Groombridge

We will have our first stays at Singita properties soon. I would be grateful for guidance on appropriate tipping on safari -- for guides, drivers, and of course luggage handling, housekeeping, spa therapists.

wripro

The guide and driver will be the same person however you will also have a tracker. I'd say $20 per person per day for the guide and $10 per person per day for the tracker is fair. Others may have a different opinion. You will also have a butler who will take care of you and your suite. I'd say the same amount as the guide is fair. In addition there is a box where you can deposit a general tip for the rest of the staff. How much depends on the length of your stay. Don't hesitate to ask at reception. They are very helpful. You will have a fabulous time.

behuman

Yet another tipping thread . I still believe that outside the US and especially staying at a high end property we should refrain from tipping altogether. From a Relais & Châteaux property anywhere I expect that they treat their staff correctly and this is certainly the case at Singita where they are very aware of their social responsability.

So relax - you have paid enough already an certainly don't need to tip.

I have been at Singita in 2011 and it is fabolous and when speaking with management they shared exactly my thoughts (perhaps wanting to be polite ).



So is it unfair NOT to tip ?? I would expect a place where I leave such amounts of money to tip ME - thing that is in general done with many extras offered.

Jasper2009

I am generally not a big fan of tipping either, but still think that some tipping is appropiate, however I´d definitely tip less than suggested above, e.g.

housekeeping: 20ZAR per day / $10 for a three-night stay; remember living expenses are much, much lower than in the Western world, so $10 does indeed make a difference

tracker (who also happened to be the bellboy and person doing any physical work): $15-$20 for three nights

guide: definitely depends on how much effort he puts into the safari, if he just does the "standard drive" no/small tip, if he goes out of his way to create a great experience, finds the animals you´re interested in, maybe adds an extra hour, definitely tip $10-$20/day. Based on the information I´ve received about salaries of guides I´d say tips are definitely needed to make a reasonable living.

Ericka

We tipped at Singita. There are many online guidelines for safari tipping so I would just look those up if I were you. I don't recall Singita having any sort of service charge.

I think tipping is a normal practice for South Africa in general.

lb8001

I also tiped at Singita - specifically to my ranger and tracker (who were awesome and did go above and beyond) and my butler, as well as to one of the spa staff. I agree with what Jasper said above re wages.

wripro

Obviously, it is up to the individual to decide if and how much to tip. However, I received such outstanding service at Singita that I was more than happy to tip generously. Our guide, with whom we had dinner every night would take me down to the wine cellar beforehand and help me select from among the best and most expensive South African wines, which he then had decanted and served during the meal. These wines lone cost far more than what I tipped.

Kettering Northants QC

These are very high even for private game reserves in South Africa - 2-3x what is the norm.

ThudAndBlunder

Those levels were the norm when I used to safari regularly more than 10 years ago, so I doubt they've gone down since.

I'm definitely not a fan of copious tipping, but in the case of ranger / tracker, they are so integral to your experience, that in this case I'm happy to reach quite deep into my pocket.

Also, just a hunch...I have absolutely no numbers at all, but I'm going to guess that these people's salaries are probably lower than most people here would think.

(actually, I just Googled, and it's worse than you can imagine...I'm sure there's a premium at the very top places, but it would have to be a HUGE premium to make it into a decent wage...although, of course one has to be careful interpreting these numbers through a Western prism. What I can tell you is that the day to day cost of living in SA is shockingly high; compare prices in a South African supermarket or pharmacy to those back home, and you will get an unpleasant surprise).

Kettering Northants QC

By norm, do you mean what you were paying or what was the norm for South Africa? I still stand by my figures as been the norm for South Africa

But haven't you already paid for this quality product? - Singitta rates are high and the tours are included in the prices. If the tours are poor this will reflect on the Singitta and I'm sure they don't want that.

hmmmm

I have to disagree with you here, South African prices are not shockingly high, certainly not compared with where I live in England.

