Be Innovative! the IE Blog

Tipping and Events

Do you ever struggle with tipping? Who to tip and how much? I do! Did you know the word TIP means ‘To insure promptness’ or TIPS ‘to insure proper service’? Interesting… I find myself feeling guilty if I don’t leave a tip even if the service was less than prompt or proper.

Here are a few ideas for tipping on the event side of things:

• Tipping on the spot is appropriate for delivery services and servers, but not necessarily for the event staff of the hotel.
• You can let hotel staff know up front that a gratuity will be given for service at the end of the event and a tip will be given privately for exceptional service.
• Service personal are paid a wage for their work, so only tip for exceptional service. Sometimes the back end and management people do not get these tips, so you might want to include a note and a tip for them at the end of the event if they’ve gone above and beyond.
• Ask your event staff and the hotel to give you names of those involved in your event, and write thank you notes on site during down time (I know…what downtime?). But sometimes it’s just what you need to justify finding a quiet corner and taking a few minutes to catch your breath. This will be one less thing to do when you return home and the bills and statements need rectifying.
• Watch for ‘gratuity added’ services such as restaurants and catering bills. They have already figured the tip in so there is no need to add any more – unless of course someone just blew you away with their service and you would like to give them something extra.
• When planning your event budget, make sure to including tips. This will help you feel generous and will not add unexpectedly to the bottom line.

If you’re wondering about the value of great service, I’ll share a little story.

Recently I was doing production for a show in Indianapolis and the doorman was so good that at the end of the event he had a basket full of envelopes, and not just from us! He paid great attention to the conversations going on around him which let him anticipate our needs before we asked. Now  that is service!

Drop us an email and we’ll send you a handy-dandy tipping guide!