There is a debate in the Balearics regarding tipping in restaurants, it having become increasingly common for bills to be presented with suggestions as to what the tips should be.
The president of the CAEB Restaurants Association, Alfonso Robledo, says that 80% of bills are now paid with cards or phones and that this has led to a decrease in tips.
He notes that some customers do add tips or leave tips in cash, but "people usually forget". This is why more and more restaurants are adopting the suggestions with the bills. However, he stresses that "a tip must always be optional". "Indicating it on the bill should be a decision for each business."
The association, while it is content to let restaurants suggest tips, is opposed to any obligation to leave tips. The official position is that of the national federation, Hostelería de España, which states that "tipping is a voluntary gesture". It is an extra that customers pay as a reward for service they consider to be good.
There are accusations that employers seek tips as a means of compensating for low salaries. Robledo is adamant: "That's rubbish and is even more so given the increases in salaries that have been set by the new hospitality agreement.
"Hospitality establishments must concern themselves with ensuring that customers receive good service and that they remunerate workers in accordance with the regulations. Tips have nothing to do with salaries. Worker pay is regulated by sectoral collective agreements that employer organisations sign with unions."
The Consubal consumers association says that, in principle, it is against "any system that is intended to induce the customer to leave a tip". Its president, Alfonso Rodríguez, emphasises that tips must always be voluntary, but he adds that "so long as it is to compensate for the fact that people almost never carry cash and it also guarantees that this money goes to workers, it (the suggestion method) seems like a good formula to me".