Should Tipping Be Expected in Our Industry?

As a professional guide and instructor for the last 17 years, and now an Operations Manager in the mountain bike industry, I wanted to provide some perspective on tipping for guides, instructors and service workers in the outdoor adventure industries. While tipping is a common practice in the food and beverage industry in North America, and I know this as I have worked my share of tables and dish pits, this practice still remains inconsistent in most other service areas. Much of the inconsistency comes from being unaware; often coming from a non-tipping culture the clients simply don’t know how much to tip or even that they should tip.


There are a few factors that play into determining how much to tip; culture, comfort level, financial ability and the quality of experience. For a further explanation of this, we can use our restaurant industry as an example:

We know there are many influencers on a dining experience (kitchen, bartender, sommelier, etc.) and that everyone who played a part in a dining experience will see a share of the tip. The ‘touch time’ or interaction time the wait staff has with you might only be 15 minutes depending on the type of establishment. Let’s be honest, that’s the person we typically use as the barometer on the quality of our experience. For their hard work and service, wait staff commonly get a 10 to 20% tip depending on the factors I mentioned before. We can make arguments for or against wait staff making most of their income from tips and that the hospitality industry should pay more, but in our current North American culture of tipping guides and other service personnel also shape an experience and in many cases work with the hope (or expectation) of receiving a gratuity for exceptional service.


So, “how much do I tip my guide?” The answer is: It depends. But you should. Here are a few reasons why:

• Your guide/instructor likely has several if not many years of training or experience under their belt, in some cases equivalent to a degree but they are living at the poverty line.

• They spend a lot of time with you, hours, days, or weeks, shaping the experience.

• There are also the many unpaid hours of planning your trip/tour that happen before you arrive and are not privy too.

• Perhaps unintentional, but paying for a guide can make people high maintenance. Your guide likely worked very hard to meet or exceed your high expectations.

• Your guide likely carried some of your stuff in their pack, making their already heavy backpack heavier.

• Did something go wrong? No? You probably had no idea your guide solved a problem that came up.

• Did something go wrong? Yes? Did you not listen to your guide? Did your guide keep you safe? They possibly saved your life.

• Maybe your guide took photos of you with their camera and will work unpaid hours to edit and e-mail those photos to you.

• Maybe they used tools and parts they purchased out of pocket to fix your broken gear that was necessary for the trip.

So much hard work goes into a guided experience and in many cases it is done with a very high level of risk management on behalf of the guide. Usually these trips are a “trip of a lifetime” or a “bucket list” experience. Yet there is often little to no gratuity left for the guide, and beer doesn’t pay bills. For example; a customer took a guided mountain bike tour and came back, uninjured, grinning from ear to ear, and was stoked on his experience. Consequently he left a tip for the guide, which worked out to be 3%, that wouldn’t have bought lunch for the guide, let alone pay any bills. That’s not uncommon! Let’s compare, and not to devalue the service, but in a restaurant and for a shorter experience, the same total bill might earn the wait staff at least a 15% tip. And that happens more than once a shift. In this example the guide had only one tour that day.


It is not uncommon in North America for adventure tourism to be the only way a community survives. We guide because we love what we do, whether it’s mountain biking, rafting, zip lining, skiing or snowboarding – we certainly didn’t get into it for the money. Guiding is not always a financially sustainable career, and so guides move on, being replaced by less experienced, less qualified individuals. Like any industry, less experience gets paid less, so the low wage cycle continues, therefore the ‘just pay them more’ argument doesn’t hold water. I truly believe in making guiding a sustainable career and want the tourism industry to attract quality people, and more importantly retain these people. Tourism can grow and shape our communities and so let’s make it attractive for guides who are willing to go above and beyond, keep you safe, and make your trip awesome. Please tip your guide wherever you are. Think of it this way - we tip so regularly and freely for a common experience such as dining, why not for an extraordinary guided experience or a trip of a lifetime?

About the author:
Chris Simm has a MBA from Royal Roads University and an education in tourism. He has been a professional Ski Guide and Instructor since 1997 with Mike Wigele Heli Ski Operations. He strongly believes that careers in tourism can be a sustainable and viable economic resource. Last year he was named the General Manager of Endless Biking where he has become an key asset to the business.