Gratuities and rental

My venue just charged me 20% gratuities on $10,000 rental…. In addition to charging gratuities on my SOCAN, Insurance, on my vendors delivery fee, basically the entire bill and then taxed everything 13%. Is there anything stating that they can’t do this?!? I live in Ontario.

Our vene charged us 15% gratuity on the bar and food seperate.

View quoted message I did question it and asked why we are charged gratuities/service charges on a rental charge. No change was made, no explanation was provided so we paid the extra $350ish.

View quoted message Thank you Tina.

View quoted message I'm going to edit my comment because I was wrong. If it's an auto-grat (on the bill) then it's taxed as a service. So HST would be charged on that amount. If it's an amount the customer voluntarily provides (I.e. written in on a credit card slip) then tax isn't charged. Sorry for the misinformation.

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What is your advice if they do charge grat on GST? How do you confront them or tell that thats its unacceptable?

I used to work in a restaurant that specialized in weddings. No, you should not be charged gratuity on room rental, however, you may be charged grat on room set-up fees (a lot of places consider that a service). You may also be charged a grat on any decor set up they may do, like putting on chair covers or setting out centrepieces. Make sure to ask. Also, make sure you're not being charged GST on the gratuity! Some places like to sneak that in.

Make sure the grat is a separate line item than other service fees. If your venue charges a flat fee and no grat, chances are very good the venue owner is pocketing a lot of that money.

$1k may seem like a LOT for gratuity, and it's no small amount of money. Where I worked, for a wedding of 60-80, there would be 2 bartenders, 2 servers, 2 bussers and a food runner/extra busser/barback person. So usually 7 staff & coordinator to run the night. Staff would arrive at 3pm for a 5pm ceremony, do room changeover during cocktail (very rushed!), take orders, serve wine, serve all 3-5 courses, and coffee. No guests would have to get up except if they wanted something from the bar. Staff would start being cut around midnight, then the 2-3 people who closed would stay til about 3am to clean and re-set for the next day. Staff would work between 8 and 11 hours, breaks would be ad hoc, and meal breaks were non-existent. HOWEVER the closing bartender would walk with about $250 of your $1k, and a regular server (who didn't close) would end up with $150-$180. Bussers would get about $100, depending on how long they stayed. Definitely good money, especially if you worked two weddings a weekend. But it was EXHAUSTING!!

I notice in your comments there was a miscommunication regarding when you could arrive. I would strongly suggest you find the email where that was communicated to you and show them! If someone told you that you could have cocktail at 4:30, then they damn well better open early to honor what you've agreed to! Even if it was a mistake on their part. And if they can't, then you need to come to a compromise that works for both of you. Maybe open the bar for 4:30, but start serving canapes at 5pm?

Hope this helps! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about dealing with your venue. Maybe I can give a bit of perspective

Our venue charged for the gratuity amount only since they did all the catering for us.

Every venue depends on how they charge based on food and open bar (more cost) over cash/toonie. Always inquire when going to see the place and about alcohol being self bought or provided. If they say to get your own, inquire about the wine corkage fee or bar tipping option.

These will be good questions to ask to know and to be prepared when looking at your financial aspect.

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No problem!

View quoted message Thanks Allison. That made me feel a bit better about our extra costs!

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Definitely! I'd kill for 5% taxes lol

View quoted message I guess we are lucky (sort of) to be in Alberta.

View quoted message I thought so too. Thanks

Our venue is our caterer and they add-in gratuities/service charges of 15% for food and non-alcoholic beverages and 10% for alcohol. There's also the good-ole Ontario HST of 13%, which end up being higher than the service fees!!

Our venue does all the bar and catering and setup and takedown, they charged taxes as well as gratuities but it was already included in the prices they show.

I believe there is a 10% gratuity on the food and bar portion only, not the actual rental of the venue. I know 17% seems high.

And then I am told today that the venue doesn't open until 5:00 & we long ago set cocktail hour to begin at 4:30. If there were time restrictions you think that would be communicated to us. No tip from us I will tell you that much!!!

View quoted message 17% for us. Prices were high enough and then add 17% on top and then 5% more to the government it is outrageous!!!

Our venue includes tax and tip per person. But we have an all inclusive venue so it’s really not that bad!

We are pre-charged gratuities on EVERYTHING omg. I didn't realize how much until after the fact. the venue will end up getting like an extra $1,000 from us hahah

Our entire wedding was at a restaurant and gratuity was included in the price. a lot of our guests tipped at the bar as well.

Yes, our venue is our catering and I believe we were charged gratuity but we will be tipping the day of anyway to the wait staff and bartenders.

For me the gratuities were optional on all places- they didn't automatically place them anywhere on any of my vendors. For rentals I won't be giving them one as they drop off and I set it all up.