Travel Tip 116
Can you tip in dollars?
You can’t use a credit card for everything! Always tip your tour guides with cash.
Should you tip in a foreign currency?
Exchanging currency can be a pain, especially towards the end of a trip when you’re trying to calculate just how much you need for the last few days.
Do you take a bit more local currency out of an ATM? Can you just use your credit card for everything? Remember that if you have activities and tours booked up to the last day of your trip, you may want to tip your guide, and that should always be cash.
Can you tip in your currency? This depends on three things.
First, can people use that currency where they live?
Some countries have a parallel economy that makes foreign currency useful, like dollars or euros. The last time I was in Argentina, inflation was so bad that people preferred to accept dollars, knowing that any pesos I gave them would be worth less the next week, or sometimes the next day. Tipping in any currency that can be used in that country is probably fine, but ask first.
Second, is it easy to exchange that currency?
If you know it’s easy to exchange your dollars or euros for the local currency, then it might not be a big burden on the person you’re tipping to exchange the money themselves. If you simply ran out of time on the last day to exchange money yourself, but you know it’s easy to exchange, then you’re not making the other person’s life difficult by tipping in a foreign currency. However, if it’s difficult to exchange money, then don’t leave the person you’re tipping with that extra headache.
Several guides in Argentina, like Sonia, told me that tipping in dollars was fine.
Third, is your guide going somewhere that they can use a foreign currency?
Lots of tour guides love to travel, so take the time to get to know your guide and you’ll know if they have any international trips coming up. A guide in Thailand going to Singapore or a guide in Chile going to Brazil may find it easier to exchange dollars or euros than Thai baht or Chilean pesos.
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