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Why Good Employees Are Hard To Find

I believe we have a crisis in the hospitality industry–a dwindling pool of service-oriented individuals–which is making it difficult for HR and management to provide the level of guest service required at high-end properties. Obvious causes, such as low wage scales, could be identified at first blush, but an unlikely source has emerged recently as the real culprit: the marketing and selling of worry to well Americans who are sold psychiatric drugs to resolve that cleverly crafted worry. Half the US population is on these drugs now. The relevance being that the side effects of these drugs include woodenness and disassociation at the less dramatic end, through frustration and anger outbursts, to suicide and murder at the extreme end-none of which are particularly conducive to guest satisfaction.

The issue has been increasingly in the media, lead by British doctors who have forbidden first children and now adults from taking “antidepressants.” Court cases and media have at the same time exposed inadequate testing and altered results to hide bad outcomes. Even the FDA, long beholden to the interests of the pharmaceutical lobby, is begrudgingly following suit in the US, hence those black box warning labels appearing on many psychiatric prescriptions. Suicides are the main worry, but the many heinous crimes hitting the airwaves over the last decade (mothers butchering their children, children shooting or torturing their parents or other children, to name just a few) have added to the list of outcomes when people take these drugs. A book just released, Selling Sickness: How the World’s Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients (Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels) and the recently released movie based on John le Carre’s fictionalized book, The Constant Gardner, both point to a motivational shift by pharmaceutical companies: away from curing sickness to making vast amounts of money; the main strategy being to bring drugs to market by pathologizing life’s normal fluctuations and the creation of “lifestyle medicines.” Premenstrual tension, for instance, is now a “mental illness” called “premenstrual dysphoric disorder” requiring a psychiatric drug to “manage” (not cure) it.

Instead of relying on evidence to determine a disease and assess the risk / benefit of a medical intervention, doctors are prescribing drugs based on corporate sponsored “public awareness” campaigns that create “illness.” If this seems just fine, then might I suggest re-reading the preceding sentence? We have marketing and PR departments, and executive boards salivating over the bottom line, inventing diseases and then persuading people they have them.

As described by Vera Hassner Sharav of Alliance for Human Research Protection, “The selling of sickness and the birth of a blockbuster drug follows a familiar pattern: the marketing division of a pharmaceutical company identifies a wedge condition, and a set of symptoms or “risk factors”; the company hires a PR firm to come up with a “disease” name, either something catchy (e.g., SAD) or something connoting a serious biochemical deficiency; the company either develops a drug, or recycles an existing one for this new condition; and begins massive marketing to physicians and the public. An advisory panel of experts defines the “disease” broadly enough to include as many previously healthy people as possible, and issues guesstimates about the prevalence of the “disease”; the media pick up the story, suggesting that the ‘new’ disease is greatly “under-diagnosed and poses severe health hazards if left untreated; the stage is set for the birth of the next blockbuster.”

The roots of this travesty can be found in sentiments such as those expressed three decades ago by Merck’s chief executive, Henry Gadsden, who wanted to expand his market by making drugs for healthy people, not just sick people.

It is necessary to grasp the reality of this trend in order to understand a previously unrecognized undercurrent that HRs have been hitting up against in finding and keeping good staff.

We have been hearing the complaint “Good employees are hard to find” for a few centuries now, but now it just might be true. While running a workshop on service for a large group of employees at a four-star facility recently, I was fascinated to see a full 50% of them had no interest whatsoever in the subject, one of them even settling down to read a newspaper during the presentation. Their attitude and lack of caring was evident in the lackluster service they offered guests (hence the workshop being arranged by an anxious management), and was also a source of upset for those staff who did care to care and who did derive new insights from the workshop.

The problem is that there is no way for consultants, HR, or management to reach and inspire these people until they are taken off their drugs and the drug residues detoxed from their system (there are ways to do this). Until then, they will continue to manifest a “bio-chemical personality”, the antithesis of service.

If the US Armed Forces do not accept recruits who have taken psychiatric drugs, then there may be a lesson to be learned here in our industry. The Defense Department has learned from experience that such citizens do not make reliable and effective personnel or teammates.

