August 22, 2026
Short answer: in Colombia the tip is voluntary, and in restaurants it is normally 10%. The waiter is supposed to ask you whether you want it added before you pay, and you are entitled to say no, or to change the amount, even after the bill has been printed.
That is not a custom or a rule of thumb. It is written into Colombian consumer law, and the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio — the national consumer protection authority — publishes instructions that restaurants have to follow. Most visitors never find this out, pay whatever appears on the bill, and assume they had no choice. You do.
Here is how it actually works, and what we do ourselves.
The rule: up to 10%, and only if you agree
Under Colombian law a restaurant may suggest a tip, and that suggestion cannot exceed 10% of the value of the service. It is a suggestion, not a charge. The Superintendencia’s position is direct: the tip is voluntary and it is the consumer’s free decision whether to pay it.
Three things follow from that, and they are the parts worth knowing before you sit down.
They have to ask you. When you ask for the bill, the establishment is required to ask whether you want the suggested amount included. Not slide it onto the total and hope you don’t look.
You can say no, or change it. You can decline the tip or alter the amount at any point — including after the bill has already been issued. If a 10% line appears without anyone having asked you, you can ask for it to be removed.
It has to be posted. Restaurants must display notices — at the entrance, on the menu, on the price list — telling you that the tip is voluntary, where the money goes, and that you may decline it or change the amount. That notice also has to tell you how to complain to the Superintendencia. Once you know to look for it, you will start seeing it on menus everywhere.
So do people actually tip in Colombia?
Yes, in restaurants with table service, and the normal answer is the suggested 10%. Colombians leave it. Refusing it because the law says you can, when the service was perfectly good, will read the same way it would anywhere else.
Where the rule genuinely helps you is the other case: service that was slow, wrong, or rude. In many countries you are stuck arguing about a service charge you never agreed to. In Colombia you simply say no, and you are on solid ground.
Outside restaurants the picture is looser. Tipping is not built into taxi fares, and it is not expected at counters where you order and collect your own food. Hotels, guides, drivers and spas are their own conversation, and we have written that up in detail for Bogotá.
What the moment at the table sounds like
You will usually be asked some version of “¿Desea incluir el servicio?” — “would you like to include the service?” It comes fast, often while the card machine is already in the waiter’s hand.
Useful answers:
- “Sí, por favor.” — add the 10%.
- “No, gracias.” — leave it off. This is a normal thing to say and nobody will react.
- “Sin servicio, por favor.” — the same, phrased the way locals phrase it.
- “¿Me lo puede quitar?” — “can you take it off?”, if it is already on the bill and you were never asked.
If you want to leave more than 10%, do it in cash and hand it over directly.
Card or cash
Adding the tip to a card payment is completely normal in Colombia and the machine will handle it. The practical argument for cash is the same as everywhere: cash reaches the person in front of you immediately, and you keep control of the amount.
Carry small notes if you plan to tip in cash. Breaking a 50,000-peso note for a 5,000-peso tip is a familiar and avoidable annoyance.
Where the money goes
This is the question behind the question, and it is the reason Colombia legislated on tipping in the first place. Ley 1935 de 2018 exists specifically to regulate what a tip is and where it has to go — the law’s own title refers to the nature and destination of tips. It is also why the notice on the menu has to state the tip’s destination, not just its existence.
If you want certainty that a particular person is getting it, hand them cash.
The short version
- Restaurants may suggest a tip of up to 10%, and no more.
- It is voluntary. Always.
- They are supposed to ask you before adding it.
- You can decline it or change it, even after the bill is printed.
- The rules must be posted at the entrance and on the menu.
- In practice, for good table service, most people pay the 10%.
For what to give hotel staff, private drivers, guides and spa therapists — where there is no legal percentage and it really is judgement — see our detailed guide to tipping in Bogotá.
