Meaning & use
service charge
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
An extra amount added to a bill, such as in a restaurant, to pay for the staff who served you.
Grammar: Countable: a 12 percent service charge, but usually 'the service charge' on a bill.
Patterns
- a service charge of something
- add a service charge
The restaurant added a ten percent service charge to the bill.
Check whether the service charge is already included.
The waiter said the service charge goes to the whole team.
nouncountableBritish
A regular fee paid by tenants or owners for the upkeep of shared parts of a building.
Grammar: Countable: pay a yearly service charge.
Patterns
- pay a service charge
- a service charge for something
Flat owners pay a monthly service charge for cleaning and repairs.
The service charge covers the elevator and the garden.
Our service charge went up this year.
nouncountablebusiness
A fee a bank or company charges for carrying out a particular service for you.
Grammar: Countable: a small service charge.
Patterns
- a service charge for something
The bank takes a small service charge for each transfer.
There is a service charge for delivery.
The hotel waived the service charge on the room.
Word forms
| plural | service charges |
|---|
Common combinations
- add a service charge
- Some restaurants add a service charge for large groups.
- pay a service charge
- Tenants pay a service charge each quarter.
- include a service charge
- The price does not include a service charge.
- waive the service charge
- The hotel waived the service charge after the delay.
- a discretionary service charge
- The menu notes a discretionary service charge.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gratuity
- Gratuity is a more formal word for a tip, and can be voluntary, while a service charge is usually added automatically.
- tip
- A tip is left by the customer at their choice, whereas a service charge is set by the business.
- fee
- Fee is the general word for any payment, while service charge names an extra for a particular service.
Word family
Commonly confused: service charge or service fee?
service charge vs service fee
Service fee is nearly the same, but is more often used for online or booking payments than for restaurants.
Practice
The bill already included a 12 percent ____, so we did not leave an extra tip.
Choose one answer.
A service charge is an automatic extra amount for the staff. The other options are real finance terms but do not appear on a restaurant bill like this.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “service charge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.