Paradise Taveuni Tipping guidelines

[Tunaman68]

Hey all,

Headed back to Fiji in 2026 and have chosen Paradise Taveuni based on cost, location, the availability to do more than 2 dives a day, AC, nitrox and what I hear is an excellent shore dive with night dives available. Hoping for new mattresses given some of the reviews I've read haha!

Just working the budget, does anyone have recent drink costs for beer and soda? (and what the happy hour discount is)? At Volivoli we would stock up on cans of Fiji Bitter during happy hour when they were 2 for 1. Does this work at PT? I know the resort is down a dirt road and secluded so popping to the local market is not a possibility. We were not able to stop at a store for refreshments on our first trip to Beqa as we were on a bus full of people, but I've read the trip from the airport at Taveuni might be in a smaller shuttle so a grocery stop MIGHT be possible. Any insight?

At Beqa and Volivoli there were separate Xmas funds for hotel staff, restaurant staff, and dive staff and we tipped around $10 a tank for the dive shop, $5 a meal for the restaurant and $5 a day for housekeeping with an extra bit for the hotel staff and grounds crew per diver. Does this strategy hold true for PT or is there a guideline anywhere? Voli and Beqa had that info as part of their FAQ but have not been able to find any info about Paradise.

Thanks all!

 

[Feney]

The happy hour (5:39-6:30) at paradise is only 10% off. I don't drink beer but the glass of wine was about $10 us.

 

[Living4Experiences]

Fiji is not a tipping culture, so you are very generous. PT has a centralized tipping box at the reception desk. Cocktails and beer are expensive, as @Feney mentioned. A can of soda is about $4.

PT has their own driver and vehicle to pick you up at the airport, not through a third-party transport company. When I got picked up at the Taveuni airport, there were three of us in a six-passenger van. PT doesn't offer anything to eat between meals, but there is a bakery on site that you can purchase goodies. The driver will stop at a grocery store on the way so you can get your snacks and drinks. Bring your own shopping bags or you can buy them for 25 cents FJD when you check out at the register. Credit cards are charged a fee. FJD is best throughout Fiji.

The ride is VERY rough, like four-wheeling rough, on the dirt road, so an empty bladder is recommended.

 

[Tunaman68]

The ride is VERY rough, like four-wheeling rough, on the dirt road, so an empty bladder is recommended.

Great tip!! Cheers! nobody wants to slosh down a pot hole infested dirt trail after flying for 13 hours from LAX! Got some Fiji dollars left from last trip (we were at voli voli a couple days after you in 2024 and heard the broken ladder story)! I'll grab some more as I hate paying extra to Visa whenever I can avoid it!

 

[Living4Experiences]

Great tip!! Cheers! nobody wants to slosh down a pot hole infested dirt trail after flying for 13 hours from LAX! Got some Fiji dollars left from last trip (we were at voli voli a couple days after you in 2024 and heard the broken ladder story)! I'll grab some more as I hate paying extra to Visa whenever I can avoid it!

I'll add one more tip. PT's free wifi is the worst and only available in the dining area. Don't bother upgrading for the fee. It doesn't get better. They take credit cards for the incidental charges, but since the wifi is so bad, their card reader often doesn't connect. The staff has to walk around with the card reader held high above the head trying to get a signal. Another reason to have FJD cash.

If I have left over foreign currency when leaving a country, I will use it for tipping or give it away to a local at the airport. When I was leaving Indonesia in March, I had a small amount of IDR left when I got to the airport. I found a young woman and approached her. She didn't speak English, but with hand gestures, she understood I was giving her money. She screamed with joy and gave me a hug. That is more rewarding to me than the obligatory need to tip and trying to figure out what to tip.

Have a great trip!

 

[runsongas]

i'm surprised that beqa/volivoli did separate tipping for different categories of staff, most do one fund that covers all employees. and then for the dive oriented places, you see the dive staff get tipped separately sometimes outside of the christmas fund.

if you are the type to have more than a drink or two after a dive day, consider bringing hard liquor instead and mixing it. fiji allows 2 standard bottles per adult in duty free.

and other than cash tips toward the christmas fund, gifts of things for the locals that are harder to come by in the outer islands are also appreciated. eg used ipads or laptops for the village school, sports equipment like volleyballs/rugby balls, power banks.

the caveat with FJD is that its generally cheaper to eat the CC fee if you have a no FX/cash back card than to take the hair cut at the money exchange at the airport (and BoA was even worse to order it in advance). the ANZ bank at denarau isn't bad but its out of the way unless you are heading to the yasawas.

