Tipping Tour Operators

[Iggipolka]

Yet another tipping question for the boards. I've never cruised to Alaska before, so I don't know what the expectation is for tipping tour guides. When I've been on excursions in Mexico, I've generally given $2-$3 per person to the tour guide. That seems low for tours in America, especially given the expensive nature of some of these tours!

 

So, are tour guides in Alaska tipped and if so, how much? Do you give the standard 15% or 20% of the total price of the tour?

 

Thanks!

[agabbymama]

I don't tip any different in Alaska than I did New England/Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, etc.

 

I usually give $1 or $2 to the driver and the tour guide. If I felt they did an exceptional job, I sometimes will put a $5 in the tip pot to be split.

 

That said, I usually book only 2-3 hour tours for under $50. I don't pay $100 or $200 or $300 for the flightseeing, glacier landings, etc.

 

The HAL cruisetour I was on in Aug '07 recommended $2 per day for the driver and $3.50-4.00 per day for the tour director, and these guys were with us from 7am to 7pm every single day, and if there was a problem at the hotel, the tour director was available to quickly take care of that problem, regardless of the time.

[vbmom87]

Yet another tipping question for the boards. I've never cruised to Alaska before, so I don't know what the expectation is for tipping tour guides. When I've been on excursions in Mexico, I've generally given $2-$3 per person to the tour guide. That seems low for tours in America, especially given the expensive nature of some of these tours!

 

So, are tour guides in Alaska tipped and if so, how much? Do you give the standard 15% or 20% of the total price of the tour?

 

Thanks!

 

Previous thread on the topic:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=531010&highlight=tip

[Iggipolka]

Thanks for the link to the previous thread. It answered a lot of questions.

[Budget Queen]

I always tip. I'll go $20 on some of my excellent flights and tours of cost and length.

 

Sorry, I would never consider a tour guide for only $1-2.

[FSUFAN]

As a kid I worked in a beachfront hotel (bellman and sometimes bus boy). Anytime I saw a "blue-hair" coming I know I would get a very small tip. It was rare to get anymore than a .50 or $1 from anyone over 50.

 

It was sad to see a table of 4 leave .10/pp for a lunch tip, but it happened all the time.

 

Now that I am a over 50, I don't want to be the cheap old guy who tips poorly. I think that $5/pp would be a bare minimum for any short excursion and $10-$20/pp for the longer excursions.

[vbmom87]

As a kid I worked in a beachfront hotel (bellman and sometimes bus boy). Anytime I saw a "blue-hair" coming I know I would get a very small tip. It was rare to get anymore than a .50 or $1 from anyone over 50.

 

It was sad to see a table of 4 leave .10/pp for a lunch tip, but it happened all the time.

 

Now that I am a over 50, I don't want to be the cheap old guy who tips poorly. I think that $5/pp would be a bare minimum for any short excursion and $10-$20/pp for the longer excursions.

 

My closest friends and I are over 50 and we tip appropriately. The only time I leave a lesser tip is if the service was not up to par, which rarely happens. I have taught my children to tip appropriately also. I find one of the areas many do not tip is for hotel maid service. We always leave a tip for the maid. My daughter travels a lot now with her sport and she informs me we are the only ones who tip. She claims no one tips for maid service. Personally, I find that hard to believe. In my mind, if you can't afford the trip and the tips, you shouldn't go.

[FSUFAN]

My closest friends and I are over 50 and we tip appropriately.

Remember, I said this happened when I was a kid (teen-ager). That was 35 years ago. I think the older folks of that generation, raised in the great depression and such, had a different mindset about money.

 

Getting handed a dime or a quarter for hauling a rack full of bags up to a room was disappointing, even in 1974 dollars.

[FlightMedic555]

For a quick ride from such as a courtesy shuttle from the aiport to the hotel I would tip $2.

 

For the hotel person who brings my bags into the hotel $2

 

For the bellman who brings my bags up to my room $5

 

For a taxi driver about 20% of the fare but never less than $2

 

I don't leave a tip for the maid, I am sorry but at some point in time I have to think that someone is working and it is their job. I don't tip the cashier at the supermarket either, they are getting paid for their job.

 

For a tour that I am on that is lower priced (more or less $50 per person or less) I tip $5 per person on the tour. I SCUBA dive and I tip, at the end of my dives $20. If I am diving for two or three days they get $20. For a larger dive trip (I did a full course that cost $300) I tipped $50.

 

I am going to Alaska in August and for an expensive $500 pp bear watch via floatplane I really can't see tipping more than about $10 per head. The pilots are well paid and it is crazy for me to think that they should get a $75 tip (15%) per person.