I have traveled extensively in South Africa in the last 10 years to both cities and fairly remote locations near the Kruger and generally it is not an expensive country. Yes, some safari products can be expensive but many of these are catering for western tourists, much cheaper accommodation - and some of it of a very high quality is available at a fraction of these prices it just isn't marketed to the West so much . Also you need to be careful comparing prices even within a country - around by me, you can easily dine out in a pub on good food for £10 - In London, poor pub food costs £20.

If you've ever been to a Supermarket near a western hotel in a far east tourist beach resort you'll find plenty of relatively expensive supermarkets. These are priced for western tourists not locals (who know where to really shop)

I think one needs to be very careful trying to change societies problems through tipping - you can create as many problems as you try to solve

Pausanias

The prices charged by outfits like Singita are a total rip-off, aimed at people who don't really care about wildlife. The word for it is Spafari. You pay around $1000 per person per day and then some people from tipping zones (ie, the USA) wonder about tipping a driver $10. That makes no sense at all. In my view, tipping only applies to countries with outdated employment laws (ie, the USA) or to developing world places like Burma or . . . .well, what about Mali? The Singita business prides itself on all that sustainability/community nonsense so one assumes they pay their staff adequately. I wouldn't even think about tipping anyone there.

Americans have exported a lot of good things around the world. Their degrading tipping culture isn't one of them.

ThudAndBlunder

I agree we're not going to change the world here.

But a couple of things; by norm, I mean norm, as in when the inevitable conversations of 'how much should we tip the ranger / tracker' came up, these are the amounts that the conversation tends to converges on.

Of course you are paying heavily for a quality product, but is this filtering through to the staff who make or break the experience for you?

South African day to day cost of living is surprisingly high, this is not really disputable. What you see as a tourist are accommodation and restaurant food, which are a pretty good deal, because cost of property is low and salaries are low (the two major costs of such businesses). Buying groceries is expensive; I'm not talking about tourist supermarkets, I'm talking Pick and Pay; and no way is it going to be cheaper in spaza shops - it will be more expensive, but typically you can buy smaller quantities.

This is all by the by; my preference is to tip someone who basically makes or breaks my stay (assuming they've made it, rather than broken it...).

Here is an indication of ranger / tracker packages: http://www.hoteljobs.co.za/category/...uide-jobs.html
Not much trickle-down in evidence, and it seems clear to me that the expectation is that they'll receive a significant proportion of their comp by way of tips.

xracer

If part of one's 2K+ per night is NOT filtering down to the staff at a place like Singita, then their claims of sustainability/community/conservation are a complete and total farce. Seriously, how can you claim to 'give back' when you don't even pay your own employees a decent living wage?

And by the way, the buzz words that I am using in the above paragraph come directly from the Singita.com website.

ThudAndBlunder

These places are operating in areas of terrible poverty, so certainly one would expect that their CSR efforts go a long way, and make a big difference to local communities.

Nonetheless, this isn't really indicative of whether or not lodges craft their packages for rangers / trackers in the expectation that tips will constitute a significant portion of their total compensation. Looking at the link I posted upthread, seeing what even 5* places are paying, I would think that it is a tacit industry norm that the low salaries on offer will be supplemented significantly by tips. Just as a benchmark: those salaries, for jobs which require quite high levels of skills and training, are in many cases quite a bit lower than what would be on offer for a driver in the Johannesburg area (think in-house courier, running letters around, pretty cushy undemanding job, requirement: driver's licence).

Larkin

We have been to most of the singita properties and to many other high end African game lodges/ camps as well. I completely agree with Wipro. In fact I would say his suggestions for guide and tracker are pretty standard. If they really go above and beyond, or you have a private vehicle you might consider tipping a bit more as this is such a key part of your experience and I think you will want to tip them well as they in my experience have added so much to our trips! We also tip the butler, individuals who provide spa services, and leave an envelope to be shared among the other employees when we leave. We have done at singita, wilderness safaris, &beyond ( former CC), etc.