Years ago hotel management graduates would mostly apply for a position as front desk agent or sales coordinator at the beginning of their journey in hospitality. Why? Because this is what everyone else applied for and because it seemed to be the most promising path for a successful career in hospitality. Now this is changing…
Les Roches International School of Hotel Management
While years ago I had to inform applicants who were interested in other areas of the hotel that they should consider becoming a butler and why this would benefit them in their career, and now this trend is changing rapidly, and more and more graduates are applying to become a butler.
Why? Because it gives you the most exposure to other departments of the hotel and is the best start to become a well rounded hotel professional. Especially when the butler service in the respective hotel is not just based on guest services, but on supervising an entire guest floor, section of the hotel, and the room attendants and house attendants assigned to this section in addition.
What can you learn as a butler?
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Guest interactions
As a butler you’ll get the opportunity to have an interaction with CEO’s, heads of states, and celebrities on a one on one basis, and learn how to communicate more effectively. You learn how to read preferences, manage expectations and ultimately how to lead the dance to achieve brand loyalty.
No matter how excellent your products and services are, rest assured that you’ll get complaints. Some of them will be very valid, some completely unreasonable, some within your area of responsibility, some will have nothing to do with you at all, and some will be 100% your fault. Whatever it will be, you will learn how to handle complaints better, and you will ultimately learn that every guest complain is an opportunity to turn the guest experience around and create a loyal return guest.
As a butler you’re like a maestro conducting an orchestra. You’re the main contact for the guest, take their requests and make sure that everything gets done to their satisfaction. Just like the maestro cannot play every instrument by himself, you cannot do everything yourself the guest is asking for, and rely on other individuals and departments to do their part of expertise, but in the eyes of the guest, you hold all the responsibility. Trust me this can be very challenging and frustrating from time to time. You’ll be able to identify plenty of areas for improvement along the way and in order for your team and you to get better you’ll need to learn how to give and receive feedback, and this is essential for you to grow further. Giving and receiving feedback effectively is core element of becoming an effective leader.
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Rooms, Food & Beverage, Catering & Sales
You learn a lot about front desk operations, in room dining, restaurants, catering and sales. While your experience as a butler should definitely include cross-training in those areas, the true learning takes place when you’ll interact closely with the other departments, and strive to understand their priorities and challenges better to be most effective in getting things done for the guest the fast and uncomplicated way. You’ll find that to be successful in your role, you need to learn about these areas as much as you can.
Striving to become an effective butler will not only teach you the technical skills necessary to excel in the rooms division, it will give you the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of becoming a great leader. Not to forget that the career opportunities for your next position are excellent.
You’ll find more about the butler service at
The Butler Is Leading The Future Of Luxury
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