Lunch for the Tour Guide

[neophyte]

This will be our first time hiring private guides for tours in our ports (Mediterranean). What is the protocol for lunch? Does the guide just hang out somewhere while our group of six has lunch? Are you expected to invite the guide to join you for lunch? Is there an expectation that the group picks up the lunch tab for the guide? Thanks.

[Jane110]

We always invite the tour guide to lunch. Sometimes they're happy to join us and sometimes they want a break too. On some tours the lunch was included in the price and often the guides ate for free in those places. When we picked up the tab for ourselves, we always paid for the tour guides lunch.

[Zimmy]

We were a group of four, and we always invited our guide to join us for lunch as our guest. She was a delightful person, and added much to our discussions and our enjoyment of the meal. As a courtesy, we also asked our guide to extend an invitation to our driver, whose English was limited. He declined, and I suspect that the restaurant provided a meal for him without cost.

[tankerjo2]

Many years ago a couple of us military types had occasion to take a day long tour using a guide while in Hong Kong. We invited him to have lunch with us and picked up the tab. That really broke the ice and from that point on he loosened up and the rest of the day it seemed like we were seeing the sights with an old friend. I know we got one heck of a tour which ended up late that evening with him introducing us to his family. Quite an interesting experience for a couple of 19 year olds. Plus when I finally got home when drilled by my parents about Hong Kong I able to show them I had seen something other than the bars.