Tips for tippers: it isn’t what you expect

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Tipping’s a tough nut to crack. Should you tip a housekeeper? Back in the day, the rule was leaving some cash only if your stay was 30 days or longer. Since then, however, it seems to have changed. And, what’s appropriate for a valet? Bellman? Skycap? Travel means tipping, and there are plenty of points at which you can expect to do this. If you go to the same hotel or use the same car service frequently, you may want to adjust your tipping habits, as well.

If these questions make you feel ignorant, you’re not alone. Michael Lynn, a prof at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, has conducted to nationwide tipping surveys and has found that a third of the respondents don’t know to leave 15 percent to 20 percent of the tab at a restaurant. Throw hotels and drivers into the mix, and it’s unsurprising that the rules aren’t understood as clearly as they could be.

So, USA Today and I are helping you know what to tip and when. A recent article by Gary Stoller provides some good ideas, and I’ve tossed in a few of my own.

Valet: This one was news to me. Don’t drop cash to the guy who opens the car door or brings the car to the valet lot. Instead, pay the guy who brings it back, generally $2 to $5. I’ve been overtipping on this one for a long time.

Bellmen: These guys carry bags, so they’re earning their tips. Give ’em $1 to $2 a bag, more if you pack for a weekend like you’re moving in for a month. Heavy bag, as well, warrant an extra tip.

Maids: Once upon a time, maids were only tipped if you were staying for the long term. I guess this has changed, and you’re supposed to leave $1 to $5 daily. But, if you’ve been tipping valets for both drop-off and pickup, this should be break-even for you.

Concierges: Don’t tip for the basics. If you’re asking for directions, recommendations or simple answers, those are free. Did the concierge score hard-to-find tickets? A table at an impossible restaurant? Pony up: $10 to $50. Nonetheless, it’s your call. Vivian Deuschl, a vice president at the Ritz-Carlton chain, says that you should expect fantastic service, “There is no obligation to tip.”

Skycap: Pay for help when you check your bags curbside: $2 to $3 a bag is fine. If you have a lot of bags, throw in a little extra, a good rule to apply for the driver who takes you to and from the airport, too.

And, here are a few others …

Service matters: Tips are provided for the service you receive. If you receive unacceptable service, don’t offer a tip. But, if service is so bad that you aren’t tipping, it’s probably a good idea to call a manager and give your side of the story. First, it will keep you from getting shafted by other hotel employees when the word spreads. Also, it will alert the management to a problem with the staff. Be thorough, and don’t whine.

“No tipping” is sacrosanct: Some resorts have no-tipping policies. They always make it very clear up front. Also, they will tell you if there are any exceptions. Curtain Bluff, in Antigua, doesn’t allow tips and makes alternatives clear (there’s a charity on the island). The spa is a “tipping zone,” however, and the front desk will let you know. If you try to tip in a no-tip hotel, the employee will probably let you know, but it’s best not to create the awkward situation at all.

Special requests: Think beyond restaurant reservations and event tickets. If the concierge does the impossible for you, shell out for it. I’m thinking of several super-luxury favors I’ve heard (sorry, can’t reveal them) from industry insiders. If you’re rolling in the big leagues, don’t bother carrying singles; you’ll need Benjies.

Be realistic: Tip what you can afford. You don’t need to toss around boatloads of cash that you don’t have. It may feel good to be a big tipper, but the high you get now will hurt like hell later. Remember that you’ll need to live with the financial situation that you create while on vacation.

Don’t tip from guilt: You don’t have to solve the financial crisis on your own. The recession has led to a travel industry slump, which means hotel employees won’t be making as much. Think of it this way: these guys aren’t buying more of what you make just to help you out. So, don’t think you need to return the favor.

Know your environment: There is a lot of mileage between Eden Rock and the Holiday Inn: don’t expect the same tipping strategy to work at both locations.

[Photo by AMagill via Flickr]

Piss in the ocean, not in the pool and other TripAdvisor reader thoughts

by Tom Johansmeyer on

So much of life is governed by “unwritten rules,” but beaches and pools are surprisingly short of convention to cite. Public opinion is all over the map on what matters most – and what can lead to a heated conversation. But, there are still a few hot buttons that irritate the world. According to a recent survey of 3,800 people by TripAdvisor, 69 percent encounter some breach of etiquette, with 13 percent taking the cynical view that everyone breaks these undocumented standards.

