Tipping Normandy Beach Tour Guide

Is your guide self-employed, or did you find him/her through a company? If s/he is the business owner, then I wouldn't tip; but I would tip if you booked through one of the tour guide services. I looked at the Overlord Tours website to see what they had to say about tipping:

Tips in France are not included in the tour fees. We appreciate tips- and believe they are an expression of appreciation for what we hope to be an optimum tour guiding experience for you. We hope that our hard work on your behalf will lead you to consideration of a tip for our guides.

Many thanks. It's through Dale Booth, who is self-employed, and recommended by Rick Steves. I plan on tipping but just have no sense as to the amount. 20%?

If it’s the owner he’s getting all the fees. Americans tend to think that they have to tip everyone, not necessarily. Maybe by him lunch while on your tour. That’s what I did for our driver in Italy. Very much appreciated by him.

Lucky you to get Dale Booth! Why not just email him and ask what is customary for tipping?

France doesn't have a tipping culture -- Sad that Americans are so intent on making sure every fellow American tourist gets hassled because they think we are rubes and will easily hand over random money if pressed. A guy who runs his own guide business gets all the fees; he particularly should not be tipped in addition. The only tips for guides should be for 'free walking tours' where they literally work for tips. Let's not try to remake Europe into the US where many workers have no health insurance and are grossly underpaid without tips; Europe is not the US.

I agree that you are SO lucky to tour with Dale. He is awesome. IF you have any relatives that landed on the Normandy Beaches see if you can find out their units and he can show you where they came in. I had him on a RS tour and asked him if he could show me ALG 1 (Advanced Landing Ground) where my Dad's fighter squadron was landing shortly after DDay. Not only did he show us (drive by) but also worked the function of the ALGs in to his discussions during the day.

He is the owner and is a Brit who has lived in the Normandy area for years. I would guess he goes with local culture and does not expect a tip on top of his fee.

Again, this is going to be an awesome 2 days.

spg,

I agree with the others that you're in for an awesome tour experience with Dale Booth. He was formerly with the British Army, and is an outstanding guide!

Regarding the tipping question, I'm not sure what his policy is on that? As I recall, I provided a gratuity but I can't remember the amount. I'd probably wait until the end of the tour and base the gratuity on how much you enjoyed the tour, but not less than about 12% of the tour cost. If you'll be paying by credit card, I believe there's a 2.5% surcharge on top of the tour cost.

This is a two-sided response. There are two jobs in France where people were always tipped: the usher at a show got 50-centimes for showing you to a seat, even if the movie theater was empty, and the guide at a chateau. This is because they were unpaid for the service; the usherette was often a woman supporting children, such as a war widow, while the guide was often the chateau caretaker who earned extra leading tours. Even today you might hear this kind of guide refer to himself in the third-person in French at the end of a tour, “And don’t forget the guide” which is a signal to dip into your coin purse for a Euro or two.

You won’t hear anything like this from art historians with PhDs. leading tours at the Louvre, Versaille, or the archaeologists leading tours at the caves. A tip would be confusing, perhaps insulting, to them.

At your level of service, I don’t think anything is expected, certainly not from Dale Booth. If it’s one of his employees, and you are delighted with the service and absolutely want to tip, just whip out another bill of some denomination, no calculated percentage needed, and slip it to the guide discretely and let him know it’s because you were thrilled with the tour.