Tipping In Guatemala - A Complete Guide
Quick Guide
🍽️ Restaurant - 10% If Good + No Service Charge
🍔 Fast Food - No Tip Expected
🍹 Bar - 10% If Good + No Service Charge
🚕 Taxi - Not Expected - Can Round Up
🛎️ Porter/Bellhop - $2-3pp Total in Quetzal
🛏️ Housekeeping - Optional $2-3pp/day in Quetzal
📸 Guide (Short Tour) - $2-4pp in Quetzal
📸 Guide (Day Tour) - $5-10pp/day in Quetzal
🚍 Tour Driver - Equal To ½ of Tour Guide’s Tip
☕️ Coffee Shop - No Tip Expected
In Guatemala, tips are customary in a lot of scenarios but they’re based on service so you’ll never be expected to tip if you’re unsatisfied. Due to typically low wages, small tips can go a long way.
Calculate a culturally appropriate tip for Guatemala using the calculator below and read on for more detail on tipping in Restaurants, Bars, Taxis, Hotels etc.
Guatemala Tip Calculator
Good Tip For Guatemala
Tip
$0.00
Total With Tip
$0.00
Split Bill By
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Tipping in Restaurants & Bars
It’s customary to tip around 10% for good service in Guatemala and it’s rare to tip more than that.
Some bars and restaurants will add a service charge (typically around 10%) on to your bill so look out for the word ‘Propina’, Spanish for ‘Tip’. You don’t need to tip on top of the service charge but leaving a cash tip of 5-10% extra will ensure your server gets something.
Cash tips in Quetzales are preferred but you can opt for a US Dollar tip as long as you stick to clean, untorn bills with no graffiti (no US coins either).
Generally speaking, the more high-end the bar/restaurant, the more expectant they’ll be of that 10% tip. Staff in more casual establishments are less likely to get offended if you skip the tip and no tip is expected for fast food.
Tipping Taxi Drivers
Taxi drivers here don’t expect tips but rounding up your fare to the nearest Quetzal or US Dollar can sometimes make things easier.
It’s common for drivers to keep their meters turned off (that’s if they have one at all) so it’s considered best practice to negotiate your fare before you set off. To do that, you’ll need to give them your specific destination.
Tipping The Porter/Bellhop
Tipping your porter $2-3 USD worth of Quetzales, in total, is considered customary.
You can tip US Dollar bills but only if you can hand them clean, untorn notes without graffiti.
Tipping Housekeeping
Housekeepers don’t expect tips but if you feel inclined to leave them a tip, you could leave them around $2-3 USD worth of Quetzales per day.
Just leave your tip on the pillow with a note when you go out for the day.
Tipping Tour Guides
Tour guides in Guatemala are often tipped but, in general, they won’t be offended if you don’t tip them.
If your tour lasts a few hours it would be customary to tip around $2-4 USD worth of Quetzales per person for good service.
For full-day or multi-day tours, $5-10 USD in Quetzales per person, per day would be an appropriate amount as long as you’re satisfied.
If you’re on a bus tour, it’s customary to tip the driver around half of what you’d tip the tour guide.
Which Currency To Use
It’s best to stick to the Quetzal (GTQ), the official currency of Guatemala. 100 Centavos (100¢) equates to 1 Quetzal (Q1).
US Dollar bills are widely accepted. However, most places will only accept them if they’re clean, untorn and non-graffitied. This is because Guatemalan banks are picky about the US Dollar bills they’re willing to exchange.
Although cash is king here, you’ll want to minimise the amount you’re carrying around for security reasons. Card payments are gaining popularity but cash tips will remain the best option for a long time to come.
ATMs are more common in bigger town/city centres and supermarkets but fees are common and ATM card skimming can be a concern so you’ll need to remain vigilant.
Que tengas un buen viaje! (Have a good trip!) 🇬🇹🏞️🧉