[East Texas Cruiser]

I had a huge learning experience in the past two years. A nephew's wife took a job cleaning rooms for a nation-wide well-known hotel chain - one not considered a discount chain - in the Dallas area. She, along with the entire cleaning crew, were kept as part-time employees to preclude having to pay minimum wage. She made $2.25 per hour. :eek:

To be considered satisfactory, they had to clean 4 rooms per hour. that's right - 15 minutes per room. So not only did I learn to tip well (which I had never done for hotel rooms before) but I also learned how dirty the rooms actually are. I started bringing clorox wipes with me every time I travel to wipe down all surfaces. I quit drinking from any glasses or coffee cups unless they are contained in wrapped plastic. And now I make sure I tip - usually $5.00 per day.

She finally went to work at a school cafeteria making nearly double what she was making at the hotel - even though it was part time, they at least paid minimum wage. In this day, you just can't assume every workerbee you meet is being paid for the work they are doing!:(

Peggy

[Yukon]

A nephew's wife took a job cleaning rooms for a nation-wide well-known hotel chain - one not considered a discount chain - in the Dallas area. She, along with the entire cleaning crew, were kept as part-time employees to preclude having to pay minimum wage. She made $2.25 per hour.

 

I don't even feel sorry for anyone who would accept a job at that "wage". I just got home from New Zealand, where there is NO tipping for anything, and the minimum wage is $12.00 an hour. Now THAT is a modern, civilized society. And we were still able to get enough excellent fish and chips for 2 people for under $10US.

 

Murray

[vbmom87]

I don't leave a tip for the maid, I am sorry but at some point in time I have to think that someone is working and it is their job. I don't tip the cashier at the supermarket either, they are getting paid for their job.

 

 

Maybe it is just me, but I feel hotel housekeeping earns their tips more than any of the others you mentioned you do tip. Anyone willing to clean up my toilets, sinks, tubs deserves more of a tip than the person giving me a tour. The person giving a tour is doing their job, just like the maid is doing his/her job. All service oriented jobs are associated with tips. I don't like it, but it is the way it is.

[Balliett]

Of an alaska whale charter boat which charges $750?

[bearbait]

We always tried to pass on taking groups from Australia. We knew there would be no tips. Since I'm the oldest one in the group and I knew the college kids needed the tips more than me I ended up with them anyway.

 

If you go on a tour in Ketchikan and your are taken to the tour site by a Gray Line or Princess Tours bus driver please tip your tour guides seperately. The bus drivers don't share tips with other private company tour guides. It was so demoralizing to work my rear off giving the guests a great tour and then watch them walk right by, thank me, get back on the bus and give the bus driver a 10 spot and tell him what a great time they had.

 

If your on a Princess Cruise ship, no part of the tips you hand over to the ship will ever be shared with the private, independent tour guides. Yep, we lumped the Princess people right in with the Australians. It was a no tip day when they were in port.....

[vbmom87]

Of an alaska whale charter boat which charges $750?

 

It seems like it is an individual thing, but many do tip them, just not the 15%-20%. I believe I have read around $20 for the expensive tours. They are part of the service industry and in our country it is expected that we tip anyone who provides a service. I know everyone does not do this, but not everyone understands how many people rely on tips for their income. America's service industry is where the jobs are. Unfortunately the wages often provide a poverty level income. We are on our way to becoming a two class society. :(

[DreamTeam]

Tipping is very uncommon here in Asutralia. Restaurants are about the only place you might see it.

 

My thinking is that there are a lot of people out there doing jobs that I would not like to do and they dont get paid much for it. If they do a good job and are friendly and helpful I will let them know by way of a tip.

 

The hospitality industry is one of those areas. Not only do they have to clean up after people they have to put up with some very unpleasant "customers". THEY are the ones that deserve not only some courtesy but a little cash bonus.

 

A helicopter pilot on the other hand who would not only be paid handsomely but has a job to die for doesnt really need a tip. I offer them my heartfelt gratitude for showing me a fantastic experience.

 

Respect to all goes along way.

 

Cheers

Col

[QFSYDLAX]

A nephew's wife took a job cleaning rooms for a nation-wide well-known hotel chain - one not considered a discount chain - in the Dallas area. She, along with the entire cleaning crew, were kept as part-time employees to preclude having to pay minimum wage. She made $2.25 per hour. :eek:

Peggy

 

How about instead of complaining about the poor tipping of the Australians and Germans, the owners of top dollar hotels in the richest country in the world, pay their employees a living wage and some respect for their efforts.

 

Now there's a concept!

[PennyAgain]

I had a huge learning experience in the past two years. A nephew's wife took a job cleaning rooms for a nation-wide well-known hotel chain - one not considered a discount chain - in the Dallas area. She, along with the entire cleaning crew, were kept as part-time employees to preclude having to pay minimum wage. She made $2.25 per hour. :eek:

To be considered satisfactory, they had to clean 4 rooms per hour. that's right - 15 minutes per room. So not only did I learn to tip well (which I had never done for hotel rooms before) but I also learned how dirty the rooms actually are. I started bringing clorox wipes with me every time I travel to wipe down all surfaces. I quit drinking from any glasses or coffee cups unless they are contained in wrapped plastic. And now I make sure I tip - usually $5.00 per day.

