The president of the CAEB Restaurants Association, Alfonso Robledo, says that 80% of bills are now paid with cards or phones and that this has led to a decrease in tips.
He notes that some customers do add tips or leave tips in cash, but "people usually forget". This is why more and more restaurants are adopting the suggestions with the bills. However, he stresses that "a tip must always be optional". "Indicating it on the bill should be a decision for each business."
The association, while it is content to let restaurants suggest tips, is opposed to any obligation to leave tips. The official position is that of the national federation, Hostelería de España, which states that "tipping is a voluntary gesture". It is an extra that customers pay as a reward for service they consider to be good.
There are accusations that employers seek tips as a means of compensating for low salaries. Robledo is adamant: "That's rubbish and is even more so given the increases in salaries that have been set by the new hospitality agreement.
"Hospitality establishments must concern themselves with ensuring that customers receive good service and that they remunerate workers in accordance with the regulations. Tips have nothing to do with salaries. Worker pay is regulated by sectoral collective agreements that employer organisations sign with unions."
The Consubal consumers association says that, in principle, it is against "any system that is intended to induce the customer to leave a tip". Its president, Alfonso Rodríguez, emphasises that tips must always be voluntary, but he adds that "so long as it is to compensate for the fact that people almost never carry cash and it also guarantees that this money goes to workers, it (the suggestion method) seems like a good formula to me".
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@Jason D probably because they are wealthy people that don't have to struggle with these things. It's ok, I understand them. But facts are facts. For example, the price of a pint of beer increased with 1-1.5 euros in the last year. One pint! That would have gone to tips. Go out, have 4-5 pints, boom, 25 euros. And i must admit, i love the social life in Palma. But i start spending more and more time at home. Which i should probably do in the first place, considering i live alone and pay 1200 a month only for rent. Without bills...
Imagine setting up a business, and part of your plan is to pay your staff only with the tips you receive. How about pay your staff properly and stop offering 1,200 gross per month for adult humans to be enslaved for 40 hours per week. Spains salaries have got to keep pace with the cost of living. Employers use that Mallorca is a type of paradise as a type of payment form. So many people want to live there and the employer knows this, therefore offers peanuts for pay.
GabrielI don't understand why people are disliking your comment when you are spitting complete facts.
No, people don't "just forget". It's not that people don't carry cash. I always told the waiters the final amount to type in the POS (bill and tip) and i paid by card the tip as well. The problem is that all the prices went up like crazy, including the food and drinks that they serve. Rent is insane. Bills are a nightmare. People stop heating their apartment because the expenses are too high. So yeah, tips are at the bottom of the priority list when it comes to do some cutbacks in order to stay afloat... I have another idea, how about the greedy landlords lower the rents and then we might afford leaving tips...
I vote Es Verger in Alaro for worst service ever (look at reviews on Trip Adviser). Went there, ignored for 15 mins then when I went to ask for napkins and cutlery was told to wait. The place was near empty but they didn't give a damn. Avoid.
I have never paid for a meal by Card...i can but for me..i prefer Cash.....and ALWAYS...if its deserved..i leave a Tip..again.Cash and i make sure the Serving Waiter/Waitress..i give them the "tip" plate ...gets the money..i NEVER leave it on the table...as i have seen this many times...and unfiortunaly i have seen "people" actually PINCH this money...!!!!
This topic is irrelevant in Mallorca as the service is generally third rate and deserves nada.
When I pay a bill, on my card, including a tip, is it VAT 'able?
The ubiquitous card add on. If I am happy with service and want to tip pay by card and tip with cash.
Adding a tip onto your card payment just doesn’t feel right and I have a strong sense that it won’t go anywhere near the staff I feel deserve it. I much prefer to leave some cash in the dish. If I have some, and I get it that cash is an endangered species. Many years ago I was accosted by an indignant waitress when I didn’t leave a tip (and she really didn’t deserve one), but she said that the tips made up for her poor pay. That I can believe. I suspect it is as true now as then. The way forward? How about a mandatory course for all hospitality staff, government and any face to face staff on customer service? For a hot spot tourist and expat destination it is seriously poor, not just to foreigners but Mallorcans too.