Great "How much to tip overseas?" Hunt

ronswin · 20 May 2006 at 7:04PM

I have been to many Greek Islands and always tip, went to Cuba two years ago and have just come back from Dom Rep, both AI but tipped anyway. This guaranteed us the best service, eg. we didn't once have to queue at the bar for a drink as soon as the waiters saw us they would come to our table and get our drinks. In the restaurants at lunch and dinner the waiters use to reserve our favourite table and treated us first class. I think it is always worth tipping good service and to guarantee good service in future although I agree leaving the smallest denomination to show poor service is good idea.:beer:

Smoking_gun_2 · 21 May 2006 at 8:05PM

Canada. Just returned from Canada. Tipping rate for bars and resturants is twice the GST (shown as a seperate item on your bill) GST is 7% so tip is around 1/6 of nett.

Taxis I tipped 2 dollars which is about £1 but I only took short trips the most expensive of which was £6.

The service was very good, if it was poor I wouldn't have tipped.

mrs_baggins · 22 May 2006 at 8:39AM

Thailand
50-300 baht depending on what service

As an example I had a massage and manicure every other day when i was there and it cost about 350 b so i left 100b tip. eating at a restaurant i would only leave about 50-100 b, taxi's didnt tip at all as you paid what you wanted within reason.

IvanOpinion · 22 May 2006 at 8:50AM

On a slightly different vein the 'recommended tipping' on a cruise line is about $10 per person per day (for American) or about £3.75 per person per day (P&O). ON many American lines they also automatically add 15% onto bar bills.

Ivan

FTman · 22 May 2006 at 9:41AM

If you go to Egypt take plenty of 1 dollar bills with you because you will find yourself constantly tipping (Baksheesh).
Also, if my credit card bill is ever automatically converted to sterling (Dynamic Conversion is a sneaky extra which is becoming very profitable for restaurants abroad) then I refuse to tip or reduce my tip, and tell the waiters why.

marcuzz · 22 May 2006 at 4:28PM

On the "take US state tax and double it" tip ... this is probably a tip from a brit living in a high-state-tax state. In California, state tax ranges from 7.75 to 8.5 depending on the county you are in (8.5 in San Francisco, for example). So, doubling state tax in SF puts you safely in the 15-20 range for a restaurant check.
But ... some restaurants do not add tax to some items on the tab; some states have state taxes = 0%. Yes, no VAT tax. You should double check your amount against the total minus tax.

Laurs · 23 May 2006 at 10:03AM

We went on honeymoon last year to Galapagos Islands at the cost of £5000. You spend a week on board a boat which cruises between the islands each day. It was our dream holiday. The boat we were on was lovely and the service couldn't have been better, but on our last evening we found a note on our bed with recommended tips for the staff. This included waiters (bar and restaurant), naturalists, laundry staff, cleaners, housekeepers, chefs, boat operators, etc. The total would have come to around $500 - $600 US if we had left the recommended level of tip.
I was quite upset by this, and after some discussion we reluctantly decided that it would be better to leave nothing than to feel pressured. As we left the boat the next day, there were boxes in the reception area for each of the above categories for people to leave the tips in.

On another note, I have holidayed extensively in Greece. At first you do feel obliged to leave a tip, but then you realise that if the service isn't good, you won't return to that restaurant or bar anyway, so who cares if you offend them! For good service, a generous tip is appreciated and they do tend to remember that if you come back which makes it easier to get a good table and even better service.

ABERDEENEJ · 24 May 2006 at 8:36AM

We had a similar experience in USA. Booked an expensive bus tour holiday through California, Vegas, SF. Brochure gave some recommendations about tipping the tour guide and driver. On the last day of the trip we were all handed envelopes by the tour guide and told that $10 a day per person was recommended for his services and $5 a day for the driver per person. For a 12 day trip this would have cost us $360 dollars. There were 40 people on the bus this would have been $4,800 for the Guide and $2,400 for the driver.
I am sorry but that is not covering any costs of a minimum wage.

Anyway everyone on the bus had gotten pretty friendly by this time and we all discussed this and agreed there was no way were tipping that amount. Not sure about everyone else but we put $20 into each envelope. Our thoughts were that we had already paid their wages in the price of the holiday.

NorthernGooner · 24 May 2006 at 9:52AM

Estonia - Just got back from Tallinn. Was told that if you pay your bill in cash, if you say "thank you" at the same time, that means that you are happy for them to keep the change as their tip. So if happy with service and want to decide on amount to tip, you should save your "thank you" until they have brought back your change.

stingyscot · 24 May 2006 at 10:28AM

Seems outrageous to me that in USA even people serving icecream cones at a kiosk expect a tip!

Great "How much to tip overseas?" Hunt

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