I, too, have been confused about tipping as I understood from all RS literature and from a previous trip that all tipping was included in the trip price, a feature that makes RS trips very attractive. On the last trip that I was on, some participants started asking others about tipping our leaders. I referred to the RS policy and they seemed surprised and told me that they "always tip". This felt awkward. I decided to ask the group leader if he was aware of RS including tips in the trip cost as he had done an an excellent job and I did not want him to think that I and perhaps others did not recognize this. He said he had never heard anything about tipping already being included in the trip expenses sent to his organization. I suggested that he might want to review that policy with them and they in turn with Road Scholar.
The RS advice that "It's not necessary to tip the group leader or anyone else on the program" is inadequate advice. For any tour and cruise with any company, it is not necessary to tip--it…
I recently had exactly the same experience others have described: a couple of participants who were new to RS handed out envelopes and invited us all to tip our Group Leader. (We had already treated him…
The RS advice that "It's not necessary to tip the group leader or anyone else on the program" is inadequate advice. For any tour and cruise with any company, it is not necessary to tip--it is optional, but usually customary. The real question is whether it is customary with RS. Rick Steves says that on his tours, guides are NOT ALLOWED to accept tips. If RS is serious, they will either say tipping is optional but customary (with suggested amounts) or they will say it is NOT ALLOWED. Be clear.