TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Tipping

We spent a month there in Nov/Dec and saw all sorts of tipping adds to checks and also spent some time on the French side and saw multiple ways people tip there. I will however start this which I think is a good thing, again my not so humble opinion.

On the new K like Karakter menu which I saw a picture of if you read down at the bottom of the menu it clearly states:

"ALL PRICES ARE SERVICE CHARGE INCLUDED
TIPS AT YOUR CONVENIENCE"

This was on a photo that I came across on FB and copied but when I went back I did not find the post so was not able to ask permission to use. After seeing a photo of ours being entered into a photo contest by somebody else I just didn't feel right posting with out permission. I do look forward to trying K in March when we are back and look forward to more reviews. It needed an update, I hope it is as good as I have heard so far.

I guess the place is French owned now vs Dutch owned, word of mouth so not sure that is fact but the policy seems, well, not American and I am A OK with that. Do Dutch people tip when in The Netherlands? I would think it would be similar to what we do on the French side, but it bows to the influence of the US including a monetary system exchange rate matched to the US Dollar. The problem with the American style of tipping when in an international location which includes cities like Miami is that some tip and some don't, or tip minimally like their culture does. If you are going to base a business on the American model but then don't have consistency in what people pay then you get the people tipping subsidizing the people that don't. I personally don't like subsidizing others, so I am fine with restaurants adding 15%. I do my best to make it a habit to look at the check, and add to it. I would also ask that you think about when was the last time that you didn't tip at least 15% at a place that normally would warrant tips? I would guess if you didn't tip you probably never went back there again either, and for me I can state that I don't think even once in my last 200 plus restaurant visits I didn't tip at least 15%. I am guessing I am not alone in those percentages, so why be concerned that the place adds 15%?

It took me a while to get comfortable on the French side not tipping my usual US style 20ish percent. I learned that French custom has wait staff paid a living wage so in some cases it is just extra coins or in the 5% range. On this last trip I paid attention to what the other French side regulars that I respect were adding and it was sometimes in the 5% range but often the 10% range. So I lost my comfort zone, but I can live with it and will be in that 5 to 10% range on future trips.

I also note that after 20 years of trips to SXM I am still learning and adjusting, it is still the place that taught me to relax and slow down.

Have a great 2024!
TB

Well said but the problem is when they add that 15% as a SC the wait staff on many occasions will say they don't get any or only get a part of it. I say include all SCs in the menu price and let the patron do what feels comfortable here and abroad.

I personally think that is an easy solve, I pay menu prices plus tip. If the place adds something to the check regardless of what they state it to be, I consider that part of the tip. Not my fault the person works there and decides to stay, anybody that is good has a lot of options to go elsewhere. Cold as that may sound, I sleep fine and I don't know of a single place that I am not welcome back at.

That’s when you tell them they need to take that up with their boss. I will usually leave an additional 5% cash and call it done. You will read many servers say they don’t get any of it and complain about tipping. But that’s not my problem. French side I just leave 5% cash or round up Super easy.

"All prices are service charge included
Tips at your convenience"
I also like this way of dealing with Tipping. As long as there is no line item on the bill that says service charge. If the meal prices are reasonable on the menu and the S/C is included in those prices I will probably tip on top. It's when the restaurant adds a S/C line item and then expects a tip on top of that amount, that's when I feel I'm being taken advantage of.
Looking forward to trying out the new K this spring also.

It sounds easy, but is super uncomfortable. The waiter at Sublime acted so shocked that we didn't want to give additional tip for what I considered borderline food and service. We will not be visiting there again, but it was not a fun experience. Bringing more cash this time to do as Kim suggests and leave a little extra if warranted, but I personally am not looking forward to navigating servers asking for extra tips.

Correct...asking for tips equates to "last time I eat here".

I guess eventually it will come around to bite them with less patrons

lhbsurf - We had the same experience at Sublime. I added an additional 5% to the S/C and the waiter said to me "Is that all you are going to tip". Yes, very uncomfortable. We haven't been back. Makes me wonder if the owner is aware that he/she is losing repeat business.

Not to turn this into a Sublime conversation, but they have half price appetizers at the bar around happy hour. More than happy to tip extra for this. Excellent cocktails there, too.

My response to that would be, "Yes, because 15% has already been added." If they argue, I'm done, and won't return.

GaKaye - Yes that was my response, they argued that it was a gov't tax (now they are lying to me) and now we're done and won't return.

Any place we go and there are reduced drink and/or appetizer prices, we adjust the tip accordingly if it is not added.

While I have not been to the "new" Sublime, this practice is a turn-off regardless of where it happens. Once anyone asks about the tip/SC, they open themselves up to being misled, confusion and in many cases, flat out lied to. I find it best never to ask and do what one knows and feels is right under the circumstances. It is not my problem what the owner does or does not do with the service charge, if the server is not happy with it then they should move on.

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Laura, certainly uncomfortable and unfortunate. Going out to dinner to me is to relax and enjoy the evening, not to be confrontational. That can ruin even a nice meal.

My note on servers making the statements that they don't get part of the tip, or the bold "is that all you are going to tip", is that I would guess that often the owner doesn't know. It is a server tactic and not an owner tactic I tend to think, so I have a tough time punishing the owner. This happened to us on our last trip where we know the owner very well and so I brought it to the owners attention and the owner was a bit shocked and immediately stated that all the staff share in the tips. How this was or was not dealt with I have no idea. I also get that most don't want to go to the owner or manager and make that kind of comment, again uncomfortable but if you don't you can't expect them to know about it. I know in my business if we see a single issue with a customer service error we address it to everybody as soon as possible, doing our best not to pick the one person out but make it known that we don't do that.

Tipping should not be a stress. I keep my personal standard with tipping simple, and then it is a simple issue to deal with.

The tipping strategies have gone crazy since the pandemic it seems, and we have always given 20% unless something is really wrong. At a simple Italian restaurant/pizzeria in Miami recently, 2 of us were given the check which had an 18% service charge, and just below the totals, were 3 lines showing how much 18-20-22% of the bill would be, so you could add that on in the empty space provided before totaling it up -> 18 + 22 = 40%?? That's nuts! I felt bad just leaving the 18% service charge, but if they are going to add it for me, I'll just go with the service charge unless there is something extra special.

An odd server situation happened to us at restaurant Roma in November, has anyone come across this? We were eating dinner, during the week, and had a nice woman waiting our table, we joked around a bit with her over the course of the meal, and at the end, she brought the check and asked us to review her by name on TripAdvisor. Ok, I've heard this before, and always say the same thing, I don't write reviews for anyone, they make me uncomfortable. She then pleads with us to do it, I mean really laying it on, then puts a paper on the table, maybe 4 x 4 inches, pre-printed with the TripAdvisor logo and instructions on how to leave a review - thank you from her written on it. I felt put on the spot, and we will not be going back there. The food was just okay, didn't think it was anything special, and I didn't like how that went down. Anybody had this happen?

Twenty-Six--Actually, no, never had that happen. I find all that stuff extremely distasteful. And me, being the PITA that I am, might tell her to be careful what she wishes for, because if I DID post something online about her, it wouldn't be good!!!

I've been asked that before after some island excursions and a few restaurants on island but never at Roma that we frequented many times this last trip. As far as adding on a SC we used to go to a restaurant close to us back home that would add on a 5% to cover employee health insurance. That didn't go over big with us and won't go back no matter how great the food was.