Each Friday, we feature a reader-submitted tip as our Travel Tip of the Day. This week’s tip comes from reader Rob in Bellingham, WA, who wrote in after some travel in Canada and following Monday’s tip on tipping at hotels. First, he shared a question related to the tipping guide:
“The AHLA guide says to tip 15-20% on the total bill for room service. When I stayed at the wonderful Four Seasons Whistler last month, a 17% gratuity automatically was added to the food bill, and I have seen this elsewhere. It is not uncommon. So when the waiter brings the food, is it necessary or customary to also tip in addition to the included gratuity? I tipped him a $2 Canadian coin because I wasn’t sure.”
My advice? If a tip is already included with the bill, don’t add anything else unless you really want to. With his question, Rob also shared a great tip to consider the next time you travel in Canada.
“I travel to Whistler frequently, and I find that the Canadian coins are very handy for tipping, and better than fumbling with paper currency, but they are heavier in the pocket of course. I just keep about $10 Canadian in $2 coins for things like tips for valet and shuttle. Four Seasons Whistler is above Whistler Village, at the base of Blackcomb, but offers a free shuttle service of Mercedes Sprinters running all day to take you to the village for dinner or whatever. Again, in this case, I will tip about $2, but it is not expected.”
A good idea. When I travel, I always carry a wad of crisp $2 bills to tip with, because they’re memorable and they cut my cash stash in half.
What do you think?
What would you do in the situation Rob described? Do you have your own tipping tricks or pet peeves? Share them in the comments below!
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Don’t tip in French Canada. They don’t tip ever when they come to the US. Apparently it is the custom