Tipping in France, when to tip, who should you tip, and how much is appropriate.
The first thing to understand is that tipping is not required in France. There’s a 15% service fee automatically added at restaurants, bars, cafe’s, etc. Servers in France get salaries, paid vacation, and health care.
In France it used to be common to leave 15% + tip to cover the service costs. In 1985 the French Government passed a law requiring that employees are to be paid no less than the minimum wage, which has a different name in France. This law essentially outlawed the practice of having a wage paid by tips. The service fee was created for two reasons, the first should be obvious, to cover the wage or salary paid to the serve staff. The second was to explain the increase in prices to patrons while they acclimated to the new system.
Travel Tip: If you ask a server if the tip is included they will tell you “no”. They aren’t being dishonest because it’s not a tip. It’s a service fee. This fee doesn’t go straight to the server, it actually goes to the establishment to cover employee costs, such as their salary.
So when is it appropriate to tip? Well basically anytime the service justifies it. Did a server go above and beyond to give you an enjoyable experience? If they went above and beyond in any way then tipping is a good way to show your appreciation.
So now that we know that tipping is not only acceptable but encourages for good service we need to talk about who to tip. I’ve been saying the word “server” to generalize a common group of employees you should consider tipping. Using this word implies wait staff, bar tenders, and the sort. But there are other professions that aren’t food service which should also be included in consideration to receive a tip as a token of your appreciation. Some of the other professions you should consider tipping include taxi drivers, chauffeurs, hotel staff, beauty salon and spa employees, as well as for Tours, classes, and other tourist activities.
Now that we know who to tip, and when to tip, let’s talk about how much. Of course this is all relative based on your ability to tip, and your opinion of the quality of service given. Remember, you don’t have to tip if you don’t feel the person has done anything to justify it.
In a restaurant or bar it’s common to leave a few euro or round the bill up to the nearest euro. If the service was really good consider leaving 5% - 10%. However keep in mind that using an American mindset of 15% to 20% is outside of French norms. Remember that the wait staff is being paid, so a tip is not expected. So don’t feel bad leaving a small token of your appreciation if the service calls for it.
When taking a taxi or private car tipping is also not expected. Consider rounding up to the nearest euro. If they help with bags, especially if they are large, consider a euro or two per bag. For a private car service a tip of between 5% and 10% isn’t bad.
Hotel staff should not be overlooked. Tipping amounts will vary. For example tipping one or two euros per bag tp luggage handlers is acceptable. Feel free to slip a few euros to your room service staff, and consider 2 to four euros per day to housekeeping staff. It’s never a bad idea to show appreciation to the people taking care of you while you are away from home. The concierge is a bigger range of what’s acceptable, depending on the quality of the establishment, how often you use them, and generally how much work you ask them to do. Tipping the concierge between 5 and 20 euro is generally acceptable.
Tipping in salons and spas is generally encouraged, so beauticians, hairdressers, massage therapists, and other professionals in these industries. 5% to 10% can be considered appropriate.
Tipping etiquette becomes less straight forward when we are talking about tourist activities. Usually if you take a private tour, excursion, or class directly with a guide or instructor you will be charged a flat rate to cover their services. So for this tipping isn’t expected, however if they do a good job consider showing your appreciation. When using a tour company, online service, or booking through the concierge they might not be paid like you’d expect. Check the booking confirmation to see if tipping is encourage. Depending on the service you could tip as much as 10% to 20%. Again, this is a tricky area that needs to be determined on a case by case basis.
Travel Tip: If you decide to tip and are paying with a credit card you will be surprised to learn there is no field to add in a tip. For this reason it’s always good to carry small currency to be used for tipping.