shorthauldad

If I pitch up for the typical hotel buffet breakfast, and it's included in my rate (or it's free with status), how am I supposed to know what it's "worth"* so I know what to tip?

Ditto "free drink" (via a chit)?

* I use that word in a rather loose sense

angatol

.....

bafan

There's normally a price around somewhere, for those who aren't entitled to the complimentary offering. And, if not, just use your common sense as to the likely value and amount to tip.

Even just a couple of dollars/pounds/euros, which should hardly break the bank.

User Name

I wouldn't sweat it. Hotel breakfast rooms and airport lounges are not the same as restaurants and bars in the rest of America. In restaurants and bars, 99% of patrons tip, therefore tipping is both normal and expected. Hotels and lounges are probably 50/50 at most, therefore tipping is appreciated, but neither normal nor expected.

shorthauldad

It seems to be one of those things: those who aren't used to this approach think it screams "Cheap!" (but why should I have to carry around small change in local currency to "pay" for the tip on my free breakfast?)

Those who are used to it, and see visitors not following the 'rules', think that also screams "Cheap!"

flieduk

Look here for an interesting d/c http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...cover-tip.html

layz

What they mean is not that you give the staff a tip equal to the cost of the breakfast but you use the cost of the breakfast as the basis for caculating your tip. So if the breakfast would have cost $25 a decent tip would be in the $2.50 - $5 range.

T8191

So tbe appropriate tip for LPGS in the CCR would be???

Oh, UK ... Nothing, of course

callum9999

Why differentiate?

layz

That thread just shows me how Americans overthink tipping.

I'd never think of handing a dollar to someone at the buffet counter doing made to order omlettes. In any sort of restaurant I'd tip once, at the point of payment, and rely on the venue to have their own procedures in place to ensure those other staff were rewarded.

I'm mostly a cashless person in the UK and so appreciate apps that allow you to ad an optional tip to taxi journeys and normally I will pay restaurant tips on my card (although if I have cash on me I'll give them the cash instead).

Is it OK to ask for change when tipping in the US? Arrive with only high dollar notes and someone at the hotel offers to take your bag, you feel a bit cheap asking for change of a $20, which is why I normally pop into a small shop at the airport before getting in a taxi to make sure I have small dollar bills which can be used for quick tips.

HIDDY

Yes I don't see why I should feel obliged to tip lounge staff just because I'm in Vegas when I wouldn't ever dream of doing it in any other airport.

As for when in Rome...I didn't make disgusting noises and spit in public when I was in Beijing.

layz

I believe UK 'rules' apply to BA lounges in the US too, so even though you can get full table service in the CCR in JFK then they don't expect a tip and as far as I've been told they have to politely decline it however insistent the customer is.

jerry a. laska

I'm not sure what is overthinking about it. The convention in the US is to tip servers. At HGI's you may order an omelet from a chef but a server brings the omelet to your table and serves you your coffee and juice at the table. If provided table service I usually tip unless the complimentary breakfast coupon states the tip is included. If I am eating from a buffet with no table service then I would not tip.

You can ask for change back when tipping, I regularly do this with cab drivers in the US (and the UK) if I don't use a card.

wemorwell

I've always found the staff at Las very friendly whether you tip or don't
I usually drop a couple of dollars in the jar but not every drink.

orbitmic

I always have mixed feelings over those things.

On the "pro-tipping" side, as others said, this is the norm in the local culture (US, Turkey, much of the Arab world, much of Latin America, etc) and so in a way, it is tempting to do so if only to ensure the staff do not assume you have been unhappy with the service when it is exactly the other way round.

On the "anti-tipping" side of the argument though, it is not very clear why you would tip a barman in the US why you don't tip your waiter in the CCR or F lounge who may very well earn no higher salary than their US counterpart and are doing you more of a service (and indeed a service that would earn more in the US than the barman's!)

So:

- Tip neither in case 1 nor case 2 and you breach cultural norms and might offend when you certainly did not accept to.

- Tip in case 1 but not case 2 and you commit a very obvious injustice by treating the employee who may well be the better of the two very unfairly compared to the other just because (s)he is UK-based rather than US-based.

- Of course, you could also choose to tip in both cases but then you simply participate to propagate a system which is ultimately used by restaurateurs and many service industry owners to underpay staff for doing excellent work and which I find morally inferior to the concept of a fair pay for a fair work. Moreover, in that last case, you'll still have to be unfair when you go to much of Asia where tipping would be considered extremely offensive by employees.

I don't really have a solution to offer. I tend to follow my instinct and accept that I might be inconsistent across experiences but to me this is a more complex question than one which could be simply answered by a "when in Rome" or a "it's meant to be free so I shouldn't".