Sorry but we dont tip.

We always tip the maids. We usually save all our small change each day into an ashtray and leave a small note saying thanks. It averages about £10.
Bar staff are tipped whenever we are served, dining staff are tipped via the collection box that is usually by the door in the dining area, usually a euro per day, so again about £10.

£100 seems a lot to tip, IMO, it's a big hole in our budget anyway.

We always tip the maids. We usually save all our small change each day into an ashtray and leave a small note saying thanks. It averages about £10.
Bar staff are tipped whenever we are served, dining staff are tipped via the collection box that is usually by the door in the dining area, usually a euro per day, so again about £10.

Spot on, exactly what we do. but I usually take all the change in the ashtray and change it for a note the day before we leave, someone is always glad of the change.

Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I think it depends a lot on the country you are in. In the USA restaurant staff are paid such pitiful wages that they couldn't exist without tips. I live in Germany and in restaurants there is usually a service charge so tips aren't really expected, though appreciated, normally you would just round the total up by a few cents. I rarely stay in hotels here usually small B&B's where the owner is also the maid so I probably wouldn't tip.
Like some of the previous posts I unload my change each day in holiday hotels.. But I really don't think I would tip £100 even if I had brilliant service.
When I was in Cuba earlier on this year I also left clothes and cosmetics as well as cash as tips.

The maids £20
Head waiter £30
Restuarant staff £50 this is the person who always served my meals

Bit excessive IMO

i'm another one who leaves all the small change for the room maids. i've being doing this for years as i can never be bothered to fumble about looking for the right money in shops or bars.
at home, all my small change goes into a big bottle and when full is converted into euros to help fund the spanish bar owners welfare fund.

Nearly missed that one, jimd-f, I support the Turkish version of the same thing!

We also save all our small change up over the holiday period and leave it for the maids. In restaurants, we usually tip 10% of the final bill. While we were in Egypt, our party was asked by the hotel manager not to tip so heavily ( we were tipping 10£ egyptian, which was the equivalent of approx £1 here ) as the workers on average only earn £25 egyptian per month and his workers were falling out over who was going to look after the massive english party (31 of us on a scuba diving holiday).
I always feel as though we have never paid the maid enough for the job they do..

We always save our small change for the maids as well. Depending on how good they are, we may also top it up with a couple of euros as well. As for tipping waiters and bar staff, we usually add a few euros onto our bill and leave it.

You cant be expected to leave massive amounts but a little everyday is worth a lot to some people especially if you frequent the same restaurants on several occasions.

Mind you, we experienced the pit of a housekeeping staff one year in Zante and for the first time ever, didn't leave a tip for the cleaners. In a two week period, they cleaned the room once, no bedding changed and they left our "toilet" bins for two to three days at a time before emptying them. It was disgusting.

I think £100 is a bit excessive but if they were worth it, who am I to argue?

Yep! I save up the small change and leave it also in the apartment on leaving.

In restaurants roughly 10%............bars whatever rounds it up to the next euro per round...........

Do agree that it depends on the country you are in.

And also............I may open a can of worms here..............in no way do I begrudge giving a tip........I do it because I want to not because I HAVE to...........but no one tips Care Assistants who also work for the minimum wage doing unsocial hours..........not only cleaning vomit but changing pads and dealing with Alzheimers patients who can be violent and extremely difficult to deal with.

My daughter works in a call centre (her choice obviously I know!!!) earning a low wage..........no one tips her either.

It seems to be the service industries and it seems to have become almost mandatory in the USA............wouldnt it be better for the employers to pay a decent wage to hairdressers/cleaners/waiter/esses?

I know that I would rather pay slightly more for my meal knowing that the person who served it got a livible wage and wasnt depending on my generousity to have a bit of a quality of life..............

You may say my daughter chose this job...........yes of course and she knew what it paid.........but dont waiter/esses also know the rate of pay before they start?

Playing devils advocate here I know..........................but why do they deserve tips more than others doing a more stressful job with worse hours who earn the same?

I have no set amount, I round bills up or leave a couple of quids worth of currency in restaurants. Often leave something for the maid and other hotel staff either in a tip box or leave all change in the room plus toiletries. It's only ever £5 or so.

It's fine to leave big tips if you have plenty of money spare to do so but I scrimp and save for my hols and I am on a bit of a budget myself. We are helping the local economy just by going to a resort/hotel/restaurant anyway.

I never leave a tip at the hairdressers. It costs me a bleddy fortune anyway. If you're only just starting out as a junior well you'll be on a minimum wage just like someone who might work in a shop.

