Who should be tipped in hotels in London and Paris and how much? I
will be staying in budget hotels (35 pound/50 Euro range). Since I
live in a country where there aren't any set norms for tipping and
sometimes tipping isn't even common, I would appreciate even the
smallest tips (pun intended ) from any of you.

Thanks.
Sabya

"Sabyasachi Basu" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Who should be tipped in hotels in London and Paris and how much? I
    > will be staying in budget hotels (35 pound/50 Euro range). Since I
    > live in a country where there aren't any set norms for tipping and
    > sometimes tipping isn't even common, I would appreciate even the
    > smallest tips (pun intended ) from any of you.
    > Thanks.
    > Sabya

I wouldn't tip anyone in a 35 pound hotel in England - Unless they perform
some excellent service for you - which is highly unlikely - then I'd give
them 1 pound.

Tipping in the UK is becoming less and less common - According to one taxi
driver I spoke to recently 5 years ago 80% of his clients would tip, nowdays
its about 20%.

"Sabyasachi Basu" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Who should be tipped in hotels in London and Paris and how much? I
    > will be staying in budget hotels (35 pound/50 Euro range). Since I
    > live in a country where there aren't any set norms for tipping and
    > sometimes tipping isn't even common, I would appreciate even the
    > smallest tips (pun intended ) from any of you.

Hi!
If you are staying in a £35 hotel then tipping certainly is not expected.

Tipping is not general practice anywhere in the UK. The thought is (rightly
IMO) that if they charge for a service, and you give them the money, end of
story.

The only places you might tip is at a high class resaurant, for example.

I personally don't tip taxi drivers at all. In fact last time the driver
actually asked for £20.00 when the meter showed £20.20.

Mark Hewitt <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Sabyasachi Basu" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > Who should be tipped in hotels in London and Paris and how much? I
    > > will be staying in budget hotels (35 pound/50 Euro range). Since I
    > > live in a country where there aren't any set norms for tipping and
    > > sometimes tipping isn't even common, I would appreciate even the
    > > smallest tips (pun intended ) from any of you.
    > Hi!
    > If you are staying in a £35 hotel then tipping certainly is not expected.
    > Tipping is not general practice anywhere in the UK. The thought is
(rightly
    > IMO) that if they charge for a service, and you give them the money, end
of
    > story.
    > The only places you might tip is at a high class resaurant, for example.
    > I personally don't tip taxi drivers at all. In fact last time the driver
    > actually asked for £20.00 when the meter showed £20.20.
These replies are surely giving a very incorrect impression of UK tipping?
There is no tipping on top of straightforward hotel bills, of course.
But any extra services - carrying luggage, etc. - are surely tipped - maybe
£1?
In my experience, cabs are still tipped - around 10% or up to thereabouts to
round the bill off.
Even our local restaurant waiters are tipped (individually - I never just
add to the bill) depending on service, but always something (maybe up to
10%) unless there is any dissastisfaction.

Surreyman

"a.spencer3" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:GRbEc.59$hU4.28@newsfe1-win...
>
    > >
    > These replies are surely giving a very incorrect impression of UK tipping?

That depends, of course, YMMV. I accept that as a UK resident I may get a
different view to the tourist one.

    > There is no tipping on top of straightforward hotel bills, of course.
    > But any extra services - carrying luggage, etc. - are surely tipped -
maybe
    > £1?

Maybe. I've never stayed in a UK hotel where they carry your luggage for
you.

    > In my experience, cabs are still tipped - around 10% or up to thereabouts
to
    > round the bill off.

You can if you wish. Some people round the bill off, as you say. But it's
not expected (almost required!) like it is in the USA for example.

    > Even our local restaurant waiters are tipped (individually - I never just
    > add to the bill) depending on service, but always something (maybe up to
    > 10%) unless there is any dissastisfaction.

I've never tipped at a resaurant.

Maybe that's only my own view because I don't believe in tipping personally.
If they want more money, they should ask for it!

    > These replies are surely giving a very incorrect impression of UK tipping?
    > There is no tipping on top of straightforward hotel bills, of course.
    > But any extra services - carrying luggage, etc. - are surely tipped -
maybe
    > £1?

When was the last time someone in a UK hotel carried your luggage for you ?
Especially in the 35 pound bracket (I don't think Ive ever seen a 35 pound
hotel in the UK the ones I stay in start at 50 minimum)

    > In my experience, cabs are still tipped - around 10% or up to thereabouts
to
    > round the bill off.
    > Even our local restaurant waiters are tipped (individually - I never just
    > add to the bill) depending on service, but always something (maybe up to
    > 10%) unless there is any dissastisfaction.

A lot of restaurants now say 'service included' on the menu and a tip is not
then expected.
Having spoken to people who work in restaurants the level is tipping is
proportional to the price of the restaurant - In the more expensive
restaurants tipping is still done, in the cheaper places is is very rare.

But, yes, any extra services (when done with a smile) I normally tip.

"a.spencer3" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:GRbEc.59$hU4.28@newsfe1-win...
    > In my experience, cabs are still tipped - around 10% or up to thereabouts
to
    > round the bill off.

I don't see any good reason to tip taxi drivers. Especially not in
expensive Europe. In Asia drivers offer you a ride by a fixed fee which is
typically 2-3 times more than it is by meter.

"a.spencer3" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:GRbEc.59$hU4.28@newsfe1-win...
...
    > These replies are surely giving a very incorrect impression of UK tipping?

I don't think so. Perhaps things are different in darkest Surrey.

    > There is no tipping on top of straightforward hotel bills, of course.
    > But any extra services - carrying luggage, etc. - are surely tipped -
maybe
    > £1?

I don't often have occasion to stay at hotels in the UK, but I don't think I
would normally tip for anything. Then again, neither would I expect to
receive any extra service worth tipping for. I normally stay in 4-star
hotels BTW.

