USVI-On-Line

Has anyone ever tipped the person who meets you at the dock and shows you to your Villa?

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Get ready for this post to build. Lots of opinions on this one.

I do not. I meet hundreds of people at the dock and never received a tip nor did I expect one. Many villa greeters are paid by the pick up. (I was not since I was employed by the company.)

It is part of the villa rental that you pay for, that is my opinion.

We like to bring down frozen steaks, burgers, chicken, etc... for the grill at the villa.
We usually end up eating meals out a lot, and leaving the leftover unused foods in the freezer for whoever decides to claim it.
I'm not sure if that would be considered a tip, but free food is free food, right?
Smiles-
MJ

We don't tip. I just thought that was included in the exorbitant villa price. If they go above and beyond like they did for Margo then absolutely, a tip is in order. We left enough booze at the villa last time for the maid to have a kick-ass party!

hmmm, i tipped our person 20--it wasn't a villa rental company, but a guy who i guess works freelance for a number of villa owners.....I am sure they compensate him just fine, but I felt like it was the right thing to do.

Nope, and I've never felt like it was accepted. I suppose if they went way above and beyond in some way I would surely tip, but just for leading me to the house and handing me the keys, nope.

It depend on what they do because each rental agency meets you differently. If they meet me at the dock and take me to get my rental car and then to the villa, I have. If I go get my own Jeep rental and just follow them to the villa no. Plus I have had some take you through the villa and explain thinks about it and ask if you need anything and other who hand you the keys and say have a good time and leave.
If they earn it, they get it, if not no.

I remember a few years back I got a flat tire on my jeep. I was on Centerline Road on the way back from Coral Bay, and I pulled over onto what seemed like a previous location for a dumpster. (there was lots of room, and nothing to really see. Needless to say, it wasn't an "overlook", as I'm sure the dumpster was just being emptied.)
PLENTY of people just drove right by, and I was only helped by a "greeter" from a different villa company than who I was booked with that week.
My rental had no spare tire, and this person gave me a lift back to town.
If I recall correctly, I rented it from Spencers, who gave me a newer vehicle that was more than suitable for our weeks' stay.
All that said, I tried to give the guy a few bucks for his time, and he was adamant in refusing the tip.
He's someone elses villa greeter, and he took the 'islands humble pride' to a new level as far as I'm concerned.
And he wouldn't take a tip.
Curious, but true.
Awesome memory.
Smiles-
MJ

I like to tip, it's just my nature or maybe all those years in the service business and as an owner of a resturant years later. Anyway, we rented a large villa one year with three other couples. After the greeter left I asked if anybody tipped em. Yup, we all had! He walked out with $70. $20 here, 10 there etc...

We laughed about it. It was day one.

I feel that you pay for the service you receive in the villa rental price. Both greeting and cleaning. You don't tip the front desk at hotel check-in so why would you tip a greeter? You tip maids at a hotel because they're cleaning your room daily as well as making your bed and changing your towels. These are amenities you know you're not going to get at a villa, so why tip?

If someone is making $20 an hour, then it doesn't appear that they are relying on tips as their actual income. Based on that and the response in this thread, it certainly doesn't appear that tipping is expected/required, etc.

That said, its always nice to reward service good service. True, service should be good w/o the expectation of something extra, but that's hardly true these days. Besides, being that you are at the start of your stay in the greatest place on earth, you probably want to spread some good karma around, right?

turtlegirl wrote:You tip maids at a hotel because they're cleaning your room daily as well as making your bed and changing your towels.

Unless I totally trash a hotel room (and I haven't done that since my Rock Star days - LOL!) I don't see why a person should tip a hotel maid. Cleaning the room, making the bed, and changing the towels is her job... that's what she gets paid for. If a maid should do something over and above, then I think a tip is definitely in order.

If someone gives us good service, or makes things easier for us after a very long travel day, then we like to offer a tip.

We've had greeters who have just taken us to the villa, dropped the keys in our hand and then taken off. That's basic and should be included. I've heard that greeters are paid about $40 for a greeting which could take a number of hours if planes are delayed. The ones we have met also use their own vehicles and provide their own fuel. I don't think they are cleaning up at this job because quite a few we have met do this and also have 2-3 additional jobs. Greeters could also be the owners of the management company or even the villa's owner.

We've had greeters who have helped us straighten out rental car problems through their local connections, arrived to meet us with a cooler full of icy waters and sodas, taken some bags in their vehicle so we could be more comfortable in ours, let us make a quick market stop, had walkie-talkies so they could answer questions on the way and talk us through a tricky route, walked us completely through the villa and showed us how to work everything, sat down and poured over maps and answered questions about the island and things to do (that one has been especially helpful when we have brought newbies). For these things, we tip.

We also would tip for the basic service if our plane was way overdue and the greeter had to disrupt their evening waiting for us to arrive.


- Margy