 Poster: A snowHead
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All
We normally self cater but this year I have organised a group of 8 in a catered chalet for a short break. Its a nice chalet, not top of the range and not bottom either. Just wondering what the going rate is these days for tipping your chalet hosts at the end of the stay.
Thank you.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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duplicate post
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Wed 22-02-17 11:36; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| marcellus wrote: |
If they've been good would €10 per person hurt your group?
To the hosts €80 would make them really happy.
If they've "just been ok" then €5 per person, the hosts woudl still appreciate €40! |
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For a host who has clearly made a real effort to provide good service, rather than grudgingly do the minimum, fitted around their skiing and socialising, I would tip at least €10 per person. Probably €20.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thanks, no not at all €10/head is absolutely fine. Was just wondering if these days it was closer to €20. Its been that long since we have had someone looking after us. Thanks Marcellus 
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| Quote: |
For a host who has clearly made a real effort to provide good service, rather than grudgingly do the minimum, fitted around their skiing and socialising, I would tip at least €10 per person. Probably €20.
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Thank you
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We give 20 each...makes it between 140 and 180 between 3 of them.
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This is very much not a dig at Gixergirl or anyone else (tips are earned but should not be expected) but on chalet night off how much would you tip for good service? 10% of the bill? Then remember that a good host/team cooks breakfast, afternoon tea and 3 courses every night hopefully to a high standard.
Working in a chalet is hard work and the best teams deserve a nice thank you at the end of the week.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@chaletcompanyconfidential,
Thank you for your advice.
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much depends on your budget too.................we had the same dilemma at new year...first time catered chalet and unsure of the protocol.
We, 5 couples, did 50 euros a couple, so the chef & host got 250 euros.
Seeing your comment about 10% makes me think we were stingy as the chalet was £19k.......and 10% of that at £1900!!!!!......
but I m sure 250 euros as a percentage of their salary for the week would have equated to more than 10%......
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
the best teams deserve a nice thank you at the end of the week.
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I would also hope that they are being paid accordingly to do their job well.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I did a season in 2007, 10 euros per person was the average then, now.......
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| chaletcompanyconfidential wrote: |
| Working in a chalet is hard work and the best teams deserve a nice thank you at the end of the week. |
Yes must be awful being able to go skiing/boarding in your free time every week of the season while the rest of us go back to our easy lives of luxury back home... 
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You know it makes sense.
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I, and previous groups I've been with choose to tip if the chalet person is pleasant, hardworking and does what you might expect or above.
This year, albeit was the last week of the season and I think we expected to make some allowance, we chose not to tip our chalet person. Unfortunately, we felt they did the bare minimum, didn't engage with us as guests, and the food whilst ok/edible didn't have enough care taken over it. Whilst it wasn't 'bad' to invoke a complaint to the host, rep or company - we didn't feel it 'qualified' for a tip.
We did however tip the childcare folks who looked after our children so well.
I think Euro10 to 20Euro per head is fair - I have a family of 5 and would consider 50 euro as not unreasonable - it also feels enough for a night out - which i think is where i would spend my tips if I were a chalet host (ok, not a raucous night out...)
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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A few years ago we stayed in a catered chalet, didn't even get the chance to think about what the tip should be as both chalets hosts were sent home midweek for knocking seven bells out of each other......
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks everyone for replying, some interesting information and experiences here. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| jonathancarty wrote: |
| A few years ago we stayed in a catered chalet, didn't even get the chance to think about what the tip should be as both chalets hosts were sent home midweek for knocking seven bells out of each other...... |
I've been in places on a couple of occasions where the atmosphere between staff seemed rather strained on some mornings. I always put it down to stonking hangovers or perhaps regretted shags (or maybe shagging someone someone else had dibs on etc) but maybe there is more to this Chalet Fight Club scene than I'd realised. The first rule of Chalet Fight Club is....
..no frikkin yoghurt cake
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@Dave of the Marmottes, hahahahaha yeah that stuff gets everywhere !
@GixerGirl, one thing I would do is ensure all buy in to the tip and that they know its just part of the cost (service levels notwithstanding). Nothing more awkward than finding one of the group has a different view on tipping in general and refuses to tip the same. Always hate sharing the bill for a meal and I tip 10% and others tip 3% because it was expensive food.
For my family we tipped 10 per head so maybe I was a little light in that respect
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
The first rule of Chalet Fight Club is....
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Drink as much of the guest's free red wine as possible without being caught
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| chaletcompanyconfidential wrote: |
| This is very much not a dig at Gixergirl or anyone else (tips are earned but should not be expected) but on chalet night off how much would you tip for good service? 10% of the bill? . |
Most places on the continent include service and I usually leave far less.
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It's nice to leave a tip if they've been really great.
Does anyone tip hotel staff though...?
| stefoy4me wrote: |
| the chalet was £19k |
Wow! #baller
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We stayed in a place where we were subject to what felt like a chalet host "tax" - we were made to pay for the mid-week clean of the hot tub. We had exclusive use and we all (as far as I know) stuck to the rules, but apparently they had to get it cleaned and it cost €10 each which was €180. It felt like they were taking their tip without giving us a choice. I'm still sore about it!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@HoneyBunny,
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Does anyone tip hotel staff though...?
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Yes
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honeybunny......LOL if only
it was very much a one off special commemoration.........10 adults and 7 kids
and New year week.........
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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and 10 nights
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Always leave something for the room cleaners (£20 for week). Often for waiting staff too. Had a nice meal last weekend at a hotel and stayed DB&B and left something for waitresses when checked out. Rarely do for pub meals. Did recently leave £20 for weeks guide instructor although I thought he probably earnt more than me!
