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Germans tip-top for generosity on holiday

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Germans tip-top for generosity on holiday
Photo: DPA

Germans on holiday may have a reputation for annoying others by staking out their claim to sun loungers with a towel before breakfast – but it seems they are also among the most generous and savvy tippers.

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A new survey shows 72 percent of Germans said they felt comfortable tipping on holiday and claimed to know exactly how much was appropriate in different countries, the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper reported on Monday.

That might have something to do with the large number of Germans who read up on local tipping customs before they pack their bags – 55 percent.

The survey for travel website TripAdvisor said that 83 percent of German holidaymakers said they varied the size of their tip according to the country they were in, with 49 percent saying they were particularly conscious about tipping in countries like the US, where the extras are crucial to staff incomes.

But they will not dip into their pockets without good reason – two-thirds said they would only tip if the service met their expectations, with friendliness and politeness identified as the most important criteria in this regard.

The survey showed that Germans were more generous than their European counterparts – with travellers from Britain, France, Italy and Spain all failing to top Teutonic tippers. While 63 percent of Germans said they always tipped on holiday, only 37 percent of the other respondents made the same claim.

And, in a possible reflection of their country’s relative economic strength, almost three-quarters of Germans said the financial crisis had not altered their tipping habits – higher than the international average of 59 percent.

Pia Schratzenstaller, a spokeswoman for TripAdvisor in Germany, welcomed the findings. "The survey shows that German travellers take care to inform themselves in detail of local customs before they set off," she concluded.

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