Charter Yacht Crew Gratuities:
An Increasingly Worrisome Issue

A longtime, well-respected charter broker arranged a tandem charter for a regular client, booking two boats at once for the man who had more people in his party than one boat could handle. One yacht was staffed by a European crew, the other by Americans.
     Both yachts were quite large, and each offered top-notch service during the vacation. The charter client was pleased. So pleased , in fact, that he decided to leave each crew a 12 percent gratuity—on top of the six-figure charter fees he was already paying. He handed the envelopes to the captains, figuring he had been as generous with his money as both crews had been with their service.
     The European captain gushed with thanks. His crew had expected a 5- to 10-percent tip and couldn’t have been happier or prouder of their job well done.
     The American captain chased the client down the docks and asked, “What did we do wrong? Why didn’t  you tip us more? Aren’t we worth 20 or 25 percent?”
     What shocked me upon hearing this tale was not the details of the story itself, but the silence in the room—the lack of audible gasps or apparent shock—after the charter broker finished telling it. I was sitting in Genoa, Italy, in a conference room filled with professional brokers and captains who had come together in the spring of 2007 to address what has become known as “the tipping issue” in the crewed yacht charter industry.
     This was far from the first story of its kind to cause problems for brokers, captains, and charter clients alike. In fact, the details were so common, other brokers and captains in the room quickly raised their hands to share their own, similar experiences.
     I posted a short item on my blog the very same day, making the point that CharterWave readers—and charter customers the world over—should never feel bullied into leaving a gratuity of any kind. Tips are not entitlements. They are thanks for a job well done, and they should remain such no matter what percentage you decide to give.
     But the more I talked about the issue with brokers and captains on the docks, the more I realized it has become so heated that the average charter client has no way of knowing what to expect when tipping. Sometimes, you’ll get a hearty handshake of thanks. Other times, you may get embarrassed by a captain in front of your friends and family. Brokers from one company may offer you one set of gratuity guidelines that are completely different from those at another company.
      Here’s a look at what the insiders say when they don’t have to attach their names to their statements in public—and what you need to know before you leave a gratuity at the end of your next charter yacht vacation.

Skewing the Market
The main part of the problem seems to be overly generous Russian, Arab, and American charter clients.
     Traditions in those parts of the world dictate tipping a generous percentage, say 10 to 20 percent for starters, when service is good. If a Russian, Arab, or American charter guest feels service is exceptional, he may leave a 25- or even a 50-percent gratuity—even on a charter yacht that costs $150,000 a week or more.
     Now, any crew who receive a $75,000 tip obviously get quite excited. There might be 10 crew members onboard, and they run around telling their friends who work on other charter yachts about the $7,500 in cash they pocketed for a single week’s worth of work. Their friends, in turn, get jealous and ask their own captains why they’re not earning as much in tips. And those captains then feel pressure to accept charters only from people who have a history of over-tipping, or of asking charterers to tip more so they can keep their crew happy.
      This skewing of gratuity standards is obviously difficult for those of us who are charter clients to stomach. And it’s most difficult to take for guests who come from Europe, where tipping 5 or 10 percent is the most that’s ever expected according to regional customs.
     For many charter clients, being asked to leave even a 20-percent tip feels like extortion. Being told they will not even be considered as clients on a yacht they choose unless they promise a 50-percent tip in advance is akin to anarchy.

The American Captain Factor
It’s important to keep in mind that all charter yachts don’t fall into this vicious cycle. One longtime, successful charter captain at the industry-only meeting I attended said—to great applause—“I don’t think tipping should be a God-given right.” He said a crew should earn a gratuity and be thankful for it, however much or little it is.
     This particular captain happened to be of European descent, a fact that several charter brokers told me is important. Whether fairly or not, American captains are the ones earning a reputation for insisting on the biggest tips. The stories told of captains chasing clients down the docks and asking for more money almost always involve American captains, these brokers said.
     I tried to understand why, and again, regional differences seem to come into play. I thought about my own experience in the American workforce, starting out as a waitress who earned 10- to 20-percent tips for slinging pizza pies at the beach on summer Saturday nights. I received my share of 50-percent tips as a kid, and though I do not work in a field now where gratuities are the norm, I have to admit that if I did, I might think a 5-percent tip was a bit of an insult.
     The same thing is happening with some of these American charter yacht captains. They strive to offer the best service, and they feel their crews deserve the best tips. 
     True, some captains (no matter their nationality) have no such excuse and are simply acting out of greed. But just as with the overly generous charter clients who are skewing the market, there are perhaps overly ambitious captains doing the same exact thing.

So, What Should You Tip?
I still believe what I wrote the day this topic came up for discussion in Genoa: Those of us who charter yachts should never feel bullied into leaving a gratuity of any kind. Period.
     Having said that, I also believe that leaving a hard-working charter crew a tip is the right thing to do. It is standard, just the way leaving a good waitress a tip is expected.
     I liked what one well-respected charter broker told the crowd: She advises her clients to leave a 5- to 20-percent gratuity on a sliding scale, depending on the quality of service . That sounded right to me, both in terms of regional standards and general good manners.
     If you find yourself in a situation where you’re being asked, or if you feel forced, to leave any kind of tip, big or small, my advice is to walk away from the yacht and book a different one. There are plenty of reasonable, well-meaning yacht crew working hard today to earn your gratuity, no matter how much it is.
     Those are the kind of professionals we should support, instead of paying into the games being played by their competitors.—Kim Kavin