Tipping - help please?
 

Hi fellow fodorians!
We are an adult family of four and we will be traveliing from the UK to San Francisco-Las Vegas-New York-Washington in May. I understand the basics on tipping. 1-2 dollars per bag for hotel porters and 15-20% for taxis and eating out (please correct me if i'm wrong). What really confuses me is that we have pre-paid various activities (Grand Canyon Trip, Super Car driving, Segway Tours, helicopter trip etc). Can you kindly advise me the amount we should tip on these events? The cost ranges from 40 dollars to 230 dollars per person and 20% per person would be such a lot of money. Also, rather than give one tip for the group of four, should we tip individually? I have read on the web that we should always tip on every event but I am finding it rather confusing. You advice would be very welcome. Many thanks in advance, Mark.

Have you thought about calling or emailing those tours and asking? They'll know whether it's common (and a sample amount), or whether their provided services are inclusive. Helicopter trips, for example, are usually not additional tips; nothing extra is done, and the personnel are well-paid professionals. Someone who acts as a guide, talks and explains things, performs personal services, etc., usually earn a gratuity.
No embarrassment in asking, right?

Thanks Sylvia.

Tipping is always a subject of controversy on this forum.

I fear that those who work for tips and those from whom you are buying a service will suggest tipping in amounts that are in excess of what is judicious.

Tipping should reflect your level of satisfaction. You are not obliged to tip for unpleasant, disinterested, or inferior service.

I am providing you with a link that describes sensible tipping. Notice, for instance, that the link suggests a tip of $1-$2 for a parking attendant when he/she delivers your car. I usually give $2, unless I am dissatisfied for some reason. However, when I give $1 a properly trained valet will say "thank you" just as enthusiastically as if I had over-tipped with a $5 bill.

Also, we travel light. When we check into a hotel and are greeted with "Do you want help with your bags?" I say, no. Having wheeled my bag all around the world, I find no need to pay somebody to carry it 40 feet to the registration desk. Usually, there is no problem. However, recently, when booking into Marriott's Rennaisance in Palm Springs, a big young man took an intimidating stance apparently defying me to reject his offer to carry my bags. I asked him to please move out of my way.

In deciding how much to tip tour guides, I assess how much their service added to my enjoyment. A man who drove me around India a few years ago told me I was too generous in my tip to him, but I gave very little to the guide of an escorted tour in Turkey who gave long, boring lectures at historic sights and who spent too much of the tour trying to get my fellow travelers to buy rugs and other expensive souvenirs.

Here is a guide to sensible tipping: http://www.itipping.com/tip-guide-travel.htm

If you decide to tip, one tip for the group is fine. I wouldn't tip on the Helicopter Tour. I might tip the Segway Guide $10-$20 for the entire group, but I probably wouldn't tip at all.

I never tip at Hotels for maid service. And I try and carry my own bags as much as possible. I always tip at restaurants unless the service is bad.

I have always had a hard time knowing what and how to tip on excursion type activities.

In NYC IMHO you tip cabs and restaurants 20% (the automatic meter for paying by CC in the cab has 20% - then 25% and 30%) as the lowest tip percentage - although you can just insert a different random amount if you want). (Taxis in NYC are cheap compared to those in most major capitals)

For tour guides I would absolutely tip on how good a job they do.

I agree that tipping tour guides should depend on the service you get and that it's not necessary to tip a helicopter pilot (he's a professional). Should you decide to tip a guide, I'd tip $3 - $5 per person and somewhat more if it's an all-day tour. I have never in my life tipped 20% of a tour cost to the guide. Waiters make under $3.00 per hour and need that 15 - 20% tip; tour guides don't.

Longhorn nailed the rationale for tipping wait staff - unlike everyone else you will consider tipping, they make less than the federally mandated minimum wage (it's an exception to the law - tipped staff make a minimum $2.13 per hour, less than 1/3 the normal minimum, and get the rest of their money on tips) on an hourly basis. Thus, tips aren't just thanks, they're necessary components of the compensation. Everyone else gets the $7+ per hour minimum (usually substantially more).

