Tipping in Bucharest

Question

While holidaying in Bucharest I wonder how and when to tip.

At the hotel, there is a lady that cleans my room every day, should I tip her? How should I do this? How much should I give her? Sometimes she knocks on the door while I'm in, then comes in and tidies up, sometimes she comes in while I'm out. Should I give it to her in person or leave it somewhere? On one of the days that I stayed at the hotel, she left a particularly soft towel for me, and that made me think that perhaps I should have said something, since then she left a normal towel, could I have upset her by not tipping? Also a guy carried my bags to my room when I first arrived, I didn't tip him, at the time I didn't have any local currency, but since then I've seen him a few times, should I retrospectively tip?

In restaurants, should I tip? How much should I tip? I went to a few and the most recent I've been to, I was impressed by the food and felt endeared to the waitresses for some reason, so I left a tip, but before that I never left a tip at the other two places I ate at previously, is it a matter of course to tip?

If I'm on a tour, should I tip? How much should I tip? I went on a free guided tour, which was very interesting, but I didn't have much in my pocket by the end of it, so I left a very small tip that I'm almost embarrassed to mention. I left a message for the tour guide on Facebook and also wrote a review for them on trip adviser, because it was so good. But I feel that I was rude not to tip more. I would have thought that free tours make their money by up selling other tours and introducing people to specific venues for some sort of advertising or comission, but I still felt bad about the poultry tip I gave.

I'm from England, I'm not accustomed to leaving tips when I'm at home, but I think that it's something people do while on holiday, but I'm not sure what the ins and outs of this are, please explain how this works in Bucharest and if possible in other parts of Romania if they are any different.

With regards to tipping hotel staff, I am conscious that I have not tipped any of them at all, is this regarded as rudeness? Does the star rating of the hotel have any bearing on the tips that are appropriate?

Answer 1

Good to hear you like Romania so far, my suggestion is you visit more of the west part, Transilvania (Sibiu, Brasov, Sighisoara or Cluj) than Bucharest.

I don't think you should feel obliged to tip at all. Romania in not a third world country although it is the second poorest in the EU. Tipping in hotels, I do not know about, as a Romanian. Do the same you would do in other European countries.

In restaurants, tips are not included in the bill so most people leave between 5-10% of the order. You can leave 3-5 lei for a small meal or 10 for a bigger one for two, that was let's say 120 lei. Tips are optional so if you did not like the service or the meal, no need to leave any.

Taxi drivers usually expect a few lei as a tip too. About 3-7 lei, on average, no need to leave more than that, in my view, and be sure they keep the meter on and don't try to trick you into paying a fixed price, like some do to foreigners.

About that free tour, it might be that they made all their money by tips, a leave what you want kind of thing. It's not common in Romania for the to upsell other tours and give you one for free. Your good review and feedback on your trip will grow Romanian tourism in general, it is still an unknown place for most westerners.

Tipping in other parts of Romania, tipping is more or less the same, but people tend to tip less.

Hope you have a great time for the rest of your stay. I'm curious where you're from, if you don't mind me asking.