Tipping Australian Tour guides

I have a question for our Aussie's. I have heard that Aussie's do not tip like we do in the States. We will be doing a land tour in Sydney and wondered what the tipping etiquette (how much) would be for the guide after the tour. Many thanks.

I have a question for our Aussie's. I have heard that Aussie's do not tip like we do in the States. We will be doing a land tour in Sydney and wondered what the tipping etiquette (how much) would be for the guide after the tour. Many thanks.

Tipping not expected, but gratefully accepted by most tour guides in Australia, a lot of Americans like yourself visit Sydney, so our Tour guides would be familar with your tipping desires/tipping culture, so to speak. You will find Aussie tour guides are paid a much higher rate of pay then American tour guides would be, who rely on tips to make up their pay. (I have been to the USA twice and will be in San Francisco doing some tours in May, I know the tipping rules!)

An amount? up to you. $20 sounds nice!

I expect a lot of Aussies will now come on here and disagree with me, such is life!

Above all, enjoy !

G'day mate,

as mentioned above it's not our culture to tip here in Oz but if you'd like to give something, I guess it would gratefully be accepted.

amount would be up to you or maybe a small gift might be a nice idea?

B&B

I agree with Les. Tipping is definitely not in our culture. Tip your guide what you think is reasonable according to how good they are and as Les said they are well paid and would get penalty rates.

Les have a wonderful trip, you deserve it:D

I would really hate to see the custom of tipping catch on here at all. Staff are well paid so it is not necessary. When in Rome..................

I agree with Les. Tipping is definitely not in our culture. Tip your guide what you think is reasonable according to how good they are and as Les said they are well paid and would get penalty rates.

Les have a wonderful trip, you deserve it:D

Tour guides are not necessariily paid penalty rates. Depends as to whether they are working independantly or for a large or small company.

On large coach tours it is not uncommon to tip around $5 pp and generally this is shared between the guide and the driver. If the driver knows his stuff and knows where to go and works well with the guide (who he may be unfamiliar with) then either tip him too or ensure tip is shared.

For smaller more intimate tours - tip according to your customs.

Some guides & drivers work very hard to give you added value to your tour.

Some guides in Sydney offer their tours for free...

http://www.imfree.com.au/

they depend on tips to make a living.

Tipping is alive and well in Australia,

especially in the tourist traps,

and especially when they hear a foreign accent.

Don't tip any tour guides in Australia. Simply pay the price of whatever is asked for the tour. The driver and tour guide are paid by their employer in the same way as any other employee in Australia. Will you also pay a tip to the driver/employee of a public bus Company ? If not - why not?

The driver and tour guide in Australia are paid for their work - no different to most of us Aussies here who participate in this Forum. Whether they are actually paid sufficiently or whether they consider they are paid sufficiently is their and their employer's business - NOT yours and mine!

Barry

A bit harsh Barry.

I would not like to see the American tipping culture take over in Australia but with Jackie and Tony being "Yanks" then by all means, tip if you must but dont feel obliged to like you would in USA. The trouble is that once tipping starts and gets established in Oz then it will be hard to turn it back. It took many years of relentless complaining to have compulsory tipping abandoned on cruise ships operating into and out of Australia so it would seem hypocritical to start tipping again.

John

No - not "harsh" at all.

I always notice that tipping seems to enter into discussions regarding "personal service". But for some/many employees, giving service is what their employment entails. Some people bake bread, some people drive trains, some people work in supermarkets, etc. All of these people provide a service but some people provide a closer contact service, possibly a little more "personal" . These people are all paid for their employment - as are tour bus drivers and tour guides. Why do we all get "gooey" about those that we have slightly more personal contact with eg waiters, tour guides. ??

Barry

Barry

I think you missed my point. I think you have been a bit harsh on Jackie and Tony. I agree with you on no tipping but it is a bit hard for Jackie and Tony to try and understand our culture when they have lived with it all their lives in America.

John

We did a 10 day land tour and several shorter tours 2 summers ago as part of a long trip to Australia. Included in every tour group were Australians. We asked them what we should tip the guides and every one of them said that the guides were well paid and did not expect tips.

That said, whenever the group went to a pub, none of the guides paid for any of their beer so the did get to drink some of their tips.

Gotta love a culture where nobody has their hand out - much better than the US where everyone has their hand out.

DON

Don't tip any tour guides in Australia. Simply pay the price of whatever is asked for the tour. The driver and tour guide are paid by their employer in the same way as any other employee in Australia. Will you also pay a tip to the driver/employee of a public bus Company ? If not - why not?

 

The driver and tour guide in Australia are paid for their work - no different to most of us Aussies here who participate in this Forum. Whether they are actually paid sufficiently or whether they consider they are paid sufficiently is their and their employer's business - NOT yours and mine!

