Hi all,
We have planned to use 3 of Rick Steves' tour guides he recommends (and many of you do, too). Walking Tours of Seville w/ Concepcion, Margarita Ortega, Carmen Balsera. My question----do we tip them? If they have one of their associates lead our tour, do we tip them? I was not sure what the typical custom was for these.
I posted this question earlier but only got 1 reply. I am hoping a few will chime in so I get a better sense.
thanks in advance,
Joanne
I would say to tip these guides, themselves or others they work with, unless there's something specific on the websites about not tipping them. You don't tip them when they're part of a RS tour, because the tour has taken care of that, but using them on their own would mean a tip for good service. Concepcion did a great job on my RS tour.
Thanks for your reply. I just remember the (probably outdated "rule") about not tipping an owner. We are paying cash for 2 of the 3 tours (not Concepcion's) and for those 2 cash tours, it's a private tour.
Joanne
Why would you ever tip an owner/guide?
I presume you've paid the guide for the tour (or will do)? In which case why the need for a tip? Besides, you haven't even been on the tour yet so you have no idea if the service warrants a tip.
The only tour guides I've ever tipped have been those who provide free tours. I recall being on one in Rome which was led by an extremely knowledgeable young American woman. I assumed she was likely a student in Rome and offered tours partly because of her love of Roman history but also as a means to earn a bit of income from tips.
