tipping
 

Wife and I will be staying at Sheraton Lido in Chengdu.
From what I have read tipping is not done, however in western hotels it is done. Do I tip at hotel and nowhere else, do I tip everyone at hotel?
Is this info correct?
Help do not want to do wrong thing

No tipping is perfectly acceptable, even in a top 5 star hotel. That's not to say it is not becoming more pervasive (sadly). And fewer and fewer Chinese will actively refuse tips (unlike in Japan, where that is still more the norm).

My advice: don't tip. Many Western hotels will have a 'service charge', which you need to pay. Although that doesn't go into the pockets of the staff, all the staff are being paid at least minimum wage, and often more (unlike the unsavoury American practice).

Then feel free to enjoy good service (when it's forthcoming -- which is quite often, since many Chinese people are great) without wondering whether it's all because of an ulterior motive.

tb

I have never tipped in China, including in major western hotels such as Starwoods (but I've never stayed in Chinese Sheratons, which rarely would be truly five star).

Normally no tipping anywhere, and I am very anti-tip. That being said though, during my most recent trip to Beijing, I got the awkward pause twice from hotel bellhops and I broke under pressure. The weird part of this for me is that I am of Chinese descent but grew up in North America (used to tipping), so most Chinese people don't know that I am not a local and thus shouldn't be assuming that I would tip them. Even then I got the "there you are sir... umm..." pause twice. This had never happened to me before, anywhere in China. So I'm not sure if maybe hotel bellhops have become so accustomed to being tipped that they are surprised when they are not.

Also, as I did tip twice this is what I tipped:

First time, I actually had no cash left on me after the taxi to the hotel and I opened my wallet and told the bellhop "oh I'm so sorry, I don't have any cash left", even after this he just said "oh..." and didn't make any motion of leaving, and actually looked at my wife who was across the room. Finally I awkwardly asked her for some cash and tipped him 20 RMB (normally I would give $2-$5 per bag and I had 4 bags, but this guy pissed me off so I took the smallest bill she had). FYI: this was Doubletree Beijing

Second time was a bit better in the sense that the guy was actually cheerful and nice, but this time I wanted to test the system and so I made sure he didn't lift a single piece of luggage. He literally just pushed the cart from elevator to room. Yet he still gave me the awkward tip pause, but since he was nice I still tipped him 50 RMB (about $10 for walking from the elevator, I put bags onto the cart, and took all of them off and into the room). This was at the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport.

I had lived full time in China for 7 years, and usually visit around twice a year now, and have never gotten this awkward pause before (not at any Western hotels either) so I was very surprised to get it twice in one trip, especially since no one would guess I wasn't a local if I didn't say so.

So I don't suggest tipping as the service should not be directly correlated to tipping as it is unfortunately in North America. But at the same time, it seems bellhops have suddenly gotten used to being tipped. The first guy I gave 20 RMB to actually sounded disappointed by the "small" tip and he actually said "oh, ok （哦，那好吧）" when I gave it to him. Therefore even though I am firmly anti-tip, I still break under the pressure to do so and just wanted to warn you that all of a sudden there is some pressure for it in China. For restaurants though, NO TIPS. Any place where tips are expected will have a fixed service charge that is worked in to your bill anyways, and the only places where I have seen people tipping (aside from Western hotels now) is during live stage shows.
As for who to tip at the hotels, I wouldn't have had tipped anyone, but only the bellhops were actually waiting for it.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...ggestions.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...s-changin.html

The latter is old, but this topic really hasn't changed much in principle during the course of the past 8 years.

Asia - no tipping needed at all. For one a generalization works.

Generally speaking, no tipping is necessary in China.

I did tip a bell hop when I had 6 pcs of luggage each weighing 20-23 kg each but by any standard that was an exception.

As for Lido Chengdu, it's been awhile since we were there. I don't remember it as a memorable experience.

No tipping, but I do 'tip' good taxi drivers by rounding up, and a little more for the airport runs when they are very helpful with luggage.

To you guys who tip, please don't.
you are ruining it for all the expats and even the Chinese who live there. Don't generate the expectation.

I totally agree, even though I broke under pressure the last two times. People in China work for their salary, not for their tips. Their remuneration is their pay, and I believe this should be the same everywhere. If the salary is too low to support the worker, the salary should be bumped up and prices along with it. The net result is the same minus the frustration of wondering if you tipped enough, or how the person would react to your tip.

Like the others have said, I'm generally anti-tipping, but the part of your post that I've bolded is increasingly not the case. I don't pin a whole lot of blame on tourists because the most egregious infringers are the showboating locals.