Introduction
Tipping in restaurants has been affected by the manipulation of clients during payments. Tipping involves paying extra money for services offered to appreciate a server. The digital transformation has made this perspective appear unclear due to the pop-up message on credit cards asking one to tip a particular amount. For instance, Starbucks has embraced using pop-up messages whereby customers are forced to select either tip or no tip to continue with the transaction (Mintz, 2022). Tipping should be approached in a different manner because of the need to restore courtesy and etiquette between a business and the customer. Evidence shows high amounts of tips guests are required to pay and many of them are not comfortable. This essay supports the idea of approaching tipping in a different way so that guests can feel comfortable in places where they are offered services such as hotels. Tipping should be made rational by allowing the guest to decide, paying employees well, or adjusting the price in the menu when adopting the no-tip approach in service industries.
The Need to Change an Approach to Tipping
Many people like to show gratitude to waiters, baristas, receptionists, and housekeepers by giving a token of appreciation in monetary value. However, there should be no defined amount that one has to give or moments such as when paying; they must add a tip. Mintz (2022) says that “the practice seeps into other hospitality settings and other forms of commerce; let’s not debate who ‘deserves’ tips. Instead, let’s reject the con of tipping — and how it obscures the true cost of goods and services” (Para 2). This statement means that the way tipping is done is wrong because it makes guests make uninformed decisions or respond unwillingly, which limits their positive experience in any hospitality setting. A guest should not feel pushed to give tips when paying for services in any given context.
Tipping motivates staff due to additional income, but that may come with a cost. Bundale (2022) explains that having a certain percentage, such as 15%, for tips appears rude to guests since that may not show courtesy. The request for gratitude should not appear like coercion, where guests feel worried if they do not leave a tip. DeLaire (2022) says that tipping is not embraced by all customers, which means those outlets that technically intimidate guests into giving tips breach societal norms. If customers continue to face high tip charges at hotels and restaurants, that will have an adverse effect resulting in poor dining experience. When a customer is coerced to pay tips, it means they face what is referred to as ‘tip inflation,’ an informal phrase to mean increased charges for tips (DeLaire, 2022). The recommendable way to deal with tipping is to leave that at the customer’s discretion.
Restaurants have increased the tip options on their payment points. Due to this, people are pushed to give without their willingness, which raises concerns. Chong’s (2022) article shows that hotels, such as Marben in Toronto started a no-tip model in 2020. To ensure that employees’ remuneration is well covered, they raised employees’ salaries so that the productivity rate remains high. Compensation is key when it comes to offering hospitality services. Employees would want to work where they see recognition regarding incentives available. Raising workers’ pay means employees will no longer rely on gratuities to earn sufficient income. The manager of the Marben Hotel said that “we could get rid of tips altogether and compensate people fairly for their time and skills, and essentially take the decision-making out of the guests” (Chong, 2022 para. 4). From what the manager says abolishment of tipping would remove the burden of frustrating customers with probes to offer extra pay.
The other idea that can be helpful in managing tipping is a pricing strategy, which involves raising costs for items on the menu. That will make the guest pay inclusive of tips, which are collected indirectly and offered in terms of having raised salaries for staff (Chong, 2022). The bottom line is if a guest wants to offer at-the-table service, they would not be catalyzed by the approach in which tipping is adopted for such cases.
If tipping is not regulated, hospitality and other industries may see drawbacks in terms of demanded services for their products. The right way to approach a guest for a tip is to engage them to ask how the service was and whether they would recommend you to other clients (Becken, 2022). That builds a relationship between a server and a customer, meaning in any case tip is offered; it is more of connecting and not paying extra for the services given. Therefore, tipping should be approached through rational ways that observe courtesy and positive etiquette.
Conclusion
Tipping has been a concern of late due to the high charges that business entities in the service industry have instigated guests to pay extra. Restaurants and hotels have used payment terminals to probe or push guests to pay for tips, creating a negative dining experience. Tipping should be left for a guest to decide of free will without being intimidated by the payment procedures. Additionally, paying staff well limits them from over-relying on gratuities. Increasing the price in the menu slightly would adopt the no-tip method effectively. When that is done, the service industry will be on a high note of offering exemplary hospitality services.
References
Becken, B. (2022). Canada’s tipping culture is flawed, and there’s no clear fix in sight: Experts. CBC News. Web.
Bundale, B. (2022). ‘Now 15 percent is rude’: Tipping fatigue hits customers as requests rise. thestar.com. Web.
Chong, J. (2022). Could asking customers to tip as much as 30% backfire on restaurants? thestar.com. Web.
DeLaire, M. (2022). Tipping etiquette: When and how much it’s appropriate to tip. CTV News. Web.
Mintz, C. (2022). Should coffee at Starbucks require a tip? New prompt sparks misplaced outrage. NBCNews.com. Web.