Thread surfacing
 

Very timely thread, and thanks for linking the previous threads regarding tipping in India. I know I'll be using a private car/driver for a day or two. I never would have thought to supply him with rupees for his lunch. I would feel terrible to find out later, that he had no lunch and I was enjoying awesome Indian curry while he went without. Can't wait for authentic Indian food!
Keyser, thanks for all your help eith destination India!

I'm originally Indian (however I haven't lived there for 20 years but I still think I know the tipping culture unless it's changed :D)... drivers, waitstaff etc. hope for tips, it's customary to tip a small amount, like Rs. 20 ($0.40) for the bellman and maybe 5% at the restaurant is fine. Big tips in restaurants like in the US (15-20%) is not the norm, it's more like 3-5%.

I was with an American friend at a restaurant in Bangalore last year and he tried to give a 20% tip, the waiter got so confused he took the money and brought him change thinking he wanted change, when the guy said "no..it's for you, a tip" I think he nearly fainted! :D

It's still a poor country and a few extra bucks increases service levels drastically ;)

Hmm... 3-5% would be stingy though... 5-10% is my benchmark.

The habit for fishing for tips is terrible in some places. Earlier this year the bellhop in a Taj wouldn't help me hail a taxi because all 4 of them were busy opening doors for departing arriving guests, pockting 50-100 Rs each time. When they finally helped me load my family (incl 2 kids) into the Taxi they litterally stood the with open palms refusing to close the door. I refused to tip, complained to the duty manager who took action. ^

In my experience India is a surprisingly civilized country regarding tips. During my recent trip I never felt I was obliged to tip. One hotel (a Radisson) even had a note in the hotel folder saying that they 'do not encourage tipping individual team members'. The only people I tended to tip were porters, something like 50 INR total. And I suppose that had I paid for my dinners in restaurants myself, I might have tipped around 5% for good service. Service was always good, though. No need to make good service depend on tips anywhere. :cool:

Question on Tipping
 

Wife and I will be taking a 5 day Kerala trip later this year. We will have a single car and driver who will drive us around and destination to destination for those 5 days.

1. How much do I tip the driver for the total trip?
2. We are going to stay overnight at a houseboat in the Backwaters. How much do I tip the attendants at the houseboat?
3. What is the amount of recommended tips for bellboys, housekeeping staff for hotels?
4. What percentage of restaurant bill is a recommended tip amount, given average service and food?

Thank you for the tips :):)

did you try doing a search with the words 'tipping'????here are some results:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...tes-india.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...ing-india.html

I would say 5-10% range is appropriate.

Just double checks it has not already been added in some of the higher end places.

Say goodnight nicely
 

Just a small piece of advice, give him something at the end of each day.
You may find he's sleeping in the car and a small token each day may just give him enough for a nice meal each night.
(150-200RPS)

Thank you for your replies.

Tipping in India
 

I'm in the middle of a one month stay in India. Normally, about a third of the year in Italy, and two-thirds in the US. The tipping rules there are clear to me. In Italy there is essentially no tipping. When you ask for the check, there is not a line to write in a tip. It just isn't expected. In the USA you tip 15-20%, and there is a line for tips on every restaurant bill. I have no idea what the norm is in India. I'm staying in one hotel for the whole month. I eat almost all of my meals here, and use their various services. I've gone out a few times to eat, and until last night, haven't seen a restaurant bill with a line for tipping. What is the norm here?

10% should be good

i normally stick to inr 200 if the bill in under inr 5k & inr 500 if its over inr 5k....

What if you don't get a bill until the end? I'm staying at a hotel for a month. At the end of the first week the front desk asked me to pay about $1300 USD, which was for the room and for what I had eaten in the restaurant, bar, mini-bar, etc. I just paid that. I did not include a tip. I don't know how giving a tip to the front desk would get it distributed to waiters, the bar tender, etc. At the end of my next three weeks I'll get the rest of the bill, probably about $4,000. In the hotel I have just charging it to the room. There is no line item for tips on the bills that they bring. I haven't been leaving money each time. Is this bad?
Should I leave money each time? At the end, do I seek each person out who served me, and give them a tip? What if they are not working that day? Do I give a 5% tip to the front desk and tell them to distribute it to all the waitstaff, and assume that it will actually be done? What's different about my question is that I'm staying in one place, for one month, and am incurring virtually no outside expenses, except for the occasional yuk-yuk or taxi, and I can deal with that. I just don't know what to do at the end of a one month hotel stay.

i just leave a tip at the end of every meal, room service, etc....i don't wait till the end of my stay....