USVI-On-Line

Our first greeter did all those things for us. Picked us up at Caneel, drove us to car rental, helped with bags. Well no beer but I'm sure if we had thought of it he would have been game! Never thought of tipping him but in hindsight maybe I should have. Although, we did help him move furniture and put down a new rug at the villa so maybe that made up for it! LOL

For the record the greeter was Paco from Carefree and they provided us w/ great service for our entire stay! We like renting from them.

mbw1024 wrote:Our first greeter did all those things for us. Picked us up at Caneel, drove us to car rental, helped with bags. Well no beer but I'm sure if we had thought of it he would have been game! Never thought of tipping him but in hindsight maybe I should have. Although, we did help him move furniture and put down a new rug at the villa so maybe that made up for it! LOL

For the record the greeter was Paco from Carefree and they provided us w/ great service for our entire stay! We like renting from them.

I would tip Paco, but he is a friend!

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I don't think we've ever tipped the greeter. I don't think it ever crossed my mind to do so until I started reading discussions about it on these forums.

I've always been fascinated by who we tip and how that gets established. There are some people that we routinely tip (wait staff, taxi drivers). Some that we never tip (the UPS guy--even if it's a heavy package). Some that seem optional (mail carrier ). We never tipped at gas stations, even back when attendants used to wash the windows and check the oil. It's interesting when "tip jars" appear somewhere, suggesting that tipping be considered when it hasn't been customary to do so. It's kind of an interesting process to try to get your position recognized as one that gets tipped.

I was wondering about tipping toll collectors. We were going somewhere and the toll was $1.85. I handed the toll collector $2.00. I was tempted to tell him to keep the change. Fifteen cents is more of a nuisance than anything. Do they ever gets tips? I don't imagine it happens often, but they may not actually be permitted to accept tips. It seemed too weird, so I didn't offer him the spare change, and so I don't know the answers.

As for greeters---in the future I may consider a tip if it seems they're doing more than just the bare minimum required.

Jorge wrote:

Xislandgirl wrote:

mbw1024 wrote:Our first greeter did all those things for us. Picked us up at Caneel, drove us to car rental, helped with bags. Well no beer but I'm sure if we had thought of it he would have been game! Never thought of tipping him but in hindsight maybe I should have. Although, we did help him move furniture and put down a new rug at the villa so maybe that made up for it! LOL

For the record the greeter was Paco from Carefree and they provided us w/ great service for our entire stay! We like renting from them.

I would tip Paco, but he is a friend!

Paco is a hoot. He was so lit the last time he helped us that he feel on his face trying to show us how to use the safe. Hey, it's all good! We love Carefree.

I second all the above. We had a minor issue last month that could have turned major if it not been taken care of promptly. Paco was at our villa several times throughout the day and made sure the problem was resolved. He worked like Hercules. They left a great welcome basket which included beer and rum. Our greeters met us at the dock and were on time. They helped us with our bags, drove us to Courtesy and answered all our questions at the villa. We appreciated everything Carefree did for us and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

We assumed the service that greeters provide us is included in the cost of a villa but have tipped them when they did more than simply guiding us to a villa and giving us a quick tour - like when they waited while we shopped at Starfish before getting to a villa or helped us with our luggage, etc. They all seemed appreciative.

(I have edited this post realizing I asked an awkward question. Sorry about that...)

We never did unti the last trip. We had a problem when picking up one of the Jeeps, causing an hour delay.

The greeter was cool about the delay and very helpful at the house.

His tip was a couple of beers (while waiting at the dock with me and at the house, I didn't hand him a six-pack as a tip) and $20.

It was our first time on St John in February and not really knowing any different we tipped our greeter (Tommy). We called him from St Thomas and he met us at the ferry dock. He showed us the way to our villa (South Palm) and gave us the grand tour of the place and the facilities. He then gave us a map tour of the island and told us a number of things that he thought we should do and see ... but most importantly, he answered ALL OF OUR QUESTIONS, and there were lots of them! I suppose these are all the things that he was supposed to do, but we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs talking with him and getting a crash course on St John. We gave him a tip, but then he showed us how to get down to Uncle Joe's and while we were waiting for our food, he walked over to Cap's and bought us a couple of beers each. On the way back to the villa he showed us the house where he lived and then took us back to South Palm (in the dark) so we wouldn't get lost.

So, all things considered, we had no problem tipping him and would probably do the same next time.

I must know...Was the "jack" annoying greeter's real name Mark?

We didn't tip our greeter when we went last year, but that was because his car broke down and he never got there and we stood in the pouring rain until the owner of the villa company finally picked us up. I know people have car trouble and cell phones don't work in some places, so I took it with a grain of salt, but it is hard when people are expecting you (in this case, me) to provide them with the perfect vacation, and they are standing in front of Ruth's store looking like drowned rats asking every car that comes by if he/she is there to take us to our villa!