What does tipping mean?

  • Tipping in Egypt is very common and expected everywhere in a lot of countries like United States of America, turkey, Jordan and in Egypt as well, so you will hear the word “tipping” a lot in Egypt as it’s a way the Egyptians use to thank anyone provides them a service that’s why while you organize your trip to Egypt, you need to put tipping fees over the cost of the trip.
  • It’s expected from you to give a tip in a restaurant, hotel, bar, Nile cruise etc.., you should give waiter, driver, housekeeping and other workers money for a service that they provided you with as an appreciation from your side as they look after you during your tours and stay and you are the one who determine its value, and if you feel that the service was bad or doesn’t deserve money don’t give them tipping.
  • You should tip your tour guide, tour leader, housekeeping, bell man and all the workers who provide you with excellent service.

Why should I tip?

  • Tipping started from ages when solo travelers travel alone from a place to another place, solo travelers used to give anyone seems to need money or being poor few dollars, so by the time when people see tourist they expect him to give them money as they used.
  • So now days, tipping became so common and expected not only in Egypt, but in a lot of countries.
  • Tipping is a serious business in Egypt because the salary of tourism employees or anyone works in hospitality industry is too low so they rely mainly on tips and without tipping they will not be able to afford their living.
  • Also tipping encourages workers to give you the best service and to make you and your family satisfied all the time.

How much should I tip?

    Let’s guide you about how much you should tip as below:

  • The driver (Airport-Hotel): 10: 20 L.E.
  • The driver (full day Cairo tour): 50 L.E
  • The driver (half day Cairo tour): 25 L.E
  • Guide (full day Cairo tour): 100 L.E
  • Guide (half day Cairo tour): 50 L.E
  • Bell man at the hotel: 5 L.E per person for all bags.
  • Housekeeping: 5-10 LE per night.
  • Waiter/waitress at the hotel: 5-10 LE.
  • Waiter/waitress at the restaurant: 10% on the invoice
  • Felucca man: 10 L.E
  • Groundskeeper in mosques : 5 L.E

And when you use the bathroom at a restaurant, airport, mall or a bar you should tip the attendant who cleans this bathroom, and 5 L.E will be good, he will be more than satisfied and he will be careful to keep this bathroom clean all the time for you and others.

When you receive your bags at the hotel tip the bellman, but in the Nile cruise, you give them the tip before check out or on the last night.

If you are at a restaurant or hotel, check if a 10% service charge has already been added, and think about tipping a little extra for the wait staff who will likely not receive any of this charge. 

At the end, the exact amount will differ depending on the level and length of service.

What is currency should I use in tipping?                                               

  1. You can use both US dollars and Egyptian pound , but 1 $ is equal to 16 EGP, so if you exchange some dollars to EGP to use in tipping , you will save a lot of money and in the same time the people will be satisfied.
  2. When you give them tipping, everyone around you will be very careful to keep you satisfied all the time.

And let me clarify another important point:

As per your feedback after the trip, we decide if the staff will continue working with our agency or not as our client satisfaction is our priority.

So if you have any comments, kindly tell us to avoid repeating it with another client.

Tipping isn’t obligatory but it’s really a source of living for a lot of people who work in the tourism field so if you had a good service you should tip as every citizen do.

When shouldn’t you tip?

Tipping isn’t obligatory in Egypt but it is a kind of appreciation and a good way to say thank you to workers who help you during your trip to Egypt from the tour guide, tour leader, bellman, housekeeping, waiter/waitress, etc.

So you have to keep some change in your pocket all the time to give them tipping after receiving a service from them.

But when you feel that you didn’t receive good service and when someone doesn’t provide you any service ask you to tip.

How can I manage tipping in Egypt?

There are two ways to manage tipping:

  1. Kitty tipping :

 It’s when you give the tip of the full trip to the tour leader on the first day of the tour and your tour leader will use this amount the driver, waiter, hotel staff, etc. on your behalf and we think it is the best way because in this case you will be stress-free and all you do is to enjoy your tours and your tour leader will manage all these little things for you from exchanging money to give tip after receiving every service.                 

And you tour leader will record all the spent money and at the end of the trip, the rest of the amount will be a return to you again.

  • Self-management tipping:

It’s to give everyone provides you a service tipping as an appreciation from your side and in this case you are the one who decides how much this one deserves to give according to the quality of the service you gave to you.  

So we want you to know that you have to tip as you feel this service deserves, and in Egypt No one will force you to pay tipping it’s just appreciation from your side.