Confused about TIW

[Lost in Neverland]

We looked at getting the TIW card for our upcoming trip but I am a little confused or maybe my math is off. When using TIW you get a 20% discount but they in turn add an 18% gratutity. In the end is that not really just a savings of 2% after the gratutity is added back in? If so what is the point of spending $75 for the TIW card? We would have to eat a lot to recoup our initial expense. Could someone please explain if I am looking at this wrong.

 

[Tara]

We looked at getting the TIW card for our upcoming trip but I am a little confused or maybe my math is off. When using TIW you get a 20% discount but they in turn add an 18% gratutity. In the end is that not really just a savings of 2% after the gratutity is added back in? If so what is the point of spending $75 for the TIW card? We would have to eat a lot to recoup our initial expense. Could someone please explain if I am looking at this wrong.

Don't you tip on your bill? If you never tip anything, then no, you won't save money as this will force you to tip. However, I suspect that you do in fact leave a gratuity, so the fact that TIW requires it to be added to the bill is irrelevant and you will in fact realize a 20% overall savings.

Just in case this isn't clear, here's an illustration using a $100 check for dinner. For simplicity, I left out tax:

$100 bill for dinner
+ $18 tip (if you tip 18% on your own)
Total: $118

$100 bill for dinner
- $20 (that's 20% for TIW off the $100 total)
Subtotal: $80
+ $18 in automatic gratuity (18% --IIRC, the tip is calculated on the full cost, but I could be wrong)
Total: $98

 

[AKV707]

The tip is calculated on the full price. We usually tip 20%. So I look at it this way. We get the bill and pay the face value. In other words, if the bill is $100, we pay $100. We save the $20 we would have tipped. Without the TIW, we would pay $120. After 4 of these dinners, we are in the black.

And remember, the card can be used for parties up to 10. Last summer, when we were there with family. There were six of us. We broke even very quickly, especially since the TIW covers beverages. So if you tip at least 18%, it makes sense.