lilypoo

3 of us will be staying in a rental home on Playa Grande Beach in Gunacaste. We will be there for 4 nights. All the reviews of the house rave about the maid and her husband grounds keeper. How much tip should we give them at the end of our stay? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

volcanogirl

I'd probably leave about twenty dollars.

lilypoo

Thanks for the info. Would this be $20 each?

schmerl

When staying in a hotel, "they" say to tip $2 per person per night to housekeeping. So...if you use this formula the tip would be a total of $24. Don't know if the same holds true when renting a house. The groundskeeper has to take care of things whether you are there or not.

amagkid

It really depends. You need to wait and consider how much time they spend at the house daily and how much they do. If it is a quick pass daily to make beds, light cleaning, and light yard work then $20 per day is fair. For two to three hours work. However, if they really clean up after you and help prepare meals and are there more as your "staff"...than $20 per day, per guest is more appropriate. It is not uncommon in rental situations for the maid to also prepare you fresh juice, coffee and pinto in the morning. She may even offer to prepare other meals as this is customary in many situations. And feel comfortable, if they seem willing and eager, let them help you! My staff loves to go out of their way to make friends, families and guests more comfortable and they love to share their culture...and food!!!!! Learn a little Spanish if you dont know some all ready so you can share a few words. The tip is a big thing though and many tourists here overlook it.

volcanogirl

It wouldn't occur to me to tip the groundskeeper, so I'd say that's up to you. The housekeeper is more service oriented to me, so I'd give the $20 to her. I'm assuming she's just doing light housekeeping, but if she does cooking and things like that, I'd increase the amount.

TravellingAround

I would agree with amagkid, $20 is appropriate if they are doing the basic stuff but if they are cooking, cleaning up after etc, giving them more is completely reasonable. Living is Guanacaste is pretty expensive even for locals so the tips are really appreciated.