The most common violations at the beach and pool are hogging beach chairs, pissing in the water and littering, while the most annoying are loud music, smoking and, yet again, draining into the water … though you can get away with doing this in the ocean if you aren’t too close to anybody. And, in praise of double standards, more respondents believe that women can get away with skimpy beach gear than feel men should wear speedos.

So, what enrages?

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Hogging beach chairs: if you’re “saving” a chair for someone for to use later, 84 percent of TripAdvisor readers think you’re an asshole. According to a TripAdvisor Destination Expert, “My bugbear is when people throw a towel over one of the highly sought-after sun lounges/cabanas, and then go AWOL.”

“Bugbear”? Eh …

Unleashing the stream: 16 percent of survey respondents called this the most annoying breach of pool and beach etiquette, but 53 percent will piss in the ocean if nobody’s around.

Smokers blow: 82 percent want to ban poolside smoking, and 62 percent don’t want you puffing at the beach. Says one of these Destination Experts, “I can’t stand when on a crowded beach day people smoke one foot away from you, and then discard their butts in the sand…I don’t care at all if people choose to smoke as long as it doesn’t affect me or the beauty of the beach!”

Washing off not a big deal: 14 percent of travelers don’t bother to shower before they go into a pool (hell, it has all that chlorine anyway, right?), and 37 percent do so rarely. A substantial 69 percent find it acceptable not to bother cleaning up before swimming.

Stay away: if the beach isn’t crowded, 38 percent of respondents believe you should set up camp at least 20 feet away, and 22 percent think seven feet to 10 feet is acceptable. When the beach is crowded, you should stay at least six feet away. According to one of these TripAdvisor Destination Experts, “I find the perfect spot on the beach, far away from the intrusion of kids, pets, and game players. Then a family of 12 with undisciplined kids sits right next to me! When the beach is empty move over!”

Watch what you wear: 76 percent of respondents don’t think it’s a big deal for women to wear revealing bikinis (no word on whether hotness matters), but only 65 percent say the same for men and speedos. Only 14 percent think speedos are only appropriate in the United States. One of the Destination Experts is irritated by people who “either go topless or wear tiny little dental-floss bikinis on the beach or by the pool.” Again, I say don’t judge until you see the body that’s barely covered.

Want to learn more? Click here.

10 Passengers we love to hate: Day 5 — American Idiots

by Annie Scott on

I love America, and Americans. As someone who’s spent a lot of time abroad, I can say with conviction that we are some of the warmest, friendliest, most determined and able people out there. Sometimes, we’re even smart, savvy, funny, fashionable, interesting, all kinds of positive things — but some of us? Are idiots.

What I detest more than anything when traveling in a foreign country is the American Idiots — many thanks to Green Day for the moniker.

You know these people. They’re often obnoxious in America, too. They’re the ones that are too loud in the bar, or the ones who tell slightly offensive jokes in mixed company and laugh their heads off, and the ones who demand preferential treatment wherever they go. These problems are exacerbated the second they cross the border.

There are several types of American Idiots you may encounter at the airport. The first kind is American tour groups. They travel in packs — often wearing matching brightly colored shirts. American tour groups are really, really excellent at mass-oblivion moves like blocking the entrance to the baggage claim, blocking the restroom, and taking over the entire restroom, including with their bags all over the counters as they wait for the rest of their group. The worst part, in my opinion, is their tendency to make loud remarks to each other across the waiting area, and, eventually, across the plane, as though they were the only ones there. Sometimes they have entire conversations, or throw out something blue to embarrass one of their co-idiots (I’m looking at you, school groups). It’s as though the minute they enter a foreign country, it becomes them-and-the-locals, and there’s no need to pay the locals any notice. Who knows if they even speak English, right?

Well, they probably do. And there are almost always other Americans around, especially in the kind of destinations that tour groups hit. Stop making Americans look bad, tour groups. Have a little self-awareness and humble respect.

Next, let’s talk about the families. Sorry families, but you’re total jerks in foreign countries sometimes.

