Saint-Tropez tipping culture and restaurant minimum spend is out of hand, says mayor

The glitzy French resort La Voile Rouge in Saint Tropez attracts high-spending celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Elton John. Photo / Peter Slane, Getty Images

Party capital of the French Riviera, Saint-Tropez has a reputation as a natural harbour for the pleasure boats of millionaires - but the city officials are saying the extravagant culture of excess is cause for concern.

Mayor Sylvie Siri has said that discrimination at the door of restaurants, means much of the village is out of reach to locals.

Earlier this year the mayor accused some businesses of extortion and unethical practices which she linked to choosing customers by the thickness of their wallets.

The mayor’s office was investigating claims that some restaurants were building up a database of patrons, to means-test guests and build up a profile of spending habits. In some cases, restaurants and clubs were accused of drawing up black list of patrons who refused to pay minimum tips of 20 per cent.

Mayor Siri described the practice as “completely illegal” accusing restaurant owners of “collecting personal information, in defiance of the texts relating to the protection of personal data.”

‘Tipping culture’ was getting out of hand, she claimed in a 1 August column for paper Var Matin.

Some restaurants have introduced policies of “mandatory gratuities” or minimum spend per head of around €1500 ($2750).

“These forced tips are akin to organised racketeering!”

One local expressed disappointment to find his family priced out of a favourite restaurant on Pampelonne beach.

“During a recent evening, this beach restaurant that we had been to many times before, asked for a minimum spend of €1500 per head”, he told Nice Matin.

Tourists too say they have been stung by the custom of “mandatory minimum tips”. On Tuesday, The Daily Mail reported that one visitor was outraged after he was followed out of a restaurant by waiting staff, who insisted a tip of €500 was not enough.

The newspaper, which described the guest only as a “very rich Italian”, was said to have been outraged at being called cheap by waiting staff.

St Tropez has become a harbour for extortionate and unscrupulous restaurant bills.

One of the dining party told local newspaper le Matin, the tourist “thought he was being generous by leaving €500 ($920)” but he was stopped from leaving because the 10 per cent tip was too small.

“The waiter told him that it was not enough and that he should have left closer to €1000, because it was customary to leave 20 per cent of the total amount for the table.”

The mayor has begun encouraging patrons who encounter prejudice or mandatory tips to file a “Signal Conso” - France’s tool for reporting abusive business practices to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Consumer rights ‘Commercial practices, Saint-Tropez protects its customers’’.

This week the mayor’s office has begun putting signage and stickers around leisure districts, in French and English, informing tourists to report business malpractice and informing them of their consumer rights. 1000 stickers have been distributed around the town.

The ritzy Mediterranean resort is known for expensive beach clubs in the Bay of Pampelonne such as Nikki beach and Club 55 and its harbour is known to attract the rich and famous and pleasure yachts worth millions.

Since the 1970s Voile Rouge Beach has been a draw for big-spending celebrities, from Paris Hilton to Elton John and the Danish Royal family. However locals are beginning to feel like they are being priced out of their own town.