Maybe the hospitality industry could benefit from examining this factor (the drugging of its personnel pool) in trying to create a team of service-minded personnel who actually do care for guests, and care to service them well. Maybe the paucity of service-oriented individuals is not just the result of genes or some such wild theory, but an artificial condition created by morally bankrupt individuals and out-of-control corporations. In other words, maybe we can do something about it.

This article also appeared in the September 2005 issue of 4Hoteliers.com and Hotelexecutive.com

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Spa Butlers – Adding Value To Spas And Hotels Alike

For spa directors in hotels and resorts offering spa services there is the constant pressure to excel even further and so differentiate themselves in the minds of their guests; to find compelling ways to entice guests to return when there are many other venues for them to choose from.

The same could be said of the butler service offered by many such hotels and resorts. Both programs add value and prestige, but is there a way to improve these service offerings? The short answer is, “Yes!”

Imagine you are, as one guest noted, returning to your hotel suite looking like a scrubbed vegetable and feeling anything from exhausted to exhilarated to even nauseous. You are about to run into the one key flaw inherent in every spa experience: it ends the moment a guest leaves the spa to return to his or her suite. The way to make a guest’s experience a complete one, and offer a total immersion in the “get away from it all” relaxation and rejuvenation, is to form a joint venture between the spa and butler programs. Simply put, make the butler service an extension of the spa experience, wherein spa-trained butlers provide their usual high-end service on the hotel side, but with the added knowledge and techniques that enable the spa environment to continue in the guest’s own suite.

Does this mean that the butler will roll up his sleeves and stretch, massage and pluck the guest? Not at all: but put yourself in the shoes of the guest. If you have ever been pampered and prodded, sweated and doused, this should not be too difficult. When the doors of the spa swing shut behind you and you make your way to your suite, you re-enter a world that runs on different agreements. People rush around, lost in thought, and not up to speed on your own serene/mellow/invigorated world. You open the door to your suite and it is, well, flat and empty and definitely not that interested in your new state.

Guests may even experience a catharsis or detoxification as a result of their spa experience. How reassuring or safe would an empty suite be, with butlers at the end of the telephone line who know nothing of your condition or how to assist.

Now imagine a butler who knows how guests can react to their spa experience and how to assist them with understanding and empathy. It would create quite an impact on guests. Moments of drama aside, when a butler knows and understands the spa program of a guest, he can converse about the guest’s experiences with good reality, should the guest so desire, and can also take actions to enhance that program‹such as adding a complementary (not necessarily complimentary) bath salt to the bath, rather than one that conflicts with the spa program.

The spa butler is a new creature in the hospitality and spa industries, for he or she is really the architect of the ultimate spa hospitality experience, designing and arranging the entire spa guest experience. The spa still delivers the spa services, but the butler acts as the main point of contact before, during and after the guest’s stay. Because he understands and knows what the guest is going through, and the basic spa methodologies, he can be there for the guests and extend the entire stay into a smooth experience for them. That’s the simplicity of the spa butler program.

Translated into the real world, this program means the butler asks and cares about the guest’s goal in coming to the spa; he cares about the guest’s room, ensuring that the space reflects the guest’s needs and wants. The butler supports the guest by being a sounding board and conversing with understanding and empathy. He introduces the guest to the people, places and services he or she will be experiencing at the spa, answering all questions and resolving all concerns. He smoothes the preparations for each spa experience and helps the guest through the ramifications of each spa treatment, asking the right questions.

The spa butler understands the mechanism of each spa treatment in order to give accurate and convincing explanations of treatments to the guest. The application of hot or cold therapy to the body may seem odd or even silly to the guest without an understanding of the expected physiological effects and benefits. Earning the guest’s confidence and compliance with intelligent answers to his/her questions is an important part of the spa butler service and helps the spa personnel to recommend the most appropriate treatments.

Types of Guests
There are at least four categories of spa guests. Identifying them is key to serving them successfully.

“Fluff and Buff” guests are delighted with the ultimate in pampering. They are investing time, energy and money in the expectation they will be treated as kings and queens. They are enjoying a mini vacation from the stresses and strains of everyday life.

