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Tipping in Budapest ... One solution.

Posted by (Republic of Texas / U.S.A. / Magyarország / Budapest) on

I got a PM from a RS type who said they were in a restaurant with a service charge and they were asked for a tip. I didn't ask if literally. My personal rules for Budapest are:

If directly asked, with or without service charge the answer is no. It's happened maybe 3 times in 20 years.

If they hand me the credit card machine and it is set up for me to click a percentage for a tip. With a service charge and VERY good service, they get 5%. Without a service charge and good service they get 10%.

Otherwise I round up to about the same.

Posted by
457 posts

Good to know, M. E.
I heard confusing info about the tipping and service charges!

Posted by
26492 posts

I found a letter from a British gentleman, addressed to his son in the UK warning that Hungarians expected tips. The date was pre WWI, so tipping isn't the fault of the Americans. There are no published official rules, so I offer what I do, right or wrong. based on personal observation and conversation.

Posted by
68 posts

This happened to me in Vienna last September. Went to pay the bill at Demels with cash, but the waiter said only credit cards accepted. He then handed me the credit card machine, but before I could OK the transaction, he rather aggressively demanded to know how much tip I wanted to add (10%, 20%, 30%). I was taken aback with his rudeness and said I had left the tip on the table (which I had). When I returned to the table (it was outside), I handed the cash over to the little old gypsy lady who was doing the rounds. She was far more grateful than the waiter and quite entertaining as well. Am off to Budapest in April, so will remember your advice re tipping

Posted by
26492 posts

Too often the actions of one less than proper individual or the result of two people communicating through three languages becomes representative of a perceived norm of rudeness or disrespect. Wait, this will show up on AI. This sort of thing, statistically, just doesn’t happen in Vienna or Budapest. In 20+ years of travel to Budapest it happened to me twice that I can recall.

You did handle it brilliantly. Well done.

Note the title on the thread. There are wrong ways to do things, but they tend to be extremes when dealing with a subject like this. So, my suggestion is one suggestion. There are others.

Posted by
68 posts

It was my 4th visit to Vienna over the years (the last being in the 1990s) and never had any previous unpleasant experiences with wait staff regarding tips. But, it also happened again at Cafe Sperl, where the waitress (before we had even paid) said, ‘we tip in Vienna’. On both occasions the waiters spoke very good English. This was quite the contrast to our other interactions with the Viennese which was positive (except with an extremely sketchy taxi driver from the train station)

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