A Controversial Topic (aka Tipping)

[WanderlustNZ]

Hi All,

I learnt many years ago about the dangers of starting a forum thread on tipping. I had some innocent questions about who to tip, which quickly became a 100+ post thread full of debates and arguments.

I still have questions about tipping, but felt that the ANZAC board on DIS might be a 'safer' place to ask. I was hoping we might be able to have a friendly discussion without anyone being crucified for their opinion.

I fully believe that as a traveller it's my job to conform to a culture's beliefs, not their job to conform to mine. So for that reason I always make an effort to tip properly. In saying that, anyone who knows me, also knows that I really dislike the custom. I feel the world is much better place when employers just pay their staff properly. [Off my soapbox]

So with this in mind, I have some questions:

1) Does anyone have any tips for avoiding tips? No, I'm not talking about doing a runner at the end of a meal. I mean, what services do you do on your own to avoid having to pay anyone a gratuity? One example I can think of right now is carrying my own bags when someone else offers to carry them for me. But even then, I've found the level of assertion often needed to insist you don't need help, can be uncomfortable.

2) Who do you tip and how much? I think I get the whole restaurant thing, but even after 3 previous trips to the States, other areas of tipping do still confuse me. Am I right to assume that you don't tip the bus and boat drivers around Disney? What about the Magical Express driver, or the DCL coach driver? What about the doorman? I do try to open doors on my own, but sometimes it's unavoidable. What about the check-in person at a hotel if they surprise you with an upgrade? I had that happen in Vegas once and I gave them a $20 tip (but I wasn't sure if it was expected that I do so).

3) Lastly, how do you source your money for tipping? I would like to arrive in the US with about $50 worth of small notes (ones and twos) so I have plenty for things such as baggage handlers and room service on the cruise. But I'm not sure how I'd go about sourcing these. I've never tried asking my bank for so many small notes as they usually just change my money into larger notes.

Anyway, answers to my questions are appreciated.
Additions to the discussion and thoughts on the topic are welcome.

 

[marvel]

I can get confusing when you don't live there. I found it most consfusing in NY when one guy opens the car door, another takes the bags into the hotel and then another brings them to your room! I never want them to think I am tight, but not sure what is an insulting tip and what isn't, so ended up tipping all the time. Sorry can't help on avoiding tipping.

Aussies get a bad rap when it comes to tipping, we are known to be pretty tight with the cash.

I usually order my cash through travelex online and you can ask for small notes. Then when you pick it up you can ask them for even smaller notes, so I end up with lots of 1's and 5's before we get to the US.

My understanding with disney buses is that they are happy to get a tip, so $1 and $2 is fine, but we usually have car so haven't had to use the disney buses.

 

[JessL]

I found this to be useful and printed it out and took it with me as a quick reference guide to tipping.

http://www.emilypost.com/out-and-about/tipping/89-general-tipping-guidelines

 

[JessNewbs]

Great question! I would love to know all of this as well. I am pretty stingy but as you said I must conform to customs and practices while I'm there. I have never tipped anyone, ever so it's going to be very tricky to know who/when/how much. Disney bus drivers though? I hadn't even considered going that far. I was thinking bag carriers, room cleaners, waiters etc.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm in the camp of "When in Rome....". So, we tip. It is a personal preference thing and I am conscious that everyone feels differently about tipping.

We always try to come home with a small supply of dollars and because we do so, we will have a number of $1 notes for tipping in the first couple of hours. That said....you can always get money changed at your US arriving airport (on your way out) at the money changers as an alternative to getting some at home.

About the only thing that I try to avoid tipping for is baggage when checking into a hotel. We usually travel very light so our bags are very easy to manage. I've found that most bellhops seem to be more understanding about people carrying their own bags these days. Maybe its the hotels I've been staying at; but more often than not, we find that they accept that we're managing our own bags. But my general rule is that I do about $2 per bag for a large bag and $1 for a small bag. It only seems to be at Disney World that I tip the bellhops these days.

