Category Archives: Guest Services

Allow Me To Unpack Your Suitcase For You!

Staying at a luxury hotel that provides butler service to its guests is truly an experience second to none! Being able to fully enjoy this butler service, however, is easier said than done. Most of us do not have a personal butler at home waiting for us, and so most of us don’t really have an idea what the butler does. One of the signature services of most hotels that provide butlers service is packing and unpacking.

lux97ls-33394-Imperial Butler ServiceAre you really comfortable having someone else unpacking your suitcases for you and touching your personal belongings and underwear? No, and most of us aren’t… at least not at first. It takes a moment to adjust to this new level of service, and it’s up to the butler to break the ice and make the guest feel comfortable. Continue reading Allow Me To Unpack Your Suitcase For You!

How Important Is Consistency With Butler Service?

When providing excellent service, quality and consistency are really just the cost of entry, but don’t do anything to get you ahead of your competition or to make you special. With offering butler service consistency continues to be the basic foundation for excellence, only that your team now needs to know when exceptions should prove the rule.

lux412ls-48710-Butler serviceButlers need to know when they can and must make an exception of a value added service to go beyond and when to stay consistent, and this doesn’t come without challenges. Most hotels that provide butler service offer the following value added services that come with it:

  • Packing & Unpacking Service
  • Beverage Service
  • Shoe Shine Service
  • Garment Pressing
  • eButler

eButler is the newest addition to the value added services provided by the butler and it gives your guests the opportunity to connect with their personal butler via e-mail or over an app on their smart phone from anywhere at anytime. So no matter where you are, the butler service is right at your finger tips. Continue reading How Important Is Consistency With Butler Service?

The Butler Greeting

The quality of service is measured by how it makes us feel. If the so-called best service makes us feel uncomfortable, it’s not considered good service anymore, and that’s the new definition of luxury. It’s not us having to fit in anymore or having to adapt to the world of luxury, it changed to luxury having to cater to us to stay relevant. Most guests are not comfortable at first to take advantage of the butler service, are unsure what the butler can really do for them, and perceive the butler service with its white gloves and bow tie as a relict of former days.lux97ls-33401-Butler Service Personal Business CardThe best way to guarantee that our guests are going to enjoy the butler service, is by ensuring that all guests are greeted by the butler upon arrival or within a few minutes of their arrival. This gives the butler the opportunity to familiarize the guest with the other services of the hotel, the features in the room and the value added services that are provided by the butler directly, and most importantly to break the ice. Continue reading The Butler Greeting

The Butler Is Leading The Future Of Luxury!

I recently published so what does the butler really do and why butler service is a must in any luxury hotel, and received lots of feedback to talk more about what the butler does, the value added services that come with it, and how it takes luxury to the next level. While becoming a butler requires an education in hospitality management at most properties, and plenty of on the job training, it’s the mindset of wanting to serve others and being passionate about creating an experience that’s second to none, that differentiates a butler by heart from everyone else that believes a bow tie and white gloves cover it.

As butler you are the ambassador of your brand, you are expected to be able to have a sophisticated and intellectually stimulating conversation with celebrities, industry leaders, and head of states and the most distinguished and well-traveled guests, and provide them with an experience that they cannot find anywhere else.

Sounds intimidating? Well, I didn’t say being a butler was going to be easy, every one can put on a tuxedo, a bow tie and a pair of white gloves (well, some will struggle with the bow tie), but only very few can deliver to the promise that we make when offering our guests the finest service that only the butler can provide.

str71ls-85347-ButlerIn so what does the butler really do I talk about that the butler provides a value, that no one can afford to buy, no matter how wealthy, and that anyone strives to have more of, that the butler provides time… time when helping you to unpack your suitcases and having your garments pressed, so you can enjoy your stay at the hotel from the very beginning, time when helping you with your dinner, theater or musical arrangements, and time when not having to worry about anything else but what truly matters to you. Continue reading The Butler Is Leading The Future Of Luxury!

Is This The End Of Customer Service?

Do you still remember when online shopping was first introduced or when you were first referred to receive the desired information online rather than from a representative? I still remember being irritated and annoyed by it…

ID-100130253Image courtesy of hyena reality at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I recently went to get a new suit at Macy’s as they offer a great variety of products and always good discounts. While the customer service wasn’t bad, I got annoyed as I wasn’t in control of the experience and the representative didn’t lead the dance of the experience either. He seemed too busy taking care of other customers to provide me with the personalized service I was hoping for, and I had the feeling that he wasn’t interested in going beyond of what he felt were his job duties. In comparison I always buy my suit shoes over macys.com and always have the best experience. It’s convenient, fast, and uncomplicated and I never have to deal with any attitude or indifference of an employee. Continue reading Is This The End Of Customer Service?

So What Does The Butler Really Do?

Having worked in hotels that offer butler service the question ‘so what does the butler really do’ is probably the one that I was asked the most. Many of us do not live in mansions, don’t have their own private yachts and jets, and don’t have personal assistants or butlers assisting them around the clock seven days a week, so for most of us it’s a new concept and challenging to enjoy at first when staying at a hotel that offers this type of personalized service. Frankly who of us would be comfortable at first to have another person unpack our suitcases for us and going through our personal belongings and underwear?

lux97ls-102941-Butler service - rose blossom bath

Butler Service Hotel Imperial Vienna

That being said the burden of informing our guests what the butler service is really all about, making them enjoy this superlative of service, and eventually getting them to a point that they’re waking up in the morning at home trying to call for the butler to have the morning paper and coffee delivered, is on us! It’s on the butler to greet our guests upon arrival and to make sure that they have a feeling of what this service incorporates and that they’re comfortable using it, and this first introduction upon arrival is paramount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu2TYz7dg5w

Every guest arriving at our property, not being greeted by the butler, is a lost opportunity. A lost opportunity to differentiate us from our competition and to build a personal connection with our guests that goes beyond of what most hotels can offer. Continue reading So What Does The Butler Really Do?

Why Butler Service is a Must for any Luxury Hotel

If you believe that the needs and wants of affluent guests shift from searching for expensive amenities such as sumptuous flower bouquets when traveling to collecting rare and refined experiences, you need to ask yourself how and who can help you provide those experiences and create those lasting impressions.

Most of your front-line employees are probably too busy doing what they are supposed to be doing primarily, front desk agents are checking guests in, room attendants are cleaning guest rooms, waiters are serving, and the list goes on. Every one is trying to provide a superb service and make your guests happy along the way, but the leaner your organization is structured the more challenging it gets. It doesn’t help you to shoot one guest to the moon with your excellent service, if nine other guests are waiting in line behind to get checked in. Having one position in your hotel only focused on designing the guest experience on property while being the main contact for the guest is the only way to live up to your promise to deliver service that’s second to none.

StRegisButler

Continue reading Why Butler Service is a Must for any Luxury Hotel