FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Appropriate gift for Concierge?
View Single Post
Old Sep 7, 2019 | 6:59 pm
  #2  
MSPeconomist
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
40 Countries Visited
60 Nights
5M
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 102,617
What help are you expecting from various hotel concierges? Unless they successfully make restaurant reservations in notoriously difficult places at prime times for you in advance, I wouldn't think that anything would be expected for normal getting around advice and answering questions in English.

I wouldn't tip a USA concierge for answering simple questions or booking tours (on which there is a commission) or phoning a restaurant for a simple reservation (where no particular connections or favors are being used), and similarly I wouldn't give a gift for similar services in Japan, including writing addresses in Japanese characters.

If you return to the same hotel frequently or establish a guest relationship with a concierge, the situation is a bit different. It could also be a bit different if you are staying at the hotel during a traditional gift giving period in Japan, but a foreigner wouldn't be expected to know this.
MSPeconomist is offline