 

[Tunaman68]

i'm surprised that beqa/volivoli did separate tipping for different categories of staff, most do one fund that covers all employees. and then for the dive oriented places, you see the dive staff get tipped separately sometimes outside of the christmas fund.

if you are the type to have more than a drink or two after a dive day, consider bringing hard liquor instead and mixing it. fiji allows 2 standard bottles per adult in duty free.

and other than cash tips toward the christmas fund, gifts of things for the locals that are harder to come by in the outer islands are also appreciated. eg used ipads or laptops for the village school, sports equipment like volleyballs/rugby balls, power banks.

the caveat with FJD is that its generally cheaper to eat the CC fee if you have a no FX/cash back card than to take the hair cut at the money exchange at the airport (and BoA was even worse to order it in advance). the ANZ bank at denarau isn't bad but its out of the way unless you are heading to the yasawas.

On our last trip i took a bunch of guitar and ukulele strings and chromatic tuners for the musicians, a bunch of school supplies for the village and a handful of old reading glasses I collected from friends. I also took some 'experienced' dive gear and the guys at the shop were def glad to take it off my hands!

Everyone was super thankful (the fijians are some of the kindest and sweetest people I've ever met) and as @Living4Experiences said, that's more rewarding than any kind of obligatory tips 100%. I will pay the grift from Wells fargo and get some FJD but you have a good point that our cash back rewards card will offset some of the fee and make it at least 'even money' vs a bad exchange rate. Power bank backup batteries is a great idea as something small that fits in the carry on and would be expensive and hard to get I'd imagine! Cheers!

 

[TostitoBandito]

Yeah, tipping isn't really a thing in Fiji. Many resorts have "christmas funds" or other similar pools to benefit staff, their families, and communities. It's common for people to unload any remaining Fijian cash at the end of their trip as a gift to those, but it's not mandatory or even expected. It's typically just presented as an option as you're checking out and that's that. If a resort in Fiji is (heavily) pressuring you to "tip" or anything along those lines, you're not at a good resort.

I strongly encourage anyone traveling anywhere outside the US to research the local culture and not just transplant some of our most backwards traditions like a slave wage service industry and mandatory tipping on other places who don't do those things. In some places, like Japan, it can be considered quite rude to offer someone a tip for service.

 

[Tunaman68]

Yeah, tipping isn't really a thing in Fiji. Many resorts have "christmas funds" or other similar pools to benefit staff, their families, and communities. It's common for people to unload any remaining Fijian cash at the end of their trip as a gift to those, but it's not mandatory or even expected. It's typically just presented as an option as you're checking out and that's that. If a resort in Fiji is pressuring you to "tip" or anything along those lines, you're not at a good resort.

I strongly encourage anyone traveling anywhere outside the US to research the local culture and not just transplant some of our most backwards traditions like a slave wage service industry and mandatory tipping on other places who don't do those things. In some places, like Japan, it can be considered quite rude to offer someone a tip for service.

I am doing research (as I always do when traveling) in an attempt to 'do the right thing for the culture we are visiting'. Thanks for your reply!

Worth noting here that Beqa and Volivoli were def AMAZING resorts even though they included info on discretionary tipping in their FAQ. I was personally very happy to share a token of my gratitude with those who have so little and work so hard.

 

[Joneill]

When I was leaving Indonesia in March, I had a small amount of IDR left when I got to the airport. I found a young woman and approached her. She didn't speak English, but with hand gestures, she understood I was giving her money. She screamed with joy and gave me a hug.

I did the same thing in Jakarta on my way back in February. I remembered I still had about $400K IDR before heading to the international gates. I approached a family with small children and non verbally indicated that I wanted to give the money to the kids - the mom nodded that it was OK and the kids eyes lit up when I gave them the money. They were all super appreciative and friendly - felt good to leave the country on that note!