“ROI” guests are looking for a return on their investment. They are spa savvy, meaning that they have been to spas before and have preconceived notions about what a great spa experience is and should be. They expect their spa experience to deliver on the health enhancement and therapeutic expectations they have formulated.

“Solution seeker” guests want a spa experience to alleviate pain and discomfort from their ongoing medical conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, osteo-arthritis, etc. and are hoping to find relief and answers that will alleviate some of their suffering.

“Transformer” guests are committed to transforming their own worlds, understanding they play an integral and vital role in optimizing their health and well being. They trust the spa to have highly specialized facilitators who honor the holistic nature of man.

By knowing and understanding each guest’s goal and being there for them in their pursuit of that goal, the butler forms a unique relationship with guests and so brings about the ultimate spa hospitality experience.

Assuming this spa butler concept strikes a chord with an owner or manager, the next step is simply to train some or all of the existing butlers on spa methodology with the help of outside consultants working with the in-house spa personnel. It takes a few days of training to implement. Hotels without butlers would need to train butlers first (see article Ask Not What The Butler Did, But What He Can Do For Your Hotel, The Hotel Butler – Recognizing the Value Butlers Bring to the Bottom Line and then add on the spa butler training. To reiterate, a spa butler is a fully fledged butler with additional training on spa methodology‹not just a fancy title shoved onto someone whose only familiarity with a butler is from the movie Arthur, for instance. John Gielgud’s sub-voce remark when his boss is in the bath Gielgud just drew for him, is not the kind of attitude that will work for a spa butler.

To borrow from a completely different field, spa butlers are now beginning to appear in hotels like the inevitable next version of your favorite software. How smart is it to talk to guests in Windows when they are using  MAC? There are not many places the many ultimate spa destinations can go to create a unique position in the mind of the guest, but the spa butler provides just such a leap forward perhaps because it reaches outside the spa itself, where standards are already exquisitely high, to raise the bar even further.

This article appeared in 4Hoteliers on 16 September 2005.

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Not All Butlers Are Created Equal

In an industry that is completely premised on the idea of service and in which service is a key differentiator, increasing numbers of high-end hoteliers have decided to institute butler service. So far so good for a number of reasons, such as raised rack rates, customer loyalty, enhanced word of mouth and, on the employee side, greater retention and raised standards facility wide.

But the reality is somewhat different, as anyone who has experienced butler service in a number of hotels and resorts, can attest. Not all butler departments have been created equal. Sometimes the butlers are invisible; sometimes they are simply pool attendants with a new name badge: “Pool Butler.” Or any of the myriad of other inventive ways marketing departments and managers have devised to siphon some of the prestige of the profession. While real butlers appreciate the recognition afforded their profession when offerings of superior service are personified by a butler figure, they are not themselves served well in the long run by this cheapening of their profession. More importantly, guests can recognize a gimmick when they see one and are left in a poor frame of mind at being handed a Mickey Mouse version of the service they had expected and paid for when booking into a facility.

Where butler departments are established, they enjoy varying degrees of success based on their adherence to the basic purpose of butling: the providing of a superb and seamless service that knows and anticipates guest needs. The sources of failure, then, include anything that cuts across this goal. Such as: not selecting proven service professionals for these positions; not training them on the persona, mindset, communication skills, and service skills of the butler in a hospitality setting; not launching the butler program to the rest of the employees in such a way that they support it, rather than viewing it as a threat to their income stream; trying to cut costs by cutting service, resulting in harried butlers providing an irreducible minimum of service to too many guests; not organizing the butler department in such a way that it can run itself, with butler coordinators, runners if needed, head butler, a deputy and supervisors.

As the standard setter for the profession, the International Institute of Modern Butlers, based in Florida, has therefore formulated a rating system that parallels AAA and Mobil ratings but which is focused on butler service in hospitality venues. The purpose of the rating is to help guests make informed decisions about the nature of the butler service being offered by a venue they may be considering; and to assist management and butler employees of those venues in improving their butler offering.

