How Much To Tip

[yizzy]

Hi. Elderly relative visiting friends in New York and will be using the porters to help her with luggage , can anyone tell her how much she should tip them, she is concerned in case its not enough, as they don't get paid and depend on tips. Thanks

[jno]

$1 - $2 a bag (you could vary it according to size and weight)

[Eve]

Carrying a fair bit of low denomination change, 1,2 dollar bills etc... is advised as it's a big tipping culture and tipping is expected - even being told when it's not enough! Best to have the change available to give than risk not getting anything back.

Tipping should be taken into account in all restaurants, bars, taxis etc... as well.

We were lucky in finding an lovely bartender in a bar we had a drink in waiting for check in, she ran us through how much was expected for each thing, e.g. a dollar a drink (alcohol in a bar), 15% minimum taxi fare etc... but that was a fair few years ago now so not sure what is currently expected. I found bills in some eating places would be rounded up and not to expect change back as it's assumed it's a tip.

We had a taxi fare confirmed to us pre-ride by the taxi marshalls at Newark airport (then add on tolls for coming in etc...). We gave what we thought was quite a generous tip and was told quite bluntly it wasn't enough!

[237SJ]

The expected tip in hotels is £1 per suitcase but it`s a lot more if you use the porters in the airport (Skycaps). They expect anything from $5 to $10 in which case I would tell her to save her money and get a trolley.

[yizzy]

Thanks She was thinking $10 for her case and hand luggage , and was worried it would not be enough

[Eve]

We had to be quite ruthless in holding onto our stuff, we were in a large hotel and there were loads of staff circling to get bags to take up for the tips (fair play, that's how they make their money), we had to be quite firm that we were fine to take them ourselves.

I think they think once they have got hold of your bags people will just let them take them and pay the tip.

[EdmundD]

Years ago my wife and I stayed in a hotel in New England and we ate in the hotel restaurant. It was dreadful. Long wait to order, long wait for food, cold/undercooked when it came, etc, etc. I put the base bill amount onto the room. About 15 minutes after we were in the room our waiter was hammering on our door complaining about the absence of any tip. Told him to **** off. Next morning we requested a meeting with the General Manager about the incident. His attitude was basically that in the States you tip regardless of the quality of the service.

[zebo]

It's very true what EdmundD says, tips are expected irrespective of how poor the service is, the Americans need re-educating! The whole concept of tipping is appalling in America, pay your staff a pittance and expect the customer to make up the difference. We were told that "Brits are mean tippers" to which we responded that we took that as a compliment, not being a nation of idiots. Tips should be for service above and beyond. I don't tip the train driver, pilot, etc why do others feel they deserve extra for doing their job? I'll duck now.

[grasscarp]

Many years ago in Australia I tried leaving a tip in a restaurant and they asked what it was for. I also offered to tip in a hairdressers and got laughed at. dont know if it is still the same out there.

[diddlydo]

Good reason not to go to the USA if you ask me.

[yizzy]

Thanks everybody, I agree about tipping in usa We went on the ny tour bus, getting on and off to see the sites and had to tip every time we got off.
Be easier for relative to use a porter at the airport , she just wasnt sure how much to give