She finally went to work at a school cafeteria making nearly double what she was making at the hotel - even though it was part time, they at least paid minimum wage. In this day, you just can't assume every workerbee you meet is being paid for the work they are doing!:(

Peggy

 

Peggy, that $2.25 is an illegal wage! Report the hotel!

[DreamTeam]

How about instead of complaining about the poor tipping of the Australians and Germans, the owners of top dollar hotels in the richest country in the world, pay their employees a living wage and some respect for their efforts.

 

Now there's a concept!

 

I'm with you :D

 

Col

[East Texas Cruiser]

Unfortunately, part time employees are not afforded all the rights of full time employees by the labor board. My sister did check with them, and the pitiful wage was perfectly legal for that classification.

Unlike Yukon who posted that he had no sympathy for a person who would take a job at that pay level, I have great empathy for the downtrodden who try to help themselves anyway they can. Not everyone has the intelligence level or education level to obtain "good" employment. If they did, we wouldn't have anyone to clean up after us!

My mother always taught me "there but for the grace of God go I". :cool:

Peggy

[NorskeFru]

When I first went to work in this country (early sixties) a 50 cent tip was quite nice. I checked on the Federal Reserve Bank site, and that would now equate to $3.57 (2008).

 

I tip $3 a bag to bellboys or $10 whichever is larger. I tip $3 - $5 to hotel maids. $5 to bus tour drivers, and 20% in restaurants and other tours of what the bill cost me. If it something like a boat tour with more than one person providing the service I'll split 10% to each. Airplanes and helicopters are pricier, so I usually only give the pilot $20 or so.

 

99.9% of the time I feel tips are well earned. Once in a great while I get a snotty or un-civil person who then gets zed for a tip. I would NEVER tip anyone less than $3 for providing a service unless I were sending the message that I was displeased with their service.

 

Before going on a trip, I plan my tips as well as my tours and get an appropriate number of (mostly) fives and tens from the bank for the nice people I will meet.

[PennyAgain]

Unfortunately, part time employees are not afforded all the rights of full time employees by the labor board. My sister did check with them, and the pitiful wage was perfectly legal for that classification.

Unlike Yukon who posted that he had no sympathy for a person who would take a job at that pay level, I have great empathy for the downtrodden who try to help themselves anyway they can. Not everyone has the intelligence level or education level to obtain "good" employment. If they did, we wouldn't have anyone to clean up after us!

My mother always taught me "there but for the grace of God go I". :cool:

Peggy

 

A part time employee has to be paid the minimum wage unless it is assumed that part of the salary will be received in tips as with a waiter or waitress.

 

I'd done a jillion payrolls and know the laws very well.

 

If there is no assumption of tips to be received, this hotel broke the law and can be levied with a huge fine.

[SEPyle]

Such an interesting topic...

 

I have three daughters. Each has been or curently working in the restaurant business, and two in tourist areas. Two work in Key West, and one daughter working seasonally in Alaska on the trains between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Yes, they depend on tips, and yes, I've heard the tipping habits of the various groups mentioned on this thread. According to my Alaskan employed daughter; in spite of the fact she knows she may not get a tip she enjoys Australians because they are so much fun and bottom line, nice people! Mama does have to say though: being fun and nice sure doesn't pay the rent! Please understand: When you deal with service people in tourist areas, rent is not cheap for these people. They depend on tips because the cost of living is so much more. Also, don't blame the person waiting on you if the weather isn't perfect!

 

I've lived in Germany. We knew the norm was just a small tip, rounding up to the next D-Mark or two (obvious we lived there before the Euro). People in those country's are paid a higher wage. Servers in this country are paid a low hourly wage. We all know the saying: When in Rome....

 

I said all that to say: It's reasonable to pay a tip that is customary in the area being visited. Afterall, it's only fair to the people who work hard to serve those of us who are fortunate enough to travel! If people want to tip the norm for the county they live in; then they should travel only in their own country. Gosh, did I say that????

[australian_girl]

We always tried to pass on taking groups from Australia. We knew there would be no tips.

 

bearbait,

I am a slightly offended by your comment. A lot of foreigners know tipping is required in America, and I am one of them. I hope you have better experiences with Aussies in the future.

[bearbait]

You might want to grow some thicker skin then. I was quite offeneded the first few times I got stiffed on the tips. I got over it and life went on. I always gave the Aussie's a good tour, they enjoyed it, and the salmon returned to spawn as they always do.