The ratings range from “No Butler” to “Five Butlers” and while assessments are being made initially on a self-assessment basis mixed with assessments by butler trainers around the world, the intention is for the assessments to be made ultimately by the traditional organizations that travelers turn to for information on venues they are planning to visit.

A brief overview of each level (the specifics of these levels run to thirteen pages, so are not the subject of this article) are as follows:

No Butler
The butlers are called such, but have no training or understanding of the nature or skill-sets of a butler, often having a modifier in front of their title, such as “fireplace butler” or “technology butler” or “baby butler.”

One Butler
There is literally one butler on the floor, rushing to service guests who are kept waiting or improperly serviced. There may be more than one butler, but training on the skills of the butler or the grace of a butler are lacking, even though some of the service is being provided.

Two Butlers
The butler-to-guest ratio is still too strained, so guests are kept waiting or not fully serviced, but basic elements of butler service are performed and the butlers have been trained in their profession either in schools or on site. No night butler on duty and no butler coordinators to connect guests with butlers.

Three Butlers
There are enough butlers in shifts to manage guests, including night butlers, butler coordinators, and a head butler. The Butler department exists as its own department, not under Housekeeping, Concierge, Room Service, F&B, or any other department. Guests are offered a good range of butler services and these are satisfactorily executed. Butler service has been established and fine-tuned with the assistance of trained professionals.

Four Butlers
Butlers provide excellent, often invisible service to guests who are wowed by the attention to detail. Includes a full complement of butlers who have sufficient presence with the rest of the employees that they have raised their level of service and can obtain instant service for guests. Butler Department personnel receive ongoing training and quality control to keep them sharp and there is a Deputy for the Head Butler who facilitates this training and other organizational steps to keep the Butler Department running smoothly.

Five Butlers
Guests have their own private butler to attend to their every (legal and ethical) needs and desires, including accompanying them on excursions as chauffeur and guide. In the case of guests lacking companions, this level of service may extend to the butler being a companion for a guest, even being skilled enough to play such as golf or tennis (but sufficiently diplomatic always to let the guest win by a narrow margin‹and never crossing the line). Where spa service is offered, the butler may also be the spa therapist or so knowledgeable in spa methodology that he or she presents a seamless experience for the spa-going guest.

Expect to see these ratings in use increasingly as the better hotels and resorts recognize the value of making their level of butler service known. If those facilities seeking to ride on the coattails of the butler profession then become earnest about their levels of butler service, then both they and their guests will benefit.

The above article was published on September 18, 2005 in 4Hoteliers on-line magazine.

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The Future Hospitality Professional

As adventurous as it may be to predict the future, there is no doubt in my mind that we stand today at the same point as Dick Tracy when he conversed through a two-way, walkie-talkie video wrist-watch to a remote caller six decades ago. In other words, the prediction that hospitality professionals of the future will read the minds of guests may sound a far-fetched fantasy and possibly even ludicrous, but it will come to be. Why? Because it has been done to some extent for centuries by that quintessential service provider, the British butler, when in top form; and because the technology to bring all service professionals to that pinnacle already exists.

Here, we are not talking some corporate formula for guest interaction that too often results in canned phrases and plastered-on smiles; or a consultant guru’s mantra for superior guest services that seeks to put a datum where intelligent observation and action should be. We are talking information relay followed by drilling on the “how to’s” resulting in an ability gained. It’s nothing mystic and has no relationship to any psychological mumbo-jumbo, but down-to-earth application of workable principles resulting in guests being properly assessed and treated in a way that they find pleasurable, which always leaves them feeling better than before the service was administered.

Such guest service employees of the future will be closer to Life Consultants than room service and will care as much about guests as their mothers. So says the crystal ball. Predicting the future can be fun. Take the “Future Holiday Forum” held in London, England recently for leaders in travel, technology and design. Their “2024: A Holiday Odyssey” according to a Forbes.com report predicted the future hotel for remote destinations as a foldable/ transportable, self-sustaining, low-environmental-impact pod on stilts in which guests could choose the images to be projected on the walls. The technology for such hotels already exists.

