 http://www.dinercity.com/nyDiner/nycDiners.html by dogears | Travel tips and advice posted by real travelers and New York City locals. • 11 Photos
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Delivery people: variable, depending on the size of the delivery and the quality of the service. For small packages $2.00 is fine, but if there are several packages, the tip should be $4 - $5 dollars.
Doorman: variable, depending upon the service provided. For getting a cab or opening a door, $1.00 is fine, but if he/she carries packages up to your apartment, the tip should be $3 - $5 dollars. Remember, a good doorman is a great asset.
Hairdressers/barbers: between 15% and 20%. This also applies to manicurists, pedicurists, and masseuses.
Hotel Staff: between $2.00-$3.00 for each time they clean your room. Usually, this tip is paid at the end of your stay.
Parking garage attendants: between $1.00-$2.00 each time they deliver your car.
Skycaps: they should get at least a dollar for each bag you check. You may want to tip more, remember, your luggage is in their hands.
Taxi drivers: between 10% and 15%. If the service is excellent you can tip more, but if its poor, tip less, or not at all if the driver is downright awful.
Waiters/Waitresses, Bartenders: between 15% and 20%. If you are with a party of 6 or more, you should tip 20%. Again, the quality of service is a factor. In restaurants and some other places, tips are shared by the "bus boy", "bar tender" and others.
For large parties: some restaurants will automatically add the tip to the bill. Check for this.
In most cases, tips are given directly to the service person, however, at restaurants, clubs and bars, tips can be added to your bill if you pay by credit card or if you are dining at the restaurant of the hotel you are staying in, you may include a tip on the house charge slip. In either case, you must write the amount of the tip on either the charge card slip or the house charge slip and enter a "total" amount at the bottom. Phone: 631.549.0064Website: www.citidex.com Other Contact: Fax: 631.549.6663
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This is what I usually do (of course, this varies person to person, budget to budget)
Taxi: Nothing outstanding- round the total up to the next dollar, then add a dollar. (i.e. total is $5.45...round up to $6...add another dollar $7, paid)
*some taxi drivers may say they "don't have change". Make sure you have singles to avoid overpaying them out of frustration of not having change.
If they were really great drivers (helped outstandingly with luggage, gave tips about travel, etc) add whatever else. If they were horrible, you're not obligated to give anything. (you might want to at LEAST round up to the next whole dollar to avoid waiting for change)
Restaurants: typically, double the tax (Tax is about 8%...so tip is about 16-20%) Leave a Comment
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The size of tips expected by some service providers in New York is astronomical compared to UK standards (Although nowhere near as bad as Las Vegas). Typically $1 to $2 per drink in bars, room maids $2 - $5 a day for cleaning your hotel room and taxi drivers up to 20%.
All this soon adds up, and has run into hundreds of $$ for us on some trips. Although I don't have a problem with tipping itself, many VT forum articles have some New Yorker whinging about how these impoverished locals are earning "the minimum wage" and how "they need these tips just to survive".
Let's just look at that for a second...
...I've never worked in a bar, but I'm assuming a reasonably competent barman could serve one drink in one minute - from taking the order, pouring the drink, collecting the cash and sorting the change. On a busy night (ANY night, in ANY semi-decent New York bar) that's a minimum of 60 drinks a hour. That's at least $60 a hour basic wage, with the bar salary on top.
If I've got my facts wrong, and these workers are indeed on the poverty line, then what happens when these hundreds of thousands of service workers are on their days off, and they visit bars, hail taxis, get their hair cut, and have a package delivered?
Are we as tourists gullibly meant to believe they too are dishing out $2 tips for each beer they buy.
I think not.
That said, I left a reasonable tip in most places, and in those that I didn't, I never got any remarks. (Mainly to the toilet attendants who like to make you feel "special" by turning the tap on and giving you a sorry sheet of kitchen towel).
Following the link below, some muppet has written a whole web page on the etiquette of tipping. Follow his advice and a trip to a restaurant will cost you about $40 before you even order the food. Leave a Comment
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We are very good tippers, always giving more than the local accepted tarrif.
New York is the first place we have ever visited where we have felt bombarded to pay a tip (as if it's assumed we would not be going to...), and we were even told on one occasion how much to give to the cent!!! Which we of course thought was a bally cheek!
The two most irritating times were on the open top tour bus, and a local cafe across the road from our hotel. It put us off eating there again!
In one of our bus trips (it was a hop and off type bus), there was this very loud and brash guy (OK, we are in New York haha), and he would be telling us about the history or significance of a place as we drove by, but at each and every stop he would go on about how he earns minimum wage and relies on tips, and then he goes and stands right by the front exit door, so you have to go past him to get out, talk about pressure!
After a few times we were getting off thankfully, and he was the ONLY person, on principal, that we never gave a tip to. We did not like his aggressive behaviour, or the sarcastic comments he would trail behind those who got off and did not give him a tip.
We pay a lot of money for the tickets themselves, and tips are not obligatory... so we really didn't appreciate his forcefulness and attitude!!!
Then at the cafe we had a light-ish meal, and before we had finished eating we asked for the bill as per usual. I had popped to the loo, and the waitress gave my husband the bill and said at the sam time, 'and your tip is $x.xx'... down to the cents!
My husband was taken aback.. we have travelled to many countries and never before have we been told what tip we should give!!! Plus she had added on a 20% tip, and sorry, but this was a cafe, a 15% tip would be the max we would give her. A 20% tip is for a proper restaurant. We are not fools.
