HOTEL BUTLER TRAINING

What is a Butler?
The dictionary definition is "The principal manservant of a household." This definition remains true even when the butler is employed in a hotel. When the guest checks in and has occupied his suite, then this becomes his household. The butler caring for him becomes the "manager" of the suite (household) and in effect an employee of the guest.

What does a Hotel Butler do?
In a hotel the butler's main function is to take care of guest requests, bookings, reservations, problems, complaints, supervise and co-ordinate every service that the guest receives in suite and to ensure guest satisfaction by paying attention to the smallest detail from arrival to departure.

Why have a Butler Department?
Modern hotels have become very departmentalized. Yet clearly as a guest in a hotel there are many instances when the services provided by one department cross over into another department, or when the actions of a department could be improved by information or assistance received from another department. Sadly this does not happen often in the modern hotel.

The butler is a multi-skilled professional trained to assist all departments within the hotel. He or she is not tied to any one department but has only one goal in mind: guest satisfaction. It is only with butler service that a truly seamless service can be achieved, since the butler is trained to pass and act on information received from the guest or other departments concerned with guest satisfaction. With an effective reporting procedure in place the butler becomes the eyes and ears of senior management, thus ensuring that management can monitor guest satisfaction throughout the stay. Therefore, any problems can be resolved immediately whilst guest is in the hotel.

The Guild of Professional English Butlers is a Limited Company created for the specific purpose of recruiting, training and placing of butlers for both the private household and hotel markets.

Robert Watson is sole director and director of training for all the Guild's activities.

Robert has a wide range of hotel experience and is fully aware of the importance of thorough focused training of all departments. His experience in setting up and training hotel butler departments for a wide range of hotels has given him a unique insight into the benefits, and also the problems, of hotel butler departments.

The main part of the training is specific to butlers. However, since butlers interact with almost every other department, the training provided by the Guild now encompasses all interrelated departments to ensure that all staff, supervisors and management understand the standards, procedures and goals of the butler department.

With experience in a wide range of hotels in many different locations, the Guild is uniquely qualified to offer butler training to suit the requirements of individual hotels, whether it be luxury resort, city centre, small exclusive properties or dedicated butler floors within a larger operation.

The training conducted by the Guild is tailored to suit the individual property, experience and cultural background of staff, physical layout of the property and service level requirements.

Drawing on knowledge and past experience, the Guild offers a complete service from initial concept to post-operational refining of standards and procedures.

Having set up and trained over twenty hotel butler departments, the Guild is able to give professional input on many of the systems, procedures and standards employed by these hotels to achieve the highest level of service and guest satisfaction.

The Guild's involvement with all its projects is ongoing in the form of repeat visits to assess staff and standards achieved. The Guild is available for consultation via email concerning butler standards or procedures that a property may wish to change or introduce.

Staff participating in the training and completing a year of service as a butler are invited to become associate members of The Guild of Professional English Butlers, a professional body that is dedicated to the highest level of guest care and the exchanging of information within the profession.