The line-up of future hotels that will similarly soon be with us includes underwater hotels and airship hotels that permit scenic views as one travels leisurely to one’s next destination. Resorts in space no doubt lie in the future, incorporating spinning rooms for all the comforts that we have come to expect from living with gravity.

As for space-age technology addressed at specific hospitality issues, we already have 3-D hologram teleconferencing for hotels specializing in conference services. We will soon see smart cards containing all information on a guest, including likes and dislikes, as well as credit card information that will no doubt make check-in and customized servicing of guests easy.

Other technologies to be introduced into the hospitality sector include robotics for cleaning and check-in; biometric security such as retina scans for entrance to rooms and access to safes. Then there is nanotechnology (manipulating and manufacturing at the molecular level). While we are close to imprinting electronic equipment onto our clothing and even skins, there is talk of using nanotechnology to reconfigure rooms per guest wishes, transmogrifying the furniture, fixtures and decorations at the push of a button (so to speak).

However, notice that the talk of the future is invariably in the realm of gadgetry and machinery. Whatever happened to the human element? Are we giving up on our fellow man? Are we just using him or her until some machine can replace him not just on the factory floor but also in the giving of service? Just as Astounding Science Fiction moved beyond machines to focus on the human element regarding things from outer space during the 1930s, so I believe we need to move into improving the human element, rather than always focusing on the mechanical and even trying to substitute machines for humans. And by improving the human element, I mean moving beyond formulas and mantras to increase employee intelligence and ability to act self-determinedly, rather than other-determinedly by rote.

Butler as Future Service Standard

Whether or not Mr. Horst Schulze, former chairman of Ritz-Carlton, was serious when he announced his plans to introduce a six-star hotel chain that was defined in part by private butlers, he was signaling a recognition of the value of a certain something that classic British butlers bring to the guest experience.

So what’s the connection between the British butler of the past and present, and the future hospitality professional? How does one move service employees from transient lower-paid wage earners to professional service providers acting with pride and knowledge, more akin to Life Consultants than room service and caring as much for guests as their own mothers?

Try the code and standards of the traditional butler: trustworthiness, loyalty, attentiveness to guests predicting what they want and attention to detail in providing it before they even know they want it. Always calmly smoothing events into a successful conclusion with a can-do attitude and real caring for the guest; social graces, treating each person with dignity; the soul of discretion; never crossing the invisible line between friendliness and familiarity, attitude free; a superb organizer who always achieves targets set; able to deal with the raw emotions of upset staff, imperious or discourteous guests, indignant bosses, shifty contractors and suppliers and the best-laid plans falling apart at the last moment-all the while maintaining his composure, his desire to provide the best possible service, and ensuring events turn out satisfactorily. Who finally has the energy and humility to ask, “Was there anything I could have improved about my service today?”

That’s the basic butler persona and mindset. But beyond that, we need something more to create the service provider of the 21st Century.

Current Best Practices in guest services result in an industry effort to have all guests greeted cheerfully or enthusiastically. That’s fine for employees who are naturally cheerful or enthusiastic. But how fake the result when they are not. And is it really appropriate when every guest is so greeted when they are neither cheerful nor enthusiastic at that particular moment nor even as a general rule. One size does not fit all.

What is needed is an understanding of the human mind and character, how their emotions dictate their attitudes, and what they will find acceptable to talk about, consequently, and at what emotional tone.

Anyone who thinks that “emotion” is the opposite of “rationality” won’t be tracking with the above. “Emotions” actually refer to the measurable wavelengths emitted by an individual as an expression of his or her like or dislike for various subjects. Some men are enthusiastic about football or conservative about receiving that promotion. Some women grieve over the loss of a relative or dissolve in raptures over a friend’s new hair-do. The exhilaration of an individual who has just won the Lotto can be contrasted rather handily with the apathy exhibited by an individual who has nowhere else to go for help and has given up. Or take the boredom a man might exhibit during a business conference as it enters its fourth hour, or the covert hostility (the equivalent of the phrase “passive aggressive”) exhibited by a woman as she smiles crookedly while saying “What a lovely dress. I saw one just like it in the thrift store yesterday.”