 

Barry

Totally disagree with you on this one Baz. The driver of a public bus is paid on an award basis for doing a set route that he cannot deviate from and does not provide commentary nor does he handle luggage. He is also paid an allowance for collecting fares which was previously done by conductors. He only needs to present himself as a friendly person. And no i would not tip a bus driver and i don;t think that anyone else does either.

A good tour coach (not bus) driver can double up as a guide, he handles luggage, takes care of all aspects of passenger comfort etc on top of which he needs to have a vast knowledge of Australia, its people and its culture etc. He researches all his material and probably knows more than the guide. He also will deviate to interesting places. None of this work gets more pay. An unhappy driver who feels he has been shafted or taken for granted by demanding tourists who don't show their appreciation in some way for good service - be it by tipping, a "thankyou" OR a good compliment letter or note will give poor service to the next group - believe me.

Guides likewise, put in a lot of work researching their subject and get paid a pittance compared to other workers.

An unhappy driver who feels he has been shafted or taken for granted by demanding tourists who don't show their appreciation in some way for good service - be it by tipping, a "thankyou" OR a good compliment letter or note will give poor service to the next group - believe me.

This is where I disagree with you - though respect your opinion. In my view you should handle each job professionally and try to do the best you can. If you're running a tour group then some flexibility is by its nature required of the role - that doesn't mean that you need to be tipped for that or other 'personal' elements like picking up luggage. It's just part of the job.

(I fully understand the US system though where wages are reduced due to an expectation that tips are paid, so tips are really part of the wage rather than a true tip for special service.)

A good tour coach (not bus) driver can double up as a guide, he handles luggage, takes care of all aspects of passenger comfort etc on top of which he needs to have a vast knowledge of Australia, its people and its culture etc. He researches all his material and probably knows more than the guide. He also will deviate to interesting places. None of this work gets more pay. An unhappy driver who feels he has been shafted or taken for granted by demanding tourists who don't show their appreciation in some way for good service - be it by tipping, a "thankyou" OR a good compliment letter or note will give poor service to the next group - believe me.

Guides likewise, put in a lot of work researching their subject and get paid a pittance compared to other workers.

This sounds no different to me than what happens to every other employee - even the poor bus driver. Every employee (of which I was one during my working life) has some kind of "duty statement" . This tells us what we have to do - and we know how much we will be paid for that. EVERY employee has to do some "extras" that are not explicit in their duty statement. The salesperson in Myers has to go out of their way to actually sell (in theory) - to do so they have to smile at the customers and go the extra mile to make the lady buying shoes happy. :). If they don't then their employer loses business and they lose their job!!! So a tour guide, who does not do a good job and is surly with passengers - for whatever reason - would/should not last long! Every employee wants to be adequately remunerated and receive respect from their employers and their employers customers - there is nothing special about tour guides such that they should receive extra remuneration for their good efforts. Being "nice" to the passengers is obviously not part of the public bus driver's duty statement - he does not need to be "nice" to complete his task - but it IS part of the tour guide's duty statement. It is an inherent part of his job for which he is paid.

Barry

BAZZAW, Barry, with all due respect, I too think you are a little harsh but nice to have some healthy tipping debates on the Aussie thread. I stick to my guns, 'tipping in OZ not expected but gratefully accepted.'

LIZ, thanks for your best wishes, we board Arcadia Friday week ! Hope the weather improves for all the good folk arriving on in Sydney on Arcadia.

Anyway better go to the Post Office and get my British Pounds I ordered in to TIP the Arcadia cabin stewards/waiters. LOL.

The wages paid to workers here take into account the duties and people apply for the jobs with the full knowledge of how much they can expect to earn. The wages are comparable to what a receptionist, data entry clerk, security guard, hotel cleaner, waiter, etc expect to earn. This is between $18-20 per hour. You can't compare it to the USA where some service staff are severely underpaid like $4 an hour and expect to earn the basic wage in tips. Hospitality is a popular job here and very competitive, people who supply poor service won't have their jobs for long.

The goods we pay for are quoted as a complete price, GST and "service" will have been taken into account when you pay for a tour, meal, hotel room or whatever.

When foreigners bring their tipping customs here it hurts Aussies because it creates an unsustainable expectation that they will get tips from everyone and become resentful when they don't.

There are usually some sort of survey after a tour, favourable comments on those would be the best appreciation for Aussie tour guides.

In true Aussie fashion a $5 or $10 note with "have a beer on me mate" would be in keeping with the Australian way. It is not seen as a tip but a friendly recognition of a job well done.

In true Aussie fashion a $5 or $10 note with "have a beer on me mate" would be in keeping with the Australian way. It is not seen as a tip but a friendly recognition of a job well done.

Supported, that is the way I do it.

Don't you just love it when we start talking about " tipping":p

Tipping in Australia is pretty much like not tipping in the USA; it's just not right.

You got it right wyuna1. Take notice Jackie and tony, oh, and enjoy Sydney

We want to tell you Aussie's how much we appreciate your honest opinions on tipping .... we thank you for giving us insight into your culture - wonderful replies fro you all.