Tips for tour company tour guides
 

Hello,

Does anyone have any first hand information about what is a typical amount to tip tour guides these days? I'm referring to the guides who go along on a one or two week organized tour with a commercial company (such as Trafalgar, Globus, etc). We are traveling in the UK, but the tour guide and all the people on the tour are from the U.S. The guide will be with us on the entire trip and is the only person who's tip is not included in the price of the tour. I'm trying to decide ahead how much U.S. cash to bring with, and her tip will be a portion of that. Thanks so much for any help you can give.

P.S. BTW, we will be having local guides at each of our destinations - their tips are covered by the tour company.

You just ran into the biggest cultaral difference between Americans and Europeans. So as a Brit I might throw £20 into the hat for someone who had guided us for 2 weeks, but that would be my limit, tipping is just not really done but I understand that in America you have different expectations.

All I can advise is
"in coming!"

The answer is more art than science, and highly personal.

I dunno. $5/day sounds right.

(I and lots of people here are self-service travelers who don't go on lengthy guided tours, but you might find a tour veteran or two who can advise from experience.)

I'm referring to the guides who go along on a one or two week organized tour with a commercial company (such as Trafalgar, Globus, etc).>

I've seen tour brochures cover this and up front at times say that guides depend on tips for wages and even have mandatory gratuities (oxymoron yes) - but this is a hard call to know whether or not the guide gets paid well by the company or depends on tips.

I would assume on such tours the company factors tips into what the compensation of a tour guide is.

I've been on 2 guided tours that were a week long (Thailand and Vietnam) and my friend and I decided to tip $50 each for the guide and $30 each for the driver. No idea if it was a typical amount but that's what we did.

Day trips we always put in five or ten euros.

I think the tour guide might prefer to be tipped in sterling rather than US dollars or Euros...

$50 in Thailand and Viet Nam = about $300 in the U.K. as per average wages! Those Thai and Viet tour guides may have to tip the company just to have the job.

>>I think the tour guide might prefer to be tipped in sterling rather than US dollars or Euros…<<

Since the OP thinks the 'guide' is American and will be traveling with the group from the US and back - a tip (if any) should be in $. But it seems the actual guiding is being done by local hires in each country.

I'm not sure I'd be tipping a tour 'director' flying over w/ the group. S/he most certainly isn't 'working for tips'.

Usually in the documents they send you before a trip there is a section on tipping the tour leader and driver.Usually 5-6 dollars a day for guide and 4-5 for driver.
Just use that as a guide. No need to follow it exactly.

tipping the tour leader and driver.Usually 5-6 dollars a day for guide and 4-5 for driver>

this means 'paying' not tipping -for services you got and the company expects you to pay for.

We just finished a 2 week Trafalgar trip to Germany. We were able to prepay a tip before we left ( I think it was 5% or 10%) but we did add $100 Euros for both the tour guide and the driver because they were both FANTASTIC.
I know that they survive from tips rather than salary since a friend used to work for Contiki.

Sorry but €100 extra is nuts and no, they do not live off tips -- How long ago did your friend work for Contiki?

We have tipped birding tour guides and drivers generously in the past. $4-5 a day is beyond stingy.

Of course tour guides don't live off tips--how is that even relevant?

Lastly, should people who are constantly bragging about never taking tours be advising on this thread? janisj?

I recently organized a concert tour for the chorus I sing with to England and Scotland. I asked the director of the tour company I worked with to advise me on how much to tip our tour guide who traveled with us, and the bus drivers that we had, as we wanted to build the tips into the price of the trip. Since your tour guide is American, I don't know if this advice applies to your situation, but here's what he advised - £1 per person per day for our tour guide, and about one half to two thirds of that for the drivers, depending on how helpful we thought they were. We did end up tipping our guide more than that, as he was really great and super nice, and gave the drivers the top end of that range (our first driver, who we had for four days, got quite a bit more, as he went way above and beyond what he needed to do for us. and everyone wanted to chip in extra for him). It was helpful to have those guidelines.

>>£1 per person per day for our tour guide, and about one half to two thirds of that for the drivers<<

That is a very reasonable guideline and wouldn't offend our British members (much anyway ;) ).


>>We did end up tipping our guide more than that, as he was really great and super nice, and gave the drivers the top end of that range (our first driver, who we had for four days, got quite a bit more, as he went way above and beyond what he needed to do for us. and everyone wanted to chip in extra for him)<<

It must just be in our genes -- even when a guideline is presented - Leave it to the Yanks to over tip >)

>>Lastly, should people who are constantly bragging about never taking tours be advising on this thread? janisj?<<

No I don't take many tours -- but I lived in the UK for five years and not only have been on a few -- I have organized MANY tours and hired driver guides for others. So go snipe at someone else.

To be honest, the main reason we overtipped our tour guide was that we added too much extra to the tour price for tips - probably about $5 extra per person - thinking we might have to tip docents, etc. and wanted to have extra to spare just in case. Since we didn't end up giving any extra tips, we had more than expected in that fund at the end of the tour, so we just gave what was left to our guide. I do think he earned it.

Conialex, I'm sure it's all clear as mud now! Honestly, tips will vary and I doubt the tour guide expects any one specific amount. I'm really impressed by the ability to wrangle a couple dozen people with completely different backgrounds and interests and expectations and somehow form an enjoyable trip. It's a skill I doubt I'll ever have and I'm grateful to have had great tour guides who were able to do those things. I'm also glad I'll never have to be on the clock for a week or two straight and I'm happy to reward someone who can do it with grace and humor. Hope you have a wonderful trip :)

Some companies pay the guides enough so that tips are neither necessary nor expected. It's built into the tour price, of course.