 Poster: A snowHead
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What do people tend to tip their instructors/guides? If I've had a good experience I will normally go 15 to 20%. For insructors or guides out there what are your expectations or would you consider the 'norm'?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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flowa, It maybe stems from when I took up skiing again and went to the US and Canada quite a lot where it is perhaps more in the culture, I just presumed when I started going to Europe that it was same there.
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I have tipped when part of ski-school for the week, but not private lessons - dunno why really, I don;t suppose the instructor gets paid any more either way.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Gsyfreerider, no, I'm just a cheap skate who has only ever done two lessons. 
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I've never tipped any instructors per se, but at the end of our holiday in Switzerland where the location is so small you know all the instructors by name and they all know you by name, what I do is to take English tea and biscuits with me and at the end of the week present the ski office with enough tea and biscuits to share between them and lifties and piste bashing staff - I'm not comfortable with tips and it always seems to be well received.
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Often give 20 euro after a 2 hour private lesson  Worked my way up through hotels and know what tips mean, therefore if the service is good I like giving them.
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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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I'm a ski instructor.........there are not so many nationality who give us tip......but there 's no a price it depend from your satisfaction.......but the idea it is to give them few drink......
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What do other people do about tipping guides? I usually buy them a meal and a drink, but there was one guy in Zermatt who hung around like a bad smell obviously hoping for a tip. I wouldn't mind but that was the first time he'd paid proper attention to us in the whole 2 days, so he was waiting to no avail.........
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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If I am out with them for a day I think it's a general expectation you buy them lunch......I don't tip if they are Sh*t or like that muppet you had in Zermatt that kind of situation really sucks. A friend of mine use to incentivise her instructor and tell them they could expect a good tip if she got what she wanted out of the lesson, not something I would do but it worked for her.
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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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holidayloverxx, No they don't get paid more for private lessons.
Gsyfreerider, It's nive but slightly embarrassing to get tips - by no means common though. IME the instructors who are clearly struggling more get tipped more! 
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I offer them a beer, that's it (and feed them if we're together at lunch - that seems to be expected). It would never have occurred to me to offer a tip. Am I a mean git? (Yes, I am.)
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You know it makes sense.
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I can't be the only person who wishes the world had never invented tipping. I find the whole etiquette of the thing when to, when not to, country specific ideas etc. to be fraught with 'danger'. I don't know why we don't just all get charged a tad more and the people providing the service get a higher wage (yes, I know it would never work that way, but look how much easier it would be!).
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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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Megamum, it's not difficult to work out what local customs are.
I often offer a drink or buy a bottle of wine, more as a sign of friendship and respect than a "tip", but if I skied in the US I would offer a tip. Last week I was tipped a bottle of Limoncello by my group last week - given the state of my hangover on Saturday I would rather have had nothing but a word of thanks!
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Poster: A snowHead
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In my experience it is usual to give mountain guides lunch, plus generally a moderate tip at the end: (Last time the 6 of us gave €20 each after 5 days but I'm not sure what is normal.) Certainly nothing like 15% which is too much. Perhaps half that? But when in a public group I have often not tipped and I think many people don't.
I'm skiing for the first time in the US in a weeks time, We will be doing the steep and deep camp at jackson Hole, Is it usual to tip on something like that?
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 21-01-09 18:45; 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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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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I will normally give 10-15% 'for a beer' after kids ski school courses, we used to bring some chocs or beer to the office but find this easier. In the past with adult groups we have all chipped in. It would depend on the quality though  I guess we have been lucky.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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snowball,
Yes
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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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| vetski wrote: |
| rob@rar, you'll be OK for a while, now - I haven't even been able to look at Limoncello for about 4 years, since passing out after most of a bottle... |
Me and Limoncello have officially gone our separate ways. I'd rather slurp the spawn of the Green Tree Frog.
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rob@rar, can't fault you there. I tried the stuff for the first time in Livigno last year....aaarrrgghhhh, foul, wretched stuff....and I don't mind a drink or two 
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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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rob@rar, I sat at the swim-up bar in Costa Rica last summer, drinking Mojitos, till I fell off of the stool and nearly drown myself.
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On the tipping front - I get paid a massive $10 an hour and if I manage to get a morning and afternoon lesson, that's 4.5hrs pay. Tip your instructors if they do a good job!
