Tipping and Taxes

 Although tipping is regarded as an extra in most countries, it is not expected at all in much of Argentina. In Chile it’s a whole other story. Every restaurant automatically adds the 10% to your biIl and the waiter then looks you straight in the eye and says “propina?” (“Tip”) Woe unto he who says no, but you can in fact just pay the tip in cash and not put it on your credit card. Sometimes they requested that.

  At the hotel in the Colchagua Valley this week, we had a first experience when Ted was told on settling the bill that they suggested automatically adding a 10% tip. He was rather flabbergasted and simply agreed, as we had had exemplary service from all the staff there. When breakfasts are included, you have no way of knowing the cost of leaving a tip. But the whole bill??? Cheeky I say.

  Chilean currency is all in huge numbers but the easy way for us is to drop the last three zeros and double it, i.e. 25,000 is C$50. But most places charge in US dollars.

  There is a 19% tax on hotels and many services in Chile BUT if you are foreign and pay in US dollars, it is waived. Therefore every time we check into a hotel (and we have had 17 different beds on this trip!) they photocopy our passport, retain our passport numbers in a big register which we have to sign, and also copy our police immigration papers too. Very thorough thee Chilean taxmen.Tipping and TAxes