BUTLER SERVICE

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/ Role of the Butler within the Hotel / Attention to Detail / Hotel Service SOP / How
to create the correct image / Personal Assistant / Au Pair Skills / Pet Care / Food
Hygiene Management SABA Unit Standards

Whats So Special About Butler Service?

Given that butler service is superior, and that part of it can be attributed to the attitude/mindset
and communication skills of the butler, what do butlers actually do en suite to service guests. The
key is actually in the phrase en suite, because that is the niche that hotel butlers open up for
hotels as lines of service to guests. Until butlers arrived on the scene in hotels three decades ago,
there was very little hotels could do for guests in their suite, other than clean them, provide
amenities occasionally, and room service. Those hotels who have successful butler service list
the following actions they can perform to wow their guests or merely make their stay more
fun/convenient/pleasurable/tailor made to their needs, etc.
Preparing the suite for arrivals, welcoming with a beverage and hot/chilled towelette; touring the
guest; unpacking (and later packing) their suitcases so they can go about their business or
vacation straight away; concierge service and being a continue source of information during the
stay; helping with IT and business/personal secretary requests; running a bath, usually with all
sorts of trimmings from caviar and champagne to less exotic fare; checking-in and out;
promoting hotel facilities (and upselling); wardrobe management, laundry, pressing and shoe
shine (Falling Rock provides golf spike detailing!); providing room amenities; replenishing the
private bar; providing F&B functions from simple food delivery to serving and clearing multicourse meals (in larger suites) and organizing and managing a wide range of parties; escorting to
any and all appointments on-and off-property; personal shopping and personal assistance; wakeup service; and most importantly, anticipating guest needs or dealing with their requests if not
anticipated. There are other services that can be delivered, but none of the five hotels questioned
offer them.
Compare this to hotels without butler service, where one checks into an empty room and talks
through the phone to front desk, and occasionally has food delivered: traveling is a lonely

business, so butlers putting the mansion-away-from-the-mansion back into the equation certainly
adds value to a hotels offering. Think orchestrating wedding proposals; floating-gazebo dinners;
tracking down long-lost relatives and arranging the reunion; training a guest on sabering a
champagne bottle so he could impress his fiancee; replicating elements of a guests home in their
suite; the more mundane five-hour drives to deliver lost items and smoothly handling medical
emergenciesthese are the above-and-beyond the normal hotel stay that butlers make possible.
Which is probably why guests tend to rave about their experience at these hotels, with nearly
100% exceptional feedback from our guests, as one GM raved in turn, and comments like the
best service they have received in all their travels, as one head butler reports.
The media have similarly trumpeted the wonders of these hotels and their butler service: Butlers,
like Rolls Royces and Bentleys, super-yachts and private jets, symbolize the ultimate in the
striving for and enjoyment of superior service, possessions, and lifestyles. They contain several
of the ingredients that the press typically salivates over.
The one fly in the ointment for butlers is that mystery-guest-certifying organizations like
Forbes/Mobil, AA, AAA, RAC, Leading Hotels of the World have yet to catch up with the
phenomenon of butlers, even though they exist with a wide range of service offerings in
something like 400 hotels around the world. As one representative explained to the author in
Spring of 2010, they do not want to penalize hotels without butler service by having butler
criteria. There is an easy way to resolve this, using the criteria established by the International
Institute of Modern Butlers and offered freely to these organizations to incorporate into their own
where butler service is offered. Butler service is the way of the future in a world where even the
wealthy (and why not) are demanding maximum bang for their buckservice levels to justify
the high rack rates demanded in luxury hotels. And by the way, with various hotels straining
beyond the five-star rating in an effort to reflect the service they actually do deliver, it might be
time to come up with 6-star and maybe even 7-star ratings to reflect hotels and resorts with butler
services, private infinity pools, and so forth.
Which brings up another point, while on the subject of these organizations: the ratings have
become sufficiently confusing between competing systems in a global environmentand with
knock-offs and self-assignments occurringthat the ratings have lost meaning or usefulness to
the consumer in some part. One whole country (which shall remain anonymous) adds two stars
to their actual level as a marketing gimmick. At the International Hotel Conference held in
Venice during October, 2010, panelists referred to hotels by such terms as luxury, upscale, midupscale etc., in their attempts to define hotels. Its off-subject for this article, but worth exploring
and resolving, perhaps, as we move increasingly into a global marketplace.
Other benefits of butlers in these hotels are the ability to personalize service based on an everaccumulating database of guest preferences (a long-standing butler tool), provide a single point