There is more, though: being in the moment or now with guests. Presenting a guest with an attitude, or dealing with them while one’s attention is elsewhere, completely misses the boat when it comes to making them the most important element in a hospitality setting. So the question is: how does one anchor employees in the now? It’s easy. If you know how.

And when you have that licked, you will find employees will be there enough to observe what is right in front of their faces, compute intelligently, and then act effectively to predict and cater to guest needs, and more importantly, read their mind.

And that is why the future of hospitality lies with the ancient butler tradition, married to the latest in “mind-reading” technology to better read and serve guests. Fit that into the equation, and we will find those floating or space-based hotels, as well as the regular landlubber hotels of today, better serviced and continuing to attract guests who prefer the human touch. Robots for humans is about as satisfying as petting a Sony RoboDog instead of your loyal, lively and loving Lab.

This article also appeared in the Hotel Business Review section of Hotel Executive on-line (August 2005), the October 2005 issue of Hotel Online and in 4Hoteliers.com

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The New Renaissance Spa – Of Spa Butlers And Butler Spas

Nearly two-thirds of affluent travelers surveyed in a Pepperdine study last summer stated they set their sites primarily on being pampered-luxury and premium service being key elements-when deciding where to stay while away from home.

This is good news for those hotels and resorts with spas that have invested in the latest industry concept of spa butlers, introduced a few months ago to the spa and hospitality industries in HotelExec.com and the latest issues of Spa Business and Spa Management magazines). For spa guests, the total immersion experience made possible by the fusion of these two service pinnacles creates a lasting impression. Why? Because the model handles the key drawback with every spa experience, which invariably ends abruptly as a guest leaves the spa to return to his or her suite. For hotel/resort/spa management, the Renascence Spa model represents the next generation of hospitality experience and somewhere to go when you have already traveled as far as the road leads in pampering guests.

This symbiotic liaison between spa and butler programs makes the butler service an extension of the spa experience, wherein butlers providing their usual high-end service on the hotel side are then trained further in the methodologies in play at their spa, with the goal of continuing the spa environment in the guest’s own suite.

From the guest’s perspective, she (or he) occupies a serene/mellow/invigorated world after being pampered, prodded, plucked, sweated and doused in the spa. It’s a destination and transformation she seeks when she thinks about and ultimately walks into a spa-and more often than not reaches. Yet the world that greets her as the spa doors swing shut behind her runs on different agreements: people rush around, lost in thought, stressed. When she reaches her suite, it seems lifeless, out of synch and unsympathetic to her new state. If she is experiencing a catharsis, detoxification, or crisis, or if she just wants to have a sounding board or a ready ear, she is on her own.

Now imagine a butler who knows how guests can react to their spa experience and how to assist them with understanding and empathy. Knowing a guest’s spa program, he can converse about the guest’s experiences with good reality, should the guest so desire, and can also take actions to enhance that program, be they therapeutic baths, showers, or simply a much needed glass of pure water to preempt dehydration.

The spa butler acts as the main point of contact before, during and after the guest’s stay. Translated into the real world, this program means the butler asks and cares about the guest’s goal in coming to the spa, giving accurate and convincing explanations of treatments to the guest (and for that important bottom line, upselling). He ensures the guest’s room reflects the guest’s needs and wants, such as providing Pilates mats, preempting allergic responses, and smudging or applying aroma mists (Smudging is the Native American practice of burning sage and/or cedar to eliminate odors and so purify a space. In this case, the idea is not just to eliminate unpleasant smells, but also synthetically derived fragrances that are sometimes employed inside guest suites).

The spa butler supports the guest by being a sounding board and conversing with understanding and empathy. He introduces the guest to the people, places and services she will be experiencing at the spa. He smoothes the preparations for each spa experience and helps her through the ramifications of each spa treatment with follow-on services that help her land gracefully from her spa experience.

This means, for instance, the spa butler being on the lookout for indicators of physiological shifts occurring in the guest that may require action by the butler to help settle the guest where he or she is experiencing discomfort. Some key indicators are:

  • Emotional tone changing
  • Rapid eyelid fluttering
  • A shift from shallow to deep breaths
  • Being spaced-out as opposed to being aware of the environment
  • Twitching
  • A shift in energy flow, such as from much motion to lethargy
  • Change in skin temperature or color.