I don't tip the drivers for ME but I noticed that DH did slip the driver some dollars on the last trip because the driver did carry our bags and put them in the bus baggage space. DH said he gave the guy $2 for the lot (there were 2 medium bags).

I do leave mousekeeping tips, about $2 per day.

Unless I'm in NY or WDW, I haven't ever been in a hotel that has a doorman. Even so, we don't tip for every time they open a door for us. We might save it to the end and then give a tip when we leave. Others might feel and do differently on this one.

I've never tipped anyone at the front desk. Maybe that explains why I've never gotten a free upgrade!

If I sit down at a restaurant to eat, I will tip. I do find out what the sales tax is to work out whether it is convenient to double that amount, rather than trying to figure it out by myself. I think most of the states are now doing sales tax; plus county tax in the 8 - 9% mark. If that's the case, I double it. (Don't try to figure out based on the total bill amount. It includes the sales tax and if you do this, you'll be giving a tip closer to 25%). I figure a tip between 15 - 18% is about what I'm prepared to give. If the service is outstanding, I will tip more.

When in a cafe or coffee shop where there is a (voluntary) tipping jar, I will put a couple of dollars in the jar.

I've never had a haircut, nails or pedicure in the US. I believe that there is some tipping custom around these sorts of services.

And we do tip the taxi driver if there are bags involved.


You'll find that most restaurants and cafes will give you change in smaller denominations so that you can fund the tipping. But I always make sure that I keep an eye on the amount of small notes I have and break the larger notes when I think I don't have enough for tips.

 

[chris31997]

Sorry for snooping but your tittle caught my attention while scrolling through

As an American, tipping can be confusing for me also. The rules change all the time and then you add the tip jars. It is insane

Rule of thumb for people you might wan to tip and it depends on the level of service, in the US 15-20% depnding on how good/nice they are. That can get heated

Sit Down Restraunt Servers(sometimes if you are in a good mood the tip jars at ice cream shop/coffee shop)
Hair Salons
Nail Techs, people who give manicures/pedicures
Bell Hops
HouseKeeping, although according to Disney this is not a tipping position. We still tip, usually weekly.
Cab Drivers/Magical Express from the airport but not the regular bus drivers around WDW
Bar Tenders


I would not tip some one at the front desk unless they went above and beyond for you, an upgrade does not count Someone opening a door at Disney, I would not tip.


We are currently in Japan, and we had to get used to not tipping. When we go back than we will have to get used to tipping again. That is life

OP, I think it is awsome the you try to fit into the culture that you are visiting. That speaks volumes of your character. I appreciate it. We are trying to teach our kids that also. Try to conform to the culture that you are in as much as possible. There is only so much conforming that a American can do in Japan We still stick out like a sore thumb. But we try.

I hope you have a wonderful trip to Disney

 

[CaliBear]

Sorry for snooping but your tittle caught my attention while scrolling through

I would not tip some one at the front desk unless they went above and beyond for you, an upgrade does not count

Another American who got sidetracked by this topic here. I'm glad to hear this about upgrades. We have been upgraded twice at Disneyland resort and once at Universal Orlando and I was beginning to feel bad that I did not tip the CM who checked us in. It seemed to me that it wasn't the CM who made the decision to upgrade us anyway, based on how it went about: CM checks on computer and then tells you you've been upgraded as if it was already done in the computer (my guess was based on overselling a certain type of room). But I could be wrong and if so then I'd like to know.

 

[DreamSweetsLove]

The title caught my eye too. There is a pretty good How Stuff Works podcast and article that I sometimes give my friends visiting the US and which I actually go over myself when I haven't been back in a while. It covers a lot and I learned some things about tipping in my country I had no clue about. The country I'm living in now, Japan, doesn't really have a tipping culture so it's pretty easy but I do worry when going abroad to other countries. In the end though I think people will usually hopefully recognize you a visiting from another country so if you miss a tip or the percentage is off I would hope they would understand. Like Chris31997 said, it's great that you are putting in the effort to fit into the culture of the country you are visiting and wish you the best of luck!

Tipping article from How Stuff Works:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/tipping.htm

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts, advice and links.

