Travel Essentials: Tipping

Overview

In Mexico, tipping is customary in restaurants, bars, hotels, and spas. Service workers are generally paid low wages and depend on tips to supplement their incomes. Because of this, nearly all service workers—including waiters, porters, valets, and bagging clerks—expect to be tipped for their service.

The local currency in Mexico is the Mexican peso (Mex$). Stores will commonly use the dollar ($) sign in front of the peso amount. While the US dollar is used frequently in Mexico, and service workers will accept tips in the US dollar, they prefer to be tipped in the local currency.

Tipping Guide

Setting	Gratuities
Transportation	For taxi drivers, rounding up the bill to the nearest Mex$5 to Mex$10 is customary.
Hotels	Tip porters Mex$10 to Mex$15 per bag carried. Tip housekeepers Mex$20 to Mex$60 per day depending on your level of satisfaction with their service.
Restaurants, Bars, Cafés	Waiters should be tipped 10–15 percent of the total bill depending on your level of satisfaction with their service. Some restaurants add the gratuity to your bill, so be sure to check before you tip. Tip bartenders Mex$10 to Mex$15 per drink; if you keep a running tab, 15 percent of the total bill is sufficient.
Personal Services	Tip spa service staff 15–20 percent of the total bill.
Guides	If you are in a large tour group (20 to 100 people), tip the tour guide(s) Mex$50 to Mex$60. If you are in a smaller tour group, a tip of 15–20 percent of the total bill is appropriate.

Terms for Payment and Tipping

Spanish is the official language of Mexico. While many Mexicans are familiar with English words and phrases, it will be useful for you to also learn Spanish words and phrases. Terms in Spanish that you might encounter and find useful for point-of-payment situations are below.

English	Spanish	Phonetic Pronunciation
The bill, please.	La cuenta, por favor.	lah kwen-tah, por fah-vor.
How much is this?	¿Cuánto cuesta esto?	KWAHN-toh KWEHS-tah EHS-toh?
Is service included?	¿Está incluido el servicio?	ehs-tah een-kloo-ee-doh el sehr-vee-syo?
Money	Dinero	dee-neh-roh
Please	Por favor	Por fah-vor
Thank you	Gracias	GRAH-see-ahss
Yes	Sí	See
No	No	No