Welcome to the site.

10% for good service after a meal would be fine. Likewise for a taxi. However try not to go too mad with the tipping. Remember costs and wages are very low in Goa and what may seem pennies to you is a lot to them. If you over tip they seem to expect more and more from each tourist and it can get out of hand. If you use a taxi always ask what the fare will be in advance or you could be ripped off.

Candybabe

Thankyou Candybabe i'll try not to over tip, what about the cleaner in your room, bartender,

We always leave a tip at the end for the cleaners which reflects the service and number of days. We always go for 3 weeks and normally leave around 400/500 rupees. Others tip a little every day. As for the bar tender, the thing to remember in Goa is that the person waiting on you does not get the tip - tips are pooled with the waiter proably being last to get their cut - the manager and boys behind the bar get the bigger cut. We would normally round up the bill to the nearest 50 so if the bill is 240, leave 250; if it is 90 leave 100.

Enjoy your holiday.

Candybabe thanks very much.

It's not so simple as leaving 10%.
If you were in a group and the bill was 1,000 Rs - leaving 100 Rs is more than a day's wages.

We've had this question many times before and it's bound to start a disagreement with some again.

The official rate for luggage porters is 10 Rs per bag - yet I regularly hear of Brits giving the porter at the airport £1 coins; thats 85 Rs for goodness sake.

But surely if you are in a group they have had to do that much more work. The way I see it is that I am expected to tip 10% at home for good service so why make it different when abroad. Are they less worthy just because they earn so little?

Re the airport, I agree many pay £1 (I have myself in the past). They get pretty aggressive some times and just to get them off your back can seem the easiest way to get rid of them. Also, you are pretty tired after a 10 hour flight and defences can be low. I agree on the face of it that £1 is too much but when I am hot and tired it can seem a minor price to pay to get you to your transfer coach. Any way, I am sure they do not get to keep the whole £1 - being India there must be a hierarchy system in place at the airport so they are probably handing most of it on just to to be able to work there -they don't look very rich.

Having said all this I do think more now about what I am leaving and bad/indifferent service gets nothing. If I sit in a bar and no-one comes to serve me after a reasonable wait then I get up and leave - but I have done that in a UK restaurant.

Another emotive subject is the beggars. I always give money to the genuinely disabled people who "walk" or crawl the beaches. They have no other means of support and I feel I am helping a less fortunate member of the human race when I have been fortunate enough to have my health and strength.

Candybabe

its Saturday night- please be good to me. Tipping and beggars

Sorry Fiona!

But surely if you are in a group they have had to do that much more work. The way I see it is that I am expected to tip 10% at home for good service so why make it different when abroad. Are they less worthy just because they earn so little?

Very good point. Even if 10% equates to a days wages, so what If you've had good service and good food, fair enough, after all, Rs100 is approx £1, can you imagne what reaction you would get if you left a pound tip in a group of ten in one of our eateries

can you imagne what reaction you would get if you left a pound tip in a group of ten in one of our eateries

Actually there are quite a few places in Goa nowadays where the bill for two can easily exceed 1,000 RS.

If you hired a gardener to come and work all day in your garden in Goa - he would only get 85 - 100 RS. Why give a waiter 100 Rs for one hour's work?

If you hired a gardener to come and work all day in your garden in Goa - he would only get 85 - 100 RS. Why give a waiter 100 Rs for one hour's work?

The chances of me hiring a gardener in Goa are zilch, the chances of me eating in Goa are extremely high, the chances that your waiter gets the full Rs100 tip are also zilch, so he is not getting that tip all to himself as they are shared, albeit, not fairly

We've had this question many times before and it's bound to start a disagreement with some again.

See what you've started now "green.eyed.lady"?

i did not mean to start a disagreement on here, i was only trying to make sure i did the the right thing, i personally think that you tip the same anywhere you are in the world and i will continue to do so, a lot of people all over the world rely on there tips. whats different in goa

The difference in Goa and many other countries is, that waiters and taxi drivers earn more than doctors, teachers and nurses.

If you're happy with what you're doing - well fine - carry on.
I will try, in my small way, to distribute the wealth more fairly.

I 've visited a lot of country's were well educated people dont earn as much as taxi drivers waiters etc, i cant see how that is the fault of tourists that visit, the fault is with the goverment or who ever sets the wages for these professsions.

hmmmm and in the UK plumbers and some window cleaners I know, earn more than doctors, chefs earn more than teachers and nurses.......
p.s. I tip around 10% I remember getting a lecture from someone for tipping the whole of £1 or similar and I just thought... go and get a life, if I can put a smile on someone's face for a whole £1 then that's fine with me
p.s. G.E.L. I got distracted in the middle of typing......our posts must have crossed.....what is it they say about great minds

I totaly agree i believe in showing my apreication when i have been looked after when having a meal or my room cleaned as i am usualy chief cook and bottle washer the rest of the year.

I remember one night in 1995 we were on our honeymoon staying at the Holiday Inn, Mobor most nights we ate out in a shack or restaurant but we had spent all day at Palolem and didn't get back till late so we ate in the hotel at the Chinese restaurant (Whispering Palms) we had a fabulous night and the waiters were especially fantastic. I can't remember what I tipped the staff (It was nothing compared to the UK) but as we left the restaurant Mrs Jock wasn't handed a single rose but a whole bunch, we left with an even bigger smile than the staff....whats the expression there is more happiness in giving than there is.........

i cant see how that is the fault of tourists that visit, the fault is with the goverment or who ever sets the wages for these professsions

Another good point Just seems some "tourists" feel that a £1 tip is so overboard for someone in goa who works such long hours and can have to put up with so much c*ap in their in working day

I tip around 10% I remember getting a lecture from someone for tipping the whole of £1 or similar and I just thought... go and get a life, if I can put a smile on someone's face for a whole £1 then that's fine with me

Totally agree TJ

....whats the expression there is more happiness in giving than there is.........