Tips

Tipping is a part of life in America and can take some getting used to. Thomas Cook provided guidelines on these which was useful. They state that tips should be given on an individual basis and not as a group collection. Local tour guides should be paid $2 per person per half day. Taxi drivers and waiters should received 15-20%. Bar staff should receive $1-2 per drink. Buffet servers who clear the plates and top up drinks should receive $1 per person. Housekeepers should be paid $1-2 per person per night. Both the Tour Manager and coach driver should receive $2-4 per person per day dependent upon your level of satisfaction. We decided to pay the coach driver $5 each day we travelled on the coach. Because the driver (Chris) was excellent we gave $80 extra at the end. Between us we decided that Geoff would receive $150. The door-to-door pick up service saved us a lot of money and we were travelling a long distance, we decided to tip £50 each way and this was halved with the two drivers on the return journey.