This was published 14 years ago
Tipping etiquette: cold, hard cash splash
Top service at a price ... to hang with the cool crowd at Aspen, Colorado, will cost you.
The coat-check girl in the ski resort of Aspen earns an average $US400 ($475) a night in tips. Clearly I'm in the wrong career. "It's best to tip her around $US5," says my host. Forgive me for not knowing you needed a master's in physics to hang up a coat. From where I'm sitting, which incidentally is on my coat so as not to have to tip, $US5 is $6, which is enough for a vodka and tonic, a glass of sauvignon blanc or a beer. I don't even know the girl's name and I am sure as hell not buying her a drink.
Coat-checking is a lucrative industry for those happy to work a season pawing the furs of Aspen's elite. One Aussie girl we met had already paid off her $US9000 debt and was now working for spending money.
I am a firm believer when travelling that you must embrace the local culture, but this tipping malarkey just reeks of double standards. The theory is coat-check girls are not officially on the payroll and don't receive a wage, relying purely on tips.
The US minimum hourly wage isn't enough for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Officially it's $US7.28 an hour in Colorado but for those in jobs with tips the federal minimum is less than a coffee at $US2.13 an hour.
While their citizens were up in arms about slave labour in the Nike factories of China not that long ago, it would appear something similar is happening here. Apparently it's up to me, the customer, to provide the wages of the staff in the establishment in which I am dining, in the First World county in which I am visiting. Go figure.
Complimentary just doesn't exist in this part of the world. The "complimentary" hotel shuttle is far from it when you're expected to tip your driver for depositing you at the restaurant door. A typical day in a luxury ski resort starts with a hotel pick-up from the airport for $US5, check-in and help from a porter for $US1 a bag, then hitting the slopes.
If you have a private instructor for the day you tip them minimum 10 per cent, return to the hotel, tip the ski valet for storing your skis, head to apres, tip for drinks, hand over your coat, dine, tip again and so on.
Sure, you can choose not to tip, but don't expect any service. The rule of thumb is tip big on day one and those folk will look after you for the rest of your stay, without the need to tip so heavily every day. Even with bad service, Americans still tip. While dining at a restaurant with good food but service with major attitude, we were informed by our American host that the waiter would certainly be receiving a lesser tip. We said, "Why tip at all? He's been outrageously rude." Our host couldn't do it. She just said that to tip 10 per cent in a town where 20 per cent is normal is a slap enough in the face.
My Australian attitude is not welcomed by a town that traditionally provides one of the highest service standard levels in international ski resorts. Alongside Beaver Creek, Telluride and Steamboat, Colorado resorts are known for their impeccable attention to detail when it comes to skiers' comfort on the hill. Where else in the world can you get complimentary muesli bars and hot apple cider served by smiling mountain hosts at the top of the lifts midmorning, and freshly baked chocolate cookies at the end of the day? However, we ran two separate tabs one night in a popular town bar: one by my friend, a Colorado native based in Denver, and one by me. When it came to settling the bill I had an automatic 18 per cent gratuity charge, he had none. When I asked the bar tender about this, he replied, "I heard your accent. Australians don't tip." After a debate I was destined to lose, he informed me the local newspaper, The Aspen Times, ran a story on April Fool's Day a few years ago with the headline "Australian tips 12.5 per cent".
Tipping time can be awkward in a country where to discuss it openly is considered bad manners. I always get it wrong and it causes great anxiety. Do I hand over the money openly, or do I slip it to him in an underhanded way? And, after all this tipping of hotel staff, do I have to tip again when I settle my accommodation bill? Yes, if you want and yes again.
Half the time it's not that we don't want to tip, it's just that Australians don't know when to tip or how much and that's what gives us a bad reputation.
It's best to arrive prepared with a budget for tipping and a knowledge of when is appropriate. Always make sure you have plenty of $1 bills; if you don't tipping is still so de rigueur you can ask your porter to break a $20 for you.
Some places, such as day spas, offer envelopes in which to place your tip for the massage that's just cost you a mortgage payment.
Tip taxis, bar staff, waiters, porters, coat-check girls – indeed most folk that provide a service in a hotel. Tip your ski instructor, or at least buy him lunch. No need to tip the lifties or the ticket sales staff, but do tip the guy who waxes and services your skis. Do tip drivers, whether taxi or shuttle, but not the bus driver.
Don't let tipping ruin your holiday. I became obsessed by the etiquette of tipping and trying to get my head around the cultural difference. I came to the conclusion that I will never get it or understand it and I won't change it, either. Why complain in a town that truly does offer the best service in the world, gratuity not included.
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