interesting article about tipping and how asians and others overseas dont really

http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/tourism/wave-low-tipping-travelers-worries-dealers-servers-las-vegas

As Strip properties prepare for more Chinese visitors, some casino employees say they are concerned they will have to forgo some tip money.

“It’s very difficult when you’re serving or relying on tips and the majority of your guests are foreign,” said Cheryl Holt, who has worked as a food server on the Strip since 2011. “They don’t tip you, or they may have a $200 meal and tip you a dollar per person

 

Sounds like it's time to institute mandatory gratuities . . . .

But seriously folks . . how do you educate people who aren't used to tipping that it's an expectation. When I go to Asia, I have to remind myself NOT to tip in certain places.

 

thats what others are saying .i know when i talk to the bac dealers they talk how cheap there customers are.

dont know how lucky dragon will survive

i just got an email for new years 30$ for all u can eat and free to watch the fire works .there giving 100$ free slot play away if u earn enough credits that night.they have to be hurting

 

I doubt that the casino ( lucky dragon) will suffer much from lack of tipping. Just the dealers!

 

that was the point when the employes quit it effects the casino. also evetualy if there not drawing ennough people they will have to scale back on how often all there resturants are open'',the palms tried to have a asian resturant open 24/7 by a top cheif great food low price it faid , instantlty went to oppening at 6 pm for dinner only.

 

Hopefully they understand our customs of tipping. I think when you travel anywhere you should observe local customs. It's kind of ashamed that hotels expect customers to pay their employees. But that's the way the service industry is. I'm I limo driver and half our pay is from a mandatory tip. If international travelers become a problem as far as tipping goes, the hotels will just have to institute a mandatory tip. It's not uncommon in restaurants with groups of 8 or more.

 

I think that's really for the lower end casinos. Was just talking to a caddy who's wife is a Wynn dealer; she still pulls in 65k in tips a year after having to share with pit, it used to be 100k+. Wynn has a large international base of players.

If your clientele is a bus junket of Chinese tourists, then you will be not getting a lot of tips. You can replace the Chinese part with any ethnicity of bus junkets...

 

mandtory tipping will just cause the service to go down, at xs nightclub their is no set grat you decide for yourself which i like,

 

Why do always service workers and customers have to suffer, while casinos are raking in millions, if not billions? If a casino is specifically targeting an audience, whose members don't tip, then they will have to raise wages of their employees. That's the cost of doing business. If that'll take their gross profit margin down a couple percentage points, so be it.

A person at the age of say 40, who is accustomed to not tipping all his/her life, is not a monkey needed to be trained. If you have a business and you want their money especially in an area that is just for entertainment purposes; then you should be flexible enough to fit their style.

 

Interesting thread. I'll give my two cents worth on this....

I think this topic, whilst relevant to Vegas, is not uncommon in the USA in terms of the long standing For and Against argument for the culture of tipping. For me, I think the idea of it is actually ludicrous. I expect all staff of any company to do their best for their company and for their clientele (if they are in the service business). The notion that good service needs tipping smacks in the face of not doing their best in the first place. The restaurants in New York that have experimented with zero tipping policy has gone down well apparently. People want to know how much the meal is really going to cost, and that includes the service of course. That's part of the experience. If the establishment expect the customer to make up the salary of their employees, then a reduction in this "tips" collection has a massive effect on the staff morale and operational effectiveness.

In the UK, dealers in the casino (to my knowledge) are not allowed to accept any tips. The dealers advise that their pay more than makes up for this, and they are expected to maintain a professional and courteous service to the casino clients at all times. Some say that the level of service will suffer if you take away the tips. If service levels ever fell because of some weak argument that the workers won't try as hard, that doesn't argument doesn't work. As a company, you would issue warnings to personnel that were not performing as they are expected to perform in the role that they play within the company. I personally think the London Craps dealers are top notch in terms of helpfulness and respect for the player.

Singapore and Macau both welcome tips, but I see few people giving such. Again, the median salaries are outpacing the local expectation for salaries in respective territories for similar skilled work.

As a frequent visitor to the USA, and having many USA friends, I understand the requirement to tip. It's actually not for service, but an essential part of the server's salary. It's this that totally annoys me. The establishment simply isn't passing through the true cost of a meal to the customer. Why not just do it, and be done with it? Stop hiding the true cost and make it easy for everyone to understand the cost of the meal. Why should a service based worker suffer from a fall in expected salary just because some people don't tip correctly on a particular night? I think the balance to this is that there may be some customers may occasionally "over-tip" but realistically, how often does this happen? I'd rather have firm expectations of salary/remuneration as a worker, as there is much to plan based on this expectation (bills, mortgage etc..).

The difficulties sit with the dealers in a casino, which brings the relevance back to this thread. It's actually harder to make a judgement call on this. Most would agree that tipping is customary when the player walks from the table having won on that session. Some level of a portion of the winnings or constant wagers on dealers' behalf. However, I would state here that this doesn't quite work! The dealers provide a level of service that is consistent whether you win or lose. Therefore, in order to make the median level of income expected by the dealers in that profession, everyone should theoretically tip whether they win or lose. In practice, I cannot see this happening. More so, because of the negative expectation of casino gaming.

