You might know how much to tip the hairdresser or waitress, but how about the the shampoo girl? Or the skycap at the airport, and the concierge at your hotel? You don't want to look cheap, but all those services add up!
We decided to go straight to the folks we're tipping to get their take -- then we compared their suggestions to a CNNMoney tipping guide. Check it out
At Dinner
Insider says: Cory K., who rants about working in the restaurant industry at Rootspeak.org, says to give a 20 percent tip for adequate service and a minimum of 25 percent for remarkable, which she says includes "a server who knows his or her restaurant." Even servers who supply less than stellar service should get tipped at least 15 percent.
Guide says: At least 15 percent of the bill (excluding tax) for adequate service, 20 percent for very good service and no less than 10 percent for poor service. For a sommelier, tip 15 percent of the cost of the wine bottle and 15 to 20 percent for a bartender, with a minimum of 50 cents per soft drink and $1 per alcoholic beverage.
At the Salon
Insider says: Blogger CK Khan says to tip 15 to 20 percent range before tax is added for hair stylists, massage therapists and nail technicians. Tip $5 to the person who shampoos your hair and $10 to someone blow dries your hair other than the stylist. You don't have to tip the receptionist or someone who brings you a drink.
Guide says: The guide agrees, except for the shampooer; they give her $2.
At the Valet Stand:
Insider says: There's no blanket tip rate for valet parking, according to Troy Nelson, who pens Valetvent.com. He says it depends on what type of restaurant, whether it's in a city or suburb and what the valet charges.
"For a low-end to medium-scale restaurant, $3 is about the average tip," he said. "For a nicer restaurant or steakhouse, $5 tends to be the average. I've averaged $1 a car on my worst night and $12 a car on my best."
If valet is complimentary and the restaurant is in a busy city, you should match the lowest parking ramp fee, which is $5 in Nelson's area. or "otherwise it appears that you are valeting to save money on parking," he said.
Guide says: Nelson overshoots -- a standard valet tip is only $2.
At the Airport: Shuttle Drivers and Skycaps
Insider says: James G. Lewis, of TipGuide.org, says porters or skycaps get $2 per bag or more if the bags are heavy and $2 extra for curbside check-in. If you arrive late and he hustles to help you catch your flight, tip extra (and if he lets your overweight bag go through without the extra charge, be super generous--remember, he's saving you the overweight fee, which can be around $50!). Courtesy shuttle drivers get $1 to $2 per bag, while taxi, limo, paid shuttle or van drivers get 15 percent of the total fare and up to 20 percent if they helped with bags. Be aware that limo rates often include gratuity.
Guide says: The guide agrees with Lewis, but suggests $1 per bag for skycaps and $2 per bag for carrying them to check-in counter.
At the Hotel: Porters, Room Service and Housekeeping
Insider says: Charlyn Keating Chisholm, the Hotels/Resorts/Inns guide for About.com, says porters and doormen get $1 to $2 per bag, $1 to $2 for bringing you to a cab in a cab line and a little extra if they hail the cab off the street. Bellhops get $1 to $2 per bag if they bring them to your room.
Room service gratuity of 12 to 15 percent is often already included in the price of your order, though you can tip extra for exceptional service. "Room service tips are generally 'pooled,' or shared between everyone," Chisholm says. "If you hand something extra to a person who provides you extraordinary service, he or she can keep it."
Tip housekeeping staff between $1 and $5 per night. If a hotel staff member delivers something special, such as extra blanket, tip $2 or $1 each if they brought more than one item. Maintenance or service people don't get tipped.
Guide says: Tip doormen only $1 for hailing a cab. The tipping guide agrees about the bellhop, though suggests tipping $2 if you have just one bag. Tip housekeepers $2 to $5 a night.
Comments:
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Thursday 29 October
By LC
How about the bartender? I can understand tipping when someone has mixed me a drink, but I always feel a little grumbly about having to tip them for opening a bottle of beer for me. But clearly it's expected.
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Thursday 29 October
By Erin Scottberg
I know what you mean...maybe it's cheap of me, but when I'm just buying cheap bottles in a crowded bar, I usually leave $1 per 2 beers and just try to order for me and a friend at the same time
Thursday 05 November
By prufrock
What you are tipping on, is not just the action of opening a bottle, but the time that you are taking up that the bartender could be using on someone else-- someone who likely appreciates the effort and compensates appropriately. Consider a tip at the bar rent for your cheap ass.