First of all, you brought your babies over on a very long flight and couldn’t get them to stop screaming — we assume you had your reasons for this trip that the baby won’t remember — or your adorable toddler kicked the back of my chair the entire way to Amsterdam. What we tend to see in American Idiot families (that is to say, not all families, but the ones that drive us nuts) is either a lack of discipline — tell your adorable toddler to stop kicking my chair! — or a demand for special treatment, as though nobody’s ever had kids before. Parents, it may be your first time having your babies with you in a foreign country, but I have yet to discover a foreign country where they don’t have any babies. You do not get skip to the front of the ticketing line. You do not get to let your children run amok and disturb the other passengers, whether it’s because you’re tired or because you think they’re so cute that no one will mind. You do get to board early — get your kids on the plane, get them settled, and teach them how to make a good name for our country. Buy them a coloring book or a magic pen workbook, something.

Lastly, there are the lone wolves. Found either solo or in couples, you’ll usually find these American Idiots smoking in (or just outside) the designated smoking area at the airport. They’ve usually got a few drinks in them, and their volume control is totally non-functional. The first thing on these passengers’ minds? How to get a free upgrade. They will loudly announce that they’re Americans, attempt to bribe the agents with their fancy American dollars, and often insist on telling you what state they’re from (I’m looking at you, Texas — I waited tables in NYC when I was younger and am pretty sure I never served a Texan who didn’t inform me of their Texan-ness, as though it were a totally relevant fact) in support of their argument. Sometimes, I’ve heard these people pull out historical references like “our country saved you guys when the Germans invaded,” as though that should justify a free upgrade. You’ll find them soon after their loud (or pointlessly loud-whispered) debacle in the airport bar, saying “They wouldn’t give me an upgrade, can I get a free drink?” or chain smoking angrily. Guess what, lone wolves? Everyone hates you — the foreign countries, and the Americans with their decency intact.

So, America, to the small percentage of you who travel abroad, please be considerate of others. But since you’re someone who reads Gadling, I can only assume I’m preachin’ to the choir.

Find more hopeless passengers here.

Galley Gossip: Middle Seat Etiquette

by Heather Poole on

Flying back from Honolulu, I found myself crammed in a middle seat. Now I’m not a big person, just a normal sized person, and yet there I sat with my elbows held tight against my side, my hands resting in my lap, as the broken seat in front of me reclined much farther back than it should have. Oh yeah, I had a woman’s head an inch from my chest. Good thing I didn’t need anything out of my tote-bag, the one located under the seat in front of me, the one I could not reach if I so inclined. And then, if that wasn’t bad enough, things got worse, much worse.

The man sitting beside me, the one wearing the trendy dark blue designer jeans traveling with the family sitting across the aisle from him, claimed the armrest between us.

So what, you say? Wait…there’s more.

The elbow, the one attached to a very tan and muscular arm, crept over the armrest and kept on going until it found itself in my space – MY SPACE! Thank god my son, and not another adult, sat on the other side of me, so I could lean way over into the space my son did not yet prize. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried not to scream as I felt the faint tickle of manly arm hairs against my skin.

Middle seat etiquette, am I the only one who cares?

I’ll never forget when Cady, my best friend and old roommate, got called out to work a flight from New York to Los Angeles. This was thirteen years ago and we were on reserve and the thought of working a 767 transcon scared the heck out of us. We were new, brand spankin new, and that airplane was big, 160 passengers big! Keep in mind there were also nine flight attendants who knew exactly what they were doing, unlike the two of us, working on that gigantic bird! What made the trip even worse was that Cady had been called out to work the lead position on the 767. Cady, fresh from the charm farm, would be in charge for the next two days.

“How did it go?” I asked, practically leaping off the couch when she walked through the door after her trip the following evening.

Parking her black bag against the wall, she flopped down in front of the television on the lumpy sofa beside me. “I actually had to settle an argument between two grown men.”

I laughed. “Over what?”

“An armrest. And they actually asked to speak to the one in charge. Me!”

“What did you say?” I asked, and it was at this point I wondered if I should fetch a pen and paper to write down what she had said, just in case I found myself in the same predicament on a future flight. Hey, a flight attendant does not want to experience any unplanned emergencies.

“I just told them they had to share. One guy could use the armrest for the first half of flight and the other guy could use it the last half of the flight. What else could I say?”

Cady had a point. There was not much else to say. Share the armrest, I made a mental note.

