Many hotels pick up the challenge of offering butler service to their guests. I appreciate this as I’m sure that butlers can really enhance the guest experience and comfort. However this sounds easier than done when hiring the butlers and introducing the service as such.
Most important is hiring the right people to offer the service. The butler should have the right mindset and passion. This means that they should not consider the position to be an ordinary ‘job’. If you consider this to be a ‘job’, you don’t make it easy for yourself. Being a butler is something you are. That is what you are good at, that is what you ‘live’. And still there will always be challenges and bad times, but as a butler challenges are the just the nice aspects of what you are doing.
Selecting staff on this mindset and passion is the key to the success of your service. Shortly I will publish the book “The Art of Butlering’, in which I stress the importance of this aspect of a butler. Being a butler is a true ‘Art’. We, butlers, consider it an honourable position, not always recognised as such by those receiving the service, but we have the passion to always outbid our employer or guest. It is a game we play, also with ourselves, always to be three steps ahead. In the book butlers and hotel mangers will learn what it takes to become a good butler; not only as a mindset but naturally also with the practical aspects of the position.
In my butler training sessions the question of what people expect of butler service is an important one. This is an issue hotel mangers should think about before they even start hiring staff for the position. Practical skills you can learn, but the right mindset is the most difficult. For sure those choosing for this position have already a ‘preference’ to serve others. Whether they can cope with the pressure is another issue. Passion is a valuable thing. Training can help further enhance the mindset of the staff, but it can not change it. Through intensive coaching we guide the passion of participants, so they can grow in their initial desire to serve others. Training instils practical skills for sure, the second vital element in executing service. These two elements make up the service you provide to your guests. In the end, the success however is guided by the staff selected to be in the frontline and a clear picture of what the management want to achieve. A passion to serve others should be present somewhere in both the management and the butlers.
About the Author
Hugo R Mechelse is managing director of International Butlers. IB offers training and consultancy services. Training covers personalised service courses for high-end hospitality staff, private households, cruise ships, and private yachts. Consultancy, among others, covers mystery visits and establishing signature Butler Service Departments. His book ‘The Art of Butling’ will be published shortly.