Hiya Toots.
Some very good points you raised, sometimes I don't tip my hairdresser either, it also cost me a blinkin fortune just for a simple wash and trim.
I guess if the hairdo came to £19, then I would hand over £20 and forget the other £1, but if it is £15, then they get £15...I can't explain the reason behind that.

I think I tip the maids more than anyone else in the resort and in Spain the minimum wage is lower than ours, plus each section of workers negotiate their own wage structure, obviously the maids being on the bottom rung of the ladder as the majority of them work part-time to fit in around their family.
Or maybe I have a soft spot for people making beds, been there and got the T-shirt before the days of Health & Safety.
I can see the point you are making.

Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

We leave a tip because we choose to. If the service has been bad, then we don't leave a tip, simple as. What I do begrudge is when the service tip is already added into the price of your bill..which has happened to us occasionally. I also like to ensure that the person who has provided the service also gets the tip. We once left a tip after a meal locally to the waitress who provided excellent service. We also knew her and her parents. We were disappointed to find that she was made to hand over her tip to go into a fund for the staff drinks party/pub crawl at Christmas. She is 15 and cannot go on this nightclub/pub crawl. The people that will benefit from our tip had absolutely nothing to do with the service we recieved and this has ensured that if we ever eat there again, we will make sure we tip directly on the sly later!

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We ourselves always tip the maid on the last day of the holiday as well as the waiters when dining out. Even the cab driver gets a tip from us.

MarkJ HT Mod

I never realised it was mandatory to leave a tip.

Tipping isn't mandatory but in most countries it is customary in the service industries and is regarded as a legitimate part of someone's pay for doing a job of work. In other words, the employer only pays a basic wage and it is up to the employee to make up their wages via providing good service that will earn decent tips. This applies in even very affluent countries such as the US as well as the much poorer countries that are becoming ever more popular holiday destinations. I don't know if it still the case but in the past on some cruise lines, cabin stewards didn't even get a wage - they got board and lodging and relied solely on tips for actual cash!

I don't tip if the service has been poor or below standard, I do tip if has been good and I tip extra if someone has provided exceptional or extra services that aren't usually part of the job. In other words if someone has gone out their way to provide particularly good service then I will increase the tip accordingly.

So how much do I tip? Well, given the countries I tend to holiday in and if I'm staying in a hotel, this usually means the equivalent of £5 for one week, £10 for a fortnight for the chambermaids, a tip at the beginning of the holiday to the Maitre d' if he gets me a good table (us lone women travellers can so often end up being shunted into the least nice parts of the restaurant or dining room), leaving the small change each night for the waiter but if service has been good and it's been the same waiter each night then, a lump sum the same as for the chambermaids, likewise for the reception staff if they've done a good job of providing concierge type services (like helping sort out travel arrangements for the next stage of my journey).

When I go to Cuba I spend most of my time staying with a family and I always take gifts for everybody, especially the children but whilst I don't tip in cash the host family, in addition to giving her a gift too, I do always tip the housekeeper in cash. This is because they will have usually done my laundry over and above their usual cleaning of the room etc and I usually tip them the equivalent of 3 CUC Pesos per time in payment for this.

However, if I'm in a country with a closed currency, I tend to just distribute whatever I have left at the end - if I've miscalculated how much to change in the first place and end up with money left over then it's just so much scrap paper and metal to me - totally worthless. And I'd prefer to give it someone I know before I leave than chuck it in the bin or have it confiscated as I leave the country.

SM

When in the USA, due to their weird way of calculating tax you should tip your waitress about 20%. If you are in a large party (8 or more) they will add this to the bill automatically. In Canada apparently 10 to 15% is the accepted norm. In Europe inc the UK I would normally tip 10% unless like in many French restaurants the menu/Carte says 'servis compris' which means that a service charge is automatically added to your bill or is included in the price you see on the menu.

I work in a restaurant in this country.I started doing this because i had a baby and didnt want to leave him in the day so hubby looked after him in the evenings.It was hard at first as i would walk in the door at about 12 and would be up with him alot in the night,my choice i know.Anyway.... hes 11 now and im still working 3 nights a week in the same place.But what alot of people dontvrealise is that the tax office take off about 2 to 3 thousand off our tax allowance because of the tips we MIGHT earn.Along with this any tips on credit cards go in our wages and are again taxed.So as you can imagine i always tip very well and in cash

We usually tip the bell boy on arrival & departure, the waiter on our 1st night to ensure good service,and on our last night and the maid that cleans our room when we leave. Nothing too excessive just what we can afford. If we're in a poor country we might take pencils or crayons for their kids. Last time we went to Mexico there had just been a hurricane and local labourers were working round the hotel from 4.30 am to gone 10 pm. We used to give them cans of drinks from our free mini bar in the room .They were overjoyed.