Tipping Advice

From Bartenders to Valets: a Tipping Guide for Arizona and the U.S.

Tipping advice can be quite controversial. However, we've had times where we weren't sure how much to tip a bellhop or a taxi driver.

So, we've put together a tipping guide gathered from our travel experiences and from talking to employees in various service industries.

When getting a good meal with good service like this one at Javelina Cantina in Sedona, standard tipping advice is to leave at least a 20% tip

During your Arizona travel, it's almost inevitable that you will go someplace where you will need to leave a tip.

As with the rest of the United States, tips in Arizona are voluntary but they are expected and considered customary, especially in restaurants.

In the United States, restaurant servers depend on tipping as they are generally paid about $2 to $3 per hour on average.

Therefore, gratuities are a major part of their wages. Servers at good restaurants expect a 20% tip for average service and even more for excellent service.

Here's some tipping advice for restaurants:

• For decent service, don't tip less than 18% unless you'll never go back to that restaurant.
• Tip based on the bill's subtotal, including drinks.
• Do not tip by just doubling the tax as this amount will not sufficiently cover the tip.
• If you have late arrivers to your table or a member of your party was particularly difficult, tip a little extra.
• Leaving a tip of less than 18% indicates that you were not happy with the service.

Note: some restaurants automatically add an 18% - 20% gratuity for groups of six or more. A few high end restaurants automatically add a gratuity to the bill which may also include an "extra tip" above the final bill total.

Here's our general tipping advice for service staff:

Always check with the resort regarding automatic service charges before booking your room.

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