My girlfriend and I made appointments for a massage at Airport Fitness (Zurich) and are really looking forward to it. However, I'm not sure what an appropriate tip would be. Is it a percentage of the price? Thanks in advance for any help

Prices, generally speaking, include service.
Very good service should always be tipped. A general rule of thumb of between 10-15% usually applies. Tipping, in my experience, is less expected in the service trade here in Switzerland.

Having worked in the service trade when in Switzerland i would say tips arent included in the service as the person doesnt see any of the service charge, and it is expected thats how the majority of people in service survive is through tips.

Question: proper tip for massage?

Sensible answer : As above about 10% if the massage is good and attentive.

Can't resist answer: When the masseuse enters, don't whip of your towel and exclaim "TA-DA!!!!"

Did you recieve a salary? In many countries waiters get no pay just the tips.

Yes i did, but we are talking about Switzerland not any other country

Most salaries in serive are between 3300 and 4000 so tips come in and help a lot

How does that compare to a check out person at Migros? Just curious as I did not earn that much more than that last year,

are we talking bout service or massage???
in service you give tips, massage you don't. they don't often have bad salaries.
but when you want to leave a ten franc note, they surely won't have a problem with that.

Thanks very much for the replies - I will go for the 10-15% range.

Have a good weekend everyone!

The Federal Price Publication Ordinance states:

Art. 12 Service Charge (or Tips) [Trinkgeld]

1 The service charge must be included in the price or be explicitily referred to and quantified as a service charge.

2 Indications such as "service/tips included" or similar indications are permissible. Indications such as "service/tips not included" without quantification are not admissible.

3 It is not admissible to request service charge/tips above the published price or the indicated amounts.

In a nutshell, all Swiss prices contain the service charge (or if not the service charge has to be quantified, e.g. x%). If you actually voluntarily pay a tip, this is an "overtip".

As to the service industry (waiters, etc.). The GastroUnion has a collective bargaining agreement, which provides for minimum wages between 3'400 up to 4'800 depending on qualifications (all x13)
http://www.hotelgastrounion.ch/archi...09_HDEX017.pdf

which is comparable to the wages in Migros and Coop.So next time you go shopping, please tip your cashier in Migros and Coop. :-)

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..about the same.

What is "service"?

Is that not the job of the server?

For which they receive a salary.

Otherwise, there would be self-service, in which case you take the tip for yourself.

To carry tipping through to all the trades/services means you should also be leaving a tip for the doctor/dentist receptionists and attendents? What about the professional person, if their service was so good? A little bit of "trink-geld" is always welcome.

For a massage, you pay the price listed. No need to add "trink-geld".