After a very interesting discussion on tipping on my Yahoo Group for www.massagepracticebuilder.com I have gathered some of the information to share it here on the blog.
Is it appropriate to tip a massage therapist?

Is it appropriate for a massage therapist to encourage tipping?

Is it appropriate for massage therapists to accept tips? Should you even mention tipping on your website, policies or anywhere in your office?
Massage Therapists for the most part are licensed health care professionals. Some states still do not recognize us for that.

Tipping comes from the

“Are tips required?” and then answer
with: “No. Although greatly appreciated, tips are not
required.”

‘Clinical clients may not
tip, wellness clients may tip is so inclined, Thank you.’
In our office we have discreet signs which simply
state “Gratuities graciously accepted” along with envelopes that
clients can use and write a note on if they wish at the reception
counter

“Massage is generally a tipping industry and supports the
therapist’s income”, or “general gratuities are 15-20% and should
always simply be a reflection of your customer satisfaction”, etc

Tipping a massage therapist varies widely mainly because of the wide variety of fees that massage therapists charge and how they view their practice.  A massage therapist that views their practice as being a ‘medical or clinical’ massage practice will probably be charging more and may also be licensed as a health care provider which would make tipping the massage therapist inappropriate.

Most spas expect the client to tip the massage therapist and don’t pay the massage therapist much  based on this assumption.  Tipping is usually much appreciated by the massage therapist.

Do you tip your massage therapist?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 9:53 am and is filed under Money issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.