I'm sure the topic has been previously discussed. Question is in regards to tipping. What's an appropriate daily amount for Housekeeping ? Should we tip them daily or all at once the first day ? How about bar staff ? Restaurant wait staff ? And the USA Transfer driver ?
While the resort claims that gratuities are 'included' in their prices, it's clear that tipping is a big business there. We tip the housekeeping $3/day, leaving money each morning. Bartenders get a dollar or two per round. Restaurants get $5+ depending on service. Some people go much higher, and I've seen plenty that don't tip at all.
A good rule of thumb is to tip everyone who provides you service. We tip housekeeping 50pesos a day and the bar staff 20pesos every couple of drinks or 50pesos less often. 20 to 50 in the restaurants depending on the meal and service and definitely tip the bar staff in Paty'o's as they do a hell of a job keeping up. Remember these people work 6 long days a week and make about US$50/week. I think we end up tipping around 500-600 pesos a day on average which is around 40-50 Canadian $'s
Housekeeping - what I tip them generally depends on how the room looks after the first day and how good the towel sculpture is so anywhere from $1-$5 US per day Breakfast Buffet - I'll tip whoever is cooking $1US and the waiter $1-$2 US depending on how good they are per day (generally try to find the same waiter every morning that I know is great. Lunch - usually Tex Mex and same here as for Breakfast usually $2US Dinner - depends entirely on the waiter? usually $3-$5US Pool Bar - if Jack is bartending the day i get there I'll drop a $20US every day (they work there asses off) Paty-O - I'll tip the waitress $10US per night (especially Sabi- she is great) and the bartenders if I have to go the the bar to get a drink usually $5-10US per night that is my general guideline - I think that 95% of the staff work there ass off and not everyone is as nice to them as I think they should be.
I would say do not leave one big tip but smaller and more often. You may not have the same staff from day to day and it will insure you get everybody that waiting on you. Take lots of ones and Fives but no torn bills - banks will not accept them down there.
We tip similar to this, but we were told by a premier member this past February that they actually pool all the tips & divide among the staff themselves, that they police themselves to make sure it all goes into the pool. Can anyone confirm this?
Although I dont agree with the pooling of tips at all! at least the person that I tip knows that I appreciate the service that they give me.
Housekeeping - $5 to $10 US per day. To me this is the person I trust with my valuables. She is the one that cleans after our mess (trust me we get really messy in bed...hehehe), plus is the one that stuffs my fridge with beers (I cannot drink that shitty draft beer at the pool). Breakfast Buffet - In the really odd event that we actually make it to breakfast then $2 (last year we only made breakfast once in the 7 days we were there). Lunch - $2 to $5 depending on service Dinner - $0 to $10 depending on service (sometimes we had excellent service which deserves $10, sometimes is so shitty we don't leave anything). Pool Bar - $1/two-drinks Paty-O - $1/two-drinks... If it's really busy then we do $2/two-drinks (seems to improve the speed of service).
This is true at the bars/patio's ,,,, don't know elsewhere,, I think Mayor Jamie had answered this one before in detail.
