raych141,

Whether to tip is entirely up to you. In hotels with bell boys, I normally leave them to it and give them a tip when they deliver luggage to rooms, but it's your choice. If you feel you've had good service, not only from the bell boys but any member of staff during your stay, by all means tip them. If you don't want to, that's up to you. How much to tip is again your choice.

Darren

When we were in Hurghada a few months ago, a certain receptionist went out of his way for us all of the time, even getting engineers in to look at the TV to see if they could get a rugby game for hubby Always sorting out taxis for us e.t.c We gave him £10 and we gave the pool bar guy a £5. We didn't give the maid anything as we didn't feel she did a great job.

We always tip quite a lot. My husband has worked in an industry where he relied on his tips to make a decent wage, and because of it always tends to over tip.

We have only been all inclusive once - in the Dominican Republic - but we still tipped. We were amazed by the amount of people who didn't though.

It is a personal choice, but we tend to tip the boys bringing in our luggage a few lira. On the first night, we tip the barmen very well - it guarantees good service for the rest of the holiday ;). We tip a few lira every night, and again on the last night. We tend to leave the maid whatever change we have - last time it was about 15 lira.

As more and more hotels use key cards to put your drinks bills on, I think the barstaff get less tips as people don't have change to leave them.

If you bar hop though, it can get expensive as hubby insists on tipping at every one, so I try to get him to limit it to 10%.

Every good all inclusive hotel in Turkey have tio boxes placed about the hotel and every tip you give no matter who you give it to must be put into the box as they are all shared at the end of the year .Any member of staff failing to put tips into the boxes are subject to instant dismissal .If you either put the tips in yourself or give it to an individual it will soon get around that you do tip and you will be surprised how the staff react to you .Always tip the bellboys as they are the first to meet you and it creates a good first impression ,also if you tip the maids on the first day, your room will get that wee bit extra care .Any tips you put into the boxes need only be a few coins so nobody actuakky knows how much you put into it .

Peter

I tend to be more generous as the end of my holiday as I try and get rid of all the coins

I usually tip the maid when I am sure it is the same on doing the cleaning, we usually get fresh flowers in our room and our towels are folded on the beds in different shapes, in resturants I usually tip 10% only if I have have had a meal.

we went to benidorm last september with a large group of friends (it nearly killed me)and although drinks werent cheap it worked out to be cheaper than the current turkish prices as we paid as we bought and a tip wasnt expected.i will not be tipping this year as the prices have risen again and the exchange rate decreased if we left a tip after every meal this would add an extra 30/40 pounds at least on to two weeks spending money and push the price of our holiday up even more.sadly some turks rely on tips and the recent price increases will affect them badly.if you logically reckon up how much money you could spend tipping in turkey maids,bar staff ,chefs etc it msakes turkey seem less and less of a cheap option

oh and while im on a roll just remembered a classic!!!some of the shops in icmeler even have a tip box on the counters which demonstrates just how much we brits tip and how much it can be taken for granted

We normally go to Lykia World which is full board. We tip any waiters that have been helpful around 10 quid each on our last day and the same for the maid.
The bellboys (in my experience) are quite rude. They deliver the luggage and stand with their hand out for a tip so we're quite tight with them - they only get about a pound. They'd get more if they weren't so blatant.

But then again you dont have to tip,especially when you are all incluseive .

Peter

I would prefare to carry my own luggage rather than tip a bellboy!

AI or not we always tip for good service, just as we would in this country. Waiters are usually run ragged in Turkey and earn their tips in my opinion. Each to their own I suppose but preffering to carry your own luggage to avoid tipping a bellboy is a bit extreme isn't it? The words tight and wad spring to mind. Let's not forget it won't be bellboys and waiters who are putting the prices up.

AI or not we always tip for good service, just as we would in this country. Waiters are usually run ragged in Turkey and earn their tips in my opinion. Each to their own I suppose but preffering to carry your own luggage to avoid tipping a bellboy is a bit extreme isn't it? The words tight and wad spring to mind. Let's not forget it won't be bellboys and waiters who are putting the prices up.

