Pete

I will travelling to the US soon and I have a question about tipping. I have read that in America I should tip about 15% for a meal. In one hotel where I am staying though a cooked breakfast is included in the price. What do you seasoned travellers think I should tip the waitress?

Karen

I would say no, not to tip the waitress. The breakfast might be a buffet and you don't have to tip if this is included in your hotel package. We usually tip minimum 15% unless the service is poor.

susan

We always tip regardless whether the meal is included in the price of the room. For a buffet that's complimentary a dollar per person is sufficient.

Lani

I agree with Susan, we also always tip, even if it's included with your room, and even if it's a buffet (less).

Jeff

I remember traveling to London on a Virgin plane. They had video programming of NYC and London and made the comparison that in NY (as opposed to London), "if it moves, you tip it".

In NYC, it is 15% for breakfast and lunch and 15% to 20% for dinner. You tip taxi drivers 15-20%; bartenders a dollar or two a round; and certainly/absolutely tip waitresses who perform any tasks even getting water/getting your menu/getting your check for the buffet (certainly not 20% though). This is not just NYC (in fact, the newspaper USA Today said that the highest tippers were in Philadelphia), but the paper agreed with what I found--- that people in middle America and the West Coast do tip less (maybe 15% for dinner instead of a little more).

susan

I'm in the south and my husband and I tip 20% for meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) unless the service is pretty awful. And yes, we tip cab drivers, bartenders and folks who work at buffets.

CMcDaniel

Double check your room service bill though. More often than not, the tip has already been included. You wouldn't want to be throwing another 15-20% on top of that.

Pete

Thanks, all your replies have been very helpful . I was a bit confused on this because I cant work out a percentage on something that is included with the price of the room. Judging from your replies though I should tip up to around $4-$5 if they haven't already took a service charge. BTW it is a cooked to order breakfast rather than a buffet.

cass

Re: breakfast waitress -- if you are ordering from a menu, you should see the prices on what you have ordered and you can figure the tip based on that. But otherwise I'd figure the breakfast would cost somewhere around $7-10 (more if it's a **** hotel) and tip $1.50-$2.50. (15% is really bare minimum now, despite what some stingy posters would have you believe, and for smaller bills, it's really pretty chintzy to figure it to the penny or tip less than $1.).

BTW, do not forget the chambermaids. However, I have a question of fellow posters on that one. I usually wait 'til the last day and leave $2- $5/day, depending on the type of hotel and the quality/quantity of work involved in cleaning my room. However, recently I noticed that the maid on the last day was a different person from the one who had cleaned the previous 5 days and had some qualms about whether she'd walk away with the $20 and leave the "regular" in the lurch. Should I have tipped every day or assume the maids work it out among themselves?

Joseph

My wife & I tip housekeepers everyday just for that reason - you just don't know if people are fair with each other! But we're cheap, by your standards, leave only a buck a day, but most people I know don't leave anything!

Mary

I have friends who have been/are waitpeople, and here's what I've learned from them: 15% for basic service; 20% for good service, which should be the norm (you get the menus/your order taken in good time, the waitperson is efficient, a hot dish arrives hot, waitperson checks on you now and then as busyness permits, and so forth; also remember, the waitperson is not the cook.) No waitperson will argue if you want to leave more than 20% for outstanding service. If you have a lousy waitperson, don't feel bad about leaving 10%. It is best to leave something, though, unless the experience has been a disaster, as the busboys often get a share of the tips and so you'd be "stiffing" the innocent. (You can always ask to speak with a manager and give the manager something for the busboy and say the waitperson was so bad, you don't want to leave anything for him or her.) In Pete's case, if you're being served breakfast by a waitperson, leave a tip. (I'd follow Cass's advice on that.)

Re chambermaids: Been there personally. It's best to leave tips by day. On pillow is a good place to put tip, as it will be clear to the maid that the money is a tip. Whoever does your room at the end will have more work to do, so it's not a bad idea to tip a little more the last day. And do tip the maid, as long as you're happy with the service. Maids usually don't make a lot of money and the work is hard. Five bucks to two bucks a day is decent; even a buck a day will likely be appreciated. Judge by how much work there is to do in the room: if you want linens changed and the whole works, or if the room is really messy, with lots to clean up, tip more; if you just want towels, tip less. Keep in mind that many people tip porters generously for just moving bags around for a brief time; your maid, if good, keeps your room a clean and comfortable place. It's nice to hear there are folks out there who DO remember the maids!

Julie

I've also found that tipping the maids daily sometimes gets you better service (ie. plentiful toiletries -- and extra stuff like bath gel, etc.) I usually travel with people I work with and we compare the bathroom "goodies" left by the maids and found them to be more generous if a tip has been left daily. I usually tip $1-$2 a day.

bill

I have a question.
Cass states that the 15% tip rate is now the minimum for restaurants.I've also seen tip sheets that state that 17% is now the normal tip on a meal.
Why would the rate ever go up??? Inflation is already figured into the cost of the food and the tip is based on that cost, so theres no reason for the tip % to increase.

I dont think i am cheap, because I usually tip between 10-20% based on how much i liked the waitress, but it just bothers me to have the restaurant industry try to increase the expected tip rate just to get me to supplement the waitresses' income