AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye Please be honest & discreet...

it was my understanding that the "service charge" was to be split amongst all of the employees, not just housekeeping. this has been discussed many times before, as it pertains to who actually gets the tips.

"We already signed a contract that did NOT state this additional cost."

I would assume if the renting manager or owner now want additional funds for "additional costs" you could cancel the contract, originally agreed to by both parties. ?
Why worry about discretion here anywho… adding fee's after the fact is a new agreement I should think.

If the additional 10% is not in the contract, you are not obliged to pay it. Tipping the staff $1000.00US for your stay seems a bit much unless there is 10 of them or 20 of you..Tip what you feel is appropriate based on their performance during your stay. That is what 'tipping' is for.

TIPS - to insure proper service. Interpret that however you wish.

It is a shame that the staff that will be making you comfortable during your stay might be left unrewarded because the owner of the property is charging a high rate. A tip doesn't need to be a percentage of anything. Just what you feel is appropriate according to the service you provide.

Also, bear in mind, a tip doesn't necessarily need to be cash.

Most folks love fresh fish or lobster - so if you go fishing give them a fish! If you know who or how many staff you might just want to bring a gift from home. You know, t-shirts or baseball caps. A nice box of chocolate. Maybe the "in" kids character exercise books. These items are always appreciated and are considered much more personal and sentimental than cash.

One other point--if you are renting a condo with refrigerator, you may often have usable food left over. Before throwing it out, ask the staff if they want any of it. Last trip, we offered a whole papaya, two unopened sticks of butter, some fresh grouper and snapper fillets, a quart of orange juice; the maid was ecstatic!! With kids to feed, this can really be a help!!

Oh yes, KC is right on the leftover groceries ! We made sure the right folks, the cleaning service people, got all the leftover stuff. They were really appreciative of that.

There was just a thread on wages a few days ago. The conclusion was that a maid would run you about $50BZ a day and that is for 8 hours of work. So assuming your maid is working 8 hour a day 7 days a week she will get $175 per week and the rest $225+ will get pocketed by the people you pay.

Whatever you decide, I would tip the maid (directly to make sure she gets it) because most likely she is not the one setting the price and most likely is not getting paid the full amount (or even half of it).

We stayed at the Blue Tang the past 5 trips, they do not include a service charge but reccomend a 10-15% tip if you were satisfied with your stay, my bill for the week was $880us so I left a $100 us tip, we left $5 belize daily on the table for the maid every day as well.
The tip you leave should depend on the service of the staff and B.T. has a wondreful staff there.
Tipping your maid daily is well worth the extra service they give you & much appreciated.
We brought down a box of chocalates for the whole staff & a box of Saltwater taffy for Fanny, jean shorts for Eric & Eddie

When we took a few days in Playa Del Carmen we gave some money for tip and I also left some new cosmetics and kids note pads. For the woman who owned the place she had a kitchen where people could cook so we left her a couple of kitchen utensils.

(I worked in a Design center coat check in one of my other lives, so I can appreciate the value of being tipped or getting some swag be it food or otherwise)