Posted by HBF/PVL staff on Thursday, 18. February 1999 at 01:03 Bali Time:
In Reply to: $5-10/week posted by Daniel on Wednesday, 17. February 1999 at 21:06 Bali Time:
US$5 - US$10 per week would apply for small, quite simple villas with perhaps 2 full-time staff, and it's not bad as a tip (don't forget, they get their salaries paid by the owner).
Better villas (as those in our portfolio) have between 4 and 20 persons employed in various positions (manager or supervisor, house boys and maids, gardeners, cooks and kitchen staff, security guards, drivers, etc). Here we recommend today to tip about US$2 to US$4 per staff member per week, to be handed over to the manager or supervisor in the presence of some other staff members. In past years we recommended US$5 to US$10, but that was when one US$ was 2,400 Rupiah instead of 8,500 Rupiah or so.
Please don't forget, this is a tip and should only be given if the service was really exceptional. If the staff gets used to generous tips from temporary guests they will stop giving good service to the villa owner who is the one who has to pay their salaries, and he certainly will not tip them in addition to the salary, food, staff housing, and other items he takes care of.
Regards from Bali.