{"id":75,"date":"2015-08-18T15:26:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T13:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=75"},"modified":"2025-02-16T16:39:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T15:39:46","slug":"tipping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/tipping\/","title":{"rendered":"Tipping"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/tipping.jpg\" alt=\"Adding a tip to a bill\" class=\"wp-image-13949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/tipping.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/tipping-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Tipping habits and amounts are pretty much the same in Vienna as elsewhere in major European cities. But here some quick advice on who to tip (and how: particularly in restaurants, where things work slightly differently).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Service is very rarely included in restaurant and bar bills\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8230;so a tip of some kind is a must<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/orderingpaying\/\">Ordering and paying in restaurants<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/visitorinfo\/introduction-to-vienna\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"30431\">An introduction to Vienna<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who should you tip?<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cafediglasschottenstift1.jpg\" alt=\"Coffee house sign and lamp\" class=\"wp-image-54174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cafediglasschottenstift1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cafediglasschottenstift1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Waiting tends to be an occupation, rather than a part-time or temporary job, in Vienna. But tipping is still important)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tip the usual folk: porters, taxi drivers, waiters and waitresses, hairdressers, and anybody who fixes anything in your apartment. And it&#8217;s customary to leave a tip for hotel cleaning staff in your room when you leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tipping amounts are pretty much as you&#8217;d tip elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are no hard and fast rules, though. The only people you really, really, really (have I emphasised that enough?) must tip are the restaurant\/bar staff who serve you at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tipping in restaurants<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tippingrechnung.jpg\" alt=\"A caf\u00e9 invoice\" class=\"wp-image-68453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tippingrechnung.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/tippingrechnung-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Note the absence of any service charge)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Service is very rarely included in restaurant and bar bills. I can&#8217;t recall ever seeing it myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, when one restaurant started adding an automatic service charge to bills back in 2023 it caused quite an uproar. An online poll had less than 10% in favour of the approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, if you don&#8217;t tip, it&#8217;s considered a sign you were extremely dissatisfied with your table service. It&#8217;s just not done to not tip anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A smaller tip? Fine as an expression of your disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No tip? Not cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How much should you tip?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When tipping serving staff, Austrians normally add 5% to 15% to the bill so it&#8217;s rounded up to a convenient number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the bill is 9 Euro, maybe round up to 10. If it&#8217;s 25, round up to 28. It&#8217;s flexible. Feel free to tip more, of course, but it&#8217;s not expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In caf\u00e9s, bars and restaurants, you pay the tip in the initial amount you hand over. So don&#8217;t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/orderingpaying\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"68\">pay the bill<\/a> and then leave behind some change on the table or give back a note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you hand over your money, state the amount you&#8217;re paying. So when the waiter says, &#8220;six euro fifty&#8221;, you hand them a 10 Euro note and say, &#8220;eight&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same principle applies to taxi drivers etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re paying by debit or credit card, you can ask if you should add a tip to the total, or simply pay the bill and hand over some coins or notes as the tip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that credit card payments are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/visitorinfo\/creditcards\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"330\">not commonplace<\/a> in Vienna. Debit cards are popular and widely accepted, but some caf\u00e9s still only take cash (an appropriate sign normally appears at the entrance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With self-service (quite<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/orderingpaying\/\"> rare in Vienna<\/a>), I usually add a smaller tip if it&#8217;s a bar, for example, where the person taking your money is also putting the order together. But no tip if it&#8217;s just a takeaway burger joint or a cash desk at an airport self-service restaurant, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P.S. Don&#8217;t worry too much about doing the wrong thing: restaurant and bar staff are used to serving non-Austrians and should give you a little leeway in terms of understanding and following local habits!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tipping habits and amounts are pretty much the same in Vienna as elsewhere in major European cities. But here some quick advice on who to tip (and how: particularly in restaurants, where things work slightly differently). Who should you tip? (Waiting tends to be an occupation, rather than a part-time or temporary job, in Vienna. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-75","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eatingdrinking","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80435,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/80435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}