Hello All,
We are traveling to New Orleans and were thinking about doing 1 of the Free Tour on Foot Tours. I am just wondering what is the average or a Good tip for the Guides?

thanks
s

if it's a good, informative tour and you liked the guide, i would probably tip $10 if it was an hour tour and then a few extra dollars for each additional hour.

Agree that it depends on the length of the tour. Is this an hour? A whole morning (then I would do $20).

$5 or $10 per person

If this is like the Washington DC free walking tours, your guide will mention how much people usually tip. You can give him or her that amount or more (or less) depending on how you like the tour.

Lee Ann

I hadn't heard of these walking tours in NO before so I looked on TA -- just WOW. I've never seen anything so highly rated. Like 1000 excellent, 5 poor and NO terrible. They must be really terrific guides.

We have dozens of walking tours in US and in Europe, most are free - donation only. I think $10 pp is about right for the typical tour. More if it is exceptionally good guide or longer than 1.5 hours.

We did the Garden District Free Tour by Foot in New Orleans. Loved it, the guide was very knowledgeable. We tipped $ 10.00. We also did one in Boston, our guide there was very passionate about the Freedom trail. He was a great actor and put all his energy into telling us about this particular period.

20%

20% of what?? They are free tours.

Twenty-percent of nothing, is nothing.
If it's free, it's free.

HTtY

We took one of those tours the last time we were in NO. Our guide was a retired, history of NO enthusiast. It would have been an insult to slip him a ten or twenty.

HTtY

HTtY: >> It would have been an insult to slip him a ten or twenty>In fact, our tours operate on a pay-what-you-like model.>As you can imagine, our tour guides have to work extra hard to earn your appreciation. How much did you like your tour and guide? You name the price.

The only walking tour guides I know that do this [for free] because of their love of what they do and their city is SF City Guides, run by San Francisco Library. Those guides are volunteers who train for 6 months and PAY $200 to become a guide. At the end of tours, they do pass an envelope for donations which go to support the program. The guides get absolutely none of the money.

All of the "free" tours may say you don't have to pay, sure expect you to pay. Of course you can not pay, but that is pretty greedy.

Compare what Viator's walking tours cost [and I know they don't actually do the tours] and you'll see that paying $10 or even $20 is a HUGE bargain. Most of the guides are young people who do this as a living or seniors.

Our guide in New Orleans was actually an accountancy tutor, and the one in Boston was a history student.

The Usual Suspects are on the prowl again.

We picked up our free walking tour at the Louisiana Visitor Information Center, 529 Saint Ann Street. Only a fool of bumpkin would offer our elderly, scholarly guide a tip.

HTtY

"The Usual Suspects are on the prowl again" -- wth does that mean?

What's your problem HTTY, did you get out of bed on the wrong side!!

A: Free Tours by Foot offers tours at no upfront cost. In fact, our tours operate on a pay-what-you-like model. We believe that everybody should be able to enjoy an educational tour experience and discover and learn about this great city, regardless of your budget. We also strongly believe that you should not have to pay for a tour in advance, without having experienced it first. We think that you should decide how much you think the tour was worth when the tour is finished. As you can imagine, our tour guides have to work extra hard to earn your appreciation. You name the price.

The fact that you gave no tip means you didn't actually appreciate the tour guides knowledge, and enthusiasm. He probably thought you hated it.

So are you talking about a completely different tour -- and NOT 'Free Tours on Foot '- right?

If so -- what you did or didn't tip isn't all that relevant. The tour company that is the topic of this thread runs on a "pay what you like" "what it is worth" model. If you had used them -- then yes, it would have been a huge insult not to tip.

(In the sort of tour you apparently DID take it is usually better to offer a tip and let the guide decline it rather than just stiffing him altogether. That's when one isn't sure whether tips are/are not expected/accepted)

Don't know why so grumpy -- I merely quoted the website of the company the rest of us thought we were talking about . . . .