Most people in Spain still don't tip regularly, and the majority want to keep it that way

New survey data reveals how Spanish diners really feel about tipping, and the results might surprise you

Ask anyone who has moved to Spain from the UK or the US and one of the first things they notice is how different the tipping culture feels here. Leaving a few coins or rounding up the bill is the norm. Calculating a percentage and feeling guilty if you don't is very much not. And according to new survey data from TheFork Lab, that is exactly how most Spanish diners want it to stay.

The figures make for interesting reading. Only one in four people say they always leave a tip when eating out, while 15% never do. The majority, 58%, tip occasionally, making a judgement call based on the experience and the service on each visit. When they do tip, the amounts are modest: 63% leave less than 5% of the bill, 35% leave between 5% and 10%, and just 2% go above 10%.

The main reason people give for not tipping is the belief that the bill already covers the service charge, cited by 61% of respondents. A further 20% say card payments make it awkward to leave a tip, while 19% feel that a waiter's salary makes it unnecessary.

When people do decide to leave something extra, it is overwhelmingly driven by the overall experience. 57% say a good meal with attentive service is what tips them over the edge, while 36% specifically mention the quality of the waitstaff. Only 5% say tipping is just something they always do regardless.
Traditional restaurants are where most tips end up, receiving 58% of mentions, well ahead of fine dining at 17%, more casual spots at 16% and bars and cafés at just 9%.

The practice of printing suggested tip amounts on bills has been growing in Spain in recent years, with some restaurants offering customers the option of adding 5%, 8% or 10%, a trend that began making waves a few years ago as American-style tipping habits started creeping into Spanish hospitality. The new data suggests the public is not warming to it. A clear 60% of diners consider it inappropriate for establishments to suggest a tip amount on the bill, 23% can accept it as long as it remains genuinely voluntary, and 17% feel uncomfortable with it even if they understand why it is there.

Perhaps most tellingly, 77% of those surveyed would like tipping to be phased out entirely, 22% would prefer to keep the current system, and just 1% would like to see it increase.

On the question of how tips should be divided when they are left, 61% believe the money should be shared equally between all front-of-house and kitchen staff, 33% think it should go directly to the person who served them, and 7% would limit it to front-of-house only.

The picture that emerges is of a country that tips when genuinely moved to do so, resists pressure to do otherwise, and would largely be happy to see the whole tradition quietly disappear.
 

Image: Ai generated