I have grown up in a family breakfast/lunch restaurant that has been in the same family for the past 70 years. Over the years I have realized that the tips are the servers, the business can not mandate what they are to do with the tips. We have a policy (stated on the menu) that adds a 18% tip to parties of 9 or more, HOWEVER I always tell my servers that it is up to them whether they add the tip or not, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. It all averages out in the end if the service is great. A while ago on this forum someone mentioned that they worked for a restaurant that mandated how they shared the tip with others including the owners. This has already been tested in the labor courts and the restaurant owner's lost big time. The tips are the servers, not the restaurants. On a happier note we have just finished day 2 of our ten day trip on St. John....ah, hiking, good food, and great down time on the beach. Life doesn't get any better than this. I am going to turn off the computer and listen to the tree frogs...good night..

We are frequent travelers to St. John and spend 8 out of 10 nights at Shipwreck, be it dinner or just drinks and I think this is a HUGE mistake for them. I've been in the bar industry for over 20 years, I know own my own bar and can't pathom the idea of adding gratuity to a check. I think in the long run they will lose out. We typically tip between 20 and 30% depending on service. My feeling is if enough people complain or shall I say bring up the fact of an automatic tip perhaps they'll listen and get rid of it. Someone on the post mentioned they did it because of the cruise ship people.....how many cruise ship people actually make it out that way?! I would think that it's almost an out of way stop for them.....perhaps there is more to the story?! I hope they don't change much else there because we really enjoy our time there. Just my 2 cents......Jill

Not the same Shipwreck. The one that Dylan mentioned is on St Thomas

Shipwreck is right there at the ship dock on St Thomas. I would bet that the behavior of the ship crowd drives many of their decisions. It's just too bad for everyone not on the ship.

Personally, if I am at a bar, I tip up front "To Insire Prompt Service" (TIPS). If I tipped the bartender and was later surcharged 18%, I'd be pissed.

or they could just change their policy to grat added until 5pm to take care of the cruisers, lol and i tell ya what i bend over backwards to take care of locals and europeans and they're still cheap and so on those 2 tops and 4 tops you just be nice to them and roll your eyes when they pay the bill, like the danish couple that chatted me up all night tonight questions galore, loved the food loved me, but thank god i don't have to pay the wapa bill tomorrow haha, north dakota was 2.01 an hour,MPLS was 6.25 an hour, Omaha was 2.25 an hour, here i've made from 2.50 an hour up to 6.00 an hour. i now work with 10 local women and i'm the token white guy waiter.

I don't believe the Europeans are "cheap", just unfamiliar with our tipping customs. We were in Italy this fall and tipping was not expected. We tipped only for above and beyond service. And then we tipped 3-5%.

linda in most european countries waiting tables is considered a chosen and reputable profession and the service charge is built into the cost of dining out and and any extra tip giving is for over and above special service and i said cheap OR ignorant of our tipping practices. One of the restaurants here that specializes in fine dining puts a card in the check presenter with the check with 5 different languages printed on it that explains the american gratuity system.

Dylan asked poster STT, "Let me ask, would you ever institute mandatory tipping at your restaurant? Or how do you handle this type of situation?"

I don't know if "STT" has a restaurant but if you were confusing him/her with me the answer is no. I've never mandated tipping for anyone wtether it be a single or a group. Once in a very rare while a server will be "stiffed" on a rip but in my situation it's far from the norm and it all comes out in the wash.

I did get "stiffed" bigtime once a few years ago when a visiting party of 10 made a reservation two days in advance of their arrival on one of our busiest nights and never showed up. As we waited for them to arrive, several of my regular patrons arrived and were unable to have their regular seats becaus of the booking. whe the set-up sat empty for close to an hour. We worked it all out but the rudeness of the group in not honouring (or bothering to cancel) their reservation really gummed up the works. If such a group now reserves under similar circumstances I ask them to confirm their reservation on arival. If they don't confirm, no reservation.

