Just a few weeks ago I posted a story about how you should tip your hotel staff, How much to tip, but apparently not everyone had read it. A few of NYC's hippest hotels have started adding 18% to 20% to the bill at their bars due mostly to European guests who either don't understand they should tip or just don't want to.
According to NYC nightlife impresario Steve Lewis, "The French and the Italians and the Spanish don't tip, so it's becoming a necessity at any place that's dealing with a Euro crowd and wants to maintain its staff." His comments were in a recent New York Post article where the following were also mentioned...
(a hip Standard bar lounge)
The Standard Hotel and The Ace Hotel's Lobby Bar charge a mandatory 18% gratuity on drinks, "rather than leave the tip to the patron's discretion. Both cite foreign tourists who don't know it's customary to tip your bartender as motive for the policy."
and
Tribeca Grand Hotel: At this hotel bar, where a double Beefeater gin on the rocks costs a crazy $26 the Post says a bartender includes on the tab an extra $4.68 tip - "the obligatory 18% gratuity."
(could she motivate the Euros to tip?)
I'm all for tipping great help because I've also worked for tips myself, I get it. And not all travelers understand how our American system of tipping works, so I do understand the need. But, what if you get bad service and you're still "obligated" to tip? Thoughts?
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