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Introducing The International Institute of Modern Butlers
The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards in private estates and the hospitality industry by broadly disseminating the mindset and skills of that time-honored quintessential service provider, the British Butler, adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests.
While employers have for centuries complained of falling service standards, we factually are faced with a palpable decline over the last four decades, with low skill-levels and concepts of self-esteem, glaring attitudes, and declining moral standards, care for guests, and concepts of loyalty. These and other issues make HR's and management's jobs difficult and the private employer and guest experience less than satisfactory. No amount of rote rules and procedures can substitute for the idea of service held close to the heart and executed intelligently.
Welcome to a renaissance!
How did I get on this newsletter list?
For the past 4 years, Werner Leutert was the editor of a popular, international electronic newsletter geared to the interests of those in various capacities of service, employers of staff, various placement agencies and other interested parties.
In October 2004, Mr. Leutert launched his own agency and for several months continued the newsletter under the banner of his new organization, Home Staffing Network.
Now, with the formation of the International Institute of Modern Butlers, Mr. Leutert has seized the opportunity to participate with others in promoting professionalism in private service. He has decided to discontinue his newsletter in favor of periodic email alerts from his firm and active participation in this Modern Butlers forum.
You are receiving this newsletter because you were a subscriber to past versions.
Alternatively, you have in the recent past signed up specifically to receive this newsletter, or you may have been in touch with members of the Institute.
Who is a Modern Butler? No assumptions please.
by Werner Leutert
Simply said, the modern butler is not a servant, provides great service working within a wide variety of job titles and is female as often as male.
Professional Housekeepers, Hotel Butlers, House Managers, Personal Assistants, Private Chefs, Yacht Stewards, Chauffeurs and many other named domestic employees all are called upon and gladly give great service in their work place.
As you will come to recognize, one of the fundamental tenets of the International Institute of Modern Butlers is that we believe it is attitude and persona in the true service minded individual that raises private service to an art form, pleasing to those being served, as well as the individual providing service.
Traditionally the Butler has been head of the household service delivery system. The only generally understood image of a Butler is the classical British Butler. This individual is more the stuff of movies and novels, an image more than a real person.
Modern Butlers is a term for professionalism that we seek to to bring to our industry. We hope to combat negativity often coming from all sides to create this renaissance.
I'm Sorry, Did You Say Your Hotel Does Not Have Butler Service?
by Steven Ferry
Rare is the week that goes by without word of some upscale hotel offering butler service as a way to improve service and retain or gain that coveted 5-star or diamond status. That's as it should be. But then consider the story broken recently by the Wall Street Journal of industry veteran Horst Schulze's declaration that he intends to establish a line of hotels with a six-star rating. What does he specify as the criteria for such an august label? Private swimming pools. And personal butlers. Quite right, too, butlers being the quintessential service providers that they are.
Whichever rating one is striving for, though, the message seems loud and clear: to remain a serious player, a hotel needs to provide butler service. This means real butlers who are fully trained as such, rather than the ersatz dog, beach, computer, baby, and bath butlers that rushed out fully armed from some hospitality marketing-departments during the 1990s and beat a hasty retreat in the face of public disdain.
A key ingredient in any butler department, obviously, is trained butlers. So how does one go about procuring some? There are four ways:
A) Have them trained at any of the dozen butler training schools (the most expensive option and not one focused on hotel butler training or your site in particular);
B) Have one of a handful of trainers around the world come to your site and train your own staff and new hires (an excellent and focused option);
C) Use an agency to hire butlers;
D) Contact a butler school for graduates looking for apprenticeships to hone their skills and add substance to their training.
"D" represents an immediate and cost-effective personnel pool but requires a trainer as in "B" above visiting briefly to fine-tune and provide quality control--an important element given that butler schools focus on the basics of butling and do not provide hospitality-centric or site-specific training.
Hotel Butler Training
The International Institute of Modern Butlers draws upon the widest selection of trainers available in the field to train Hotel Butlers, and is the only source for training on the new Spa Butler program. If you are seriously considering the need to institute butler service, improve or expand upon existing butler service, or to implement the Spa Butler program in your hotel or resort, then contact the registrar or visit the Institute's website today.
