Myanmar Tipping: Guidelines When and How Much to Tips

Tipping is not a part of the culture in many Asian countries including Myanmar. You can hardly see the locals giving a tip in Myanmar. However, tipping etiquette in Myanmar has widely opened up to foreign tourists. Despite being not a compulsory part, tips for good services are highly appreciated. The service staffs including waiters, hotel porters, taxi/ bus drivers, tour guide and behind-the-scenes staff deserve a gratuity for their great job.

As a tourist, you may wonder when to tip and how much you should tip in Myanmar. In most cases, the tipping fee depends on how long you use the service, how satisfied you are and even how much you are willing to spend comfortably. To answer all of your questionings, the next part is our tipping guidelines in Myanmar.

Tip for Tour guides

Tour guides in Myanmar usually receive a gratuity from $5 – 10 a day for a good job. It is recommended to give a tip of $5 per person per day for a larger group (more than 4 people) and $10 per person per day for a smaller group (2 – 3 people). In fact, you should tip less for a half-day tour and tip at the end of the trip for a multi-day tour.

In some cases, an experienced and well-educated tour guide can get a tip of $15 – 20 in Myanmar, since they are particularly worthy of good tip when imparting in-depth knowledge of the sites you visit.

Tip for tour guides when you enjoy your trip in Myanmar

Tip for Drivers

It was unnecessary to tip while getting around cities in Myanmar few years ago; but in recent years, some of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers especially in Yangon have started to demand tips. Depending on the distance you travel around, the tipping fee in Myanmar can vary from $3 – 5 per day. Let’s take a look at the following cheat sheet for more details of how much you should tip for a driver in Myanmar.

• Tour drivers: $3 – 5 per day. You may tip less for a half-day tour and tip at the end of a multi-day tour.
• Taxi drivers: 5 – 10% of the bill
• Airport shuttle bus drivers: $3
• Limousine drivers: 10 – 15% of the fare

Tip for Hotels Staff

Tipping in Myanmar is most common in hotels, especially luxury hotels and resorts. The hotel staffs who are accustomed to Westerners tend to expect to be tipped for many services. It is really confusing to know exactly how much you should tip in Myanmar hotels due to numerous situations. Here is a tipping guide at some kinds of accommodation in Myanmar.

• Guesthouses and hostels: No tipping is expected at all but $2 – 3 per night would be highly appreciated. Giving small tips can be a nice way to express your gratitude to their good service.
• Hotel housekeeping: $2 per day at a budget hotel and $3 – 5 per day at a luxury hotel.
• Hotel porter: $1 – 2 for someone helping out with your bags or $0.5 per bag
• Room service (without gratuity included): $2 for a set up meal in your room

It is most common to give butler serviceman a tip

• Toiletry/ towel delivery: $2
• Doorman if he hails your cab: $2 – 4
• Concierge who fulfils guest’ request: $5 – 20, depending on the difficulty of the task
• Cruise staff: $5 – 10 per day, you can check procedures with the guide or purser

Cruising in Myanmar worth a brand new experience

Tip in Restaurants

It is frequently not expected to tip in Myanmar’s restaurants, only in some deluxe restaurants which add a 10 – 15% service charge to your bill. Nevertheless, if you feel satisfied with the great service, giving an additional tip of 10% of the bill will be respected. Below is a specific guide to tipping in Myanmar when you dine out at high-end restaurants.

+ Wait-staff: 10 – 15% of the pretax bill is adequate if service is not included in the bill

+ Takeout: No tip is necessary when you bring your own food along. If you receive some extra services like a waiter/ waitress delivering the food to your car, then $1 – 2 is acceptable.

+ Tip jars at fast-food counters: no tipping is required

Guests can give a tip by cards in Myanmar's restaurants

Tip for Massage, haircuts and other services

When you have a massage, haircut and other services in Myanmar, you should tip at least %10 of the bill or 1,000 kyats (~ 70 cents).

Noted:

+ You should better tip in local currency; specifically tipping in kyat is preferred in Myanmar. Or else, tipping in US dollars is much preferred.

+ Gratuities boxes are often placed on reception desk of some hotels, restaurants and cruises.

+ When not to tip in Myanmar:

- The service is poor but the staff keep nagging for a tip

- You have already given a tip but they want more

- You are unsatisfied with the service. If the service is disappointing, never feel obligated to leave a tip

All in all, traveling to a country where you don't know all the tipping etiquette rules can make you be cheated by some guys who want to take advantage of you. Take notice of these below tipping guide in Myanmar to avoid being treated like an ATM. 

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(Image source: Internet)