An Australian hospitality group has come under fire, again, for automatically adding a seven per cent tip to the bill once diners have finished their meals.

Sydney woman Christy Murray called out Tilda, a restaurant in the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, a five-star hotel in the CBD, after noticing a $20 ‘optional gratuity’ had been included on her bill without her permission.

The restaurant is owned by the House Made Hospitality group. Customers at its venues need to ask to have the tip removed from their bill if they don’t want to pay it. 

‘Can we talk about why tipping is becoming a thing in Australia?’ Ms Murray said in a video last week. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I teleported to the US after dessert.

‘I’m paying gratuity because it’s just shoved down my throat. I understand the option of having it there but putting it onto the bill automatically is so weird.’

Ms Murray claimed the current system is ‘taking advantage of the fact that people aren’t going to say anything because they don’t want to complain’.

She suggested the venue is banking on diners not wanting to seem cheap, especially in front of others at their table, by asking for it be removed.

House Made Hospitality has been criticised before for its tipping system, with another customer publicly calling out the charge in April last year.

Hundreds of commenters backed Ms Murray.

‘Our hospitality staff here aren’t on $7 per hour so there’s no need!’ one wrote.

‘They need to be honest and just increase their prices to include that seven per cent. Then people can decide whether or not they want to eat there,’ another said.

‘Our servers get minimum wage. A good minimum wage, not the American minimum wage. Where is the tip going to?’ another wrote.

Similar comments have been left under several of House Made Hospitality’s venues.

In Tilda’s Google reviews, one person wrote: ‘There was a seven per cent gratuity surcharge included in the initial bill by default and there was an option to remove, however, it should not be there in the first place.’

Another said: ‘You can’t sneakily add tips to the bill and put the onus on customers to pick this up and ask you to remove it.’

A would-be customer from Apollonia, another venue owned by the group, wrote: ‘Wanted to take my friend there but read on the website menu that three per cent gratuity is added to all bills.

‘Not a fan of imposing the American tipping culture in Australia.’

In the reviews for Lana, one wrote: ‘They add a seven per cent gratuity to every bill. Adding seven per cent by default is just pretentious.’

The automatic addition of a ‘tip’ is permitted under Australian consumer law, as long as customers are made aware beforehand.

Tilda explains its tipping policy in fine print at the bottom of the menu.

Daily Mail has contacted House Made Hospitality for comment.