linsj
Oct 25, 04, 9:57 pm
What are tipping customs in Hong Kong and Manila?
Asia - Tipping in Hong Kong & Philippines
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kxl19
Oct 25, 04, 10:18 pm
What are tipping customs in Hong Kong and Manila?
My experience has been that you don't have to tip in restaurants, round up to the nearest dollar in taxis
My experience has been that you don't have to tip in restaurants, round up to the nearest dollar in taxis
christep
Oct 25, 04, 10:29 pm
In Hong Kong:
Taxis: the driver will normally round the fare up to the nearest HK$ when giving you your change. No further tip expected.
Restaurants: there will almost always (except in the very smallest local outlets) be a 10% service charge added to the bill. Unless the service is particularly good, no further tip is necessary. However, if paying by cash most people will leave the coins in the change (which will generally be 1 or 2%). Some round credit card payments up to the nearest $10.
Bars: It is not normal to tip bar staff by the drink, and common (although bars vary in whether they do/like this) to run a tab to settle at the end of the session. Again 10% is normally (but not always) added. No further tip is necessary, although there are some bars in LKF and SoHo (the Peak Cafe is one) where the staff have a bit of an attitude problem and get snotty if you don't leave them a further tip when all they have done is pour a beer and put it on the bar for you. This is an unfortunate side-effect of bars with a high density of visiting Americans. But if you are happy to pay almost US$10 for a glass of generic beer then I guess you don't care. You can go a few yards down the road for beer at not much more than half the price and a much better attitude.
Hotels: tipping if someone does something non-trivial for you is common; perhaps HK$5 per bag for bringing them up to your room with a minimum of HK$10. But tipping, for example, the doorman for opening the door of your taxi is not expected.
For Manila I leave it to someone with better knowledge than I.
Taxis: the driver will normally round the fare up to the nearest HK$ when giving you your change. No further tip expected.
Restaurants: there will almost always (except in the very smallest local outlets) be a 10% service charge added to the bill. Unless the service is particularly good, no further tip is necessary. However, if paying by cash most people will leave the coins in the change (which will generally be 1 or 2%). Some round credit card payments up to the nearest $10.
Bars: It is not normal to tip bar staff by the drink, and common (although bars vary in whether they do/like this) to run a tab to settle at the end of the session. Again 10% is normally (but not always) added. No further tip is necessary, although there are some bars in LKF and SoHo (the Peak Cafe is one) where the staff have a bit of an attitude problem and get snotty if you don't leave them a further tip when all they have done is pour a beer and put it on the bar for you. This is an unfortunate side-effect of bars with a high density of visiting Americans. But if you are happy to pay almost US$10 for a glass of generic beer then I guess you don't care. You can go a few yards down the road for beer at not much more than half the price and a much better attitude.
Hotels: tipping if someone does something non-trivial for you is common; perhaps HK$5 per bag for bringing them up to your room with a minimum of HK$10. But tipping, for example, the doorman for opening the door of your taxi is not expected.
For Manila I leave it to someone with better knowledge than I.
jjpb3
Oct 27, 04, 3:42 pm
My brothers who live in Manila tend to round up restaurant bills so that the tip ends up at about P20. In tony restaurants (such as the ones in 5-star hotels), you'll often find a service charge added (usually around 10%).
For taxis, my brothers round up the fare to the nearest tens.
I tend to tip with P20 per bag at hotels, and add 10% to restaurant bills if no service charge has been added.
For taxis, my brothers round up the fare to the nearest tens.
I tend to tip with P20 per bag at hotels, and add 10% to restaurant bills if no service charge has been added.
linsj
Oct 27, 04, 4:59 pm
Thank you all for the advice. I appreciate it.