Tipping for private excursion (US)

[Wanderer]

We are going to spend one week in Florida before our cruise in October.

I have reserved private airboat tour for my family on Everglades. We are from Finland and we are not familiar for US tipping culture. I don't have a clue what would be appropriate amount for tipping in this case. What kind of tip would you suggest?

[JLMoran]

One thing to consider is that not all excursions necessarily require a tip. A big hint will be if when you booked, there was language in the marketing materials along the lines of "our staff works hard and tips are greatly appreciated"; or if you hear the same spoken by the leader of your group's staff as you're getting to the end of your trip (this is when I most often get the hint); or if you show up for your trip and there is a big jar on the vehicle or at the office labeled "TIPS". If you don't get one of those hints, tips are not usually required.

Just as a rough guideline, I typically figure two US dollars for each person on the "crew" of your trip, multiplied by the number of hours the trip was. Then round up to the nearest multiple of 5.

Since you're doing an airboat tour, it should only be one person on the airboat with you, two at most (one to steer and one to tell you about what you're seeing). Assuming it's a four- or five-hour tour, that would be $10 or $20 US.

Excursion tipping is definitely tricky, as it's not like dining in the US where the tip amount is typically 15-20% of what you paid for the meal. Excursion operators are usually self-employed and have pretty small staffs, and the staff aren't as dependent on tips as workers in the food service industry, but it does still help.

Hope this helped you!

[Wanderer]

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

One thing to consider is that not all excursions necessarily require a tip. A big hint will be if when you booked, there was language in the marketing materials along the lines of "our staff works hard and tips are greatly appreciated"; or if you hear the same spoken by the leader of your group's staff as you're getting to the end of your trip (this is when I most often get the hint); or if you show up for your trip and there is a big jar on the vehicle or at the office labeled "TIPS". If you don't get one of those hints, tips are not usually required.

Just as a rough guideline, I typically figure two US dollars for each person on the "crew" of your trip, multiplied by the number of hours the trip was. Then round up to the nearest multiple of 5.

Since you're doing an airboat tour, it should only be one person on the airboat with you, two at most (one to steer and one to tell you about what you're seeing). Assuming it's a four- or five-hour tour, that would be $10 or $20 US.

Thanks for your help.

Our tour is 1.5 hours and it is private for our group of six. There should be only one crew member, the captain of airboat. I have seen few videos of the ride from that company. There seems to be label "If you enjoyed the ride, please tip the captain".