While I have witnessed many ridiculous things aboard the airplane, I have not had the pleasure of seeing two grown men duke it out over an armrest. Fighting over a seat being reclined, yes. An overhead bin, every single flight. A first class seat upgrade, oh yeah. But an armrest, never. I’m so grateful for that.

Flash forward thirteen years and I would have loved for someone like Cady to have stomped down the aisle in a pair of black scuffed up Dansko clogs and ordered that beefy guy sitting beside me to share. Not that I would have even used the armrest if Fancy Pants had actually moved his elbow a good five inches to the left, but it would have been nice to have had at least a few arm hair free minutes flying from Honolulu to Los Angeles.

Middle seat etiquette, that’s what I spent the entire flight thinking about…

  • Leave the armrest for the middle seat passenger. The window seat passenger has the window, while the aisle seat passenger has the aisle, but the middle seat passenger has nothing, nada, zilch, so please, for the love of god, give the person in the middle seat something, anything, an armrest, please!
  • Do not hit the middle seat passenger in the head with your newspaper, even when the middle seat passenger is asleep and you are fairly sure they will not feel it.
  • Do not use the middle seat passenger’s tray table. Even if the middle seat passenger is not using it.
  • Do not put your feet under the seat in front of the middle seat passenger, no matter how long your legs are, even if the middle seat passenger is short.
  • Do not place your luggage underneath the seat in front of the middle seat passenger. The middle seat passenger has luggage, too.
  • Do not bring aboard a pet, choose an aisle or window seat, and then expect to put the pet under the middle seat because it does not fit under your seat.
  • Do not raise the armrest between you and the middle seat passenger, no matter how well you are getting along.
  • Keep your hair away from the middle seat passenger, no matter how pretty or how manly it may be.
  • Remember, middle seat passengers are people too!

As I sat there, going over the middle seat rules, that hairy arm resting a little too comfortably against mine, I flashed back to another middle seat situation I’ve experienced often – the open middle seat.

WOOHOO! I always think, whenever I see that open middle seat. I can not believe my luck. Nor can the passenger sitting on the other side of that same middle seat. I try not to get too excited, because one of two things are about to happen, and it most likely won’t be the good thing.

THE GOOD THING: The seat remains open and I enjoy a relaxing flight home.

THE BAD THING: The passenger flings their jacket or purse or stack of magazines into the empty seat, claiming the space as their own.

If the good thing happens to you, and the seat actually remains open, fantastic. You’re on a roll. Now may be the time to fly to Vegas and continue this amazing streak of luck at a table of cards. And don’t forget to take me with you.

If the bad thing happens, now is the time to act, and fast! Hurry, throw something of your own into the seat. By doing this you are letting the passenger on the other side know that this is shared space. Not their space. Shared space. Trust me, this reminder is necessary if you want the flight to continue without further incident. When the passenger pulls down the tray table and places a drink or a book on top, immediately place something of your own next to it.
What are you waiting for? DO IT!

Juvenile, you say? Whatever. Do what you want. But you may soon find a pair of bare feet rubbing against your leg. Oh it happens. It’s happened to me. Don’t let it happen you.

Do you have a horrible middle seat story to share? I’d love to hear all about it.

Airplane etiquette to keep you and the rest of your flight happy

by Anna Brones on

I hate to admit it, but I actually like to fly; it gets me to new and exotic places. What I don’t like however are fellow passengers who don’t know the basics of how to behave well aboard a plane. I’m talking about the guy in front of you who reclines his seat just as the flight attendant has put a tray of food in front of you, the couple across the row who stays in a lip-lock for most of the 7 hour trans-Atlantic flight and of course, the overly talkative person sitting next to you who just won’t stop asking questions even though you have hidden behind a magazine.

Let’s face it, there is airplane etiquette, and some people just don’t seem to know it. I was therefore happy to read James Wysong’s recent blog post over at MSNBC, Airplane Etiquette 101. Being a flight attendant, Wysong knows his stuff, here are a few of his suggestions:

– Don’t offend your fellow passengers; dress as if your parents were along for the trip.
– Wait to use the lavatory when the flight attendants are NOT serving meals or drinks.
– Before reclining your seat, look behind you, then slowly recline.
– The unwritten armrest rule: passengers in the window and aisle seat get one, the passenger cramped in the middle gets two.
– Spare other passengers from your amorous feelings for your travel partner; “get a room!”

For more etiquette go here.