Car from PEK to hotel

We have arranged for a driver to transport us from PEK to our hotel (Hilton Wangfujing, downtown) and were told that the driver would be waiting in the "meeting lounge" can anyone tell me where that is? and how long we should expect baggage and customs to take. We are flying from Detroit, through Narita, and scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 9:30 PM on Thursday Oct 23rd.

Also what would be appropriate for a tip for the driver?

Thanks.
Dennis

If you're flying into T2 (NW) and get off the plane quickly, you should be able to make it to the lobby in under 30 minutes. For T3 (NH and JL), you should allow an extra 10-15 minutes.

In both areas, you'll want to look for a sign with your name on it as you emerge from baggage claim.

I do not tip drivers, but a small gift like a candy bar might be a nice touch if you have a good experience.

Actually, and this came as a shock to me, the Chinese society is traditionally a strict no-tip society. The first time I went to China, I left I think 5 kuai on the table (probably the equivalent of $0.50 at the time) for a 20Y (standard 20%) and was literally chased down the street outside the restaurant by one of the waiters telling me I'd left money at the table.

This is slowly changing, but tipping as Westerners know it is still not a practice at all, be in in restaurants, cabs, or hotel services. The candy bar idea is a great one -- you'll probably make a hit with anything that you pick up at DTW.

Most importantly, enjoy your time in Beijing!!

Yes it is changing but tips are not really expected but appreciated. It is rare to have them refused like you experienced.

New Zealand is the other great country where tipping is not expected. I love these places.

Yep. I've been there too, for RMB3! Service had been exceptional with extra dishes offered when I'd only ordered 3 to start with. My extra RMB3 wasn't so much a tip - more just rounding the bill up rather than down.

And for those who aren't that familiar with China it the 'slowly' needs to be emphasised. VERY slowly. Tipping is a practice that is only really even vaguely present in a few of the places that are very much aimed at the Western market - and even then it's certainly not required. As I allude to above what is actually broadly standard practice in a restaurant is to bargain the bill down rather than adding a tip.

Westerners who are introducing the Chinese to the practice of tipping are actually going to achieve little but setting up a system that rips them off. Taxi drivers have a habit of being vultures across the world, and now China has some who have had Westerns who tip them a few times thus leading them to take the view that the Westerners are somewhat crazy and just want to pay more than they should - so he then looks to charge them more, and the Westerner still adds a tip, so he then looks to charge them even more... and the circle goes on and in the end the Westerner heads to FT and slags an entire nation of people as being thieving and dishonest rip-off merchants.

In the restaurants, hotels etc that I stay in there is no expectation of tips whatsoever. The only time I had the mildly embarrassing situation of a hotel porter "lingering" for a tip was in Hilton Shanghai, don't usually stay in those sort of places

The only time I gave a tip to a taxi driver was a couple of weeks ago when I was struggling to make a PEK-PVG flight and I got the driver to drive uber-fast (and for those of you familiar with Chinese taxis this is really, really fast!!). Made the flight so I gave him an extra 20 kuai.

nickyboy