How Much to Tip in Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada, is a whole other world. Brighter lights, bigger acts, crazier streets lend themselves to an entertaining vacation. The service people you encounter in Vegas are who determine the quality of your stay. Some of the people you interact with in Vegas include:
- maids
- room service
- bellmen
- concierges
- taxi drivers
- card dealers
- slot machine attendants
- waitresses
In any other situation, you’d tip 15% at a restaurant for good service and maybe a dollar or two for a gas station attendant. But in Las Vegas, how much are you to tip? Just remember that most service people depend on tips for a significant portion of their income and reward them for work well done.
Taxi Drivers
Include a tip of 15% of your cab fare if your driver was knowledgeable, friendly, and handled your luggage appropriately. Tipping cab drivers should be based entirely on the experience you had in their car – did they chat with you, share stories and information about their city, drive safely? While the minimum appropriate tip for a $15 ride is $2, make sure you let the good drivers know that they made your ride enjoyable by giving them a little something extra.
Hotel Workers
Give bellboys at least a dollar a bag for speedy service. If you have a lot of luggage or if it’s especially heavy or awkward to carry, make sure to give him extra for his effort.
Concierges should be tipped based on how much you want him or her to do for you. If you need tickets to a show, $5 to $20 will suffice. If you want your days fully scheduled with transportation, entertainment and services consider how much time he or she will be putting into arranging these outings for you and tip accordingly.
Tipping room service, maids, and butlers per day is customary. Give $5 to the bellman who brings you your food, leave a dollar or two for the maid each day, and tip the butler 10% of your total hotel bill.
Restaurants
In general, the regular 15% tip rate applies to Las Vegas restaurants. Remember that waitresses make most of their money on tips and the better you tip the more attentive they will be.
A dollar a drink is an appropriate tip for cocktail waitresses, but more will usually bring bigger and stronger drinks. At buffets, the wait-staff is really only responsible for refilling beverages so $2 per person in your group is adequate.
Gambling
You chug down the rest of your orange juice and decide to hit the slot machines. If you win, leave your slot attendant up to 5% of your winnings. The same goes for slot supervisors.
When it comes to dealers, a tip is called a toke. Depending on the game, wait until game play has finished before you toke the dealer. If the dealer is friendly and engages you in conversation, make sure to tip. At the poker table, roll a chip over to the dealer if you win a nice pot.
As a general rule, in Las Vegas as in any other city, when paying your bill, add a little extra for the service people who have made your stay pleasurable. Las Vegas is funded by and thrives on the service based industries it provides and it’s important to reward those who do their job well. If your bellboy always makes sure to bring you extra cream for your coffee or your taxi driver tells you of the best place to get a bloody mary, tip them for their effort.
