Best Of

At our age, I want a tour company that takes care of everything. We used to travel on our own but that takes a lot of research, planning and effort. I'm happy to pay someone else to do all that.

We have only done fifteen trips with Tauck, but I have witnessed what long days and hard work the TDs perform. If it is shown as a thirteen day trip, it is at least thirteen days of tips. They often spend all day and some of the night with the guests, and then they have work to do behind the scenes. When the TD is gone on the last day of the trip, it is often because they have to get in position for their next trip. But, they make sure your departure arrangements have been made. In my experience they perform a lot of work on day one.

Some people would say what you describe as penny pinching. The Tour directors do an unbelievable amount of things behind the scenes. As soon as someone starts moaning about their room allocation, gets sick or leaves something behind, that all becomes an additional behind the scenes burden.
The culture of tipping in the US is so alien to other cultures. I think we should all be paying the same amount for the tour, but it differs according to how much you give for a tip. To think that you will only get good service if you tip, that’s just so awfully to think about.
Once you have been on your first Tauck tour, you realize that the Farewell dinner is when most people give their tip along with their returned review form.
As far as not seeing the TD on the last day. The other company we now travel with, the TD even gets up in the middle of the night to ensure every person gets their transport to the airport. On some Tauck tours, our TD has already left the area by then.

Having worked in the service industry all during college and into my summer months as a young teacher, I would never stiff anyone. I would, however, let corporate know my concerns about a poor quality TD.

Beaten to death indeed. The base salary for a tour director is not high, so the tips are important. Many of the TDs do not live in the U.S., so the tax status of cash tips is a question. I do know that the recommended tip amout was stuck at ten dollars for about a decade, and only recently was raised to twelve. They work very hard for those bucks. I don’t remember ever tipping only the recommended amount.

As far as not seeing the TD on the last day. The other company we now travel with, the TD even gets up in the middle of the night to ensure every person gets their transport to the airport. On some Tauck tours, our TD has already left the area by then.

I've had some VERY early departures from Tauck tours. The TD may not be there, but someone meets us in the lobby and takes us to the airport, sees that we get our boarding passes and takes us up to security (they can't go past security). The TD has arranged for that person to meet us.