    > In my experience, cabs are still tipped - around 10% or up to thereabouts
to
    > round the bill off.

You get a very surprised look from a London cabbie if you do tip and they
thank you, which rarely happened 30 or more years ago.

    > Even our local restaurant waiters are tipped (individually - I never just
    > add to the bill) depending on service, but always something (maybe up to
    > 10%) unless there is any dissastisfaction.
    > Surreyman

In a good class restaurant, if I like the service, I do tend to tip, even
though service is invariably included. However, I get the impression that it
is not that common a practice.

Do you remember the campaign to stop people tipping? (1960s?) ISTR the
argument being that employers wouldn't pay proper wages so long as tips were
seen as part of some people's income. I think the decline in tipping in the
UK started then.

Colin Bignell

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Mark Hewitt) wrote:

    > I've never tipped at a resaurant.
    >

I think you are in quite a small minority there.

[email protected] (Sabyasachi Basu) wrote in message news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > Who should be tipped in hotels in London and Paris and how much? I
    > will be staying in budget hotels (35 pound/50 Euro range). Since I
    > live in a country where there aren't any set norms for tipping and
    > sometimes tipping isn't even common, I would appreciate even the
    > smallest tips (pun intended ) from any of you.
    >
    > Thanks.
    > Sabya
My policy:
Never in pubs unless you know the staff.
Never in hotels.
10-15% after good restaurant meal.
Occasionally 10% for taxi that takes me directly to destination,
unless he expects it.

I am sure there is some logic somewhere, but my general feeling is,
only pay extra for service above and beyond the call of duty...
Dave

"Miss L. Toe" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > When was the last time someone in a UK hotel carried your luggage for you ?
    > Especially in the 35 pound bracket (I don't think Ive ever seen a 35 pound
    > hotel in the UK the ones I stay in start at 50 minimum)

I think I need to clarify one point here. The room rents I mentioned
are PER PERSON on a TWIN-PERSON basis. Since there are two of us
travelling, the effective rents for the rooms are double of that
amount (70 Pounds/100 Euros per night) My travel agent (Thomas Cook)
tell me that the hotels are 3-star. The one in London is in the
Kensington Court area and that in Paris is close to the Eiffel Tower.
However, going by the replies so far, I think all this is besides the
point, as there seems to be unanimity that there is no real need to
tip anyone in a hotel.

in article [email protected], Mark Hewitt at
[email protected] wrote on 06/29/2004 11:07 AM:

    > I've never tipped at a resaurant.
    >
    > Maybe that's only my own view because I don't believe in tipping personally.
    > If they want more money, they should ask for it!

Perhaps you live in a part of the world where tipping is not presumptively
correct. If so, I'd say that you're not out of line.

But, in places such as the U.S. tipping is part of the fabric which
employers use to determine what wages to pay employees. "Everyone" knows
that cabbies, bellboys, waiters and waitresses, bartenders, luggage handlers
at airports, etc. depend upon them. Some even routinely leave a tip for
maids in hotels or motels.

So far as I was taught as a young man, one does not tip the owner of a
business. But, I was also taught not to simply be cheap and use labor that
I am not willing to pay for (though I have no compunction at reducing the
amount if the service provided is poor, especially if delivered with
"attitude").

Here where I now live, in England, I've been recently informed that it's
considered "bad form" to tip bartenders in pubs, though it's o.k. to offer
to buy them a drink. Similarly, from what I've been told, tips that are
considered proper are generally quite a bit lower here in England than they
would be in the U.S.

So, my own preference is to learn what the local custom is and to then
conform to that.

HH

In article <BD07592D.40F3E%[email protected]>, [email protected]
(Hawth Hill) wrote:

    > Here where I now live, in England, I've been recently informed that it's
    > considered "bad form" to tip bartenders in pubs, though it's o.k. to
    > offer
    > to buy them a drink

It's not so much rude, it's just that it's never done and so nobody will
ever be offended by the omission - it would be something like offering to
drive the postman to the next house after yours because his sack looks so
heavy!

In practice, though, the 'drink' that the barman tells you he'll have
later on you sometimes turns into the value of a drink taken from the till
in cash.

Funny; every pub I visited had a 'tip bucket' near the till...<g>

I also observed most customers leaving a *small* bit of change and they
definitely appeared to be natives via accent...

Is 20-50p after the first grog worth attentive service to anyone???

Tim K

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > In article <BD07592D.40F3E%[email protected]>, [email protected]
    > (Hawth Hill) wrote:
    > > Here where I now live, in England, I've been recently informed that
it's
    > > considered "bad form" to tip bartenders in pubs, though it's o.k. to
    > > offer
    > > to buy them a drink
    > It's not so much rude, it's just that it's never done and so nobody
will
    > ever be offended by the omission - it would be something like offering
to
    > drive the postman to the next house after yours because his sack looks
so
    > heavy!
    > In practice, though, the 'drink' that the barman tells you he'll have
    > later on you sometimes turns into the value of a drink taken from the
till
    > in cash.

Mark Hewitt <[email protected]> wrote:

    > I've never tipped at a resaurant.
    >
    > Maybe that's only my own view because I don't believe in tipping personally.
    > If they want more money, they should ask for it!

If service isn't included in a UK restaurant, it's rather rude, not to
mention mean, not to tip if you were satisfied with the service. With
places that serve food where it's not full service (e.g. Wetherspoons)
then tipping is a lot less common, and not expected. Where service
charges are included, you are entitled to ask for it back if you feel
the service was unsatisfactory.

Having your views is fine and all that, but unless and until the system
wrt tipping changes in the UK, all you are doing is shafting the person
who served you.

A normal tip in the UK for a restaurant is 10%.

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk