Post by coppersun2001 on Mar 10, 2006 13:48:26 GMT -4
Hi again all, I have often been asked what to do about the tipping of staff at the resorts. Here is what we do, it is not right or wrong just some information for you as to what we do.
One thing to keep in mind that the staffers at the resorts may be asked to produce verification of the articles they take off the resorts. My husband and I prepare a small letter and personally sign it with our villa number when we get assigned after checking in.
The other things to remember are:
1. Most of the staffers have worked at these resorts for a long time.
2. These folks are honest and very hard working! They will not take tips left off the pillows, they can't, its against resort policy for the most cases. This is done in Cuba and Mexico, quite often but not the case in the DR. You will have to hand it to the staffers. And in the long run this is far more personable. And the bonus is that they recognize you and smile or nod when they see you.
3. We are big tippers, we usually tip in Pesos, this is a lot easier for the staffers to use. Normally we wait for three days, this way we can see if we get the same housekeeping gal, as she is the one we want to tip. The first tip we give is 500 pesos, this works well as we find our towels back early, little things that make our trip even better, ( towels folded as swans, etc)
For housekeeping if it is a younger gal we give her nail polish or perfume ( both these items are hard to get there).
4. Wait Staffers, again we make sure we watch to see who works the most in the section of the restaurants that we sit in. Again we start with 500 pesos. and usually do this every four or five days. You can really get great service!
People ask, do we give them toothbrushes. People..they have them, so not a really great tip! We always ask at the end of the trip what they look forward to receiving, they usually answer perfume. They are actually really shy about answering this question, which endears them even more to us.
5. Bar tenders, well what can I say. We use the 500 tip every five days. Keeping in mind that we usually stay for three or four weeks.
The way we look at it, we tip cause we like to. We like to bring things for the kids as well, and take a variety of things, cause we never know what the ages of the kids of the staffers are. We take coloring books and crayons, nail polish, hair scrunchies (big big hits) the colorful ones with dangly things on them. Even the older wait staff love them! We also take barretts, hair bands, hot wheel cars, games etc. }
Tipping takes some planning on our part, so we watch for sales at the end of the Christmas season, ( a great way to pick up perfume on sale) or raid your local dollar store, for hair products.
In my opinion Tipping is important but it is a very personal thing. You will have to decide what is your comfort level.
Also I keep any pesos for my return trip, that way I have pecos ready for our cab driver or luggage guys upon our return to the DR.
The biggest thing to remember is don't be insulting, I saw a prime example this last trip, where the guy in the restaurant was extremely demanding and gave the gal 10 pesos. what a kick in the teeth, I had asked him how much he gave her, pretending to be a newbie. I was appalled!!!!!!!!!
Anyway I hope this helps.
coppersun
One thing to keep in mind that the staffers at the resorts may be asked to produce verification of the articles they take off the resorts. My husband and I prepare a small letter and personally sign it with our villa number when we get assigned after checking in.
The other things to remember are:
1. Most of the staffers have worked at these resorts for a long time.
2. These folks are honest and very hard working! They will not take tips left off the pillows, they can't, its against resort policy for the most cases. This is done in Cuba and Mexico, quite often but not the case in the DR. You will have to hand it to the staffers. And in the long run this is far more personable. And the bonus is that they recognize you and smile or nod when they see you.
3. We are big tippers, we usually tip in Pesos, this is a lot easier for the staffers to use. Normally we wait for three days, this way we can see if we get the same housekeeping gal, as she is the one we want to tip. The first tip we give is 500 pesos, this works well as we find our towels back early, little things that make our trip even better, ( towels folded as swans, etc)
For housekeeping if it is a younger gal we give her nail polish or perfume ( both these items are hard to get there).
4. Wait Staffers, again we make sure we watch to see who works the most in the section of the restaurants that we sit in. Again we start with 500 pesos. and usually do this every four or five days. You can really get great service!
People ask, do we give them toothbrushes. People..they have them, so not a really great tip! We always ask at the end of the trip what they look forward to receiving, they usually answer perfume. They are actually really shy about answering this question, which endears them even more to us.
5. Bar tenders, well what can I say. We use the 500 tip every five days. Keeping in mind that we usually stay for three or four weeks.
The way we look at it, we tip cause we like to. We like to bring things for the kids as well, and take a variety of things, cause we never know what the ages of the kids of the staffers are. We take coloring books and crayons, nail polish, hair scrunchies (big big hits) the colorful ones with dangly things on them. Even the older wait staff love them! We also take barretts, hair bands, hot wheel cars, games etc. }
Tipping takes some planning on our part, so we watch for sales at the end of the Christmas season, ( a great way to pick up perfume on sale) or raid your local dollar store, for hair products.
In my opinion Tipping is important but it is a very personal thing. You will have to decide what is your comfort level.
Also I keep any pesos for my return trip, that way I have pecos ready for our cab driver or luggage guys upon our return to the DR.
The biggest thing to remember is don't be insulting, I saw a prime example this last trip, where the guy in the restaurant was extremely demanding and gave the gal 10 pesos. what a kick in the teeth, I had asked him how much he gave her, pretending to be a newbie. I was appalled!!!!!!!!!
Anyway I hope this helps.
coppersun