Tour Director tip
New to Tauk, going on VCT Feb. 5. Will we have 3 tour directors (one per country) or 1 for the entire time? I assume they prefer $'s for tip?
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New to Tauk, going on VCT Feb. 5. Will we have 3 tour directors (one per country) or 1 for the entire time? I assume they prefer $'s for tip?
Comments
One TD. Tip in $. Enjoy!
If you have any local currency left at the end of the trip, use it as part of the tip.
I did VCT last year and did not convert to any of the local currencies.
BKMD did you use credit cards for purchases? Don't plan on lots of purchases or spending lots
I used either CCs or USDs. In the Saigon market a few blocks from the hotel, I bought some knockoff polo type shirts and used USD. They didn't even give a price/negotiate in local currency. BTW, if you do go there, bargian hard. I bought 4 shirts that were intitially quoted at $150 and I paid $25 for them
(edited for typo)
BKMD - … and I paid $25 for them.
So they made $20 off of you. 😂
You will have only one tour director for the entire trip. Each city has its own guides. While Tauck says that the tour guide tips are included, everyone in our group also tipped them separateIy. I was very surprised by this.
I’ve rarely seen anyone tip extra to local guides on Tauck tours. You are paying premium prices for Tauck tours, tipping is included apart from. On land tours the Tour director and sometimes the driver, but Tauck makes it clear on each specific tour guidelines.
I have seen a lot of people tipping the local guides and bus drivers with one of tauck's competitor. I don't see why it is SUCH AN UGLY ISSUE with Tauck. It said a lot of about the people you travel with.
Even with private excursion wihtin the trip, some people tip more and some people tip less. What's the deal?
Paying premium price for Tauck? Interesting.
With the other company, I went on the optional excursion without bringing my wallet. The local guide bought me the breakfast (theme of the excursion) and paid for my souvenir at the shop next door.She deserves more absolutely.
Two of the guys decided to tip the driver the last minute during the second optional excusion. So all three of us ended up tipping the driver.
I did not exhange any Vietnamese money and some one from my group gave me their spare change to go to Reunification Palace in Saigon since I was the last person to leave Saigon in the late afternoon and every one else left before 11 a.m. on the last day. Otherwise, I have to again borrow from TD and increase my tip or try to find some Vietnamese money desparately the last hour.
Flexibility is the key, folks!
henrypoon, it's not an "UGLY ISSUE" it's a practical issue that you have already paid that tip to the local guide when you paid for your Tauck tour. That's why TDs carry around wads of cash as part of their job. I have never seen a guest tip a local guide on a tour in Europe. Maybe in some more economically depressed countries guests could feel a little more would be needed and they are free to do so.
Here’s something different…in our most recent tour…to clarify not with Tauck. Someone brought up tips, and having to carry large amount of cash for the tip to the end of the tour. Our fantastic TD said he thought tour directors get a decent wage and he would never expect to get tips. Our guideline was $12. Pp per day. He said if tour directors don’t think they are paid enough then they should find a different job! He also says when anyone is concerned about carrying cash around, he invited them to give him an envelope with the tip in at the beginning of the tour. He won’t open it, then at the end of the tour he will hand it back and you can add or subtract whatever you want. Anyway, we paid him over the going rate, he was awesome and fun, we joked the entire trip, just my kind of guy!
I have never seen anyone tip the local guides in any of my tours, I consider I pay enough for a Tauck trip and if it was required, we would be told.
We’ve had Tauck tour directors emphasize that tips for local guides are included and no need to tip
On my Rhine Christmas Market River cruise this past December I saw a couple of people tip the local guide which did surprise me, but I will say there were a lot of first time Tauck travelers so I'm thinking they weren't as aware about the tips as those of us who have previously toured w/Tauck.
Just returned from the VCT tour. When our TD emailed a few days before we left with the general welcome message, I responded and asked for their currency preference and if they accepted any digital payment like PayPal, Venmo, etc. Our TD was amenable to PayPal, which we used for our tip at the end of the trip.
The TD mentioned they appreciated it as it was less cash to carry around, which can sometimes be a headache when they run tours back-to-back for several months. Plus, not all TDs are US-based.
