Tipping in the US

[GreedySmurf]

A perennial subject I know. I’ve just arrived in LA. I’m not new to the US so I had a little bundle of ones and fives all ready for tips when we got here. A couple of questions and a general interest query for me though.

We got a shuttle bus from arrivals to the rental car lot, the driver helped my wife and I with our bags, so I thought a tip was probably in order/expected?. To be honest my thinking was along the lines of remembering that a hotel porter/valet ‘going rate’ was $1 a bag, so I thought that sounded fair enough. (We’re travelling very heavy, on the way to a permanent relocation to the UK so have four full sized suitcases + a couple of carryons we held onto), so I tipped her 5 bucks. Maybe I’ve given away that I haven’t been in the US for ~10 years, but is $1 a bag still the going rate for a porter at a hotel? Was it appropriate and/or expected to tip the shuttle bus driver? ( She seemed quite pleased in any case)

Next up, Maid service. I understand the thought of leaving a tip for the maid/cleaner for your hotel room each day. If you’re staying multiple nights there’s a definite self-interest aspect to that to ensure you get your room looked after well. However we’re staying in an airport hotel for a single night (Where I am now, unable to sleep at 3:30 in the morning), For a single night stay should we still be leaving a tip for cleaner? Obviously being completely pragmatic there would be no repercussions in not doing so, but would that be stiffing them if we don’t? I believe in “when in Rome” and just all round don’t be a douche, but also I don’t want to be dipping into my pocket if it’s not customary or expected.

Between the bus, the hotel, some dinner, I had paid 20-30 bucks in tips within a couple of hours of arriving in the US. It got me wondering, does everyone in the US just carry around bundles of ones or other small notes all the time? In an increasingly electronic currency society, isn’t it a real pain to have to carry cash all the time? (At home (Australia) it’s become quite unusual, even for small businesses not to accept card payments, so there is very little need to carry cash expect in specific circumstances.) I understand that the hotel and shuttle bus are not things encountered day to day by the average American, but you have restaurants, bars, taxis, and I understand you are expected to tip personal service people (Hairdressers, et al).

[Lord_Feldon]

Tipping is reasonably common for things like hotel shuttles and housekeeping, but it’s not socially obligatory like it is for restaurant waitstaff (where you’re already paying anyways and can tip using whatever method you were already using). According to this article, only around 30% of hotel guests leave tips, so it’s a nice thing to do but not doing it is the norm.

[Leaffan]

I’ve never tipped for housekeeping or for airport shuttles when traveling and am still alive. As for tipping at restaurants, bars, taxis just add 15% to 20% to your bill and pay with whatever means you like: debit card, credit card, cash.

I haven’t taken a taxi in the US in years, but I assume they all have electronic payment systems by now.

[Gary_T]

Other than for meals and maybe something like a morning coffee, tipping is not generally an everyday experience. The great majority of us do not have to make a point of carrying a supply of ones. Tipping when paying for something (food, drink, taxi, haircut, etc) is easily done from the change or with the card payment.

[Alpha_Twit]

I agree with the above responses with the addition that $1 a bag seems wildly excessive to me. Unless you’re traveling with a truly staggering number of cases then $1 per person is more than adequate, IMHO.

[Ludovic]

I do $1 a person for drivers. I’d probably up it to at least 50 cents a bag if I ever used a porter. $2 for valet unless it’s an unusual request or very fast service in which case it’s $3. I don’t tip for room cleaning unless I’m there multiple days and my room is dirty. I even prefer to not have room cleaning at all because it feels like an intrusion on my privacy.

[madmonk28]

There was some good advice from BeaMyrain this thread http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=636991&highlight=tipping:

For hotels, the Bellmen get $1.00 per bag. The doorman/bellman gets a buck for calling you a cab, if all is normal and more if he has to go out of his way or if it’s raining and it’s hard to get a cab. Don’t be surprised if they refuse certain items like laptop cases. Some hotels I’ve been in, have instructed bellmen not to carry laptops. Doorman do not get tips for simply opening and closing doors.

The housekeepers should get $1 or $2 a day. Remember to leave it daily as the maids don’t always clean the same rooms. At then end of the hotel stay leave $5.00 at least for the housekeeper as that one will have to clean up your room as a check out.

It depends on how well they clean. In terms of a dollar or two dollars and the final tip on how your overall stay way. You put the daily tip in an obvious spot that won’t be confused with a guest leaving money around. Such as under an ashtray, in hotels that allow smoking, or on top a TV or some obvious spot.

If you really want to help the maid, strip the bed and leave the sheets and towels in a ball. It really helps as they can simply walk in, grab your dirty sheets and towels and throw them on their cart and just start cleaning ASAP. It’s not at all necessary, but it really makes their job a lot quicker.

Concierges get nothing for simple advice, such as name good restaurants, or touristy things they normally get questioned about. Like if you’re in NYC, “Where is the Empire State Building located”?

The more they do for you, the more you tip. If they get theater tickets for you and it’s a tough show to get, you tip them more. In Chicago a hotel concierge is going to get between $10 - $15 an hour depending on type of hotel. So you don’t want to over tip. So you want to base it on how hard it was for him to help you and apply that to about what you think he’d be getting per hour.

For restaurants, the coat check is a dollar per coat and two dollars if it’s a fur or luxury coat. You tip the wine server as well, but I’m not sure how much. 20% is a standard tip. You can reduce this a bit for bad service (not food quality) and up it for stellar service.

Bad food quality means sending it back or addressing the complaint with the manager.

For cabs it’s 10% to 20% and rounding. I start with 10% and go up, depending on their service. If they are driving in heavy traffic or hard rain, up the tip. If the cab isn’t basically clean, lower it. If you are sure the cabbie is milking the fare lower the tip.

Sorry but if you’re a cabbie, you should take 5 seconds between fares to clean out old Burger King wrappers out the back. That counts against you. Unless you’re actually stepping into a cab, someone just got out of.

Finally I just round the fare. So if the fare is 8.95 and I want to give 20%, I would do this. 8.95 is 90¢ (10%) 90¢ X 2 = 1.80. Then 1.80 + 8.95 = 10.75. In this case I’d just go with 11 dollars to not deal with change.

If you take a commercial tour and such and they allow tipping, it’s between $1 and $5, again depending on how much effort you feel the tour guide is putting into his job. This is for public, group tours. Private tours would be much higher.

In theory it’s considered poor taste to tip, managers or owners of businesses. But I say, if you want to tip and that person has really went out of their way for you, do it.