I suppose we shouldn't even tip waitstaff in San Francisco (or California) since they earn "regular" minimum wage (which is $10.24 per hour in SF)

Cab drivers don;t get minimum wage - many are self-employed - and their incomes are not large unless they are able to drive 16 to 18 hours per day.

Be careful of added gratuities on your food check. Found 20% on our lunch bill in Teton Village while figuring out the tip we would leave. Sometimes it sneaks up on you.. Worked my way through University waiting table and was always very grateful for any tips..Kept my tummy somewhat full most of the time. Also I like to leave cash for the tip as the waitperson may or maynot be the recipient of the tip..Grand-daughter was badly undertipped last year in Montreal and later was reassessed by Internal Rev.for unpaid taxes based on restuarant claim of more given to her!!! Sad commentary on unscrupuled employers!!

Thank you all so much for your help, which is duly taken on board and much appreciated. mark.

Someone said: <<I never tip at Hotels for maid service.>>

That's just bad juju. Leave a few dollars on the credenza before leaving your hotel room in the morning, each morning, so the woman who is cleaning up your mess and making order out of daily chaos, gets the little extra you're offering.

Oops. Must be an impostor. Emily Post would never express herself in this indelicate way.

HTTY

amer_can makes a really good point - always check to see if an automatic gratuity has been added to your bill before tipping. In most places this happens when you have a party of 6 or more, but it also happens a lot of times on holidays.

And it's true that you have to consider that wait staff in the US are mostly paid low wages and earn most of their money from tips, but that doesn't mean you can't vary the tip based on quality of service. I usually tip an average of 20%, but a not so good waiter will get 15%, and one that has done a horrible job, added bogus items to the bill, or skimmed money from my change will get a lot less.

HTTY, my response was perfectly delicate considering the question being posed.

<< added bogus items to the bill, or skimmed money from my change will get a lot less.>>

Steamedcrab: This is stealing. This has Never happened to me nor to anyone I know, not even in London nor Rome. I wonder why it has happened to you? Terrible experience, I'm sure, but rather than stiffing the server on a tip I would suggest you speak to management instead.

Tipping: once a subject of much bickering with my hubby. He's always been the one assigned to tip, just because it's a lot easier to take his wallet out of his pocket than for me to dig into my purse. I've always thought that he tipped based on his mood, while I've always wanted to have some kind of consistency.

Until maybe two years ago, when we've more or less established our own tipping rule. (Caveat: this is all personal, and what may be normal to us may seem strange to you).

Porter: $1-$2 a bag, but we always end up giving $5 for 2 bags, $10 for 4 bags.
Valet: $2.00 - $5.00
Maid service: $3.00/day if no-frills/basic room, up to $5 for a bigger "luxury" room at a posher place
Taxis: 30%. More if he helps with our bags, or if he's polite and friendly. :-)
Restaurants: Min of 20%, usually 25% and up. 30% if the bill is really cheap.
Tour Guides (e.g., Segway, food tours, pub crawls ;-), half-day bus or boat tours): $5/person, or at least 10% of the cost of the tour, up to 20% for extraordinary service).

Once, we left a tip for the hotel maid (about $3) and it was still there that night. We left it again the next day, and lo, and behold, it was still untouched. Finally on the third day, I left a bigger tip with a thank you note for the maid. Ever since then, I always make it a point to leave a thank you note with the tip. Easier done the night before since it's always a mad rush to leave the hotel in the morning.....

Regarding OP's question re tipping individually or as a group, for my family of four (two kids, 20 and 18 y/o), we always tip as a group.

This probably sounds weird, but before each trip, I try to bring a bunch of $1 and $5 bills- stored in a quart size ziploc bag in my purse. Easy to dig out to hand to hubby in case he needs it.

