Travel Tips

France, as every U.S. tourist knows, is one long landscape of outstretched, tip-expectant hands--the doorman, the waiter, the wine steward, the cabbie, the deliveryman, the barber, the junior civil servant, the cinema usher, the concierge and the ancient harpy who stands guard at the entrance to the public lavatory.

Even so, the direct tip is not the only way the omnipresent hotel porter gets into the tourist's pocket. Last week France's hotel and restaurant trade journal, L'Echo Touristique, gave away a trade secret. In addition to the usual service charge of 15% and the tip that is exacted on top of that, hotel employees regularly pocket a stream of hidden gratuities for steering customers to various entrepreneurs: 20% of the bill charged by a tourist agency; a commission on railroad, plane and ship tickets; 1% to 3% of the cost of cables and telegrams sent for a guest; a cut of undertakers' fees; a percentage of the fees of nurses and masseurs ; a kickback on shop purchases made for hotel customers; 20% of the money spent by a tourist in a nightclub.

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