The valet had a big grin on his face as he looked me in the eyes and said, “thank you” in broken English as I slipped him $5 in front of the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. I guess most people don’t tip the valet when they check their car in. I know I usually do it when I pick it up. But my wife and I were in the Windy City for a romantic weekend and we had plenty of cash to tip generously.
It was a great weekend. Some of our tips while here included:
- $50 for a $100 meal
- Numerous other 30% + tips on various meals (we love to eat in the city)
- Many, many $5 to $10 tips on small taxi fares
- Too many tips for valets and doorman to count
You know that generosity is rare in the city when a taxi drive tells you the tip is too much and tries to give you some of it back! That happened to my wife when she was taking a cab from her conference back to our hotel.
I think generous tipping brings a new level of excitement to a weekend in the city because there are opportunities to do it often and largely.
