Tipping tour guides

[lyndarra]

Back in 1997 we did a Cosmos tour or England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Eire. It was 30 days. There was a recommended tipping of £1 p/d for the driver and £2 p/d for tour guide. For forty people on the tour, if I have calculated correctly, would have been £1200 and £2400 each respectively. For us it was an extra £180 at a time when our $ was only about 52p, not a lot different to todays rate. It may not sound a lot today but in 1997 it was. For a place (UK) where wages were good and with no tipping culture we were very surprised. I can't remember how much we paid but it was not the full recommendation.

[arxcards]

6 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

Have a heart, Mic. I appear in TV commercials! It's my job when I can get a gig.

Are you Jan?

[Over from NZ]

4 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

I'm the opposite. I'm sensitive to these gestures looking like charity which is why I would never ever give someone a gift card to a supermarket as a tip or 'gift for service'. To me, that's what you might give someone begging on the street if you didn't want them to buy drugs with cash if you gave it to them.

 

Good to know that you would 'inwardly sneer' if someone tipped you $10 per day on a tour! I'd be pleased and think they must have been happy with my service. If someone gave me a supermarket gift card I would think they were making the assumption I couldn't afford to feed myself or my family. I'd be insulted if I was gainfully employed and proud of my work.

 

 

Totally! We go to work to make a dollar. Gifts are nice.. but cash is king. I'd take $30 cash over $10 voucher any day.. as would just about anybody working for a living! 

[Galesa]

27 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Back in 1997 we did a Cosmos tour or England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Eire. It was 30 days. There was a recommended tipping of £1 p/d for the driver and £2 p/d for tour guide. For forty people on the tour, if I have calculated correctly, would have been £1200 and £2400 each respectively. For us it was an extra £180 at a time when our $ was only about 52p, not a lot different to todays rate. It may not sound a lot today but in 1997 it was. For a place (UK) where wages were good and with no tipping culture we were very surprised. I can't remember how much we paid but it was not the full recommendation.

Did a tour in Finland and Lapland at Xmas. The tour guide was truly excellent. A tip of E25 per person per day was what the tour group decided he would get. Worked out to around E1350 for 9 days. This would be in addition to the fee he would charge (he was a subbie for an Australian tour company). Nice little earner.

 

Now if you go to Trip advisor and ask Finnish people about tipping, the advice is to please not tip as Finnish workers in all industries are very well paid and locals are concerned about "tipping creep". Sounds familiar doesn't it.

 

[ceeceeDee]

4 hours ago, arxcards said:

Are you Jan?

No, Geoff, I'm a little more recent than that.😂