I feel like the more knowledgeable I am about tipping, the less I'll find myself in uncomfortable situations.
If anyone has anything else to add, I'd love to hear it.

And to the Americans who have commented: No apology necessary for 'snooping'. It's great to get advice from people in the know

 

[Ozziebuttercups]

When we go to america we probably tip more than expected just because it feels so cheap to hand someone a $1 or $2, if you did that here it would be almost more of an insult - you know this is how little you are worth

I cheat and just tell my DH what the expectations are and let him do all the tipping whilst I wander off somewhere else

We try to fit in with the culture of the places we are visiting and I guess its part of what makes travelling so much fun.

Anyone been to Spain\Gibraltar recently - wow they smoke a lot in public over there still!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

When we go to america we probably tip more than expected just because it feels so cheap to hand someone a $1 or $2, if you did that here it would be almost more of an insult - you know this is how little you are worth

I think it depends on what your tipping for. For example I wouldn't tip more than a dollar or two for a drink. Otherwise that $5 drink could end up costing closer to $10.

My logic might be wrong, but I figure that the bartender is probably serving at least 30 drinks an hour, so my $1-$2 combined with everyone else's isn't too insulting. Similar with people lugging my 1 or 2 bags onto a bus.

Unfortunately, I don't think I could palm the tipping off to my husband. Something tells me I'll be the one doing all the gratuity decision making on this trip.

 

[Ozziebuttercups]

I see your point Wanderlust, I'm glad that I can get my DH to do it though

I don't have a problem with the concept, and i know it all adds up, it just makes me feel really uncomfortable

 

[aussie shaz]

When we went to the States back in about 1997, we took a bus tour (I think an LA/Hollywood tour or similar). We tipped the driver a few dollars, but watched as others (mainly Americans) got off the bus. We were the only ones that tipped.
Since then we basically tip at restaurants, and we did give our driver last year, who took us on a private car tour, a BIG tip as he was absolutely wonderful. I guess that's a bit different though, as he was the owner of the company anyway.
I guess we tip if we feel it's deserved, and not if we don't.

 

[Marlea98]

Tipping scares me! I never know what to do. I do usually just say I'm new to it and ask for advice. So far our waiters etc have been great about it and I don't think we've been taken advantage of.

 

[zanzibar138]

When we went to the States back in about 1997, we took a bus tour (I think an LA/Hollywood tour or similar). We tipped the driver a few dollars, but watched as others (mainly Americans) got off the bus. We were the only ones that tipped.

This reminds me of something that happened to us in the US. We went on a tour of Orange County (Long Beach, Newport Beach etc), except when we got to Long Beach everyone except us emptied out of the bus to go to Catalina Island! We had a massive tour bus all to ourselves for the whole day Since it was just us we had a really personalised tour. When we were heading back to the hotel, we realised we didn't have any change! So that bus driver/tour guide ended up with a $50 tip That was more than half what the tour was worth

Anyway, back to the topic at hand... We mainly tipped for transport and sit-down meals. We managed our own bags at every hotel (nobody offered us any help so it wasn't awkward) so no tipping for that. We also didn't tip house-keeping at any of our hotels, although the one in Anaheim was self-contained style so no house-keeping there. We started off working on 10%, but realised we were probably under-tipping, so ended up more like 15-20%. Sometimes it depended on what change we had

We like to try and fit in to the customs of the place we're going to as well. Just seems like the respectful thing to do.

 

[alicia1506]

I researched the heck out of this because i too wanted to appreciate and understand the customs and try to adapt to it as much as possible while we were there.

We avoided tips for our luggage with bellhops by carrying it ourselves and didnt tip doormen at all.

We didnt tip our magical express driver but we should have.. We were so jetlagged and grateful to be out of the rain and somewhere dry that we didnt even think of it if we get him again, i will tip double

We like yo go green in hotels and only get housekeeping on our check out day. We were only in each location for a max of 5 nights. At home i change the sheets and towels once a week so this was really no different. We saved a fair bit on housekeeping this way (2 x rooms x 21 days x $2/room/day =a decent amount)

We dont drink a lot but i tipped $1 - 2 per drink when we bought them but only from a bartender. If it is a cs type situation, no tipping necessary. Plus check your bill carefully... Often they will add an auto gratuity of 15-18% for you.