Thursday 05 November
By LC
Wow, hi, my ass is not cheap. Did I ever say I don't tip? My point was not that bartenders don't work hard & shouldn't get tips. It was, how much should I tip for opening a bottle of beer for me? A simple question that wasn't answered in the article. Or by you, thanks for your rant. I may not have stated it very well, but I do think there's a difference between making me a drink (there's skill involved there in addition to the time taken) and opening a beer for me (pretty much just time, and not much of that). It's the same reason you tip the shampoo girl less than the stylist - she does a different job, she's with you for less time, there is less skill involved. All I wanted to know was the recommended way to tip for those two different tasks.
Also, you don't pay rent on a bar stool like you do on a table in a restaurant. It doesn't matter if ALL the bar stools are taken - this does not detract from the bartender's ability to sell drinks & make tips.
Thursday 29 October
By Julie
I think it's important to point this out, although in the American culture, it's rarely understood: Tipping is optional (unlike paying taxes--which unless you are a tax exempt entity, you must do) so you don't need to leave anything. If you absolutely hated the server, you CAN leave them nothing. I really would rather the restaurant pay these people more (and therefore raise their prices for food), than make me "voluntarily" tip them. If I get excellent service, I absolutely have no problem giving a 20% tip. But if all the waiter does is take my order, bring me my food, and my check, and none of those in a timely manor, then excuse me, I'd rather go to the kitchen and place the order myself, and the restaurant can pay me minimum wage for this.
Why do Americans always reward mediocre behavior? That's why so many Americans ARE mediocre. Step your game up people.
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Thursday 29 October
By Lynn
Amen! Well said! I definitely do NOT agree with the article when it said to go ahead and tip a minimum of 10% for poor service. I hate it that I am expected to tip everybody and their brother for everything. I make minimum wage in my job too; I wonder how well I would be received if I walked around all day with my hand out?
Tuesday 03 November
By Tony
A tip (also called a gratuity) is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction. Such payments and their size are a matter of social custom. Tipping varies among cultures and by service industry. Though by definition a tip is never legally required, and its amount is at the discretion of the patron being served, in some circumstances failing to give an adequate tip when one is expected may be considered very miserly, a violation of etiquette, or unethical. In some other cultures or situations, giving a tip is not expected and offering one would be considered condescending or demeaning.
"a matter of social custom"
Tipping is simply an American thing, it has nothing to do with rewarding the mediocre. Telling us not to tip someone making 4.50 an hour with no job security is like telling English people not to laugh at anything said in a dry, ironic tone of voice, or telling Israeli people not to cut off the ends of their children's dicks. Everyone has culture, some of it odd in the eyes of other cultures. This is part of ours.
Sunday 15 November
By Lin
I'm not sure which American Restaurants and other services you're talking about being mediocre. I've lived overseas for seven years, visited over twenty countries and my experience is that service in the US is generally good by comparison. What I have also found is that our custom of tipping is found offensive to other people and can be used as an excuse to start anti-American ranting. One of the problems with this attitude is that it can result in getting poor service in American restaurants because foreigners are known to not tip and to even go so far as to complain if a service charge/VAT is added to the bill.
Not respecting the customs of a country that one visits can result in people (service or otherwise) being unfriendly. Part of the travel is taking part in another culture and yes, the US has one. If you're lucky enough to get to eat paella in Spain (where you don't tip), escargot in France (where you tip rarely) and Dahl in Sri Lanka (where tips greatly appreciated), part of that experience is because of the cultures of those respective places and they do have all the same rules as your country. You don't get to demand that another country changes to suit your biases.
Monday 16 November
By sparkles pederson
You make a valid point, but one of your facts is wrong. Foodservers do NOT make minimum wage. They are paid $2.01 an hour. And if you choose not to tip, please keep in mind that servers are taxed on 10% of all sales. That means that if you do not tip, you are actually costing that server money. Just clarifying...
Thursday 29 October
By Morgan
While you may make standard minimum wage at your job, servers make less than half of that as their "minimum wage." Could you imagine doing your job for $3 an hour? That's what they make when people like you don't tip. I understand if the service was awful not leaving anything but if it's decent and you only leave $2 on $20 or $5 on $50 you are cheap and shouldn't be dining out.
