Tipping without cash?
Dec 27, 2025 | 6:23 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Sweden (but CPH is closest int'l airport)
Programs: AmXP… lost most of the others as we don’t travel as much any more!
Posts: 133
Tipping without cash?
We frequently travel to a country for 2-4 days and don’t get any local currency as it is so rarely needed. My husband hasn’t even had an ATM card for several years - he never uses cash at home or abroad.
But then we have nothing with which to tip bellhops, concierges, etc.
What do you do about tipping?
But then we have nothing with which to tip bellhops, concierges, etc.
What do you do about tipping?
Dec 27, 2025 | 6:39 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: UA1K, *G & Wife of UA1K MM
Posts: 3,527
We frequently travel to a country for 2-4 days and don’t get any local currency as it is so rarely needed. My husband hasn’t even had an ATM card for several years - he never uses cash at home or abroad.
But then we have nothing with which to tip bellhops, concierges, etc.
What do you do about tipping?
But then we have nothing with which to tip bellhops, concierges, etc.
What do you do about tipping?
Dec 27, 2025 | 10:16 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco
Programs: GM on VX, UA, AA, HA, AS, SY; Budget Fastbreak; GM with hotels; Waymo; Honda crv; iOS
Posts: 36,684
I would get an atm card in order to use it abroad for tips, annoying as it sounds. I deal with cash in USA so I have atm albeit with few dollars at home. I’ll get bills and then get change at hotel desks for smaller bills for tips. I’ve never had trouble breaking a us$20 for $5 notes for housekeeping and sometimes a $10 for valet when they help load the luggage into the car.
Dec 27, 2025 | 11:16 am
#5
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: BNA
Programs: HH Silver. (Former UA PP, DL PM, PC Plat)
Posts: 9,544
For locations in the Amiericas, with a large number of US tourists, you can tip in USD as they get those often and know how to spend or exchange them.
In other areas, use your debit/ATM car to get some local currency. Apply your left over local currency to your hotel bill at checkout, putting the remainder on your credit card. This way you don't have to worry about having leftover foreign currency.
In other areas, use your debit/ATM car to get some local currency. Apply your left over local currency to your hotel bill at checkout, putting the remainder on your credit card. This way you don't have to worry about having leftover foreign currency.
Dec 27, 2025 | 1:13 pm
#6
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 5,024
You frequently go to the same country, or to "a country" as in a random country?
If you are repeatedly going to the same country, have your bank at home get you several trip's worth of their currency, and you'll be good for several trips' worth of tips.
What do you do when you encounter a place where local currency is needed? Walk away? My last overseas trip I found few places where only cash was accepted, but even in first world countries - and when you want to tip - those places still exist. I have a card with low currency exchange fees that I used to get cash from an ATM as surprises can happen and I never want to be completely without cash when traveling.
If you are repeatedly going to the same country, have your bank at home get you several trip's worth of their currency, and you'll be good for several trips' worth of tips.
What do you do when you encounter a place where local currency is needed? Walk away? My last overseas trip I found few places where only cash was accepted, but even in first world countries - and when you want to tip - those places still exist. I have a card with low currency exchange fees that I used to get cash from an ATM as surprises can happen and I never want to be completely without cash when traveling.
Dec 27, 2025 | 1:40 pm
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2023
Location: Southern Ontario
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ATM cards aren't hard to get and I always have local cash for tips. Cash is also very handy in those countries, like the USA, where merchants and restaurants use credit payment systems that are regarded as obsolete in the rest of the developed world.
Dec 27, 2025 | 2:30 pm
#8
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Of the fifteen countries I have visited this year (Europe, Asia and the USA), I have only needed cash in the USA. It seems largely obsolete elsewhere.
Dec 27, 2025 | 5:25 pm
#9
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: MD, USA
Programs: DL SkyMiles, HHonors Gold
Posts: 158
I can't remember the last time I needed cash here in the good ol' USA. And the vast majority of places I go to accept tap to pay.
Dec 27, 2025 | 7:37 pm
#10
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: BNA
Programs: HH Silver. (Former UA PP, DL PM, PC Plat)
Posts: 9,544
I use cash only for tips when I'm not also buying something else. Hotel van drivers, valets, etc. I'll go to the bank occasionally and get a stack of five-dollar bills for tips. Anything else is on a card--usually tap to pay these days.
Dec 27, 2025 | 8:32 pm
#11
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 5,024
Most vendors at local farmer's markets are cash only, as are many vendors at street fairs/festivals/etc.
Dec 27, 2025 | 10:34 pm
#12
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Join Date: Jul 1999
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Argentina is a place that gratuities are typically in cash.
Dec 27, 2025 | 10:57 pm
#13
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Dec 28, 2025 | 12:12 am
#14
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As someone who loves banknote collecting, I have never had to spend cash in the US - since I started buying my own things at 16, I have always put everything on a card in the US. I think the poster a few posts up is commenting that they don’t like having to hand their card over for restaurant payment in the US (agreed that handheld terminals should be the norm not the exception).
Dec 28, 2025 | 12:15 am
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Sweden (but CPH is closest int'l airport)
Programs: AmXP… lost most of the others as we don’t travel as much any more!
Posts: 133
I’m not sure Swedish kronor would be helpful to folks in Asia or the Middle East (which is where we are right now). 🤷♀️
Last edited by albie; Dec 28, 2025 at 12:17 am Reason: Added quote