What is the situation for tipping (eg Bell Boys, waiters, taxi drivers)?Is it expected or discretional in;
a) Hong Kong
b) Mainland China
In the mainland, tips are not expected, except maybe by bellboys in ritzy hotels (maybe by waiters in seriously posh restaurants in the biggest cities too, but I never get the chance to go to places like that). Taxi drivers, not at all.
In Hong Kong, rounding up the meter figure for the cabbie is enough unless you have received some service above and beyond the call of duty (such as carrying a sleeping child to your door). Bellboys do like their tips, and restaurants normally add a 10% service charge to your bill. If service was superb, give your waiter a bit of cash directly in hand, otherwise the proprietor will probably get it all.
Most restaurants include a servic echarge, but most people i know just leave coin change or if in a nice place give a little extra on top of service charge.
Taxis do not seem to expect a tip.
Other than restaurants, taxi drivers, and bell hops, anybody else that needs to be tipped?
How about doormen, conceirge (sp?), shuttle van driver (I have hired a dedicated van for our large party), hotel maid, front desk clerk? Thanks.
Contributor
28,411 posts
30 reviews
56 helpful votes front desk clerk???? I hope the front desk clerks in hotels in B.C. don't take tips for performing front-desk duties. I know those at the Fairmont Vancounver Airport don't.
Contributor
71,092 posts
181 reviews
182 helpful votes At a restaurant, be sure to leave a few coins, or if you pay with a credit card, round up to around the nearest $10 at a minium, depending on the type of establishment and the amount of the bill. Leaving nothing at a restaurant because a 10% service charge has been included is NOT the custom here, even if anything you leave goes to the owner and not the staff.
If you like somebody's service in particular, you can consider giving the waiter or waitress cash directly. Be sure what you give them is bills and not coins, with a minimum of HK$20.
Contributor
6,613 posts
155 reviews
309 helpful votes In the Peoples Republic of China, tips are not given nor expected. Maybe some people at ***** restaurants and hotels have their hand out, but Chinese do not tip. Chinese tipping service employees in China is as common as westerners spitting on their plates before they begin to eat their meals.
Taxis are exact change. Period. Doormen, never. Tour drivers and tour leaders/guides tell you they live off of tips and are not paid. That is a lie. Somehow, Chinese people have Chinese-language guides, who are never tipped, and always on the jobs for the next group.
As for those people who whine we are keeping third world peoples in poverty, go ahead and waste your money. Bear in mind, the native Chinese never tip because it is not expected and the people are paid as if they are not to receive tips.
And as I have said on this forum before, my Chinese friends in Shanghai laugh at Westerners for tipping anybody. Their attitude is the larger the tip, the bigger the fool. So tip people in China as you would tip gas station attendants and Walmart clerks in the USA. And don't forget to tip the FedEx man and UPS man too! After all, they carried that package all the way to your door! (Sorry for the sarcasm, but some people just will not get it, ever.)
It depends where you go. Tipping IS expected at some places. And everybody here has a different answer!
To me tipping in China encourages an expectancy when there is no such pre existing tipping culture in the first place. So just say THANK YOU and do not encourage. If you tip what will happen is that employees will pay their employers even less so that they then will have to rely on tipping to survive.
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