Membership In The Institute Of Modern Butlers
The Modern Butlers Journal goes out to a general mailing list made up of persons connected with or interested in the service industry. We offer membership in the International Institute of Modern Butlers to those persons who subscribe to our Code of Ethics.
As a member of the International Institute of Modern Butlers, I agree to and will promote the following butler's professional Code of Ethics. I agree that as a true professional one must:
* Act in the best interest of one's employer. Place their interest above one's own, perform and maintain the highest level of professional standards in all relationships and duties while anticipating mutual respect.
* Keep all confidences regarding employer and staff.
* Serve the employer as the employer chooses to be served while actively seeking to determine their preferred style of service.
* Seek to bring about and maintain a comfortable, safe, and secure domestic environment at all times.
* Be knowledgeable of and ensure compliance with all applicable local and national laws. Abide by the highest ethical, moral and legal standards.
* Be prepared to perform all duties diligently, impartially and responsively, to the best of ability.
* Recognize that activities outside working hours must not diminish confidence in or ability to perform all duties.
* Endeavor to improve and enhance both personally and professionally. Strive to increase service knowledge and improve your skills through training, study and the sharing of information and experiences with your peers.
* Work towards achieving a strong foundation of mutual respect between the employer and all employees. Educate and instill a healthy respect for all persons and property associated with the employer.
* Strive to maintain appropriate relationships and boundaries in all aspects of service. Avoid discrimination based on age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, national origin or family politics.
* Commit to the promotion of superlative service, through personal and professional example, mentoring, establishing industry standards, and consistent, active involvement.
If you are in full agreement with this code, then copy and paste it into an email message, sign your name to it and send it to the Institute.
Technology and Butlers
by Steven Ferry
Care of fine clothing has long been the bailiwick* of the valet and butler-as-valet. Expertise has been built up over the generations on how best to clean and preserve items made of wool, leather, cotton, silk, rubber, and finally synthetic materials such as polyester, as each was introduced into the wardrobe.
Well, another wrinkle is about to enter the wardrobeŠnanotechnology. This new science builds machinery at the molecular level. What does this mean in real terms? That it is will soon be possible to manufacture stain-free and odor-fee clothing (designed at the molecular level with components that resist stains and bacteria). It means clothing so strong that a single 1 mm thread can support a weight of fifty tons.
But beyond this, we can expect to see consumer electronics (from cell phones and MP3 players to Blackberries) printed onto clothing (in actual fact, the technology will ultimately even allow them to be printed onto our skin). These items would remain invisible until touched, at which point they would turn on, keyboards, etc. lighting up, using small inorganic and organic LEDs.
How far away are these innovations? Just a few years. Imagine having a suit that is able to change color (or even women's make-up) according to the occasion and one's wishes.
While no doubt valets will adapt, they will find wardrobe care much simplified, as clothing needs neither to be cleaned nor ironed nor sewn. Maybe the challenge will be in organizing the wardrobe, no longer according to color, but according to the invisible electronic equipment it features. For instance:
Summer trousers/pants with cell phone (which number)
Winter trousers/pants with cell phone (which number)
Summer trousers/pants with PDA
Winter trousers/pants with PDA
Summer trousers/pants with TV
Winter trousers/pants with TV
Summer trousers with cell phone (which number) and TV but no PDA
Winter trousers with cell phone (which number) and TV but no PDA
Whether or not these clothing items will be made of some synthetic material, or the usual materials, such as Moreno wool, will be doctored at the molecular level to have the qualities mentioned above, this writer has no certain knowledge. But there will still be the same quality of workmanship in creating fine apparel, and the boss's drive to be fashionable and desire for his or her valet to look after the wardrobe.
*An area of activity in which a person has responsibility or specialized knowledge and ability.
What is a Modern Butler in the Private Home Environment?
by Werner Leutert
The Australian Butler Training School defines a contemporary butler as: "a male or female household executive who is responsible for every aspect of residential management and who performs a range of duties which enhance the lifestyle and comfort of the employer and family.
Whether titled a Butler, Personal Assistant, Estate or Household Manager, the modern butler is a professional service provider who must be multi-skilled, versatile, flexible and adaptable in order to handle the diverse range of duties and daily challenges which comprise the butlers role. Discretion, an acute eye for detail and a sense of humor are essential."