If we go on a tour with a separate tour guide and driver, we always tip the driver too (same or a little less than the tour guide's tip).

<i>HTTY, my response was perfectly delicate considering the question being posed.</i>

Nor would she be defensive, though defensiveness in this instance is understandable.

HTTY

Hi Mark, tipping is a matter of personal preference and it is different here in the USA than in Europe. I know that it is not expected in Europe but we always tip because we do here in USA. Typically, if I have booked a private tour and sharing the tour w/ others then I add 20% onto the tour price for the entire group, not pp.

You know what the "usual" procedure is for valets, porters, etc. so you are all set there. As far as any of the tours you mention (helicopter, etc.) I would suggest that you or someone in your party of 4 collect the total amount due for that tour and add a tip. It would be much easier doing this if you are all compatible and have no issues about tipping.

I just booked a private limo to pick up my family who are traveling to DC today to sightsee. When I was pricing the different limo companies, they all automatically added 20% tip to the base price of the pickup. Agree w/ gelatolovers suggestions.

Don't worry about it, have a great time on your trip. Do what you think is best for your group. No one has ever refused a tip! LOL

<<<Agree w/ gelatolovers suggestions>>>.

I think gelatolover's suggestions are extraordinarily high in some cases (30% for taxis? Even in NY, 20-25% would be more than plenty. In San Francisco (not NY), tipping 18-20% in restaurants is the norm, 25-30% you'd be considered an extremely generous tipper, and maybe a little crazy :-) ).

I don't know anyone who routinely tips 30% in restaurants - unless they are trying to show off to a date. 20% is fine for good service. If you have something that requires extra work (have something flambeed at the table to whatever) then you will probably want to add more.

The only exception is if you go into a coffee shop with sit down service and order something very inexpensive - then I would leave a minimum of $2 per person - even if your check is only $4 or $5 per person - since most people would be ordering more and giving 20% would be cutting down on their expected tips. (In NYC many such shops have a $10 minimum at lunch hour no matter what you order - both to cover the owners costs and the tips for the staff.)

sf: note the caveat at the start of my earlier post. :-) Our normal taxi rates are $10-$20 per ride, usually short hops in a city (or $40-$50 from an airport to a hotel), and we personally don't think 30% is too big - especially so if we get help with luggage, etc. We have had too many conversations with friendly cabbies, and we know they don't have an easy life. 12 hour shifts would be the norm, many of them work longer hours because they need to.

We have friends whose kids have worked as waiters/waitresses and their stories have impressed upon us the need to tip generously unless you were not satisfied with the service you received. And we never penalize the server if the kitchen/chef was at fault.....

We figure out the tip for restaurants as a base of 20% and we decide if we want to add a bit more..... normally up to 25%. Like I said, if the bill was really cheap (say $10-$20 for the two of us), I don't find it a pain to give 30%.

And, nytraveler, a person who tips generously just to impress a date is, in my opinion, a jackass.

I also don't think there's any need for person to show his date (or anyone else) the amount on the bill and the amount of the tip. Tipping should be done discretely......

But I agree with you about the extra service (such as the intricate Bananas Foster that was prepared tableside for us at Brennan's in New Orleans three weeks ago) - this deserves a bigger tip.

20% is fine outside of NYC in most restaurants; 25% is better.

I leave $5.00 a night in a hotel room.

I'm not at all defensive, htty. I am too direct to ever feel or 'be' defensive. Cheers!

Here is tipping advice from the real Emily Post: http://www.emilypost.com/out-and-abo...ing-guidelines

HTTY

Redundant.

IMHO the published Emily Post is out of date. But more than 20% is very generous and not really expected unless some special service was provided.

What I've noticed is that some cabbies avoid stopping for foreign visitors - since a lot don;t get the whole tipping thing and either stiff them completely or just leave small change - which is likely to elicit a rude comment from the cabbie (understandably).

Again: 20% is an appropriate tip for waiters in NYC; 25% is not unusual at all.