Tipping

[Catito]

Depending on the hotel we are staying at determines the tip amount. Considering we pay employee rate, yes we actually end up leaving about 10-12% a day of the room rate. Never less than 10% ever. Again my gf is in the industry so we are big tippers. To each their own

I agree with you. Tough job. I always tip at least 10%.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I have done this several times in a "good food" but "bad service" situation. But when we took a river cruise a few years ago, the ex-pat cruise director got nothing after he displayed a total lack of professionalism including mocking an elderly passenger.

Mocking an elderly passenger? What the?

 

[Scubagolf]

tipping the maids at hotels seems pretty common to me.

We always tip hotel maids but it is typically $4 day on a $150-200 per night hotel bill. That’s 2-3%. When we are at an all inclusive dive resort I estimate how much we are paying for the room, the restaurant, and the diving and tip accordingly. It usually works out to about 10% with very little for the accommodations. My experience on liveaboards is limited, but 10% seems about right. Maybe a lot more if the boat captain or the DMs were are really good and go above and beyond.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Just out of curiosity, how many crew typically on a 15 person lob?

 

[runsongas]

varies depending on local labor cost and also the type of experience the boat is targeting. you can have 2 crew per pax on the luxury boats all the way down to 1 crew per 4 pax on the lower end.

 

[drk5036]

I was just in Malapascua with my (southeast Asian) girlfriend. We did 10 dives each over four days, total cost was about 1500 dollars. I tried to leave a 5000 php tip, and my girlfriend nearly killed me. “We already paid a lot of money for diving! Why are you giving them MORE money? If they want to make more money, they need to charge you more, not dance around like a puppet waiting for you to throw money at them. It’s insulting!”

@runsongas would kill me for being cheap. I can never win. But having lived in Japan for years now, I also kind of feel embarrassed to tip people outside of the United States.

 

[Rollin]

I like a tip based system because it creates an incentive to do a better job. Otherwise, we end up with a Soviet style economy where nobody gives a sheet about anything or anybody (except themselves). Being paid for merit is better than being paid for existence.

You have a very strange view on humanity my friend. In my country, we do not tip. Waiters are friendly, because they like to be around people and like their job and they get payed by their bosses. If they are not friendly, they are asked to find another job that involves less contact with fellow humans. By the way, we have miniumum wages that are 157% of that of the USA.

What you are saying is that, in your country, people are only friendly and professional when they can expect an incentive? Really?

Oh, and I have been to the Soviet Union, even before the break-up. In many ways, it was what I expected it to be (not so nice), but not the kindness of the people (very warm).

I tip when it is a part of the income of people. In countries where it is not usual, I don't. And everywhere, I'm friendly and respectful. I treat them as equals. It often helps more than throwing dollar bills around.

 

[ontdiver]

Mocking an elderly passenger? What the?

Yup. We were quite shocked with this behavior.