'What a cheek' I thought when hubby told me what she had said... she is lucky that I wasn't there when she said it as I would have let her know that what she was saying was out of order to customers.
The food was good, the cafe quite sweet, but this left a bad taste in our mouth and we did not return there, which is a shame, as it was a handy little place across the road from our hotel. Leave a Comment
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15% for personal services, such as taxi, hairdressers, restaurants etc. In restaurants a quick and easy way to calculate the tip is to double the tax, which will be stated on the bill (8.25% to date).
For bell-boys, $1 a bag, and in bars $1 per drink.
Get used to it! Leave a Comment
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Visitors to the States MUST understand that service personnel (waiters, doormen, bellboys, etc.) DO NOT GET PAID MINIMUM WAGE. They get just a few dollars per hour. They depend on their tips in order to live. For a major city in the US (and New York certainly qualifies), tip about 20%; up or down, depending on service. (An easy way to do this in NYC is to double the tax. That works out to about 17%) Give a dollar per bag to the skycap, bellboy, etc. Leave two or three dollars per day, per person to the hotel maid. Taxi drivers, hairdressers, etc., are paid much better, but it is still expected to give them a tip for service. For the cab ride, maybe a dollar, depending on the length of the ride. For the hairdresser, maybe 15%, or ask the receptionist for her advice.
We are not a nation of millionaires. Most people are just scraping by, especially in the last three or four years. And also bear in mind that most of our paychecks do not include health care, dental care or more than two weeks vacation per year. New Yorkers are not looking for a handout by expecting a tip - they are trying to put food on the table for their families. Leave a Comment
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It seems that everyone, regardless of who they are - waitresses, cab drivers etc EXPECT a tip, I am not stingy and DO tip at home - but only if the service is fab, here everyone wants a tip and it doesnt matter if the service is crap! so just a couple of dollars will go a long way. Leave a Comment
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Don't fret too much on tipping. Use common sense - higher tips for good service, lower or no tip for poorer service.
Here's what this native does:
Taxi
Good idea to be able to give exact fare. Keep a bunch of $1 and $5 available.
Cabbies generally make good $, but they work hard and usually a tip is called for.
Regular service - round up tab to next $ then minimum $1.00 or add 10%.
Exceptional - guy is courteous, drives politely helps with bags (other than popping open the trunk) etc around 20% - heck the guy deserves it!
Crummy - I'll round up to the nearest $ and pay - I'm not waiting around for change!
Restaurant
Beware - some restaurants tack on 15% (or more) automatically, especially for groups of more than 4, so check you bill and signs in the rest.
Regular service - 15% before tax tab or double the tax (around 17%).
Exceptional - I'll take 10% of final bill (move the decimal point one left) and double that amount - so 20%+
Crummy - Depends how bad - sometimes 10% pre-tax, sometimes I wouldn't leave anything.
No one has ever come running after me, but if they did I would call 911 and would feel especially vindicated about the tip (or lack of). Crying about a tip is not proper behavior for anyone. No matter what anyone here says, no matter where you are, a tip is never mandatory. But do tip for service and food presentation, not flavor - if the flavor is not to your liking that is an issue between you and the restaurant not you and the server.
Hotels
I never rented a hotel in NYC, but $2 to $5 / day should be sufficient. Again if poor service, no tip.
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The prices quoted do not include New York 8.25% sales tax, which applies to hotel rooms (plus a 5% hotel tax and $2 hotel fee per room per night). Clothing and footwear under $110, prescription drugs, and non-prepared food bought in grocery stores are exempt from sales tax.
Tipping is more or less compulsory in the US. Remember that service is never included on a New York bill, unless you're in a large party at a restaurant (six or more people), in which case it is noted. Tip cab drivers and waiters 15-20%, coat-checkers $1, bellhops around $1 per bag, hotel maids $1 a day and bartenders between 50¢ and $1 per drink, depending on what type of environment you're in. (by let's go). Leave a Comment
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Ok, this is an outsiders view on tipping, hey correct me if I am wrong but isn't tipping based on the service given rather than feeling obliged to do the 'local thing' ?
Ok prime example, you go to a restaurant, the service is great, your waiter/waitress is just fab..tip time...double the tax and round up, maybe a few more dollars on top as you leave there happy and content !
The otherside of the coin now..the service is mediocre but hey you have been told that these guys and gals work on a minimum wage and rely on tips.....well hello, the service industry isn't there to deliver miserable non attentive service and expect tips at the end of the day ! Work for your money if that is your chosen job...ok we all have a sob story but that is life, charity is for the real charity cases !!
The worst senario...OMG..is that person for real, am I dreaming or is this the worst service ever??? Did I order that??? Where is my food? Why is this service staff being so rude???? Rule of thumb...don't leave a tip....... what are they going to do???? Say a few words to you....big deal...you are out of there and probably never going to return..
Ok, so not leaving a tip is a bad thing? It isn't the worst thing that can happen! Why should any consumer pay for something they are not happy about? Just because it is a custom or 'what the locals do' does not mean that you have to do it. It might also make the bad members of the service industry sit up and say to themselves.... 'Well, I have to do better' , rather than just expect to be tipped !
I have not left tips in restaurants on numerous occasions in NY....because I feel that they don't deserve it for shoddy bad rude service. You should not have to ! The waiter or waitress are not going to use physical violence to extract money off you as that is a criminal offence!
On the other hand, good service deserves it's rewards, don't be bullied or think you have to tip ! Remember, you earned your holiday cash, why give it away for the sake of things!
Enjoy your stay in the Big Apple !
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