£20 sounds reasonable if service if good for chalet staff. If they seem to be on holiday and pop in to give me some grub (as I have experienced) - nought!
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I quite a few catered chalet holidays in the 90's and we never tipped - being British I guess, it never occurred to me to do so.
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You know it makes sense.
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Sometimes we tip on the night before the host's day off. Usually ensures excellent service for the rest of the week.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
..no frikkin yoghurt cake |
Boom.
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Poster: A snowHead
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We tend to tip €10/20 per head in a card thanking for service (if good).
What about ski instructors? Our very good /competent instructor turned down a tip on the holiday just gone: "just doing my job", refreshing but confusing for me... is this just because its the first lesson had with ESF in a while?
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 22-02-17 16:17; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Serious question - if people go on catered holidays where the accom is shared, ie Alpine Elements, Crystal etc is it normal to tip? I have never thought about doing that at all. Is it not their job to be chalet hosts so why the need to tip? Might be opening a can of worms here...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Pynch wrote: |
What about ski instructors? Our very good /competent instructor turned down a tip on the holiday just gone: "just doing my job", refreshing but confusing for me... is this just because its the first lesson had with ESF in a while |
Whole new can of invertebrates. In the US you'd have instructors calling you a cheapskate Brit behind your back if you didn't tip them, despite an almost certainly higher lesson price while in Franceyou might buy your instructor a drink or lunch but a tip is vulgar. Maybe because they regard themselves as professionals
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We've mostly self catered over the years, but since both the kids have now done seasons as hosts, it's put the tip into a new light for me. For both children the tips were a very important part of their income and morale, and weeks when they felt they'd worked their socks off but got little in the way of tips at the end were very disappointing.
Thinking in particular of my daughter's Christmas week, which was first guests of the season, she had 6 guests - family of 4 and a couple. She got on very well with them all, the children 'helped' her bake things, and the family didn't leave any tip!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Two choices: Either we expect the chalet company to pay their staff a decent wage, our expectation is that the standard of service and quality of food, drink etc is high, and we tip paltry amounts, or we accept the current situation of chalet staff earning significantly less than minimum wage, the standard of service and quality of food, drink etc is very variable and when we do encounter someone working hard to make our holiday better we tip them a lump of cash.
What I think actually happens is people think £400 for flights, transfers, accommodation and food is "about right" and then tip the staff 10 euros each.
When I organise a group trip I tend to ask the group to chuck in 10 euros each if they thought the standard was ok, and frankly live in hope that Brit punters will decide that 10 euros really isn't enough for 6 days of waitressing, cleaning toilets, cooking, dealing with a million stupid questions, and remain smiling in spite of all of it. Occasionally it has occurred to me to just include a tip when the group sign up, they'd never notice the trip being 30 quid more expensive than last year, and then bung the staff a decent tip from the £400 trip where everybody expected somebody to come into the bathroom and give them a scrub down each morning.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
where everybody expected somebody to come into the bathroom and give them a scrub down each morning.
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| Quote: |
We, 5 couples, did 50 euros a couple
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If we were happy with the service we also used to tip 50 Euro per couple / 25 per guest. If we were a little underwhelmed then half that. This was a few years ago though.
Back at the dawn of time (1993) when I worked in a chalet the range we received was 0 to 50. Some people are genuinely tight (like the investment banker who not only didn't tip but also stiffed us on his "honesty bar" tab that he knew we ran out of our own money). Some people don't even think about tipping - doesn't occur to them. Some people treat you like friends/family then prefer to give you a little gift. And some people do the who "listen guys, you look after us, we'll look after you so don't be skimpy with the wine", run you ragged but tip handsomely at the end.
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| karin wrote: |
We've mostly self catered over the years, but since both the kids have now done seasons as hosts, it's put the tip into a new light for me. For both children the tips were a very important part of their income and morale, and weeks when they felt they'd worked their socks off but got little in the way of tips at the end were very disappointing.
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Yes I imagine having to spend a whole season in a ski resort, skiing, partying and having to actually do some work to pay your way must be extremely morale sapping for some of today's entitled young people.  Or perhaps some chalet staff need a bit of a reality check and appreciate how fortunate they really are.
Here’s the dilemma I have with tipping chalet staff.
On the one hand if they’ve done a good job and been helpful and friendly a part of me thinks that they deserve a little extra, and I’m normally happy to give say a 20 euro tip if I’ve had a good holiday.
On the other hand, thinking a bit more deeply, do they really "deserve" my spare cash over and above their salary that could perhaps be better given elsewhere? They may work hard for low pay, but they have chosen to do that for the huge perk of spending a season in a ski resort. Most of them seem to be young people from reasonably privileged middle class backgrounds, with the luxury of being able to take a gap year before starting university or a career. Despite having to work (shock horror), they are essentially still living the dream, unlike the millions of hard working people back home who have no choice but to work for minimum wage in dead-end jobs in order to feed and clothe their families, who are in far more genuine need of a little extra cash but who generally don’t get tipped for their efforts. Not to mention the homeless people cold and hungry on our UK streets or the poor souls in places like Syria and Iraq for whom 20 Euros could mean the difference between life and death. Whereas chalet tips will likely get spent on a few extra glasses of over-priced Schnapps on their next night off, so should guests really feel obliged giving it just to help fuel a hangover?
(I’ll probably still give one though as it’s the thing to do… )
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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It's a moral high horse best ridden while swilling back lots of chalet red, talking about your favourite Michelin restaurant possibly after having had a brag about what's so good about your choice of premium automobile.
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FAQ