Peter

Peter.

usually i leave the shrapnel so if somethings 57 lira i'll leave 60. but if its 52 i would wiat for my change then leave them 3 or so, if it was a rubbish meal i'll just leave bits of coins.

If just having a drink in bar mid day it would only be the tiny bitty coins because really i could have gone to the bar myself and got it.

taxis if its the transfer from airport one i leave a £1 coin. the maid if she's been good i'll leave a few lira and odd change no more than 10 lira, am usually skint myself by end of holiday.

But actually if you add up say 5 lira a day on tips as a bare minimum thats 70 lira which is nearly another nights family meal. At least its not like america (havent been) but people say they expect 10% or so for everything, so for each round of drinks.

all hotel staff works their socks off so hope tips are shared between them all however. Some of the owners are sods, I wouldnt like to work for some of them, cant speak Turkish but you can tell when they're getting moaned at etc.

Bev

reading this has been a total eye-opener for me i have to say - apparently I'm a massive over-tipper!!!

usually give the transfer driver 20 lira as a tip. drinks at bars etc during the day - normally round up to the nearest 10.

restaurants for evening meals & drinks is usually 10%

then at the end of the holiday i leave 20 lira for the maid along with another 20lira for the transfer driver again!! they must think i'm a millionaire!! definately going to cut it back this year !!

I think we are over tippers as well! We recently went to Tunisia two weeks on an all-inclusive holiday and it was an all buffet restaurant but of course there were waiters and waitresses to clear your plates etc. We left about 50p at every meal time even though we served ourselves not just for food but for drink as well. And then at the end of the holiday we left the waiters £20 - so all in all just for the food we tipped about £41 and that was without the approx £30 we left for the bar staff and the £10 we left for the cleaning lady. We even left the animation team £20. So over the two weeks we left in excess of £100 in tips.

We have always thought that if we weren't all-inclusive and we were out at restaurants we would tip so therefore why not tip when you are all-inclusive.

However we have rethought the issue and now feel that we are wrong. We are going to the wow bodrum for two weeks on May 31and we have decided to be more selective with our tipping arrangements, namely not tipping every single meal time or every single day at the bar. We have decided now to only reward the individual for good service. We appreciate that all tips probably go in one big box to be divvied out at the end of the season but feel we would rather appreciate the individual rather than the custom of tipping.

Any thoughts on whether we are right or wrong would be greatly appreciated

Hi Louietudor It is up to each iddividual what they want to tip ,or indeed wether they do at all.When i said that you do not need to tip as much while all pncluseive i was being a little bit facetious.The fact is that as i already said in A/I hotels all tips are shared and that is why they had to put them in to the boxes .A few years ago i was staying at the Sun Zeynep and gave one of the waiters £10 as i thought that he had given that wee bit extra service ,as he walked away i saw him putting it in to his pocket ,i then saw one of the other waiters speaking to the superviser who aproached the first waiter ,then they walked away .I was told the next morning the waiter had been sacked for keeping the tenner.It must be a real temptation for some really young waiter being handed a tenner when his wages are just a pittance . I always put my tips into the boxes now except for the bellboy and the cleaners ,who i know will put them in the boxes .At A'la Cartes after my meal i make it a point to speak to the head waiter shake his hand and transfer 10 or 15 lira to his hand .On the way out i glance back and the money goes straight into the box .If you put into the box it will soon get around that you are a tipper.I go back to hotels quite often and if there are staff members who i have liked more than others i take small presents for them such as pens and sweets and other wee nick nacks .They know they do not need to share these and it is amazing how they react to them.

Peter

i find it interesting that the cleaners get the smallest tips, while the waiters,pool boys and animation team(!) get the larger tips. i think the cleaners have the worst job and deserve a bigger tip than the others,providing they do a good job.