Many Americans are suffering from “tip fatigue." Between inflationary prices and digital tipping screens that guilt you into leaving a gratuity, the money can add up.
But it’s not just the customer that feels the pain: tipped employees are scraping together a living. The federal minimum wage for tipped employees is a shockingly low $2.13 an hour, though some state minimum wages are higher.
To add insult to injury, tipping, argues food news site Eater, encourages racism, sexism, harassment, and exploitation, and allows businesses to put the burden of fair pay on to their customers instead of giving their workers a decent wage.
Tipping is kind of an American thing. According to Time, wealthy Americans in the 1850s and 1860s on vacations in Europe discovered the tradition, which had originated in medieval times as a master-serf custom. Wanting to seem aristocratic, these individuals began tipping in the U.S. upon their return.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, several restaurants, some of them high-end Michelin-starred destinations, are foregoing tipping altogether and charging an automatic 20% service fee, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The, owners, the Chronicle reports, have decided to replace gratuities with a fee to pay workers more equitably, especially underpaid kitchen staff.
If you plan on traveling out of the U.S. soon, you may find it a relief that tipping won’t cost you as much in most countries as it does here.
European travel guru and guidebook author Rick Steves says not to stress over tipping in Europe, and in general, European servers are well paid -- tips are considered a small "bonus.” Steves says tipping in Europe isn't as automatic nor as generous as it is in the U.S., and in many countries, tips aren't expected at all.
To compile this guide to tipping around the world, HawaiianIslands.com, a resource for vacations in the Aloha State, used TripAdvisor tipping guides to find tipping etiquette for restaurant staff, hotel housekeeping staff and taxi drivers for each country, then cross-referenced the figures with at least one other source. For countries without TripAdvisor tipping guides, at least two sources were used to find accurate tipping amounts.
Here's how to tip in the 30 most-traveled countries.
But before you continue, would you like to leave a tip?
France
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: 10%
(Hotel staff refers to housekeeping, and does not include porters, concierges or other hotel staff members.)
Spain
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $2-$5
- Driver: 10%
United States
- Restaurant: 20%
- Hotel: $2-$5
- Driver: 15%
China
- Restaurant: No tip
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
(For restaurant staff, ‘no tip’ is suggested if tips are only locally suggested for exceptional service or if tipping is uncommon.)
A. Aleksandravicius / Shutterstock
Italy
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $1-$5
- Driver: No tip
Mexico
- Restaurant: 15%
- Hotel: $1-$5
- Driver: No tip
Turkey
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: Round up
Thailand
- Restaurant: Service included
- Hotel: $0.50-$1
- Driver: Round up
Germany
- Restaurant: 5-10%
- Hotel: $3-$5
- Driver: No tip
Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock
United Kingdom
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $2-$3
- Driver: No tip
Japan
- Restaurant: No tip
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
Austria
- Restaurant: 5-15%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: 10%
Photo: Giannis Papanikos / Shutterstock
Greece
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $1
- Driver: No tip
Malaysia
- Restaurant: Service included
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
Shutterstock
Portugal
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: 10%
Russia
- Restaurant: 10-15%
- Hotel: $1-$3
- Driver: 10%
Poland
- Restaurant: 10-15%
- Hotel: $2
- Driver: No tip
Sirio Carnevalino / Shutterstock
Canada
- Restaurant: 15-20%
- Hotel: $2-$5
- Driver: 10%
Netherlands
- Restaurant: 5-10%
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
Vietnam
- Restaurant: 5-10%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: Round up
India
- Restaurant: 7-10%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: Round up
South Korea
- Restaurant: No tip
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
AsiaTravel / Shutterstock
Croatia
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $2-$2.50
- Driver: Round up
Hungary
- Restaurant: 10%
- Hotel: $0.50-$1.50
- Driver: 10%
United Arab Emirates
- Restaurant: 10-15%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: Round up
Indonesia
- Restaurant: 5-10%
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
Singapore
- Restaurant: No tip
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
Czech Republic
- Restaurant:10%
- Hotel: $2
- Driver: No tip
Saudi Arabia
- Restaurant:10-15%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: 10%
Denmark
- Restaurant:No tip
- Hotel: No tip
- Driver: No tip
Gabriel Stellar / Shutterstock
Morocco
- Restaurant:10%
- Hotel: $1-$2
- Driver: Round up
See a map and complete list of tipping around the world at HawaiianIslands.com.
(Most popular countries for tourism is from the UN’s World Tourism Organization and WorldData.info.)
