Tag Archives: personalized service

Guest Services

What Your Hotel Can Learn From Starbucks

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It’s all about personalized service, and any hotel is striving to deliver the best service possible. I work at a 5 star property in Manhattan and all hotels in our comp set are beautiful, have luxurious rooms and facilities, and state of the art technology. So why should travelers spend their money at your hotel and not at the competition next door? Well, your answer is probably because your hotel provides better service, right?

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I am Sam

Nowadays it’s not so much about the product anymore, and all about the service… personalized service to be more specific. Welcoming your guests by their name is the simplest and most effective way to provide this personalized service… but only in theory! What if I told you that every luxury hotel I ever worked at either struggled or the very minimum had room for improvement with using the guest name consistently? Do you think this is acceptable? Continue reading What Your Hotel Can Learn From Starbucks →

Guest Services

The Butler Greeting

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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 →

Guest Services, Leadership

The Butler Is Leading The Future Of Luxury!

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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! →

Guest Services

So What Does The Butler Really Do?

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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?

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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.

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? →

Guest Services

Why Butler Service is a Must for any Luxury Hotel

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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.

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