Generally, the body is a self-regulating mechanism that will bring about optimal functioning when provided an environment of support to do so-which defines what is required basically of the spa butler.

Often, the butler can act without seeking permission or agreement, because he can see what is happening to the guest and knows what to do. An offer of a drink of refreshing water, for instance, to a guest who is obviously somewhat dehydrated, doesn’t require words or permission.

More than a Number

On the spa side, a recurring complaint is addressed in this butler/spa collaboration by cross training spa personnel on the butler mindset: the complaint being the tendency for therapists to treat guest, especially irregulars, as a commodity. The main focus of the training being giving the spa personnel the ability to be in the moment, able to be there fully for the guest, communicating when the guest desires it (how many therapists chatter endlessly when the guest would rather savor the moment?) in a way that enhances the guest experience, rather than principally entertaining the practitioner.

The subsidiary focus is on achieving the same level of grace as, and service mindset of, the butler. In dealing with guests, the butler maintains an attitude of respectful curiosity, conducting himself (or herself) professionally in a way that never compromises a guest’s dignity or privacy. The spa guest may well be impressionable to the suggestions of the spa butler. He, therefore, has an ethical obligation to maintain integrity, tell the truth, and create and uphold an environment of trust and confidentiality so as bring about a safe space for a guest that allows him or her to focus on fixing his or her world. This is not new news to the spa industry and the many therapists who adhere to these principles, but staying in the moment and following through with every guest can be a challenge. This spa-side element is by far the shortest to bring about, taking a few days, rather than the weeks it takes to train butlers first as butlers and then as spa butlers.

The Physical Component

The ultimate spa experience will be blemished, despite the best efforts of spa butlers and “butler spas,” where consumables and suite design are out of kilter with the goals of the spa and its guests. Chloramines and fluorides in the water, mite and insect excreta, dust and allergens in the air are counterproductive. So are the use of MSG in the kitchen, neurotoxic sweeteners such as aspartame, and other chemical food additives, such as preservatives, coloring, pesticides, fertilizers, and irradiated and genetically modified foods. As for PCPs (personal care products), the contents of the most expensive and exclusive, which generally tend to be provided in high-end settings, read like a chemical laboratory experiment, with spa guests among the guinea pigs.

A mere handful of the 60,000 chemicals in our air, water and food supply have been tested for their impact on the human body. It is impossible to test the effect of the almost infinite combinations of these chemicals. This makes the exponential growth of chemicals in our lives a giant experiment over the last half-century that may be behind the alarming increases in diseases, obesity, etc. Whether or not they are, an increasing number of individuals are not willing to take the risk and are looking for and even insisting upon pure spaces and ingredients.

Not all spa guests will be concerned about these points, but as spa guests are concerned about their health and long-term physique, the likelihood is that many are aware of the chemical onslaught in the environment and would prefer to find in their spa and its hotel/resort, a sanctuary. For those who may not be concerned currently, a leadership position adopted by the spa hotel/resort may well stand them in good stead with their guests in later years. But in any case, having the option available for organic food, stevia for non-sugar sweeteners and the likes of a rich cup of Teechino as a coffee substitute, for instance, for those who are concerned, can only win friends. Cleansing the air with ozonators and ionizers, and the water with top-of-the-line filtration systems, will not find any complainers among the skeptical, and plenty of support from believers. High-quality PCPs that contain natural ingredients do exist and likewise could be offered those who care.

Lastly, the guest suite needs to be made spa friendly, whether by Feng Shui methodology or other design, so as to move it beyond the prosaic and into the realm of the ethereal, the calming, the nurturing.

The second presidential suite in Miami’s Mandarin Oriental takes just such an approach, creating a “luxury spa haven for total pampering pleasure. It’s most unique and outstanding feature is a spa ‘serenity room,’ a one-of-a-kind sanctuary offering the ultimate in-suite spa experienceŠa tranquil Zen-like environment with warm color tones, bamboo accents and Mexican river stones accented by Spanish marble tile and a breathtaking view of Biscayne Bay. The spa serenity room features Japanese-style Tatami mats, an infinity-edge soaking bath with color therapy lighting and tear drop ceiling fountain and relaxation area … and ESPA spa amenities, salts, body and bath oils.”

