I have compared my personal tipping experiences in Europe with this website, and I found (those I could judge) to be quite precise:
http://www.magellans.com/store/article/367?Args=

The more North you travel in Europe, the less positive impact a huge tip (20% or more) may have. 10% is usually a good rule of thumb in restaurants. Especially in countries with a high standard of living, e.g. Switzerland or in Scandinavia, excessive tipping can get quite close to an insult.

The whole tipping culture has always been alien to many Europeans. Commercial life is far more simple - we employ staff pay them the going rate for the job they do - customer are then quoted a set rate for a good or service. Payment is made in line with that price - end of story - I really don't understand to vagueness of the tipping culture. Surely US employers should pay their staff as they actually contractually employ them?

I'm not sure why I am being low for not tipping all the time - surely the employers are being lower than low for not paying their staff?

Thanks all and especially to Murat for setting out what appears to represent a local view. (Thank God for forums like this) I assume the suggestions indicated by Murat are not per person but are daily totals for our family of four.

As an aside, I sought further clarification from our Istanbul agent. It was suggested that $160 per day ($25 pp for the guide and $15 pp for the driver) was the norm for Istanbul. I was advised that those amounts could be reduced by half outside Istanbul.

I hope this has been helpful to some of you!

I've used a basic system to most destinations, regardless what tour operators suggest. Some maybe too high, others too low.

Generally, for:
Guides - $7-$10/day/person*
Drivers - half that of guide, he does get you where you're going and safely
Porters - $1-$2/bag
Housekeeping - $2/nt/room
Airport/train transfer driver - $2/person or $5/trip.
Restaurants, if service not included - 10% or round up to nearest even amount.

* so at conclusion of each 4/day segment - $30-40/person x 4/dys = $120-$160 total; believe that's being very generous.

Same should hold for time in Istanbul and for the Gulet.

Of course, all is dependent on level of service. If the service doesn't warrant, simply reduce the tip.

Hi Pirouette;
Thank you also to you too.
You are a family of 4, so you are tipping for all of you 25 Usd per person / day is a bit over the edge. At least children should be excluded.
At the end of a 3 day tour if you did give the Guide 80-100 Usd, he or she will be happy.
If you were on a bus tour with 20 people generally speaking guide would get about 10 usd per person.

For a upscale tour guide is paid upscale as well and they would expect some good tip at the end.

I am a travel agent as well and we hear from our guides or see our guests tipping, the information you get is very fresh as general practice! Especially considering your trip is divided into 5 parts.
Enjoy your trip and have fun.

Murat

Markrosy, while it might be that the employers should pay their servers more, in the US that just isn't the industry standard. The tipping culture is such that people all know a large part of the servers' income derives from tips.

I find the US rules for tipping FAR less confusing than those abroad. It is standard to tip 15-20% in a restaurant. You include that in your calculations of the price of the meal.

Everybody does this. It is not really optional. You do not tip less under any circumstances unless you are making a point about poor service.

>It was suggested that $160 per day ($25 pp for the guide and $15 pp for the driver) was the norm for Istanbul.<

Assuming that your guide is with you 8 hrs/day (which he is not), that comes to 26,000 USD pa in a country where the median household income for a family of 4 is around $12,000.

Very generous.

((I))

I think Murat is the one who has the sanest answer here. My own experience in Turkey was that three of us rented a car with private driver for 5 days in 2005. As part of the arrangement, we paid for his meals and overnights but this was added on to the total fee at the beginning.


After the 5 days we gave Hamdi $150 US...$50 each for 5 days, so $10 per day each. He seemed very happy with that amount. I do not think you have to go through any complicated calculations here, and the tip should relfect how pleased you are with the particular person, which you will not know until you complete that leg of the trip. You do not need to include the children in the tipping math..

<I'm not sure why I am being low for not tipping all the time - surely the employers are being lower than low for not paying their staff?>

I am - you are very low because you know that the server is depending on your tip when you go in that place (in U.S. not in Europe) - so it's kind of like a contract and then you get the service and don't pay for it.

Personally i find it extremely low - almost like stealing.

PalenQ that is a strange comment - I'll put it down to cultural differences - to repeat in the UK we have a far more simple way of doing business which ensures that staff and employers meet their contractual and legal obligations. I assume that you have never operated a business or employed staff - this would put the logic of your comments into context

I would't call it stealing, but it's the same kind of thing (not tipping in the US when service is fine) as going to a nice museum where the fee is "voluntary" and you give nothing because you are just cheap, even though you have at least a moderate income and are enjoying the museum.

I don't like the tipping custom in the US, but it is the way it is set up. Thus, it is no different than if you were given a bill with one fee for the food and an addon for the service. You wouldn't refuse to pay it. The only difference is that amount is discretionary in the US. If it weren't, the food prices would be higher.

As for the OPD, I think there are more than enough opinions on that, but the fact that you have a tour does not mean the driver or guide's service fee is included in the rate. Lots of them do have a lower-than-average salary because that job is a tipped profession, and the employer knows they will get more, and that is why they accept the salary.

I definitely would not tip $40 a day more for the driver/guide etc as I thnk they suggested, though.

I took a felluca trip in Egypt on the Nile once, hiring a guy with about six other friends. We tipped him something because he was very good, and really, I consider some of that wealth transfer. I know those guys are very very poor, and I would consider it disgraceful not to tip them something. Same for some of these bus drivers and guides. I tipped both on a private tour I took in Mexico last Fall to some interior Mayan ruins -- so I gave them $5 each over what I'd paid the tour operator ($10 for the entire day). That wasn't going to kill me and I know a lot of Mexicans are very poor, also, and they work very hard down there.