I wonder why TTR doesn't publish lists for the spa, excursions, wine lists, food that costs extra (ie lobster) etc. on their website. I managed to find a photo of part of a spa pricelist but I'm not sure if those prices are current. Do they still allow you to pay just to use the facilities? I'm trying to figure out a budget for a few extras I know I'd like. Is there different wine available for sale at each restaurant? I'd like to bring my own but I'm guessing based on the up-selling they do, it would be frowned upon. So we'll probably bring our own bubbly for our jacuzzi enjoyment and buy maybe a bottle of wine once or twice at dinner. Again with budgeting... About tips... I've seen people post budgeting upwards of $100USD a day for tips. I definitely can't afford that. Nor are we high maintenance. I would like to know the least acceptable tipping amount, so I can hit somewhere between the low and high end. Also, what percentage of people tip each time they get a drink vs once a day to the same bartender vs once at the beginning and once at the end of the week. It would appear that the resort permits tipping (unlike Hedo where if you decide to do it, it has to be super DL or risk that staff member getting fired) so can you be pretty open, like in a regular bar and leave the tip on the bar or do you still need to do the discreet handshake thing? Do you tip every person who serves you or only people who serve you frequently/ and for good service? Thanks!
Just tip what you can afford,anytime we tip early in day,to keep from carrying money,at and of week we give extra to the people who took really good care of us,we don't drink wine
You can bring your own wine and I would recommend it. They do have house wines included. If you are a wine snob then bring you own but I do recommend tipping if you expect them to uncork and pour for you. Wine in the restaurant can get very expensive. Tipping is a personal choice. Most cases you won’t get better or worse services if you tip. I am amazed at how much some people tip. This is not Vegas. I tip for super service. If the maid does all I expect then $5 a day is what I tip. Dinner would be $5 to $10 depending on how good the service was. Bar service is where I tend to tip sparingly. If a bar tender is extra nice I will tip $5 for the day. If he just smiles and pours my drinks, $1 to $2. To me it is how they try to go above and my expectations. $20 to $30 a day would be my max. Once or twice in a weeks stay I like to try and tip some of the workers that don’t normally get tips. ie gardeners or maintenance. There is nothing discrete about the tipping. Most bar will have a tip jar. Do what you feel comfortable with.
Oh yeah, we're definitely tipping at dinner and perhaps extra if they allow us to bring our own bottle. What I want to know about brining my own to the restaurants is: (edit you did say "you can") have you done it/saw people do it and do staff frown upon it? I'm not huge wine snob, I typically buy in the $15-$30 (CND) a bottle price-point and know that the house wines tend to be more on the $10 or less a bottle price point.
Every day is a bit different cause you might not make all meals. And obviously service levels can vary day to day. But here is a very basic guideline of what people do: $5 - a day for housekeeping $3-5 - for breakfast $5 - Lunch $5-10 - Dinner $10-20 Daytime bartender(s) or $1 a drink $10-20 Night bartender(s) or $1 a drink Service will not really change if you tip or not. (They are not like a money hungry crew, quite the opposite), but if two guests walk up to the bar at the same time, they will mostly likely serve the person who tipped them on the last round first. And if your a friendly person and a good tipper, you might not even have to ask for anything...ever. Staff will go out of their way to make sure you're always happy, and shit just keeps getting delivered. (this sometimes can be a curse as your are continually taken "too good" care of, and end up overdoing it)
Oh boy..... They will treat you with respect & courtesy if you don't tip them whatsoever. It's what they do. They will usually greet me by name when I get out of the USATransfer van and hand me a drink. We're staying for 4 days this trip & I will bring $200 US in $2 bills, when I leave the property I will have 4 of them, two for the driver & two for the baggage handler at the airport. I am by no means the biggest tipper. I have always been told that they like the $2 bills for luck and can trade them for extra in pesos. I have been told by several people that they all pool their tips and share them, but I will make it a point to give whatever pesos we wind up with to the groundskeepers because I doubt very many people think of them. It's usually not a lot, but we always wind up with some. In total it's close to the 20% that we always tip for good service, your mileage may vary.
I feel confident about appropriate tipping... now if some folks might be willing to post price lists. I get it, people are enjoying vacation, not photographing every little thing. Why the heck doesn't the resort post prices?
