Private Dining - Tipping Etiquette

Grumpy_chap

I am organising a surprise party for my Wife's 50th Birthday and it will be a private dining event in a hotel.

What is the protocol for tipping after the event?

Grumpy_chap

Well, I had a meeting with the Event Coordinator this afternoon and I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask what the protocol was, only to be met with the response "I don't know."

comeandgo

Who is paying the bill? For our family events it’s whoever pays the bill but not usually at 10% due to the high number of wine and alcohol involved.

Grumpy_chap

I am paying the bill.

NBLondon

Grumpy_chap said:

Well, I had a meeting with the Event Coordinator this afternoon and I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask what the protocol was, only to be met with the response "I don't know."

Odd - I'm sure they must have been asked before. Is there a service charge? Can they tell you how many servers there will be? Then you could prepare to tip them in cash (may need to obtain some fivers...)

silvercar

What would the staff be doing if they weren't waiting on your event? If it is a hotel where normally the staff would be serving at events eg weddings, they wouldn't normally be tipped. If they would be serving paying guests in the restaurant then they would be tipped, so I would tip

elsien

In a similar situation, I paid the bill by card and left a tip in cash at the same time. Can’t remember how much though. 

Grumpy_chap

Thanks for the comments.

I agree that you'd expect the Event Coordinator would have been asked before.
There is a service charge.

It is a hotel so I assume these staff are brought in for each event and not the same staff that would be in the restaurant.  The comparison with weddings is probably a fair one - although this is a much smaller event, we will have a function suite and the servers will present prosecco on arrival, then guide us through to the next room for dining and then do the birthday cake later in the afternoon.

I actually asked my Brother has both his Daughters got married in the past year and he said he did not tip for anyone at either event.  He also mentioned that when my Nieces worked as waitresses for an events venue, they very rarely got any tips, so much so that they mentioned it if as a big thing if they did get tipped.

I think I am decided not to tip.

Grumpy_chap

Just to update on this, we had the lunch event for my wife's 50th this weekend.

The event well but, for me as the organiser, I found the service rather wanting, especially with long pregnant pauses between courses.  I had to work quite hard to keep prompting the contact (who changed several times through the afternoon) to keep things moving forwards.

So, it wasn't really service worthy of a tip.  Given the service charge already included, I definitely wasn't about to tip on top.