Tipping culture in the UAE: The Agenda Dubai Eye 103.8 With EasyTip

Transcript of the Dubai Eye radio interview with Georgia Tolley and EasyTip CEO Evgeniy Chuikov:

Georgia Tolley: " I'm going to speak now to Evgeniy Chuikov, who is the CEO and co-founder of the cashless tipping platform EasyTip. He joins me on the line now. Lovely to see you. How are you? "

Evgeniy Chuikov: " Hi, Georgia. I'm very well, thank you."

Georgia Tolley: "Fantastic. Tell me a little bit about what you think about the tipping culture here in the UAE, because, you know, having started an app in the sector, you've probably got a fairly good lens on it. Do we have a strong tipping culture here?"

Evgeniy Chuikov:" Well, look, I mean, I personally think that the word culture in the tipping context is probably more appropriate for people in the U.S. But it's actually a predominant etiquette in the UAE, tipping is common in many places, but it's actually more discreet, it's more personal, and It's less obligatory. I think if you ask me, that's exactly how I believe tipping should be. It should be entirely at the customer's discretion and should be based on the quality of service receipt. Having said all this, what we see on our platform EasyTip, is that on average hospitality and service workers get around 30% to 40% of their income from tips.

So in my opinion, this means that the UAE  consumers are very generous and rewarding."

Georgia Tolley: "How does your app work? Because I have to admit one of the major problems I have is I, I'm a bit like the queen nowadays. I don't carry cash. And that's not because I think I'm posh. It's because I just don't need it. I use my phone to pay for everything. 

Evgeniy Chuikov:" I think, you know, a lot of people find themselves in that situation. So a key frustration for most customers is when they leave a tip. It's the unknown of where that tip goes. For example, when you leave a tip on a card machine in a restaurant, that tip first goes to the business, right? And when and how it will be distributed, we as consumers, simply don't know, and I think that's why so many people still leave tips in cash directly to the person serving them. But as you rightly pointed out, the problem is that cash usage has declined dramatically, so you don't always have it on you. This is where EasyTip comes into play.

EasyTip follows the same principle of direct and transparent tipping. Customers scan a QR code, choose a specific individual or maybe a team of individuals they'd like to leave a tip for, and the tip goes directly to those recipients immediately and they can access money in a matter of minutes. The tip recipients also feel empowered because they can track all their tips in one place through our app. They get immediate access to funds and they get maybe better financial planning opportunity, which is very important to them. And I think, you know, that's the whole reason why we were launched is to kind of provide that 100%  transparency for tips and the fair and fast distribution network."

Georgia Tolley:" I could have really done with it over this weekend. I went out for lunch with the kids and the lady who served us, who had been particularly amazing with my children, you know, made them feel really grown up, like they were ordering their own food. And, you know, they'd just been a really lovely exchange between them.

And when it came to leaving the tip, she wasn't on shift, her shift had changed during our meal.  And so I wanted to leave her 20 dirhams and there was just, I had, I had to hand it to somebody else. Because otherwise, I would have made too much of a fuss. You know, it would have been very clear I didn't trust anybody else. I had to leave it with somebody else. And to this day, I don't know if she got it. You know, I don't know whether it just went into the pot or whether she understood that I truly appreciated the service that she'd given my children and me, basically the children, to be honest. So yeah, I mean, we need it more, certainly.

Once people have received the tips on your app, what can they sort of then do with the money? "

Evgeniy Chuikov:" You know, they receive the money into their bank account."

Georgia Tolley:" So, Oh, so it just goes straight in. They can do that?"

Evgeniy Chuikov: " Exactly, we try to make this as simple and transparent as possible.

And I think that's the key benefit of EasyTip. So they receive the money in their bank account, and then they are free to do whatever they want. I think most people tend to save it, and I think, you know, in the hospitality and services industry,  you know, incomes tend to be aggregated and then maybe they send money back home, you know, as remittance and things like that. So I think, you know, people tend to look after what they've earned and how they spend it in a great level of detail, basically."

Georgia Tolley:" Evgeniy Chuikov, thank you very much indeed for your time. It's been lovely having you on the radio. Thank you very much for talking us through your sort of perspectives on tipping culture.

We are asking lots of people to get in touch with their views. So please do carry on getting in touch, but Evgeniy is at the The CEO and co founder at the cashless tipping platform, EasyTip."

Tune in to hear our Co-founder Evgeniy Chuikov delve into the world of cashless tipping in the UAE, exploring the nuances of the tipping culture and the digital transformation revolutionizing tipping practices in the region. Listen below ⬇️

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