I also read that some believe that overseas visitors to the USA needs educating about tipping culture. I think perhaps this should be balanced by the USA itself educating itself to the notion that everyone should do their best in their jobs and be paid a proper salary without the need to rely on the expectation of tipping (I won't even say generosity, because it goes way beyond the idea that someone did a good job for a tip). This doesn't sit right with many cultures and countries. If you were assisted by a Japanese person in Osaka for example (like leading you to a destination on foot or helping you in their confusing subway system) and you tried to tip them, it would be like smacking them in the face. I learnt this one the hard way....

The idea that a customer is 'cheap' if they don't tip is not correct. It's insulting. It's true that there are those customers that are "cheap" and don't tip, but it's not true for all customers. It's about expectation. For many visitors, they simply don't know how much they should be adding to a bill to cover the expectations of the service being provided. It's actually embarrassing. Take a personal valet or driver - how much to tip for a 200 mile journey? Well, if it was simply included in the price, then there would be no confusion, no embarrassment, no disappointment. If a company loses business as a result of a higher price being advertised, then I would argue that the company misled the customer into the true price of the service in the first place.

I think it would be interesting to see if there would be a casino that introduces higher pay for it's dealer staff and puts up a no tipping policy. I'd like to know how many dealers would ACTUALLY prefer this to the current situation. I mean, the best choice would be the one that pays more, correct?

I think there have been surveys done and I read previously that some waitresses actually preferred tips and low basic salary to a fixed income salary. If that is the case, then you would need to accept times when you don't meet your income expectations.

Tipping isn't a hidden charge in the USA. It's basically an accepted charge without being invoiced. The problem is (as the point of this thread goes) when you introduce overseas cultures to the idea of tipping not actually being voluntary. It's not voluntary in reality. It's a necessity for many who rely on this income.

Here's where it sucks when coming from overseas....You can claim a receipt for goods/services on the invoice amount, but you can't claim back for additional monies paid on that bill. As the tipping is an additional amount, companies do not accept that the tip is actually a requirement to the bill. So, imagine that many business people face the fact that their company expenses may not be met in full. That sucks.

 

Tipping, in general, is a terrible concept. Why leave it in the hands of the customer to determine how much an employee will earn? Or if an employee will earn anything at all. For anyone that has worked in the service or retail industry, you know how awful people can be. Build in an 18-20% tip into the prices and this whole problem goes away.

 

Thanks for the insight from your perspective, Craps_Player!
Interesting food for thought!

RICHARD

 

Boo hoo, the best tipped workers in all of vegas are bitching that it just isn't enough, meanwhile, everywhere else in vegas except the 15 mega casino's where the rich foreigners go, life goes on... with servers hoping for a 20% tip on a $10 or $15 tab.

 

Go to Miami Beach restaurants and they automatically add an 18% tip plus have the guts to include a blank tip line in hopes to collect a double tip.

 

When will we get with it? Just end tipping, pay the staff accordingly, and add 15% to the cost of the bill. It's really a silly game we play.

 

Mandatory gratuities would make drive me away. They would have to bring back the service levels of 15 - 20 years ago to make that fly with me. A better alternative would be to try out some no- tip concepts if the strip wants to depend on customers who don't tip or don't tip well.

 

this is not just an "Asian" thing, the stereotype and it gets racial is heavy toward black people but in reality it is just cheap people or assholes...my friend is asian and tips on everything, hell it wasnt until I met her that you tip the skycap or housekeeping...I always tipped everything else...I have many black friends that get upset because they get poor service as the stereotype follows them, my good friend said he needs a shirt that lights up and reads "Im black and I tip"

now if the service sucks and no good reason for it, it will reflect in your tip, thats where the mandatory gratuities arent good

now in new orleans, many places would close for any predominantly black events as they say their employees cant make any money from low to non-tippers, the city recently passed a law to fine any places closing, so now you have to have a valid reason for closing which doesnt cover a lot.

so to bypass that, only for the black events do places put a sign right by the entrance that says due to special event, we add "x amount %" to all the bills

 

The only reason I made is an "Asian" thing is because of this list:

From "Hate Tipping? Here Are 12 Countries Where You Don't Have To"

http://www.businessinsider.com/hate-tipping-here-are-12-countries-where-you-dont-have-to-2014-4

The result was the following list of 12 countries, where tipping customs range from welcome (but not expected) for great service, all the way to insulting.

1. China
2. French Polynesia
3. Japan
4. Korea
5. Hong Kong
6. Switzerland
7. Australia
8. Belguim
9. Brazil
10. Denmark
11. Estonia
12. New Zealand

 

Link below to one of my favorite radio shows that aired earlier this year covering this exact subject, for those interested. Show includes extensive conversations with arguably the best restaurateur of all time. Transcript in the link as well for those who just want to skim.

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/danny-meyer/

 

You might consider that Waiters and waitresses are the biggest gamblers of all.
Even with 110% effort, success is not guaranteed.
The result is completely out of their hands & they are never sure what they are going to get.
....Plus the odds are always in the house's favor!