That is the question. But you will be glad to know that If you leave a restaurant in Barcelona without tipping they won’t give you any weird (or mad) look. We don’t really have a “tipping in Barcelona” guide when it comes to restaurants, since the salary system in this professional field works completely different compared to the US. There isn’t an established percentage of the bill that must be given as a tip. But what about other situations where you might doubt on whether to tip or not to tip? We decided to write this express Barcelona tipping guide to help you out in case you:
1. Are planning to visit Spain, and more specifically Barcelona.
2. Are planning to visit the United States.
Useful information for both audiences since we are going to provide an overview to both systems comparing one to another. To put it in other words, we will try to answer the question “How is tipping in Barcelona compared to the United States?”.
Tipping in Barcelona: where does this practice come from?
We find the origins of this word in the Greek civilization. “Pino” means “drink” in greek, and “pro” means “before”. They used to leave a minimum of drink in their glasses when proposing a toast for someone. That someone would take that left part of the drink, which was specially saved for him.
And over the years…
But over the years, the word hasn’t been exclusively related to drinks: it was also linked to services. And specifically in the sixteenth century in England we find the most documented tradition of tipping: guests who were hosted in other lord’s houses used to give a tip to the servants at the end of their visit for the extra work derived from their stay.
And also during this same period of History in England, tipping in taverns became a popular practice. It is said that the word “tip” was born there: it was the result of the acronym “To Ensure Promptitude”, to ensure fast services (an idea which was known to be born specifically in Lloyd’s Coffee House, in London). But there is also another theory which states that “tip” was the word used as a result of the sound of coins falling in the tip jar.
Americans who travelled to Europe during the nineteenth century exported this ritual once they returned home. A concept which has evolved to what it is today: a practice which is directly linked to an economic system.
Tipping in Spain: places and most-common situations
Coming from the tipping culture in the United States, you might feel a bit confused when you find yourself in some places or situations where this question pops up: to tip or not to tip? So here we share some of the most typical situations in which you might wonder whether you should tip or not (basically describing tipping in Barcelona compared to the United States):
How much to tip in Barcelona restaurants
This might be probably the main situation where you don’t know exactly what to do. ”Should I tip or not?”, “In case that I should, how much or percentage?”. Tipping in Barcelona restaurants is pretty different from tipping in the United States. It is not mandatory to tip in restaurants (not even a specific percentage of the bill as it happens in the US).
But what we usually do as a sign of kindness for the service offered is giving a little tip to show gratitude. This might vary depending on the type of restaurant and the amount you would like to leave as a tip:
High end restaurants but also traditional and family bars. Specially when the waiter comes back with the change, we use to leave some of those coins in the plate (maybe one euro or two, depending on the gratitud you want to show). But take into account that if you don’t want to tip it is fine as well. They won’t give you that look meaning “hey you, where is your tip?”. Because tipping in Barcelona restaurants is not mandatory. For you to have a reference: a 5% tip in restaurants in Barcelona is considered a pretty generous one.
Regular restaurants, for example restaurant chains: we don’t usually tip. For instance, at Viena (a pretty popular restaurant chain in Catalonia) we rarely tip.
How much to tip in Barcelona taxis
How about tipping in Barcelona taxis? From our experience, it is not pretty common to give generous tips to taxi drivers. But we may give little tips in form of “round ups”. Let us illustrate what we mean by these tips with an example:
If the taxi ride costs you 14,30€ and you give the driver 15€, we don’t usually take that change back, instead we say “ya está bien / That’s ok”, meaning that he/she can have it as a little tip. So we don’t give generous tips when it comes to taxis either, tipping in Barcelona taxis consists basically in rounding up (sometimes). But we don’t give a tip of 2€-5€ per taxi ride as we would do in the United States.
How much to tip in Barcelona hotels
This is a similar situation to restaurants. In the United States workers from this field also have low wages and tips are the essential complement to their salaries. This is why in the United States you would give around 2$ per day to the housekeepers for their service. But tipping in Barcelona hotels works differently. You can tip in Barcelona hotels if you wish, but fortunately the salaries of workers in hostelry doesn’t depend on tips.
We really hope that this express “tipping in Barcelona guide” helps you in these common situations where you might feel a bit lost on whether you should tip or not. Because tipping in Barcelona compared to the United States looks a bit different, don’t you think? Is there any other featured difference that you would also point out? Let us know ;-)