of contact for guests who takes ownership of any problems and removes worry and chores from
the guest experience; and the development of a relationship that encourages repeat visits, with
guests requesting the same butler.
Butler service has justified high or higher rack rates in these hotels (at a time when occupancy is
up and profits and rev par down in the rest of the country, Falling Rock has enjoyed increased
rack rates 5 out of the 6 years since they opened). The number one reason guests at Burj al Arab
return is because of their butler service. Burj al Arab enjoys 35% repeat guests, Seven Stars
Galleria and Falling Rock experience 40%.
Internal Perceptions
Not to paint butlers as super heroes, they are generally simply dedicated and service-oriented
individuals, but is that how other employees view them?
Not in all hotels, for sure, where the butlers didnt get what a butler really is and so earned the
opprobrium (harsh criticism or censure) of their colleagues. Possible conflicts and areas of
jealousy were avoided in these hotels, however, by understanding that this new beast, the butler,
was an unknown quantity in hospitality, a recent entrant. So efforts were made to increase the
understanding of the other departments of what a butler is, why they are of value to the hotel and
thus to all its employees, and, also how they enhance, not cut across, staff income streams. In
addition to meetings and briefings, two hotels employed cross-exposure/training to increase
understanding and so acceptance. The result has been respect, mutual respect and the building of
long-term relationships that add up to real teamwork and thus excellent service.
One hotel among these five, however, is fighting an uphill battle probably because they did not
start off on the right footfinding it difficult to make other departments accept their role in
servicing guests. Their current effort to salvage the situation is to be as helpful as possible to
other departments in their servicing of guests.
How about the perception of the butler department by the butlers in these hotels? With an
industry churn of about 31% per annum, Harrahs has experienced zero churn over the last three
years; Falling Rock 20%; Burj al Arab 14-18% until the Front Office merged with them, at which
time the numbers increased to 25%, the same rate as the hotel where there is friction between the
butlers and other departments. Whichever way you cut it, butler departments, when well run,
have lower churn than the industry as a whole. Maybe this comes about because there is no
greater feeling when, as a butler, you can provide a service to a guest who has it all and still
impress them. and Exceeding the guests expectations is the biggest reward we could hope and
strive for and I am convinced the hotel butler role is the best guest-experience- maker a hotel
can have. In summary, Our guests come to our hotel for our rating and our reviews, but they
come back because of our service and our staff.

From the management side, a GM who recognizes the value of butlers says: the butler
profession will continue to grow in the coming years. However, a butler staff is definitely a huge
investment: wage scales increase, training is a huge investment, and amenities normally increase
in cost when a butler program is implemented
Then there is the hotel where the butlers are struggling, even while earning a reputation for the
service they provide: the friction between butler and other departments traces back to the
managers perception of butler service, not seeing or understanding the link between the butler
and guest satisfaction and loyalty, and the butlers role in differentiating the property in the local
marketplacea bit like a farmer using a Rolls Royce to haul hay.
Where do Butlers Belong?
The hotels participating all agreed that all five star/diamond hotels needed to offer butler service
if they expect to provide top-level service; one even suggested that some four-star hotels should
also offer butler service. Why? The wow factor and what it does for word of mouth, repeat visits,
occupancy, rev par, and the bottom line.
For those wanting to establish butler service, all hotels agree that experienced butlers should be
hired if possible, certainly managers, and those with a passion to serve; train them repeatedly;
and focus on attention to detail, especially in compiling and following guest preference databases
(which makes anticipation possible).
Butlers are still relatively new to the hospitality industry, which is behaving a bit like it is
reaching puberty on the subject: all angst and knobbly knees about how to proceedwhich
makes these five hotels early developers and good role models for those following close behind.
If service is the name of the game, then added service opportunities seem to be a no-brainer.
Certainly more and more guests will feel this way, the more they experience the ideal.