I Won A Day At The Spa - Should I Tip

[Con]

My daughter for mother's day entered an essay about me for a contest being run by a spa and restaurant. She won and I get to spend $500 at the spa and the restaurant. I am planning a full day of hair cut, hair coloring, eye brow waxing, mud wrap, massage, facial, pedicure, manicure and finishing off with a meal at the restaurant. I am very excited about this experience but am not sure about the tipping. These are not things that I usually do aside from the hair cut and eating out. If I do tip, do I tip each individual person or as a group and how much.

[Alec]

I have no idea. You'll have to wait for Jim Lewis. He's the tipping expert.

[jamesglewisf]

There are several ways to get this answered. The best way is to call the manager of the spa and ask if the gratuity is included. Another way to find out is to ask the organization that came up with the contest. Sometimes it says so on the contest rules or on the actual prize card that they hand out.

It doesn't seem likely that you would give someone who might not be able to afford a $500 day at the spa such a prize for Mother's Day and then assume she is going to tip the $50-100. I'm not talking about you, but in general. I would expect it to be included. It would be different if you bought it at an auction. That said, I would ask the manager.

If you are supposed to tip, follow the spa guidelines at http://www.findalink.net/tippingetiquette.php. If you can't afford the tip, then I would give it to someone else or not go. Then I'd give the salon and the organization that came up with the contest some feedback.

[theyeti]

Yeah, give em a call and find out. It would seem pretty weaselly of them if the tip wasn' t included as part of the package. If you can't afford the tip though, I'd say give as much as you can and leave it at that - they should've thought about this before putting the contest together. I'm no expert though :)

[Con]

Thanks for the info..... I will give them a call - I need to call them anyhow to choose the different things that I want to do and a date. It's a husband and wife team - she owns/runs the spa and he the restaurant.

[jamesglewisf]

Let us know what the answer is. I'm curious.

[KalenElendil]

I don't happen to be at the rich end of the table so I would probably say that they should not have a contest for free spa treatment and expect you to tip. If anyone in my house got it we could not affort to tip, that is for sure. Seven kids is all the tipping we can afford to do.

[Con]

I called the spa today to schedule my day. I had gone to their website and picked out the things that I want to do - she totaled it up and said $403 not including gratuity (this was just for the spa not the restaurant). I asked her if I could get less done and have part of the $500 go towards the tip and she said no. I then explained that I had never been to a spa and asked what amount was expected for the tip. She said between 10% & 18%. I am still going - my husband insists. My daughter would feel so bad if I didn't go - she is so excited. So I will spend 8 hours at the spa and then have dinner with my daughter after. Even if I tip 15% that is only $75 which isn't bad considering dinner at a nice restaurant and the spa (hair cut, hair dyed, eyebrow shape, hot stone massage, make up instruction, manicure and pedicure).

Thanks for the replies to my question!

[jamesglewisf]

I think that contest was bad form. They shouldn't give away a prize for Mother's day and make you fork over the tip.

Have fun anyway. Thanks for asking the question. We hope you'll stick around.

[jberg224]

This is similar but a little bit different from the original question.

I won a makeover from an upscale salon in a contest that is sponsored by the salon. I don't know exactly which services will be performed as they decide - it will be hair & probably makeup and maybe others. This is an ongoing contest (not sure for how long) that the salon is running and they have 3 makeover winners every 2 weeks - one at each location.

Do I tip the stylist and any others performing work?

Thanks!

[jamesglewisf]

I probably would.