Currency and Tipping by Destination
Choose one of seven destinations and get the money facts in one place: the local currency, a dated reference exchange rate from the central bank that you can type over, whether US dollars are genuinely useful or just a worse deal, what cards and ATMs are actually like, the consumption tax on your bill, and the tipping conventions for restaurants, drivers, guides, hotel staff and dive crews. The most important line is the service charge: in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic 10 per cent is already on the bill by law, so tipping the full amount again is paying twice. A bill splitter at the bottom applies whichever norm fits your destination.
Pick your destination
Is service already on the bill?
Money on the ground
What to tip, and when nothing is expected
These are customs, not rules, and they are ranges because published advice disagrees. Where a row says nothing is expected, that is the honest answer, not politeness.
| Situation | Common range | Notes |
|---|
Bill splitter with the local tipping norm
How it works, how to use it, and what it does not cover
Pick a destination and the whole page re-reads from one data block: currency, the reference rate and its date, the service-charge verdict, the tax on your bill, card and cash notes, and the tipping table. Nothing is fetched from the internet. The rate is the figure each central bank published on 21 or 22 October 2026, so it is a starting point rather than today's number — type in what your banking app shows and every dollar figure updates. For the three US destinations it is fixed at 1, because nothing converts.
Reading the service-charge box
Tipping on top of an included service charge is the commonest way visitors overpay. Costa Rica puts 10 per cent service on restaurant bills by law, as the staff's money, plus 13 per cent IVA. The Dominican Republic does the same with a 10 per cent legal tip plus 18 per cent ITBIS, so a menu price can arrive 28 per cent heavier. Peru allows a recargo al consumo of up to 13 per cent by agreement with staff, so it is common but not universal. Honduras has no such law, yet many Roatán restaurants add 10 per cent anyway, which is why the tool says check. The US destinations have no legal service charge, though a restaurant may add a disclosed automatic gratuity for a large party.
The assumptions behind the ranges
- US destinations use 15 to 20 per cent for table service. Pew found 57 per cent of Americans tip 15 per cent or less on an average meal, while Toast's card data averages near 19 per cent, so the range spans both instead of picking a side.
- Peru and Honduras use roughly 10 per cent where no surcharge appears — lower than the US baseline, and widely reported as the local norm.
- Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic assume the legal charge is on the bill; untick the box and the full range appears.
- Drivers. Not expected in Latin America and the Caribbean, where rounding up is the courtesy; 10 to 15 per cent in the US destinations.
- Guides and crews. Group day tours cluster at 10 to 20 per cent. Dive crews are their own convention: guidance runs from about US$5 per tank to 10 per cent of the dive bill, and some shops pool tips, so ask.
- Hotel staff. Housekeeping daily rather than at checkout, porters per bag. All-inclusives often bundle gratuities.
- Park rangers are federal employees and are not tipped; in US parks the question is private outfitters and gateway towns.
What it does not cover
It does not know your bank's foreign-transaction fee or what a particular ATM charges — those are set per card and per machine, so read the on-screen disclosure before you confirm. It gives no card-acceptance percentages, because no official statistic exists. Lodging taxes are out of scope, which matters most in Hawaii, and it cannot tell you whether a specific resort has bundled gratuities. One habit beats all of it: when a terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, decline and choose the local one.
Data last verified 2026-10-23. Prices, hours and rules change; confirm with the official source before you go.
Sources
- Banco Central de Reserva del Perú — exchange rate
- Banco Central de Costa Rica — reference exchange rate
- Banco Central de Honduras — nominal exchange rate series
- Banco Central de la República Dominicana — historical rates
- SINALEVI (Costa Rica) — regulation on the 10% service for restaurant staff
- SINALEVI (Costa Rica) — Value Added Tax law (13%)
- Asociación de Bancos Comerciales RD — when the 10% legal tip applies
- SUNAT (Peru) — Oficio 257-2003 on the recargo al consumo (max 13%)
- Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico — IVU (sales and use tax)
- COFIM (Puerto Rico) — 1% municipal sales and use tax
- Hawaii Department of Taxation — county surcharge on general excise tax
- SEFIN (Honduras) — consolidated Sales Tax law (ISV 15% / 18%)
- Pew Research Center — what Americans tip for, and how much
- Toast — average US restaurant tip percentage (Q1 2026 platform data)
- Roatan divemaster's tipping guidance (operator-side, not official)
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Which of these destinations already add service to the bill?
Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic both do, by law: 10 per cent of the bill goes to the staff, and it is on top of 13 per cent IVA in Costa Rica and 18 per cent ITBIS in the Dominican Republic. In Peru a surcharge called recargo al consumo of up to 13 per cent is legal but optional, so some places add it and some do not. Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Honduras and the US National Parks have no legal service charge, although individual restaurants add one for large parties. Always read the itemised lines before you add anything.
If service is already included, should I still tip?
You are not required to. Where a legal service charge is on the bill, the staff are already being paid from it, and tipping the full percentage again means paying roughly twice. An extra 0 to 5 per cent, handed to the server, is a normal gesture for genuinely good service, and in the Dominican Republic many visitors leave 5 to 10 per cent extra because the legal 10 per cent is pooled. Nothing is expected.
Should I pay in US dollars where they are accepted?
Usually no. Dollars circulate easily on Roatan, in Dominican resorts and in parts of Costa Rica, but when you hand over dollars against a price quoted in lempiras, pesos or colones, the business picks the conversion rate and the change rate, and that is rarely in your favour. Pay in the local currency where a local price is quoted. Where the price is quoted in dollars in the first place, as it often is for Roatan diving and tours, paying dollars is fine.
How current is the exchange rate in this tool?
It is a dated reference rate from each country's central bank, shown with its date and source, not a live feed. The tool makes no call to a rate service, so it works offline and never shows you a silently stale number. Type over it with the figure from your own banking app before you rely on the dollar column. Central-bank reference rates are also mid-market: your card, your bank and any ATM operator will each take a margin.
Why are the tipping figures ranges instead of one number?
Because tipping is a social custom, not a rule, and published advice genuinely disagrees. For the US destinations here, Pew Research found a majority of Americans would tip 15 per cent or less on an average sit-down meal, while point-of-sale data from Toast puts the average card tip near 19 per cent. Quoting one figure would be inventing a precision that does not exist, so this tool gives the range and says where the sources part company.