Tips at resorts

He's not lying. I come through an all-inclusive like Rodney Dangerfield from Caddyshack and pretty soon every other patron is an after thought.

Their fault for being cheapskates and believing the resort's literature about "no tipping allowed" (and/or for just being European).

 

"I think this place is restricted Wang, so don't tell 'em you're Jewish! OK."

 

In fairness to those people, I wouldn't say they are cheapskates. If you don't know any better, why would you not believe the literature? If I hadn't posted this thread, I would have believed it too. Why would they make a point of specifically stating, multiple times, "gratuities are included", "you can relax knowing you don't have to carry any cash, as gratuities are covered in the reservation", so on and so forth?

Why would someone read that over and over, and think "nah, they are bullshitting"?

It also said free WiFi for the entire resort, should people assume there is a charge for WiFi also? What about food; it is included also...but should I assume ill have to actually pay for it?

I don't have a problem tipping, especially if the service warrants it. But to be honest, it was the whole "gratuities included" thing that first caught my eye, and was something I was looking forward to. It isn't about the money, it is about the hassle of having to make sure I always have cash with me, even at the pool and beach, the additional transactions, and the additional human interactions.

If (for example), I was going to spend $300 tipping over the week, I would gladly pay an additional $500 up front to not have to mess with it while im there. Which, after thinking about it, is probably what they do. They probably jack up the price under the premise that tipping is included...then people just tip anyway.

 

And like the kind gentlemen did for Phil, I would've taken pity on you and gladly given you one of my warm beers that I hadn't gotten around to drinking yet

 

I bought that hat. And yes it DID come with a free bowl of soup.

It took 40 strokes off my game as well.

 

If you think about it, it is kinda like a boycott or strike or something like that.

It clearly states gratuities are included. The people who continue to tip are actually the ones fucking it up. If EVERYONE stopped tipping, because it is included, then logically you would have to think the service would be "equal" for everyone.

Like a factory of 100 people who decide to go on strike. As long as everyone does it, then everyone is fine. But if some people decide to continue working, it completely undermines the strike for everyone.

Because of some people deciding to tip, and getting better service for it, then it "forces" everyone else to tip also if they expect good service.

 

The big variable you might not be considering is that if the price has been increased slightly to include gratuities, you can rest assured that the company will pocket a hefty portion of that increase and the dude slinging drinks at the bar might end up seeing 25% of that at best. So, since everyone who works in the service industry understands this practise - they feel like the only true way to know that the bartender is indeed getting his/her share is to personally pass it along.

Tip pools with little to no oversight are easy pickings for companies who hide behind a "service charge" or "processing fee" to take money from a customer and then do the accounting to correctly ensure each employee is compensated correctly. Then, in Canada at least the Gov't then says "Lets make it a taxable benefit" and it all goes further to hell.

Think Charities where you donate a dollar and in some cases maybe 10 to 15 cents actually makes it to Haiti, Ethiopia, Puerto Rico, etc... Same concept.

I wanna look someone in the eye and personally say "Thank you, I know this job is thankless and you deal with drunk, entitled assholes all day, every day so please take this tip as a small measure of thanks" and I do that by passing them cash, with a smile.

 

Hey Broome, I posted a large dog pic for you in the photo thread.

 

I agree with Broome. If it says tips are included then tipping should be not allowed. My assumption would be that is part of the costs for the provided services. This is precisely why my wife and I don’t do cruises and all inclusive vacations. I’ll tip when and where I want.

My wife normally tells me I over tip but I’m happy to express my gratitude for good or great service.

I’m getting tired of tipping everybody. I feel like if you are not making enough doing what you have chosen to do then it’s on you to better yourself. Don’t just throw out a handmade tip jar and expect me to use it.

 

No, I did consider that. But that isn’t my problem.

I get where you are coming from, but by “looking someone in the eye and saying ‘thank you....’” and giving them a tip, you have set the precedence. Now the bartender will give you better service, as a “thank you” for your tip...which will lead to other people thinking “shit, I want good service too, I better tip also...”.

Then there you go. The whole “gratuities included” thing is shot to hell.

BTW - by “you” I mean anyone that decides to tip when they are supposed to be included.

The same scenario could play out anywhere. Start throwing $10 at the people at the full service car wash, they will naturally give your vehicle more attention. Before long, the next guy thinks “I want my car as clean as his, I’ll drop them a $10 too...”. There you go, now everyone must tip at car washes for equal service.

It should be cut and dry. Either tips aren’t included, and we tip as we see fit. Or they are included, and NOBODY tips. As soon as someone decides to tip when they are included, they fucked everyone else.

