We have booked a private 1-day tour with one of the well-known guides in Normandy next year. As we are paying him a considerable sum for a private 1-day tour, I'm wondering if we should budget for a tip as well? I'm not opposed to the idea, but I want to make sure I'm following the general protocol for such a situation.
Many thanks!
Jen B.
Nobody would mistake me for a big tipper. But tips are not usually for business owners. If this guide runs his own show and sets the price himself, then that price should be enough. (I think that any good guide will also value your thoughtful attention, questions, punctuality, and other forms of good citizenship.)
jen b,
for what its worth.
i did a private tour of the Normandy area when i was there.
no tips from me.
this is the way i do tips.
exceptional service - above and beyond the call of duty.
happy trails.
Jen,
I tend to treat this type of thing as a matter of personal preference. On the tours I've taken in Normandy, I tipped the Guides about 10% on each tour, as I felt that they provided me with a wonderful and memorable holiday experience, and their passion for the history was something that I really enjoyed. One of the guides was the owner of the business, and the other was one of his employees. That makes no difference to me - they both provided outstanding tours, and I thought they both deserved a gratuity. I felt it was a way of recognizing the exceptional job they had done. FWIW, the others in the small group also gave them a tip.
Others can do as they wish. If I feel that a guide provided an exceptional tour, I'll still give them a gratuity.
I've never really understood the distinction between tipping an employee and the boss. They both provide the same service yes? Ah yes tipping, the favorite flame war topic of internet posters everywhere. Nothing riles the blood like this very topic.
When in doubt I always tip. Even in Japan, where it's supposed to be a cultural imperative not to tip, I found that people who worked around American tourists decided that this was a habit they really liked.
Generally Europe does not have a tipping culture. A tour guide in business for himself who charges well should not be tipped. A flunky who guides for a large organization and probably gets paid peanuts, perhaps. If you ever do a 'free tour' then of course those folks not only work for tips but have to pay the organizer who provides the clients, so a tip is pretty much mandatory. On the other hand these operations probably should be avoided as they are designed to undercut trained licensed guides i.e. are a scab operation.
But no -- a private guide who runs his own business and sets his own prices should not be tipped. It is actually insulting to do so.
Private guides who own their own businesses are not insulted when they receive a tip. Where did you hear this?
Tipping guides has always been the norm in France. At the end of a short chateau tour, for example, the guide will say something about "if you liked the tour, don't forget the guide." People then shake hands and slip a coin into the guide's hand. Therefore, my husband, who's French, automatically tipped our Overlord Tour guide in Normandy, although we had already paid a good sum for the day-long tour. He would have felt uncomfortable not tipping. Was it necessary to tip in this case for a company dealing with English-speakers? I don't know, but he did. Now to confuse matters, you would tip a private guide who takes you to a museum, but it would be an insult to tip a National Museum employee, an art historian, who is leading a tour.
For a business owner to expect a tip after they have set their own fee is very unprofessional. If they don't feel insulted, they should. The same principle that you don't tip the owner of a hair salon but do tip employees holds.
For an Overlord tour guide or other paid flunky, tips are appropriate -- they don't receive the high fee you are paying for the service.
There is a huge difference between expecting a tip and being insulted when someone tips you. Which is it? Do you actually know any tour company owners?
I would say it is more of a case of no expectation of a tip is usual, but grateful when it happens. Most guides work for themselves as well as for other tour companies and I don't know a single one who "expects" a tip, nor who asks for one, but they all are grateful for them, and use any tips received to help pay the rent. We are talking guides in 4 different European countries, cause I have asked them. Not one even mentions tips nor asks for them, but all are happy, not insulted. None of them are rich.
Jan, you have twice used the word flunky when describing guides. Why? That is a pretty disrespectful label to use when speaking about people who guide for a living and who work for someone else. People who have spent considerable time and effort to learn a subject, perhaps years at a university, travel on their own for research, working in all sorts of weather, who are passionate about their subject as well as putting up with 1000's of ignorant questions with a smile. Interested in how you know what they receive for doing a tour. Do you think they are not well paid? That the tour owners just toss them a pittance for their sharing their knowledge with groups of paying guests?
"tour guide or other paid flunky"
Janet Travels,
Do you put Rick Steves guides, or Tauck guides in that category? Seems pretty harsh, or do you only direct it at some?
I interact with the public every day. I am an employee of a large company. Am I a "paid flunky"?
BTW, I get about 2 tips a month of a few pence, and maybe one every couple of years of a bit more. Do I deserve more?
