driver and guide to split, for the lot of us. He seemed very very happy , we also bought the guide a beer in one place ( we went to three).

Sorry i think tipping 120 euros a day is outrageous and would wonder if this company actually pays their driver! ( and by law i believe they do) so i think they are just soaking a tourist.

Ps i find offence at the " minumum" wording too.

There are twelve of us for seven days.

This is a packaged tour so we don't get to choose the transportation company. The driver will be with us all week. He'll pick us up at the airport, drive us to the hotel and then shuttle us to the golf courses during the day. We'll change hotels once during the stay.

Golf-centric tour operators know their customers are generally big spenders. 'Nuff said.

For a bus that size €50 a day would be more than generous.

It could be that the wording is generic, for any size group, and the average group size is 4. That would put you in range of Janisj's suggestion. It's for the driver's time and for 4 or 12, a day is a day. Don't be bamboozled or guilted into overpaying. Especially if you're American, less fodder for jokes.

I am Irish - we often hire buses here to bring us on work outings. We never tip the driver. There isn't a real tipping culture here.

If on a tour and there is a guide who does a really good job we would give them maybe EUR2, or if they are really good EUR5 from the group of 4 of us. Either the tour company means EUR12-15 per person i.e 12-15 for the driver and 12-15 for the tourguide, or they are really just trying to take complete advantage of you. Either way I think a tip of EUR12-15 from the entire bus to the driver each day is absolutely fine, plus offer to get him a coffee at one of your stops.

Tip him what you want at the end of your week and be done with it. Don't feel bad. We liked our driver and knew he golfed but he took us to see sites and was great with us. It doesn't sound like this guy is doing that much.

Bus drivers are not especially well (or badly) paid in Ireland. They earn enough for a modest standard of living.

If a driver spends a week with you, and you think he looks after you well, then a total tip of about €150-200 would be considered good.

I'm traveling with a group of 8 to Scotland, the Western Isles and Argyll. A driver and van have arranged through an Ireland-based company for 7 days, 6 nights. The driver will drive for 9 hours per day. Any suggestions for a tip in this case, since the driver will also be away from home for 6 nights?

Well the guy will be paid for his time. Generally I'd see two rates, £5 a day in total for everyone. Or, if he has done some awesome things, or lugged a lot of luggage then raise that to £10. I'd give it at the end of the trip. I might round up so for 8 people so tops £50.

I think 35 pounds a week for a group of 8 where the guy drives 9 hrs a day and is away from home to be rather cheap, and I'm not a big tipper. If I travel on business and getting paid my usual salary as if I were at work, that pay for 8 hrs of work it is not the same thing to compensate me for all the hours I am away from home in a hotel. I know that is worth about US $45, but still, as a week's tip for a group of 8 for all that time, that seems really low to me. Even as a cheap tipper, I can't imagine each person tipping less than about US$20 each for the week, or more like double that. And not just if he's done awesome things, as long as he or she is doing an okay job.

5 GBP a day is about US$7 or 6 euro, or less than $1 per person a day.

Even littlejane who is Irish suggests at least 10 euro a day for the group which is more like US$11, and Padraig suggests a minimum of at least 20 euro a day. I'd go with their suggestions since they know the norms.