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Sunday 08 November
By B
I thought min. wage was just that! It's not against the law to pay below that to servers? I'm confused. And tip too for poor service? I think places like Hong Kong where their economy thrives has the right idea (where tipping is actually concidered an insult) Because when chivalry is prostituted it becomes demeaning. It's gotten so bad now that when one walks out the door for the day he probably should expect to fill somebody's hands with cash like panhandlers, Go ahead and call me cheap. I'll remember that every time I serve some stranger and expect nothing for it which is alot through the day. Tipping is optional and it is never OK to feel pressured or shamed into doing it. -end of story.
Sunday 15 November
By Nancy
First of all, waiters and waitresses do not make three dollars an hour before tips! Secondly, we are in a recession or depression, where getting a 'reasonable' 10% tip for poor service when the person expected to pay the tip just went through, probably, all kinds of grief just to get their minimum wage or slightly better than minimum wage, paycheck on which they are not getting any bonus this year, is, well, a very new and warped definition of 'reasonable''. I, personally, have a very difficult time leaving 'no tip' even when service is very poor, but really I do think this is reasonable and also reminds the server to 'step up their performance' that shift so as to receive and earn better tips!
Thursday 29 October
By emerica
I work as an assistant in a salon, if you are just getting your haircut, $2-5 is fine, but if you are getting color (especially if you are being rinsed more than once) then $5-8. Most shampoo people make very little money, either a low weekly salary or close to minimum wage and depend on tips.
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Thursday 29 October
By lisalou
I have a problem paying 20% (or even 15%) when a server says only the bare minimum to me and can't manage a smile...I can get treated like that at home...a waitress or waiter can make all the difference in your dining experience good or bad
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Sunday 08 November
By Tara
I couldn't agree with you more .Sometimes the servers have the worst damn attitudes..I remember going to a bar where the bartender took her time to serve me..Mind you, there were only 6 people at the bar and I waited 30 minutes..After I finally got my drink, I gulped it down and left..Do you know she followed me out of the restaurant half a block to ask me why I didn't tip her...
If God wasn't working on me I would have laid her out...lol
I simply said, "You didn't get a tip from me because you weren't worthy of one" and that was that....The nerve of her!
Friday 30 October
By Julie
As a waitress, I make $2.15 an hour, and have to "tip out" which means I give 3% of my total sales to the host and the bartender. So, if you tip me 15% I only get 12% of that, and if you tip me nothing I still have to pay them out of my own pocket.
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Saturday 31 October
By Payton
If you don't tip the waiter ANYTHING, you received free service. So, if you completely dislike your waiter, don't refuse to tip them. Tip them the minimum and let them know WHY they aren't making 20%. Plenty of people stiff waiters, regardless of the quality of service, and your waiter most likely isn't going to figure out that you didn't tip because you didn't like their attitude. They're just going to think you're a cheapskate.
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Thursday 05 November
By prufrock
On the contrary, Payton-- they are going to know for certain that you are a cheapskate. Actually, a thief of services. Not tipping a server or bartender is one of the lowest behaviors in the market, and one of the best indicators of Republicanism.
Saturday 31 October
By liza
Really? Do you have any idea what it's like to be a server?? We make at best 3$ an hour. So I'll be damned if any server is going to intentionally give "bad service". We're going to try our hardest to give you the best possible service, we have bills to pay too. And excuse me, but do you see that twelve top over there with 7 screaming children grinding the birthday cake into the carpet? Yeah, that's my table. Can't wait to clean that one up. Gee thanks mommy brigade for the $4 tip. And you see the frowning couple in the corner? Their pizza got burnt in the oven.. smiling and explaining the situation is not going to win my tip back. And the 4 boys in the football jerseys that all ordered water and biscuits?... also my table. I'll really try hard not to spend the 73 cents they leave me all in one place. So, pardon me if the best I really have to offer you is a smile and "what will you be having today sir?" as I attempt to take your order while simultaneously balancing thirteen empty glasses on my head, 4 ketchup bottles in my pocket, a piping hot steak plate in my left hand, and the 3 1/2 extra lemon slices for table 23's fish (lightly battered, baked not fried) and chips in my right hand. (Oh and I need to remember: 1. Table 33 wants all separate checks, Thank gosh there's only six of them.. but what the heck did the lady with the funny hat have to drink??? 2. The guy at table 44 is drunk, avoid him as much as possible- he's being creepy. 3. I have to get two side salads for table 24 one with extra tomatoes no onions french dressing and the other with no tomatoes extra croutons and ceasar dressing..... I think) If tipping is optional... screw this job.
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Tuesday 03 November
By Tony
I think I love you. I was so sure I was the only one who knew what hell is...