A Hotel Butler's touch can make a guest feel at home, no matter how far away! Share on XA hotel guest’s experience and hence the hotel’s reputation can be made or broken by the type and level of service your guests receive. Word of mouth, personal recommendation and repeat guests are the most powerful, effective advertising to grow your business.
As more and more people look to peer reviews online to inform their decisions on where to stay, the importance of every guest’s experience being perfect can not be underestimated.
One area of hotel service which simply cannot be overlooked is provided by a Hotel Butler, offering the personalised touch to guests away from home.
So how can a Hotel Butler elevate the level of service provided in your hotel?
Ensuring your staff are at the top of their game has never been more important. Providing your butlers with the skills they need to give the level of service you expect is key. Training your butlers will give them the skills, confidence and understanding they require to provide guests comfort and overall satisfaction. By training your butlers you are also showing them the levels and standard you expect from them. If you have never experienced or been shown what good service is, how can you be expected to provide it to guests?
You can have the best service model in the industry, but if your staff are not trained with the knowledge and skills to implement it they will always fall short. Training is also the time and place to ask questions. No question should ever be seen as unimportant, irrelevant or frivolous. Asking questions reinforces learning and understanding. It is also the time to learn from made mistakes. Offering a specialised training environment will protect your guests from those easily made, avoidable mistakes, providing your staff with the skills and knowledge to provide service to paying guests of the highest standard.
What Are the Standards a Hotel Butler Should Follow?
As part of butler training, you should define the standards you wish them to meet. A basic set of standards should include how you expect the butlers to interact with guests. It can be helpful to make a list of the typical tasks they are expected to undertake and how you would expect them to perform those tasks – for instance, the service of drinks, tea, coffee and food; as well as table setting for meals. Your butlers should be caring for your guests and no detail should be missed. Attention to detail is massively important, those small gestures that make a stay in a hotel personal are memorable, meaningful and powerful. Remembering that a guest prefers to have soy milk with their breakfast in the morning so that they do not need to ask more than once will make that person feel special and cared for.
What Skills Should a Hotel Butler be Trained In?
A great butler should be able to predict a guest’s wants and needs. They should be able to seamlessly prioritise the tasks at hand and work efficiently with poise and confidence. A butler must always be work discreetly and with understanding of a guest’s needs. They should have good common sense, empathy and a genuine love of helping and serving others. By training your butlers you will ensure they have the skills needed to provide consistent service. These skills can include:
- Food and beverage service
- Table management
- Etiquette
- Meeting and greeting
- Packing and unpacking of suitcases
- Personal presentation and hygiene
- Interaction with guests, dealing with difficult guests and unusual requests
- Hotel hierarchy and structure
- How to prioritise
Polo & Tweed can work with you to create a butler training package that will provide hotel butlers with the skills and confidence needed to deliver the highest level of service to your guests. Get in touch with us here to know more.