Hello,
Mt friend and I hired a private driver to take us from Positano to Naples. This may be a stupid question but are we supposed to tip the driver? If so, what percentage? Thanks!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
I would give him about a 5% tip but only if he's truly special. If he just does a basic job, I wouldn't tip at all. Italians rarely tip for anything.
Posted by
OP
nyc, ny, usa
4 posts
Thanks so much! So do I tip a all in Italy (waiters, housekeeping, porters)? Thanks!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Read this: Tipping in Italy and this: Rick on Tipping in Europe
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15146 posts
WAITERS: no tip. There is a reason why in Italy, if you pay with a credit card, there isn't even room for the tip amount in the card receipt you sign. If I pay cash I might leave the cents as tip. HOUSEKEEPING: no tip. Unheard of in Italy. TAXI DRIVERS: What. Are you kidding me? Taxi drivers earn more than dentists in Italy according to statistics by the Italian tax authorities (and both evade taxes). I will tip a taxi driver in Italy only if he carries me on his back from downtown to the airport.
PORTERS: if they take your luggage up to your room, leave some tip (like 1 euro for each piece of luggage max!!)
Posted by
Lafayette, LA
224 posts
TAXI DRIVERS: What. Are you kidding me? Taxi drivers earn more than dentists in Italy according to statistics by the Italian tax authorities (and both evade taxes). I will tip a taxi driver in Italy only if he carries me on his back from downtown to the airport. We need to get RS to include this in his Italian guidebook and of course for Roberto to get a royalty payment. Ha ha!!
Posted by
Portland
3592 posts
As is usual for questions about tipping, the answers are all over the map. Here's my admittedly not very good strategy. I try to see what other people are doing. Since in many countries cash is more frequently used than plastic, I crane my neck to watch the bill-paying at nearby tables in restaurants. Very often, as Roberto says, in Italy no tip is proferred. However, not always. I will say that it feels uncomfortable to me not to tip in a restaurant. On tours, again I try to see what others are doing. Once, in Italy, the guide positioned herself so that we couldn't offer a tip; but another time a guide happily accepted what people slipped her. I usually leave a euro or two every morning, on the pillow, for the cleaners; but once, I think in Germany, it was placed back on the nightstand. In the end, you are left playing it by ear, with the one sure principle: no Europeans tip 20% as has become common in the U.S.