How to Tip in Vegas

Yes, if you're in Vegas, you gotta tip! Almost everywhere you go! Trust me, a huge percentage of its population relies on tips rather than an hourly wage. And I think some people have no idea of the unwritten rules of tipping in Vegas, just because they haven't been told. So this next short article is meant to give you a little guidance if you come from a region, or country, where tipping is not such a big deal as in Vegas.

Who do you tip? Well, there's virtually not one person that you can't tip. Let's make a list with all the people that normally "work for tips", or a big part of their income is based on tips:

- dealer, valet attendant, cocktail waitress, bartender, bellman, free shuttle bus driver, taxi driver, busser, food server, room maid, room service; oh, and strippers;

Still, Vegas is a city build on customer service, and everybody involved in the process is going to expect a tip. When you go to a spa, a beauty-saloon, you will be expected to tip; the hairdresser, the massage therapist, the cosmetician, the manicurist....The cashiers sometimes have tip jars.

How much should you tip? The limit is entirely up to you. The minimum is ONE dollar, I saw a lot of people tipping ridiculously small amounts, like 5 cents, 10 cents, a quarter, you get the idea... Please, if you're going to tip somebody, spare at least ONE dollar... it is very offending to receive a 20 cent tip, so if you're going to offend somebody like that, don't expect good service next time, and do expect for them to politely return your tip. Is better not to tip at all than to give a cocktail waitress 10 cents, for example. The exception applies to cashiers, who would gladly accept your change in their tip jar.

At a restaurant, 15% of your bill is good, but still, no matter how much your bill is, tip at least 5 dollars. I like to tip at least 5 dollars if the service was OK. If the service was exceptional, you can tip the server a lot more, even 20 dollars for a $50 bill.

So, if you want everybody to be happy, tip, please! Many people in Vegas are going to go out of their way to make your stay as pleasant as possible, so do consider this nice people work for a minimum wage, and the reason why they do more than their job description says they should, is because they appreciate your tip. Most of them work really hard, and it's not for that 5 or 6 dollars an hour they're being paid!