Tipping—The New Norm???

Sometimes we were unable to complete a credit card transaction without adding a tip.

There wasn't a 'no tip' option?

Sure hope you chose 'one (euro) cent' amount.

Haven't been since pre-covid, so cannot answer your question

Just returned having visited 4/29-5/7 and did not experience any requests nor pressure for tips. At restaurants, tours, anything. Did leave small tips of €1-2 at restaurants and offered small tips for great tours. Private transfer from Salerno to NAP, no tip, although likely worthy of one given our driver went out of his way to use google translate to tell us all about the area on our drive.

I'm interested in what cities you visited where it sounds like many were soliciting for tips.

We spent a month in Italy last fall and exactly once had a waiter hound us for a tip. The rest of the places, the machine didn't even have an option for tipping. The bill was placed on the table, a machine presented, tap, done.

I am curious- which towns/cities did you visit where you experienced this?

How exactly did the shop personnel and tour bus drivers request tips?

In my experience the credit card slip doesn't even have a line to add a tip, That would be a huge change.
Last few trips most everything was tap and pay.

The only places in Italy in the last twenty-years of traveling I've ever come across people making a point about tips, are are in tourist-traps and located in high-traffic areas full of naive foreigners.

nicholda323, where did you come across this request or solicitation for tips?

We were in the Tuscany & Pompeii areas.

Examples of what we encountered:

Every restaurant in Florence requested tips. None of them had options on the credit card machine to not give a tip & you were not allowed to bypass it . One restaurant even charged a service fee. The Pompeii restaurants were similar.

In Lucca, @ the Rick Steves recommended bicycle rental, they had a tip jar.

The Vesuvius tour bus driver in Pompeii had a big sign requesting a tip. He even made announcement requesting tips.

We were under the impression that in Europe tips are never requested.

We spent 2 weeks in Sorrento in April 2023 and there was no tipping expectation, but as soon as we got to Rome it was obvious that Americans were being aggressively targeted.

None of them had options on the credit card machine to not give a tip
& you were not allowed to bypass it

This would mean they all have a completely new POS system. And I am sure you can bypass it by inputting ZERO.

If all this is true then I hate to say it but it's because Americans have been trying for years to push our customs on to other countries by insisting on tipping where it is not necessary and not expected.

I hope Roberto sees this post and responds with his thoughts

Tipping...a new global pandemic!!!

Never heard of it. I was in Florence last summer. I’ll check in a month since I’ll be back in Italy. But I don’t normally go to restaurants in the historical center so maybe this new norm is limited to some of the tourist traps there. Italians would not leave a tip.

It’s happened to me only two times, once 10 years ago in Murren Switzerland and last year in Sorrento, both Rick Steves recommended restaurants. Once something is in the book, it’s flooded with Americans who are used to tipping. So….

Were you closely following recommendations from the book?
. No Italian waiter would do this with an Italian. Your credit card set off the screen. An Italian card wouldn’t . I ‘ve heard of this happening with Americans in Paris, even those who live there and have weak French skills. No French waiter would do this to a European.

One restaurant even charged a service fee.

Service fee is another thing. Is the part elsewhere called "pane e coperto". Not all restaurants still do it, but is a old tradition in Italy. Is not related to tipping and the amount is mandatory written on the menu.

Every restaurant in Florence requested tips. None of them had options on the credit card machine to not give a tip & you were not allowed to bypass it .

Where there are a lot of foreign tourists (mostly Americans) tips are nowadays required. Is interesting the matter that you can tip by Credit Card machine, because is not a "black" tipping in cash. Is a recorded transfer of money, so they pay taxes on it.
The great difference between being an American in over-touristy places: at the end of the meal the tourist must leave a tip. When you are an Italian in places without American tourists the waiter offer you a glass of limoncello or nocino! Or in a market sellers offer you something to eat: a piece of cake, of cheese, or chocolate.

I work as a guide and I noted that in the last year if a group of tourists (with a tour leader from Tuscany or Rome) ask me about tipping the TL warns me to don't say that tipping is not required in Italy. There are even a lot of foreign Tour Operators who warn tourists that in Italy is normal (and mandatory) leave a 10% of tip!

Related, I ran into something odd.

Not in Italy, but Germany, where tipping is somewhat "a thing" in restaurants. I have a Chip and PIN card with PIN the priority. I never get a slip to sign in Europe. Used it in a restaurant, tapped my card, likely was over 50 euro so I expected to enter my PIN, but the server hit something and out prints a slip to sign, with a tip line. I even remarked about needing to enter my PIN.

So POS systems must be evolving in Europe that they can selectively print a slip to enter a tip, and of course I did see multiple times where a suggested tip could be added, but always a way to decline or edit the tip.

I've only experienced that once. It was in Florence last fall. I only had an Americana coffee and dessert, mostly because I wanted to sit in a popular piazza and enjoy the view for a bit. The dessert did not taste delicious or fresh, but it's a touristy restaurant so my expectations were low anyway. It was a rainy evening and there were plenty of empty seats around me, so I wasn't taking up precious space. After I paid, the waiter asked with surprise why I didn't leave a tip. I just told him I didn't want to and left. I do tend to have a wonderous, starry eyed look on my face when I'm in Florence, so I guess he assumed I would leave 20%?

Here at home, I've occasionally left a 1$ tip when the machine won't let me pass by without a tip, but it's a service that doesn't warrant a tip. I do find that at times I have to fight against my annoyance at being constantly prompted to tip at places that I wouldn't normally tip.

There are even a lot of foreign Tour Operators who warn tourists that
in Italy is normal (and mandatory) leave a 10% of tip!

We must have had one of the good ones. In April 2023 we did a 2 hour walking tour of Naples with Mondo Tours. Our guide was so proud of his city but at the same time so embarrassed of what it had become with the graffiti and scammers; especially the taxi drivers. There was us and one American couple on the tour and at the end the American tried to tip €20 on a €40pp, tour but the guide was having none of it. He explained that tipping in Italy was unnecessary and didn't want to take it, but the American grabbed the guide's hand and stuffed the €20 into it.

Post-Covid so many places have gone cashless with new POS systems, they are practically hardwired to have a tip screen. And frankly if you worked in the tourist industry and perhaps didn't make much during the past few years, and you knew Americans came from a tipping culture, is it really such a stretch to ask and see what happens?

And if you're using a machine that insists on a tip, why not just put the number 1. Hopefully that doesn't blow your travel budget.

When done eating, get off your table and pay at the cash register on your way out. But most importantly avoid restaurants packed with American tourists.