End result is we pay higher prices for the stay, AND we still have to tip if we expect equally good service as others.

 

when it comes to tipping the Germans are effed in this part of the world anyways.

service industry people in germany have an apprenticeship for their jobs and make a living on the wage they get for doing a real job. it's not the former stripper that tries to better her life by carrying food from the kitchen to a table. tips are on top of that. so if you buy a beer for 3.50 and tip them 0.20, that's ok. OTOH, since they (german service peeps) are paid a good wage, they are also sometimes not motivated to do a better job.

so when i have family over i always have to remind them of the 20% rule . it makes everyone cringe.

now germans also like rules and sticking to them. so if they book a resort for the exact reason to not to have to tip anyone to receive all inclusive service that is promoted, why in the heck would you tip . it's against the rules. you'd be an idiot to spend more $ than required. (especially since that all inclusive resort plus flight set you back a couple of grand already)

this is what that DC attorney meant with "sorry we have ruined that for everyone" - it's just not applicable outside the US and thereby the "guilt tip" or the "exclusivity tip" ruins it for all others.


i bet if you opened a restaurant here where you paid the wait staff well and disclosed "no tips allowed" to the guests, 97% of the guests would still tip them, out of whatever reason...

 

But I don't care about equality of service. If I am on vacation, I want excellent service for me and if it takes a few bucks, who cares. I really don't care if anybody else has to tip to get what I get.

 

that's why i decided to break the rules that year and strategically the following year.

but i must say, personal connection gets you farther.
for example the first night there i missed out on lining up for the beach cabanas that afternoon, but talking to the guy for a while, having been to mexico couple times for work, yadayada, turns out he was from Queretaro, so we talk city, people food, places, soccer, suddenly he says he put me down for #24 (or whatever) and i'm "gracias, cabron" ... of course he got a tip the next day too

 

When you pay thousands of dollars for one week, especially while surely paying additional to cover gratuities (as stated in the program), you (and everyone) should get excellent service by default.

When you’ve dumped that kind of money, you shouldn’t have to pay every person more money individually to get great service.

Not to mention you shouldn’t have to worry about carrying cash with you everywhere. Especially considering we are talking about a beach, and a place with multiple swim-to bars.

That’s the whole point of including gratuities in the price.

 

You're really overthinking this. If you're at the pool and don't have cash, don't tip. Just come back later on your way in or out and tip then, or don't. When I was at an all inclusive in Cozumel we tipped at times it made sense and didn't tip at others, (like the pool example), and our service was fantastic the entire time from all the staff.

 

I agree with both things above, and I hate that the ever-expanding "service" industry notion that more and more positions qualify for Tips - owners like it as it subsidises their labor costs. Case in point, a trend where I live is counter service restaurants - not fast food but higher end offering but no table servers just a counter, daily changing menu, and seasonal food so the counter person plugs in your order like at a fast food operation, they give you a marker to display at your table (one place uses pictures of vegetables for example) and you get your own water, cutlery, napkins, and find your own table. Once the food is ready the yell out "Tomato!" or whatever and you walk up and grab your food, then bus your own table at the end BUT, you literally can't pay for your meal on the debit/credit machine without accepting the "Tip" option so you're forced to accept it and enter $0.00 if you don't want to (god help you) or enter an amount and suck up the extra 18% or whatever.

As for carrying cash at resorts I'm 100% with you on that one and we haven't figured out a way to get around it and it sucks. It means only one person in the pool at a time so the other can keep the cash dry - only upside is we usually have other valuables like our room keys, books, cell phones, etc... with us so the cash is lumped in with that and one person acts as security while the other cools off in the pool or swims up to get another round of drinks at the swim up bar/pee party.

 

Tipping ruins vacations .. just like track days ruin racing.

FWIW, I tip on the all inclusive - some of the times, all the time.

 

Or do the super cool KidOfSpeed self guided tour!

 

@Gorilla George
Broome, do a swim with dolphins adventure, you love animals and interacting with them so much you really need to swim with them. My wife and I did it years and years ago and still talk about it. They will let you hang on to their dorsal fin and haul ass on a fast lap around the huge area that is sectioned off and high five/flipper you afterwards. Another cool way is you lay rigid in a straight dive position and they push on your feet with their nose superfast around the huge enclosure, which is part of the sea, like your own jet drive

Tulum is cool as the ruins are on the water and you can swim and explore, Chichenitza is really cool if you have a guide to show you all the secret things like echo chambers where you’d have to stand in a little spot thousands of feet from a pyramid to make them work and sound like a bird for secret communications. Cozumel is a day trip for snorkeling and Isla la mujeres is a good night time unwind.