That being said, cash USD is the default and always accepted. But if you would prefer not to travel with so much cash, it doesn't hurt to ask for the TDs preference prior to the trip.
PGH - Good information, but with respect to 'ask for the TDs preference prior to the trip'. Not all TDs make contact prior to the tour.
Just a comment about PayPal. If you send money as payment for services or merchandise, PayPal charges the receiver a fee of about 10%. Money can be sent "Friends and Family", where there is no charge, but I don't think you can do that between countries.
I don't know the details, but I know someone who had a friend in Canada try to send her money "Friends and Family" and it was not possible between countries.
The reason I'm raising this issue is that the TD will receive about 10% less if you send money to them as payment for services.
In about 40 tours, I’ve never had a tour director contact me before the tour. Tauck will even rarely tell you who your tour director will be in advance, so as far as I’m concerned, this method is a non-starter.
I've had several Tauck tour directors contact me before the tour. One was Morrocco, another was Vietnam, and one other that I don't remember. Seems like it's happening more recently - maybe Tauck is encouraging it. I appreciate getting a note from them before the tour. It allows them to brief us before the tour, share various documents, and we can ask questions.
My only complaint was one TD put everyone's email address in the "To:" line instead of the "Bcc:" line. So when some people sent a question or comment to the TD, they hit "Reply All" and we all received that message. I complained to the TD but he didn't seem to take it seriously.
I don't like having my email address given out without my permission, and that's what he was doing by putting our email addresses in the "To:" line.
Also, the TD on the last couple of tours set up a WhatsApp group text and sent an invitation to everyone on the tour. That's good and bad. It allows the members of the tour to communicate with each other and share photos, but sometimes too much is sent. Also, the TD did not disable the group text at the end of the tour and some people continue to send texts to the group, usually about travel they're doing now.
When I did VCT, I got an email before the trip. Presume your TD was Chuck?
And yes, he did the annoying To: so group emails of no relevance were coming for days.
Wow! Shocking indeed with such lack of privacy!
Using private paypal contacts for tips!
How can email address be given out without permission? What if some one don't want to share contact information or photos?
Reply all and group chat should not be used without permission and not given the opportunity to opt out!
Some countries do not accept paypal! Not every one has the same payment app.
On the last Vietnam tour with a different company, there were group swimsuit photos taken of in shape, athletic guests in their 30's or 40's swimming at Ha Long Bay. These should not be shared without permission.
prefer not to travel with so much cash or not having so much cash?
The people traveling with the other company were carrying so much cash. People were paying for each other's beer.
I guess with the Tauck demographics, swimsuit photo is last of any one's concerns.
On the last trip with the other company, one couple told the TD that by all means they don't want to be contacted at any time during the tour unless they initiated it.
I think it is a huge privacy issue too. Tauck was sued by a previous customer for a similar occurrence which is partly why they no longer make a big deal of email lists. It needs reporting. However, if it’s a Whatapp group, don’t you actually have to respond to join it in the first place? Or can’t you withdraw from the group?
Then there's the story of the guy who did a trip with not-his-wife, as seen in the group photo. And guess who managed to see an email of the photo?
That’s the one. Was it you and your girlfriend?
You have to do something to join, and I just looked up how to withdraw. The person who set up the group will be notified that you withdrew.
https://faq.whatsapp.com/678712076864311/?cms_platform=web
I don't mind the TD asking if people want to share email addrsses, and I may agree. I only object when my address is exposed without my permission.
British - 'twasn't me
No, it was Jeff Bennett. I wonder if these people just don't know how email works - that if you stick a bunch of addresses in the "To:" line everyone sees who the email was sent to.
I talked to Jeff about this and he told me that he couldn't do a "bcc:" on Apple email, which is not true. I think every email app gives a "bcc:" option. Sometimes bcc: is not shown as a default and you have to go into your settings to make it show up.
"bcc:" is also available on Android email.
[For anyone not familiar with how to do this, what I do is put my email address in the "To:" line and all the other email addresses in the "bcc:" line. There may be other ways to do it but that works for me..
When someone gets my email, they can see their email address, and my email address, but no others.]
Hey Poony, I take umbrage with your comment about the Tauck demographics and bathing suits. Nothing but insults from you. Perhaps that old adage "if you have nothing nice to say......." applies here.