Travelling abroad? This website tells Canadians how much to tip in every country
While Canadians have plenty of fun travelling abroad, figuring out how much to tip can sometimes cause a headache.
Tipping has become standard practice on our home turf, but customs vary significantly from country to country, and what’s considered perfectly normal in one place could be unnecessary — or even frowned upon — somewhere else.
That’s why websites like Tipping Rules come in handy for travellers trying to navigate unfamiliar tipping cultures.
The relatively new website has been popping up in various Reddit communities where users discuss travel etiquette, including tipping. People seem to appreciate the site for its maps, calculators, and country-specific guides to help them figure out when tips are expected, customary, or simply not part of the culture.
For example, Tipping Rules has a world map highlighting countries where tipping is “expected,” like in the U.S., Bahamas, and South Africa; “customary,” like in Mexico, Greece, and the U.K.; and “not expected,” in China, Finland, and Australia, among other spots.
So far, the map covers 140 countries around the world.
Tippingrules.com
The website also highlights three countries where tipping at restaurants, in taxis, or at hotels simply isn’t part of the local culture: Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. For Canadians visiting those places, that can mean one less thing to stress about when paying the bill.
Curious travellers can also search for a specific country to see more detailed information about local tipping customs.Â
For example, someone travelling to Romania will discover that tipping is customary and that leaving between 10 and 15 per cent at restaurants is typical, and 5 to 10 Romanian lei per night is customary for hotel staff.
Another handy tool on the site is the calculator, where all anyone would do is input the country they are visiting and the total price of a bill to determine the tipping percentage (if applicable).
For instance, a visitor in Greece spent €50 at a beach bar. Tipping Rules states eight per cent is a “common” tip, so the total would be just €54.Â
Percentages can vary significantly from country to country. In Malta, for example, a five per cent tip is perfectly acceptable, while in the U.S., around 22 per cent or more is considered “the norm.”
Tipping Rules is continually adding new data to its site. Country pages are reviewed periodically and updated as tipping norms change or new information becomes available. Each page includes a “last reviewed” date to indicate how current the information is.
So, before heading off on your next trip, it may be worth checking out the website, especially if you don’t want to awkwardly wonder whether you’re supposed to leave a tip or not.Â