Tipping our guides

[yvr49]

We will be doing several private tours on our upcoming cruise in England, Wales & Scotland.  Just wondering what is customary re: tipping guides.  Do we plan on a percentage of the tour cost, a set amount, or nothing at all?  Thanks for any comments and advice.

[Harters]

As you probably know, tipping here is much less of a "thing" than in North America. And I know that, for many North Americans tipping is almost a cultural necessity. Personally, I wouldnt tip a tour guide here and would know that, whilst a tip would never be refused, it's never essential. 

[rhiannon84]

As Harters says, tipping is pretty rare in the UK. In my experience, you might round up a taxi fare (E.g. £20 instead of 18) or hairdressers (£40 instead of 35), then tip 5-15% in a restaurant /cafe IF the service charge isn’t included and the service has been good. 
 

For tour guides, if the tour is a free walking tour and you enjoyed it then tipping is probably appreciated. Elsewhere, everyone is salaried - and we’re such a cashless society it can be pretty hard to spend coins and notes nowadays!

[Joanne G.]

I recently returned from a cruise with port stops in the UK and Ireland.  I know that tipping is more common and more expected in the U.S. than in most parts of Europe.    But I did still tip tour guides and drivers on my ship-sponsored excursions.   I figure the entire tourism industry suffered so much during covid, and the tips were certainly accepted graciously it.  It is, of course, your choice.   Some people tipped; some people didn't.

 

I didn't consider the cost of the excursion as a factor in the amount to tip but went more by how long the excursion was and how good the guide was.  Typically, I gave £10 or €10 to be split between driver and guide for a half-day tour and double that for a full day tour.   (Yes, I know £'s and €'s are not equivalent in value, but I wasn't up to the mental math LOL, and I didn't want to deal with the coins.)

 

On my tours, currency was the only way to tip.  No cashless option.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Joanne G.

[Harters]

47 minutes ago, rhiannon84 said:

you might round up a taxi fare

By the by, pre-Covid, my brother in law drove a taxi. He said that, when he started some 10+ years back, it was pretty common to be given a tip. But, it gradually died out and, when he finished, tips were almost non-existent - even those of the "keep the change" variety, of a few coins. 

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, rhiannon84 said:

1 hour ago, rhiannon84 said:

For tour guides, if the tour is a free walking tour and you enjoyed it then tipping is probably appreciated.

If the “free” walking tour is booked off a website, the tour guide generally has to pay the website to list it, so they actually lose money if you don’t tip. This is different from tours that are really operated by volunteers from a museum for example. 

[SoloAlaska]

I am a former guide and tour company operator in Canada , so this is what I have to say about tipping guides. We never expected tips, but they were always very much appreciated. I will only tip a guide if they added value to the tour if it’s mediocre or below, I won’t tip at all.

 

I’m pretty cheap when it comes to tip compared to a lot of Americans. I’ll usually tip 1 to 2 dollars an hour or 5% of the tours price, whichever is highest. If you are a difficult person for the guide to deal with then tip more. The one gentleman I ended up paddling around in a kayak for 2 hours tipped me 50% and honestly I earned it lol.

[Host Bonjour]

On 8/1/2023 at 3:28 PM, yvr49 said:

what is customary re: tipping guides

 

Sharing this thread from the Italy board (one of several) which includes replies from some of our most trusted, reliable seasoned travelers and also resident Brits and Europeans. It's a frequent topic!

 

Hope it helps, have a wonderful journey. 

 

Colleen

[SomewhereGirl]

I went on a small bus shore excursion in Edinburgh last year.  I had the front seat and couldn't miss a big QR code sticker on the front dashboard.  That QR code was specifically to scan to tip somehow.  So that company seemed to expect it.  I handed the driver/guide a small tip at the end of the tour.  He said that's what his sporran was for.  A joke of course.  Or maybe the joke was that he was paid well and received even more in tips from a bus full of Americans (assumed).

Edited August 3, 2023 by SomewhereGirl

[Cotswold Eagle]

4 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

couldn't miss a big QR code sticker on the front dashboard.  That QR code was specifically to scan to tip somehow.  So that company seemed to expect it. 

Interesting, thanks, although there’s maybe a difference between an expectation and providing a way to give a tip.
 

QR payment codes will link to a payment page or app, where card details can be entered or a device native method, such as Apple Pay, used. I wonder if they have preset suggested levels of tips.