As far as mandatory tipping is concerned, then it behooves the customer to check the bill diligently and, if in doubt, ask. I've noted in the past while dining out here that some establishments print their mandatory tipping policy in VERY TINY letters hardly visible to the naked eye. I don't think that's right and, for a bar customer and a couple of beers - pretty outrageous in my opinon. Cheers!

Yes STT Resident I was definitely asking you, as you're a business owner in this genre.

Valid point about the people cancelling, and I believe that a majority of restaurants are now charging cancellation fees for reservations gone awry.

Actually I think the bottom line here is that requiring an obvious local who's only stopping by for a cold one to tip 18% for a lousy couple beers is OUT OF CONTROL.

Thanks for the input....................

West, if the cruisers aren't tipping, and the Europeans are cheap, and the Americans are cheap.....then why do you work in a field that relies on people not the be cheap - when they're all cheap??? There has to be an upside - or you wouldn't do it. 🙂

I'd rather see a sign posted (on the menu and over the bar) that discusses the tipping situation, the plight of the servers, and whatever. You know people at bars will read signs with good nature. People at tables have time while they wait, to read something printed on the back of the menu.

STTResident has a poster behind her bar about a Dog named Lucky. See? I read the posters! 😉

That makes me so happy knowing we had the wrong Shipwreck..........! I never thought in a million years that Shipwreck Landing in St. John would take such crazy action, especially being that it's really not a cruise ship stopover for most tourists....it's mostly a local hang out with us "lucky" frequent travelers finding it.....Ughhhhhhhhhh I'm so happy! Glad to know nothings changed because I'd hate not to have that as a place to hang out! See you in 24 days!

I used to live on my boat in Coral Bay and know Shipwreck Landing very well. I don't believe in any way they would try that, the folks in Coral Bay would throw a conniption fit...............

Safe Travels

well i never get to wait on cruisers blu i was merely commenting on what someone else said about the cruise ship people and yes i've done quite nicely over the years and actually like what i do, when i'm in "work" mode and really bust my butt with 2 or 3 jobs working 19 of the 21 meal periods in a week i can clear close to a hundred grand in a year, i also don't recall calling statesiders cheap.i just got home from a 12 hour shift tired but happy

West, sorry...I thought you mentioned that Americans were cheap. I must have mis-read.

I was reading one of my old trip reports today where I commented that Meson Amalia was adding an automatic 15% to all bills and also rounding the fees up. i.e a meal on the menu for $18.95 is billed at $19 and then an automatic 15% tip was added for 2 peple (me and my 8 yr old).

Seems that Shipwreck did not start this tacky trend.

Here's to the places that have premier enough clientelle to trust that they'll tip correctly. To the rest, if your service and product improves enough to attract the right people, you might be able to trust their ability to properly thank your wait staff. Until then....continue with your tack-fest. Ugh!

I would like to hear more from the servers/wait staff/bartenders/valet people on this subject. Maybe the establishment should put a sign up on the entry door to say "be nice to my staff, customers I can always get"!

well if you notice the 3 business mentioned so far, the shipwreck, meson amalia, and the chinese place next to the delly deck deal mainly with cruise ship people during the day because of thier proximity to the waterfront, and we all know anything on the waterfront by the docks will cost more than anywhere else on the island, well except for wendys

"...and we all know anything on the waterfront by the docks will cost more than anywhere else on the island, well except for wendys..."

Beg to strenuously disagree with such a blanket statement. Cheers!

well ok the bookstore was priced ok and the internet was free upstairs at off shore bar and paradise gate

Yeah but Paradise Gate does the same thing, they automatically add 18% to every check, at l;east they were as of about 3 weeks ago.

i had either breakfast or lunch at paradisegate pretty much everyday until last week and nothing was ever added to my check Dylan, most of the time they forgot to add my soda,iced tea, or coffee, unless Said was just giving me that stuff for free