Can Tour Leaders mislead?

steven_ber

I've only ever met 2 tour leaders and they were both damn good at their job, so I was shocked, almost horrified to find out about the following.

A friend just got back from a tour of Indian Cities, the tour was organised by a tour company and was on a luxury budget staying in 4 & 5 star hotels.

In each city they had a coach driver and a local guide for about 2 and a half days.

The tour leader insisted they all give a 'tip' of Rs500 for the services of the coach driver and local guide in each city.

There were 24 people on the tour, giving a total of Rs12000 in each city for 2.5 days work for 2 people, and this a tip???

Is this kind of thing common for luxury budget tours?

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Nick-H

Wow! What a racket

I'm sure the 'tour leaders' were on a good percentage of that absolutely exorbitant sum

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steven_ber

I think it's unlikely, the tour leader (only one for a group of 24) was European, lives in Europe and I'd imagine on a good wage.

I worry that the tour group was getting it's customers to pay for the coach, coach driver and local guide, even though these things were part of the package.

GoanCanuck

Quite common actually for those staying in 5 star hotels. It is normal to get $10 tips when you are dealing with people staying in rooms which are $500/night.

steven_ber

I can understand an individual giving a $10, but for a tour leader to insist, and I mean the word insist.

My friend was angry, he knew it was too much but felt he had no choice.

dhans

Nice scam and a very old one.

Not to speak of tourguides that collect fees for temple entrance (for temples that are free) or for priest services. That sell tickets for boattrips at 10 times the real price. That get huge commissions on every excursion they sell.

Some tourleaders even have to do this, or else they don't make any money at all.

And that's only Europe .....

Hans

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Nick-H

Hi wage may not be as good as you think, and, even if it is, he will have all those contacts. May even be taking quite a large percentage...

Yogesh Sarkar

Note to self: Learn how to drive a bus!

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Sama

what would have happened if someone would have said no? kick them off the tour??

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Nick-H

He wouldn't have got it from me. No way. I would have pointed out loudly that twenty-four time Rs20 was quite enough, generosity might stretch to 50.

But then, on my first few trips, he probably would have got away with it. When you are chauffeured from hotel to hotel, one is completely insulated from ordinary street life and the local economy.

Preying on this ignorance is despicable. Even if the rip-offees can well afford it!

LuAnnandJawahar

So we're talking roughly USD $45 for the coach driver and $45 for the guide each day, even though the last day was a half day. For the guide that certainly seems reasonable for a bus load and probably is the sum of his earnings for that day FOR GUIDING, but NOT including the commission he got for where he arranged the bus to go for shopping. So probably he could do his guiding without charging a cent and do quite quite well for himself, but let's just assume for the sake of argument that he didn't get any commission (ha!) so again it seems reasonable given the clientele. But it's highly unlikely they gave the coach driver USD$45, though certainly they will give him something, and the cleaner that accompanied the bus as well. Of the three of them, most likely the coach driver is the only one on a yearly salary. So very likely yes, much of it went to the group tour leader, as did a portion of what anybody on the bus purchased on their trip. Is it fair? Well it seems to be the system in place, fair or not. Perhaps there is a group tour leader or two (or a hundred) who frequent this forum who could shed light on this.

To our knowledge, people who do bus tours in most countries are used the the custom of individually offering the bus driver a small tip at the end of his service, that's why he's standing at the bottom of the stairs when you disembark But Rs 500 a person in this instance wouldn't be considered a small tip, not by most people anyway!

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noflylist

In my bus tour of Mt. Abu, mostly filled with middle class Indians, the guide suggested at the end of day 50Rs tip, but did not insist, most gave 50 some 20 and some nothing. I believe 50-100 would have been appropriate for coach we are discussing about.

Don't forget they also get cut from photographers who accompany the bus. The guy who delivers photo in the evening also expects 20. It all adds up.

SteamBuff

I have just got back from a tour of India, staying in 3/4 Star Hotels. (With Darjeeling Tours Ltd)

We were never asked for a tip, in fact the tour guide/leader said that ALL tips (including porters at the hotels) were included in the tour price and that he would deal with it. (And our tour price was not expensive)

Come on Steven Name and Shame .....

noflylist

Agree with SteamBuff, public interest demands a name

steven_ber

I was too shocked to ask my friend too many questions, I'd met him at the airport as he arrived home from India and he wanted to tell me everything about his trip.

I'll see him again today and find out all the details.

I have the full tour programme as I'd been following his trip.

It was kind of funny on the 70 minute tube trip from the airport to his home, he showed me every photo he'd taken, and I was interested in all of them, asking questions and chatting about each of them.

He'll notice a difference when he shows the next person.