Playboy, our engagement agreements typically say that the client will reimburse us for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses ) incurred in connection with our performance of the services hereunder." The idea is that we get our fee and whatever incremental expenses we are incurring that we would not have incurred were we not engaged. [I am always a bit surprised that this includes meals, because we would presumably eat if we hadn't traveled to the client, but I suppose the rationale is that meals out and at hotels tend to be more expensive than meals in.] Kettering NQC, some clients have asked us to modify our agreement to eliminate business class within Europe, which we typically now avoid (e.g., on a London to Amsterdam flight) but might do on a flight from, say, London to Moscow in which we had a lot of work to do

So, assuming the standard is what is a reasonable out of pocket expense, a resonable tip to a waiter for dinner would be included and so would a reasonable dinner. But, a £100 dinner would not be reasonable for a junior consultant (and I have rejected this kind of thing in my review) and neither would a £20 tip.

In some case, like in Scandinavian countries, salaries are presumed to be OK, service is included and tips except for exceptional circumstances would be unreasonable. I have generally been in GenevaFlyer's camp, but recognize that there are other opinions.

Generally, a $10 per day or equivalent tip seems unreasonable to me and I want to give the consultant guidance as to what is reasonable. It seems like that ranges from 0 to €3-€5. In some of the other countries, even if service is included, people are divided about whether or not to tip when exceptional service is not given.