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Hospitality Leadership Through Learning
Faculty & Research

Mega Tips: Scientifically Tested Techniques to Increase Your Tips

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By: Michael Lynn Ph.D.

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Executive Summary: This booklet for servers provides instruction in the psychology of tipping as well as specific techniques that can be used to earn larger tips. All the suggested techniques have been scientifically tested and the evidence of their effectiveness is described along with the techniques. Using even a few of these techniques should increase servers' tips by 10 to 30%. Managers are free to download the file, print out the manual, make hard copies of it, and either post it on employee bulletin boards or distribute copies directly to their servers. Managers who distribute the manual to their servers should benefit from:

  • Increased sales
  • Greater Customer Satisfaction
  • Lower labor costs due to reduced server turnover

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About Michael Lynn Ph.D.
Dr. Michael Lynn is a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the Ohio State University in 1987, and has taught in the marketing departments of business and hospitality schools since 1988. Dr. Lynn paid his way through school by waiting tables and bartending. This experience sparked his interest in service gratuities (tipping), a topic on which he has over 35 published academic papers. His other research focuses on consumer status and uniqueness seeking. Dr. Lynn is the past editor of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Academy Marketing Science, which gave him an outstanding reviewer award in 2006.