How much do you tip a massage therapist for a 60 minute massage?

[Anonymous]

My massage therapist does not accept tips, and she is awesome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you pay $90 for a 60 minute massage, you're paying for the massage to be a good one, not half assed and if it is good, which is what you're paying to get, you tip anyway. Tipping is out of control. TIP stands for "To Ensure Prompt Service", not to get quality work/services or the alrady high price you're paying for the service, regardless if the person is the owner or not. I'll tip if they go over the hour, if they provide something more than the basic service I'm paying for. How many of you get a tip from you work for going exactly what you're suppopse to do and yeah, wee're all working to make the other guy rich and we're not seeing "tips".

That is the so stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you pay $90 for a 60 minute massage, you're paying for the massage to be a good one, not half assed and if it is good, which is what you're paying to get, you tip anyway. Tipping is out of control. TIP stands for "To Ensure Prompt Service", not to get quality work/services or the alrady high price you're paying for the service, regardless if the person is the owner or not. I'll tip if they go over the hour, if they provide something more than the basic service I'm paying for. How many of you get a tip from you work for going exactly what you're suppopse to do and yeah, wee're all working to make the other guy rich and we're not seeing "tips".

+1

[Anonymous]

Zero. My DW who is a PT, treats stroke patients, accident patients and people with various other conditions and gets them back on their feet/walking again such that they can live meaningful lives, earns less than $40 pr hour gets zero in tips so for a massage therapist earning $90-120 pr hour addressing non-life changing events/conditions, zero in tips sounds about right.

[Anonymous]

The majority of you have obviously never ever work in any service industry. You should ALWAYS tip 20%. If the service was bad tip at your own discretion. It doesn't matter whether you get tipped at your job or not. These people don't make regular wages/salaries. They usually depend on you the consumer for their money so even though your massage may cost 100 dollars, the person who is fighting the carpel tunnel to relax you is probably not even receiving half of that despite what some above think.... The server, masseuse, any type of service is NOT recieving half of anything.

[Anonymous]

I tip 15-20% depending on how responsive the therapist has been to my needs. A good one always asks what you want to work on. Only sometimes do they actually do that. Watch out for hotel spas, tip is usually mandatory.

[Anonymous]

My therapist charges $75 for a full 60 min. (connective tissue) and I tip $15 (20%).

[Anonymous]

$20

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The majority of you have obviously never ever work in any service industry. You should ALWAYS tip 20%. If the service was bad tip at your own discretion. It doesn't matter whether you get tipped at your job or not. These people don't make regular wages/salaries. They usually depend on you the consumer for their money so even though your massage may cost 100 dollars, the person who is fighting the carpel tunnel to relax you is probably not even receiving half of that despite what some above think.... The server, masseuse, any type of service is NOT recieving half of anything.

See this is a problem I have- servers in restaurants (sometimes bartenders, depending on the state but often they are excluded) are pretty much the only people who can get paid under minimum wage. Hairstylists and personal services professionals in the service industry are NOT the same. The 20% in a restaurant that has bled over to any service professional is getting a little out of control, IMO and this is from someone who comes from a family that owned spas!

Service industry is not all the same, the tipping is not all the same. Particularly in those situations where you know 100% sure that the person rents the space (they pay rent of course but its WAY lower than a traditional spa where the owner takes a huge cut of the service fee, if not most of it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tipping is out of control. TIP stands for "To Ensure Prompt Service", not to get quality work/services or the alrady high price you're paying for the service, regardless if the person is the owner or not.

False, and IMO, a lie only repeated by cheap people.
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp

[Anonymous]

More often than not, the massage therapist is not seeing 50% of the whole amount of the massage. There are some spas that give a much smaller % AND they take a portion of the amount the massage therapist gets for oils used. Some have to work two jobs to make ends meet. So, 15-20% tipping is absolutely welcome for a job well done.

[Anonymous]

I also belong to Massage Envy. I usually tip $15 for an hour massage and $20-22 for 90 minutes.

[Anonymous]

You do realize that most massage therapist only work 25-30 hours due to the more intense job we have. I for one ALWAYS tip $20 for an hour. We as therapist touch your body, even glutes, sometimes after a client has worked out without bathing, or sun tanned without bathing, you sweat during massage, etc. You think that's necessary to complain about tipping when a therapist who works at Massage Envy is only making $16 an hour, again, only working 25 hours a week. I use my tip money to feed my family and put gas in my car because my entire paycheck goes to my bills. Or for therapists who rent their own room, they have linens to clean, lotions to buy, again, etc...the money you pay for the actual massage goes to the rent, insurance and continuing education classes we have to take to stay licensed. You people need to come down off your high horse 'oh I don't get tipped for my job' and realize the real situation. I'm sorry I don't sit at a desk for 40 hours, I bust my ass for my money.

[Anonymous]

My therapist charges $60 for a one hour massage. I tip $12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that most massage therapist only work 25-30 hours due to the more intense job we have. I for one ALWAYS tip $20 for an hour. We as therapist touch your body, even glutes, sometimes after a client has worked out without bathing, or sun tanned without bathing, you sweat during massage, etc. You think that's necessary to complain about tipping when a therapist who works at Massage Envy is only making $16 an hour, again, only working 25 hours a week. I use my tip money to feed my family and put gas in my car because my entire paycheck goes to my bills. Or for therapists who rent their own room, they have linens to clean, lotions to buy, again, etc...the money you pay for the actual massage goes to the rent, insurance and continuing education classes we have to take to stay licensed. You people need to come down off your high horse 'oh I don't get tipped for my job' and realize the real situation. I'm sorry I don't sit at a desk for 40 hours, I bust my ass for my money.

I've worked over 300 hours a month for 4 months straight as a satellite tech, carrying ladders, equipment, walking on houses, crawling under them.. in extreme pacific northwest winter rain/wind for less than $16 an hour. I did get tipped maybe once or twice a week, out of 30 or more homes I'd do. I never looked for it, and I had the best customer survey scores out of our office so it wasn't due to a poor job.


I detail all this, because this was work i 'chose' to do. I do not imagine anyone forced you to be a massage therapist? I think it is you who are on some sort of 'high horse.'

Anyone who is or isn't in the industry could speculate on the things you would have to do. Dirty bodies, sweat, etc. is a given. Why should you be paid more because you have to 'handle' that? I can crawl under homes with hobo spiders and dead animals, among other things..in a 18" crawl space in the dark...some guys cant. I don't insist I get paid extra.. and neither do the guys who cant.

Realize you are your own limit, and if you aren't happy with the industry average for pay, find a new industry.