Outfitter Gratuity
#11
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 28
RE: Outfitter Gratuity
We own Buck Hollow Ranch. We do not have a "no tip" policy, but tips are not brought up in any way at our place by us. Some places actually mention it on their websites or brochures, we dont.
Tipping (to me for what its worth) is something done if the customer feels they were given better than average service, or service they are much in appreciation for.
At our place you will be guided by an owner and I think at that point the owner got paid already in the price of the hunt. But we do have occasions where mulitple hunters in one booking come and we use a local person for a guide. (Such as the owner is with you and the local guide is with your brother or friend) That guide may get a tip at that point if the hunter so chooses to give one. Once again tips should be given and not expected.
We have noticed also that some hunters will tip the cook and lodge keeper. Again by choice and not by expectation.
To answer the original poster about how much to tip. In my personal opinion, tips have become expected in many industries. Resturants, hotel vans, taxi, and other transportation of people drivers, and other industries. I think its sad to think that a "tip" for good service has become the "standard". Because if there is a "standard rate" for a tip then the true meaning of the "tip" has gone away.
I have been in a resturant where all I ordered was maybe $5 worth of product, but the serviceAND the person providing the service was awesome, and in turn I left them$5. That would be 100% but who cares what the % was? IGAVE what I felt was right based on what I felt I got.
My opinion,
Roger
Tipping (to me for what its worth) is something done if the customer feels they were given better than average service, or service they are much in appreciation for.
At our place you will be guided by an owner and I think at that point the owner got paid already in the price of the hunt. But we do have occasions where mulitple hunters in one booking come and we use a local person for a guide. (Such as the owner is with you and the local guide is with your brother or friend) That guide may get a tip at that point if the hunter so chooses to give one. Once again tips should be given and not expected.
We have noticed also that some hunters will tip the cook and lodge keeper. Again by choice and not by expectation.
To answer the original poster about how much to tip. In my personal opinion, tips have become expected in many industries. Resturants, hotel vans, taxi, and other transportation of people drivers, and other industries. I think its sad to think that a "tip" for good service has become the "standard". Because if there is a "standard rate" for a tip then the true meaning of the "tip" has gone away.
I have been in a resturant where all I ordered was maybe $5 worth of product, but the serviceAND the person providing the service was awesome, and in turn I left them$5. That would be 100% but who cares what the % was? IGAVE what I felt was right based on what I felt I got.
My opinion,
Roger
#12
RE: Outfitter Gratuity
Tips are Ok when they are a reward for exceptional service that goes above and beyond. Unfortunately, too many establishments of all kinds have abused the tipping tradition to help reduce labor cost to the business owner. I try to avoid any business that either flat out declares or simply implies that tipping is expected.
#13
RE: Outfitter Gratuity
ORIGINAL: royaltine
I am a guide and have guided for the last 12 years. I average maybe 1200-1500 bucks per month in wages. I hunt my butt off for everyone and certainly don't expect a tip. I don't think clients should tip outfitters, but if the guides do a good job for them, I think they should get tipped. We have bills we have to pay too. We especially should get tipped when babysitting a%$ holes like Dr. Death! He's probably the same guy that walks out of the restaurant after he just stiffed the waitress!
I am a guide and have guided for the last 12 years. I average maybe 1200-1500 bucks per month in wages. I hunt my butt off for everyone and certainly don't expect a tip. I don't think clients should tip outfitters, but if the guides do a good job for them, I think they should get tipped. We have bills we have to pay too. We especially should get tipped when babysitting a%$ holes like Dr. Death! He's probably the same guy that walks out of the restaurant after he just stiffed the waitress!
dd
dd
#14
RE: Outfitter Gratuity
ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter
Tips are Ok when they are a reward for exceptional service that goes above and beyond. Unfortunately, too many establishments of all kinds have abused the tipping tradition to help reduce labor cost to the business owner. I try to avoid any business that either flat out declares or simply implies that tipping is expected.
Tips are Ok when they are a reward for exceptional service that goes above and beyond. Unfortunately, too many establishments of all kinds have abused the tipping tradition to help reduce labor cost to the business owner. I try to avoid any business that either flat out declares or simply implies that tipping is expected.
dd
#15
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SC PA
Posts: 27
RE: Outfitter Gratuity
I've been on a couple of types of "guided hunts". The first type is one where you stay at a lodge and the hunters are taken out and "assigned" to particular stands. You are driven near the stand by a "guide" and he tells you where the stand is. They also tell you when they will pick you up. In this situation you are usually involved in a morning hunt and an afternoon hunt. The hunter is confined to a very small area and you hunt what you can see from a fixed position for several hours. In this type of situation I have never tipped the guide. He really isn't doing a lot of work that deserves a tip, in my opinion.
The second type of hunt is a spot and stalk hunt that is typical of western hunts. In this type of hunt the guide is invaluable. I won't know the lay of the land or the types of movement that the local game will make. The guides I have hunted with have known the land like the backs of their hands and there is now way I would have been able to hunt with the levels of success I have experienced if I had been on my own. In this type of hunting, the guides should be tipped based on the work they do for their clients. The best tip I ever gave a guide was after a hunt where my son went home with an unpunched tag following a mule deer trip. He and our guide saw a monster muley on the third day of a four day hunt. They hunted hard trying to catch up with the buck for two days, glimpsing him a few times. But they never got into shooting position. This guide worked harder than any guide I have ever hunted with and the tip I left with him reflected my gratitude for how hard he worked.
The second type of hunt is a spot and stalk hunt that is typical of western hunts. In this type of hunt the guide is invaluable. I won't know the lay of the land or the types of movement that the local game will make. The guides I have hunted with have known the land like the backs of their hands and there is now way I would have been able to hunt with the levels of success I have experienced if I had been on my own. In this type of hunting, the guides should be tipped based on the work they do for their clients. The best tip I ever gave a guide was after a hunt where my son went home with an unpunched tag following a mule deer trip. He and our guide saw a monster muley on the third day of a four day hunt. They hunted hard trying to catch up with the buck for two days, glimpsing him a few times. But they never got into shooting position. This guide worked harder than any guide I have ever hunted with and the tip I left with him reflected my gratitude for how hard he worked.
#16
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Vermont
Posts: 36
RE: Outfitter Gratuity
I have to disagree with matthewcmill.
You are paid to provide a service. You charge what the traffic will bear. I read your post where you claim that some of the hunts you set up cost $30,000 and you get get 8%. That works out to $2400. Now tell me again why I should tip you.
I have walked out of one or two restaurants in my life without being at all generous. My older brother once told me "Never leave the restaurant without leaving a least a dime for lousy service. They need to know that they got what their service was worth."
You are paid to provide a service. You charge what the traffic will bear. I read your post where you claim that some of the hunts you set up cost $30,000 and you get get 8%. That works out to $2400. Now tell me again why I should tip you.
I have walked out of one or two restaurants in my life without being at all generous. My older brother once told me "Never leave the restaurant without leaving a least a dime for lousy service. They need to know that they got what their service was worth."