When you are devising a vacation budget items like airfare, hotel rooms and rental cars are typically at the top of the list. However, what about the extra cash you need to tip cab drivers, concierges, skycaps, and hotel housekeepers? Often, travelers forget about padding their wallets to for gratuities.
Tipping is an important factor to consider whether you are planning a monthly business trip or a 3-year-in-the-making European vacation. When saving up for a holiday getaway, don’t forget to consider the money you will need to tip appropriately.
Tipping is generally not mandatory, unless duly noted on a bill; however, in the United States providing a gratuity for services that go above and beyond minimal effort typically garners a few dollars.
Steve Dublanica, author of Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper’s Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity has these tips on tipping when you are traveling throughout the United States:
Bell staffer: $2 per bag when the person brings your bags to your hotel room
Cab driver: 15%-20%
Concierge: $10-$20 for arranging hard-to-get theater or sporting event tickets or restaurant reservations
Doorman: $1 for hailing a cab
Hotel housekeeper: $2-$5 a night, depending on services rendered and category of hotel
Rental car shuttle driver: $1 per bag
Restaurant Server: 18%-20%
Skycap: $2 per bag
Valet parker: $2 or more for faster service.
Dublanica also warns of a recent trend called “tip creep,” which basically categorizes an increasing amount of workers in the service industry seeking extra bucks from customers. For example, in his book, Dublanica admits to being taken aback upon seeing a tip jar at a newsstand in a Pennsylvania mall.
If you don’t want to see a hand out every time you turn around on what’s supposed to be a relaxing trip, consider staying at an all-inclusive resort like Sandals which has a no-gratuity policy.
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