Tipping private guides
 

My husband and I just returned from 1 week in Portugal. We had a private tour in Lisbon for 1 1/2 days. The recommendation we were given from our travel agent was to tip 20 Euros a day per person for guide/driver. It turned out our guide WAS our driver, too! So should we have tipped 30 Euros each for 1 1/2 days or 60 Euros each (20 Euros for the guide and 20 Euros for the driver times 1 1/2)? We got into a nasty arguement with our traveling couple over this. My husband and I ended up tipping the lady guide/driver 100 Euros for both of us (50 Euros each) and I think that's what the other couple tipped, too. Anyway, the guide/driver appeared to be shocked (very happily so!) with the amount we gave her so we think we over tipped. What do you all think??? HELP!!! BTW, we asked the travel agent when we got back via email what was meant by her recommendation and she won't respond. Won't take calls, either!

Clearly over-tipped. For 2 persons, 1.5 days, I say 30€ would be fine.

Now you have me wondering. What is a reasonable rate for a private tour guide in Europe (exclusive of tips)? And what are your thoughts on tipping?

How does one find a private guide? I know there are a number of agencies that will provide them, but I imagine there are also those who work independently. Anyone had experience in this area?

Were you HAPPY with the services you received? Did you feel AT THE TIME the tip was evidence of your satisfaction with those services (forget that other couple for a minute)?

If the answers are "yes" then you did not overtip...nobody but you can decide if the service was "worth it" and so what if you gave this person "more" than someone else did? What matters is the service YOU received..not what someone else THINKS about how much you tipped.

Wow, 200 euros for one and a half day's work, plus salary. Any time you are in my part of the world and want a guide, please feel free to get in touch with me! I bet she was surprised and happy. We don't tip like that here in Europe. Instead we pay people a salary. If you were happy to tip that much, then fine. If you did it because you felt obliged to do so, then know for next time that it was too much.

Hi MA,

Your guide was charging you what she thought her services were worth.

If you thought that she did an extra-special job a tip of 10-20E would have been sufficient.

Why would you tip the same person twice for being driver and guide?

((I))

I think the travel agent advice was bad in the first place. 20E per person per day is too much anyway. If it was just the four of you on the tour, a total tip of 20E per day would have been fine between the lot of you, not each.

Miss Apriot, maybe it was a missunderstanding, and the travel agent suggested 20 Euros / day for guide / driver in total, not per person?

In any case, I do not understand what help do you ask now? You are already home, had a nice vacation...this is all ! Think about beautiful things that you saw!
I think that is too late now to ask the travel agent what was meant!

Maybe she's planning another trip in the near future and is trying to figure out if she can afford it, based on her tipping practices.

I suspect the travel agent meant exactly what happened -- 20 euro per person per day. That doesn't seem too excessive by a lot of tipping standards if it's a full day and they did a great job. (20 euro) But that was for the guide and driver together, I imagine (or 10 euro each if they were two people).

I wouldn't tip the same person more for doing both jobs (although I can see the argument) because they are spending the same amount of time.

I think 10-25 euro per person would have been fine for the tip for the entire 1-1/2 days.

Now that would only be for an employee of someone else who could even be working for tips to a large extent (some guides do). If it were a private guide who was setting her own fee, it seems kind of weird to tip anything as they are determing their own pay, anyway.

Just curious: what was the cost of the tour, per person? I want to know how many percents are 40 Euro (in the case that there were a driver and a guide) of the cost of the tour per person.

The fact that the guide was very surprised can indicate that the tip was really too big!

Miss Apricot, why you had to have a "nasty arguement" with another couple? Each person can tip what he wants, isn't?

Now, another question: Miss Apricot returned from vacation, and his first and only message in this board is about tip ! Is not something suspect here?

First I want to thank you all for your very valuable responses. I have learned alot (wish I had taken the time BEFORE the trip to check this out!)and feel much more confident about tipping in Europe in the future. To answer a few of your questions: this trip, the other couple arranged through a travel agent and we saw only the total price. The trip was ~$1800 per person and included 5 nights in hotels (3 in Porto and 4 in Lisbon), 1/2 day private tour in Porto, a full day river cruise, and 1 1/2 day private tour in Lisbon. We felt the trip sounded just right and did not ask for an itemization of the bill. Won't make that mistake again! So I honestly can't tell you the charge for the private tours. But if anyone has any questions about what we did and saw on our trip, please ask me! Yes, I want to know after-the-fact tipping info so we won't run into that problem again! Our tour guide in Lisbon was very good but I think 25 Euros for my husband and I was the way we should have gone. You are right - didn't matter what the other couple did. Yeah, we won't use that travel agent again. We are confident enough now to do it on our own, especially with this wonderful chat room here at Fodors as long as I make use of it and I will! When we went to Prague in '06, I found a private tour guide on this website. There were a number of comments as to how good he was. We ended up "reserving" him and he was outstanding! I forgot what he charged but it was reasonable and alot nicer than a huge group tour. Again, thank you!