This general definition of the modern butler is relatively unchanged from the general expectations of a butler over the years. The recognition of female butlers adds a modern touch. But what is the range of duties? What are the multiple skills involved? What are the personality traits of the first-rate Butler?
The International Institute of Modern Butlers would like to expand upon this excellent definition and provide you with more detail on what we envision the modern Butler is all about in the context of the 21st century. Our programs and consultants can supply education, training and mentoring to receptive individuals or employers seeking to achieve professional service standards.
Today's seasoned professional butler must have knowledge of a wide range of residence concerns in order to be both "hands on" and/or able to intelligently direct others. In particular, an above-average knowledge in these following areas is important:
Life Style Management
Protocol, etiquette, manners, common sense, security, confidentiality
Concepts like friendly & not familiar, invisibility, effective communication, personal style, guest relations, working with family
Fine service skills
Hospitality, dining, entertaining, knowing the butler role
Fine furnishings, care of personal possessions - Crystal, china, silver, antiques, art, clothing
Basic culinary concepts - Elementary kitchen skills, knowledge of variety of common foods, rudiments of good nutrition, wine pairing
Facility Management
Cleaning systems and techniques - Bathroom basics, carpets, marble etc, dusting, vacuuming, basic laundry, order in the kitchen, importance of asking questions
Basic household systems - Electric, plumbing, telephone, air conditioning, refrigeration, preventative maintenance
Facility Organization - Inventory control, organizing closets and spaces, records, status reports, scheduling, researching, house book, perpetual calendar
Transportation oversight
Vehicles, boats, motorcycles, aircraft
Business Management skills
Managing employees, employers, vendor, understanding legal issues, accounting, budgets and financial reporting, employment law, general law, business, liability
Personal Assistant skills - Internet shopping, reservations, research
Technology - Computers, PDA's, wireless communications, software
Personal "self" skills - Time management, assertiveness, diplomacy
In our next newsletter we will begin discussing these points in detail. Comments welcome!
If You Can't Make it to a School, Try Studying at Home
Continuing education for those already in service, who may be long on experience but short on formal butler training, is hard to do when one is too busy to take time off work. The same holds true for anyone wanting to move into the service industry.
That's when a correspondence course has value. The Institute has therefore created two correspondence courses.
The course for those in the hospitality industry is based on the best-selling industry text, Hotel Butlers, The Great Service Differentiators.
The course for those in private service is based on the best-selling industry text, Butlers and Household Managers, 21st Century Professionals.
The courses include checklists detailing reading and practical assignments, as well as projects. You mark each off as it is done and are steered and helped through by Institute personnel until each checklist is completed.
Your progress is personally supervised by the author, Professor Ferry, and you have an open line via email to him for questions, as well as guidance on professional matters (including finding a position or making a transition into the profession once you have completed the course and received your certificate).
These correspondence courses are not designed to take the place of formal courses, but if you are unable to make the time or financial commitment to attend a school, the Institute's correspondence courses provide an easier, more immediate way to improve your skills, or even move into the profession.
For more information or to enroll, visit the Correspondence Course page of the Institute's website.
Featuring Butler Schools around the World - Each issue will profile a different school.
The International Butler Academy
Founded by Director Robert Wennekes, the International Butler Academy has been operating since January 2000. It is taught in a moated chateau located in the Netherlands, and offers a comprehensive eight-week course, licensed by the Dutch government, that introduces and trains students in all the expected duties of a butler, personal assistant, valet, estate and house manager. Students are given continuous hands-on experience to bring about competent graduates and a number of field trips are engaged in, including a two-day stay by invitation of Verve Cliquot to the Champagne region of France.
Six professionals from around the world, including the school's director, teach specific segments of the course, augmented by a number of guest speakers on a wide variety of topics, from cigars to first aid to fine clothing.
The fee (US $16,000/EU 12,500) includes room, board, tailored butler uniforms, textbooks and a variety of other items, such as phone cards to call home. The school also re-imburses airfares for some students.
Contact The International Butler Academy at www.butlerschool.com for more information or to enroll.
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