We did the spa services ... Mani + pedi + massage but our tip was auto included and we were more than happy to have an 'aussie' experience of paying the quoted price upon check out if you get a service like this just ask them to auto include the gratuity... For us it led to great service and lovely interactions with our spa attendants.. Maybe because they had a guaranteed tip value?

We paid a southwest baggage attendant $10 for curb side check in of our bags (6 bags) and i asked him to break a $20 for me and he was lovely about it.

We chronically overtipped our chinese delivery driver by giving him 15% of our order value.. He was sweet and offered to give most of it back. We also chronically overtipped room service in orlando by tipping 15% of the order cost.. Then we discovered they had already added an 18% service charge to the bill good thing it was a lovely ecperience or i would have been pretty unhappy

Our nyc hop on/hop off tour guide was wonderful and we tipped him $5 each

The only time we felt put out was our shuttle from mco - universal hotel.. The driver was rude and sullen and didnt speak the whole way but had a sign saying 'it is customary to tip your driver for the services provided'. When we got to our destination he unloaded our bags into the path of oncoming traffic then actually held out his hand!!! I gave him $3 and walked off without a backward glance.

... Those are just my experiences.

For our upcoming cruise i have requested to prepay the minimum gratuity for all of the standard tips and that way i can add extra cash tips if they are warranted oh and we usually eat (mostly) at cs or cafeteria style locations where possible to save on the gratuities there.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Thanks Alicia, that was really helpful. I'm also not too bothered about housekeeping and are kind of pleased DVC units only get done every 4 days. The only thing I do quite like however is fresh towels each day.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

This reminds me of something that happened to us in the US. We went on a tour of Orange County (Long Beach, Newport Beach etc), except when we got to Long Beach everyone except us emptied out of the bus to go to Catalina Island! We had a massive tour bus all to ourselves for the whole day Since it was just us we had a really personalised tour. When we were heading back to the hotel, we realised we didn't have any change! So that bus driver/tour guide ended up with a $50 tip That was more than half what the tour was worth

Slightly off topic, your post reminded me of an experience I had in China. I'd booked my DH and I on this tour that took in all the main cities and highlights of China. It was very cheap given that it was 4 star plus all the way. So I was quite surprised to discover that apart from the Yangtse River portion, we were the only two people who had booked the tour. At every new city we had a private driver AND a private english-speaking guide. The personalised attention was great, but the tipping not so much. Tipping countries have made the Chinese quite reliant on tips, and because we were the only ones on the tour to tip, we tended to overtip everytime to compensate. 12 people (6 drivers and 6 guides) added to quite an expensive tipping bill by the end of it.

Which brings me to my next point. I wish tourists from tipping countries wouldn't tip in countries that don't tip (e.g. NZ). It breeds a culture of expectation.

 

[alicia1506]

Thanks Alicia, that was really helpful. I'm also not too bothered about housekeeping and are kind of pleased DVC units only get done every 4 days. The only thing I do quite like however is fresh towels each day.

sorry, i should have mentioned.

we put out the do-not-disturb sign on our door, and just called housekeeping for fresh towels when we got back to the room at night, or just went to the front desk and asked there... for us, it was perfect, and i felt a tiny bit safer knowing that there weren't going to be people in/out of our room but us... we still locked everything inside our bags etc but i figure with the do not disturb and telling f/desk that we don't need housekeeping, if there were any entries to our rooms aside from ours, they would be 'unauthorised entries' and we would have a better case if anything ever did go missing/got damaged etc.

i don't mean to imply that hotel rooms are not safe, but i like to be just a little bit paranoid about situations like this.. makes me feel safer if i've obsessed over the little things and come up with ways to mitigate them

 

[zanzibar138]

Which brings me to my next point. I wish tourists from tipping countries wouldn't tip in countries that don't tip (e.g. NZ). It breeds a culture of expectation.