Oh, and if you're in Fernie, tell them I sent you - we also get a 10% commission on things we sell, but I haven't figured out how to throw a sales pitch to a 4 year old yet
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I got a bottle of red wine last week. Shame I don't like red wine really. 
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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 an hours lesson, group of 10, they took me to the bar afterwards, bought me beer, then all of them put £5 tip in, so free beer and £50 for an hours work, plus my wages. 
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| Megamum wrote: |
| I can't be the only person who wishes the world had never invented tipping. |
No, there are two of us.
I have nothing against the occassional gesture or gift for someone who's done something beyond the call of duty. What I don't like are (almost) mandatory tips. If the prices is $E£100 and you expect a 15% tip, why not just charge me $E£115? It's not paying $E£115 I object to, it's the charade.
Don't get me going on tipping hairdressers (slightly OT, I know)
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You know it makes sense.
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I'm an instructor and we really, really appreciate tips! If you think you've had good service then please tip! We get paid the same whether private or group lessions and it really tops up our (meagre) wages. Although, obviously I don't do the job for the money... I work really hard with my guests, so I think it's nice to be appreciated, especially if you've been with them all week. If you just book a one or two hour lesson, then tips are not usually expected, but if you are with the instructor for a whole day or longer, we do like a thankyou. Presents are nice, but money is much better, the same goes for lunch - a tip is preferable to being bought lunch (especially as instructors can get cheaper food at restaurants when they take guests).
Obviously, if you think your instructor wasn't any good (and this does happen), then don't tip!
To all the lovely people who do tip - thankyou!
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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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After my first ever lesson in Canada (3 days) we left a card and a nice bottle of wine addressed to our instructor at her office. It was a group lesson so had been pre-paid at the office.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ski instructors are not well paid so if the lessons have been good give a tip. You will find that if you go back to the same place next year you will get a warm welcome and a choice of lesson times
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ski instructor are very well paid.......just abusive or illegal instructor are paid less.......but if you are legally there you are paid very very well......
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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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| lungostyle wrote: |
| ski instructor are very well paid.......just abusive or illegal instructor are paid less.......but if you are legally there you are paid very very well...... |
Not sure that some of my friends who teach in Switzerland would agree with that.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The Jackson Hole Steep and Deep Camp is already $990 just for the guides/instructors for 4 days. So am I supposed to tip $100 or $150? Admittedly it is 4 punters per guide but I'm b*ggered if I'll do that!!!!!!!!!!
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sat 24-01-09 12:26; edited 1 time in total
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| lungostyle wrote: |
| ski instructor are very well paid.......just abusive or illegal instructor are paid less.......but if you are legally there you are paid very very well...... |
very, very well paid compared to who?
France is certainly the best paid, North America is shocking as is the UK. You'd earn more here flipping burgers. I couldn't afford to give up my day job and live on an instructors wages. I considered becoming a swimming instructor a few years ago, the pay was 3 times that of a ski instructor, no equipment costs, expensive training course costs. Bar a pair of speedo's and a whistle that's it and most of the time didn't even get wet. Ski Instructors are exploited by their employers because they love what they do. The money is rubbish.
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So is most of my $990 going to the organisers? 4 punters at nearly $1000 each for 4 days work is rather, um, good?
Edit; sorry, that does include 4 day lift-pass at a very reduced rate.
So what would someone who knows the US suggest I tip?
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YOU'RE PAYING $1000 EACH FOR 4-DAYS OF LESSONS???? DO YOU GET A NEW PAIR OF SKIS EVERY DAY FOR THAT???
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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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snowball, yep organisers are making a killing... Cost it out if you got 3 buddies and booked a private - even at the $600/day rate US ski schools use that is $150 each a day... the instructor is getting a fraction... There is a reason some camps can afford to have a heap of "helpers" ... it is because you are paying for them!!!
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Find it HERE .
They run it 4 times per year - I gather it is quite famous. One of our group has done it a couple of times as the SCGB holiday leader. I see they say it includes lunch and dinner, which I hadn't realized and makes it rather better. Bl**dy expensive,even so!
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FAQ
)
I'd love to send you the remains of the fearful yellow stuff, but the empty bottle was discarded midway through Friday evening.