Tipping in Bali: Service Charge, Tax and When to Add More

Tipping in Bali is optional, and the bill has often done part of the job already. Many hotel and restaurant bills include a service charge that, by regulation, goes to the staff, plus a local tax that does not. Once you can read those two lines, deciding what to leave on top becomes simple.

What is already on the bill

A restaurant or hotel bill in Bali can carry two additions to the menu price: a local tax and a service charge. In Badung regency, which covers Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu, Jimbaran, Uluwatu and Nusa Dua, the local tax on restaurant food and drink and on hotel stays is 10%.

The tax line

The tax is a regional government charge on food, drink and accommodation. Each regency sets its own rate; Gianyar regency, which includes Ubud, also sets it at 10% for restaurants and hotels. This money goes to the local government and has nothing to do with the people who served you.

The service line

A service charge is different. Under an Indonesian labor regulation, a service charge at a hotel or a hotel restaurant is an amount added on top of the listed price for service, and it must be distributed to the workers, half shared equally and the rest by seniority and performance, after allowances for breakage or loss and for staff development. The regulation sets no percentage, so the rate you see is the business's own.

Why this matters for tipping

If your bill shows a service charge at a hotel or hotel restaurant, part of what you paid is already going to the staff as a group. An extra tip is then a personal thank-you to the person who looked after you, not a correction to an unfair bill. Where no service charge appears, nothing has gone to the staff beyond their wages.

How to read "plus plus"

A price in Bali may be quoted before tax and service, with the two additions applied when the bill is totaled. A menu may mark this with a line of small print or with plus signs after the price. The total you pay is the listed price with both additions on top.

Check before you order

Our advice is to look at the foot of the menu for a line saying whether prices include tax and service. If it is not stated, ask. Where both are added, the total is higher than the menu price, and it is better to know that before you order.

The nightlife tax is much higher

One category is taxed differently. In Badung and Gianyar, entertainment at bars, nightclubs, discos, karaoke venues and spas was set at a 40% local tax by the regencies' 2023 tax regulations, in force from January 2024. That rate was publicly contested after it took effect and may have been amended since, so look at how a venue states its prices instead of assuming a figure.

When to leave more, and how

Tipping beyond the bill is a personal choice in Bali, with no official rule or fixed percentage behind it. We could not find an authoritative source for customary amounts, and the figures quoted on travel sites vary widely. The suggestions here are our own view of what is reasonable, not a local standard.

Restaurants and cafes

Where a service charge is on the bill, leaving nothing further is fine. Where it is not, rounding the bill up or leaving a modest amount in cash is a kind gesture that will be appreciated. Give it directly to your server if you want it to reach that person.

Drivers and guides

A driver who has spent the day with you, or a guide on a trek or tour, has given you a personal service that no bill line covers. A cash tip at the end of the day is appropriate if you were happy. Decide the amount by how long they worked and how much they added to your day.

Hotel staff and spa therapists

For housekeeping, porters and spa therapists, a small cash tip handed over personally is the clearest way to say thank you. If the hotel adds a service charge, the staff already share in it, and an individual tip is an extra.

Practical points about paying tips

Tips in Bali are best given in rupiah cash, handed to the person you mean to thank. Bali's rules for foreign visitors require transactions to be in rupiah, and small rupiah notes are useful all day for exactly this. Keep a separate fold of small notes so you are not searching for change.

Cash versus card

If you add a tip to a card payment, you have no way of knowing how it is distributed. Cash handed to an individual removes the question.

Do not tip in coins or foreign change

Our advice is to tip in rupiah. Foreign coins are the least useful thing to leave, because the person receiving them has to find a way to change them; if all you have is dollars, a banknote is better than coins.

Bargaining is separate from tipping

Bargaining and tipping are two different customs, and mixing them causes awkwardness. Our view is that a price you have agreed with a market stall or an independent driver is the whole price, and adding to it is your choice.

Agree the price first

For anything without a posted price, such as a day with a driver, agree the total and what it covers before you set off. Then a tip at the end is clearly a gift, and neither side is left guessing.