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Hot take: a hostel worker in Lisbon saved me $60 by telling me to stop tipping walking tour guides, and I still feel weird about it
Honestly I did three free walking tours in Lisbon, Porto and Madrid back in March and the guides all pushed for tips at the end, like 10 to 15 euros each. One guy at my hostel told me the guides get paid by the city and the tip thing is just extra, so he said skip it and put that money toward food. I stopped tipping and saved around $60 over two weeks, which paid for a whole day of trains. But here's the debate: some folks say if you liked the tour you should always tip, and others say free means free. Tbh I still feel a little bad about the Porto guide who was actually great, so I'm torn. Ngl, has anyone else heard the same thing about those tours or am I just being cheap?
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charlesm521d ago
Wait, the city actually pays these guides? That blows my mind. I always figured the whole point of a "free" walking tour was that the tip was their only pay, so skipping it felt like stiffing them. If they're already getting a check from the city then the tip push at the end is basically double dipping and that changes everything for me. Honestly that hostel worker did you a solid, and 60 bucks is real money, that's a whole day of travel right there. The Porto guide thing would bug me too but if he got paid either way you didn't leave him with nothing.
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