As a Premier Member "tips" are supposed to be included and not necessary. But we just cannot NOT tip and do not believe in that. The folks at TTR just work their asses off for us to assure we all have the time of our lives and so we reward them a bit for their efforts. I hope most others do too.
We take $2 bills (you can order from your bank allow for a week to come in) with us to tip with cause $1 bill is not enough but sometimes $5 bill is to much. And we take school supplies for the children of the staff too they are much needed.
Personally we have always tipped USD, 3 or 4 dollars a day for the room maid, and they show appreciation by way of towel swans on the bed...etc, around the pool when being served drinks by saby or veronica we always gave a cpl of dollars each time, and they never let you go dry, if visiting the pool bar, a cpl of dollars in the jar meant the guy's looked after you with regard to premium brands, pre dinner in the evenings we usually visited patty o's whilst quiet, everyone either getting dressed up for the evening or still going crazy in the pool, which was a time when we could chat to the barmen and give a nice tip which was acknowledged and ensured you were not forgotten any time you visited the bar later, whilst mobbed...ie beer slid all the way along the bar from behind the bartenders back straight into my hand with a knowing wink and smile..!..The restaurants, standard tip 10 USD plus, depending on how much you enjoy the evening............and folks, do not forget the "other" staff, the behind the scenes people, those cleaning the flowerbeds, clearing up seaweed, doing laundry, stamping the Temptation logo in sand in the ashtray's...generally speaking it's a two way street, if you look after the staff, they shall be referring to you by name, treating you like royalty, and making your stay one you shall enjoy and remember forever..........you deserve it.........so do they...be nice..x
Stacia & I usually bring $100 USD in singles, get it at the bank the day before we head to Mexico, so we can tip the servers, and the cleaning staff while there. Usually, we try to tip $5 for "our" server at the beginning of the day to get them set up and aware of us during the day, and then again another $5 at the end of the day. Mid-stay, we usually leave the maid a $20. That's us though, some give/leave more, some less. Some don't tip at all, which I think weird as hard as the staff are working.
The real question should be, "What is the appropriate tip for a good lap dance at the sexy pool?". LOL. I say that in jest of course. But, yes, good tipping rewards strong performers. If you can't afford to tip, you should have saved a little longer for your vacation. It's just an incidental cost of doing business.
Tip everywhere is my suggestion. We tended to eat breakfast around the same time each day and sat in the same area (humans are also such creatures of habit). If you dont want to tip each day I suggest an initial tip and telling them you will catch them at the end of the week. And be sure to introduce yourselves. You will be surprised the staff will rememberyour names! The service is usually great.
We usually do 5 at lunch and breakfast and a 20 for the restaurant at nite. Generally figure a dollar every trip to the bar and 5 for the maid. The staff works long hard days to make it great for us.