Although this room was created for in-suite spa services, maybe it would be a good idea for all rooms catering to spa guests to be designed with the same thoughtfulness in mind?

Pampering is the name of the game and the Renascence Spa concept is the new way to attract these travelers (and locals) to your hotel or resort.

This article was also published in the August 2005 issue of Hotel Business Review, an on-line publication of HotelExec.com as well as in the September 8, 2005 issue of 4Hoteliers.

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Working With Domestic Placement Agencies

If you have ever looked for a job in the domestic services field, there is a good chance you have dealt with a domestic employment agency. If not, your next job search should include at least one agency to represent you. Whether you have had good or “not so good” luck with an agency before, the following tips and information will be very valuable as you approach your new job hunt.

First and foremost, you can’t find something if you don’t know what you are looking for. Before you approach an agency to represent you, know for certain what position and what job description you are seeking. If you don’t know already, you probably should not use an agency. Here’s why: Domestic agencies get paid by clients to find them skilled employees that have been successful in a home and have the references to prove it. Therefore, an agent tries to present candidates that have years of experience in their field and impeccable histories.

If you are just starting out or are making a “career change” because a domestic job sounds like something you want to try, forget it. You can, however, call on an agency and kindly ask advice for breaking into the field, but don’t expect too much attention. The only exception is if you have skills relative to the work you are looking for, some agencies accept “entry-level” applicants for clients who may not need an experienced person. It is very rare, but apply to agencies that encourage you to do so. If you want to learn how to get started in the domestic services industry, read “Finding Your First Domestic Position.”

Next, when you do contact agencies, be prepared! Don’t even call if you don’t have a resume. See the very important article “Becoming a Better Domestic Employment Candidate” to be ready for any situation. Once you are ready, call the agencies local to where you want to work and also try the agencies that place nationwide. The best advice is to register with every agency in the world if you have the time and patience, because each agency gets different clients, and more clients = more jobs! This will take a lot of your own effort, but if you have prepared as discussed in the other article, you should be up to the challenge. Also, agencies work for you for FREE, so use them all. Never pay an agency to register for employment. They are paid by the employer when you get hired.

The registration process for each agency will be different. Some will ask you to fax or send a resume first, then if you are qualified you will fill out the full application. Others will have you do a complete application right away to be considered for representation. Some may not even take your application. Either way, follow the instructions of the person you are in contact with. After submitting the application or resume, allow the agent to get back to you on their time. They may be busy working with placements or more likely do not have a suitable position to talk to you about at the moment. A good rule is to wait 3-5 business days to follow up after you have spoken to or sent something to an agency. Be persistent, but try not to be annoying. If there is a job on an agent’s desk that you are perfect for, they will call you immediately and treat you like a long lost friend! Be patient.

Did I mention patience? Let’s look at the numbers for a moment: A typical agency has several hundred to several thousand applicant files. Some are computerized, but most are in filing cabinets and are searched manually when a job order needs to be filled. For example, here’s what happens when a client calls the agency for a private chef:

The client will have specific details about the type of person, cuisine, schedule, living arrangements, salary, etc., that they are looking for. Based on the job details, an agent goes through the files of all available chef candidates for a possible match either by computer search, flipping through applications, or by memory. Out of maybe 100 available applicants, an agent selects just a few to send to a client, maybe four or five. The client reviews the files sent by mail or fax and decides whom to interview. And then if a perfect match is found through the interviews only one person gets hired! So if a very busy agency does just two chef placements per month, your chances are about 2 out of 100 or 1 out of 50 that you will land a chef position through the agency. It’s not pretty. Many candidates on file with agencies for a year or two never even get an interview.

Here’s the trick: Try to be in the four or five applicants sent on every job order at every agency. How? Have the best, most complete, most up-to-date application on file and follow up periodically to have a great relationship with the agents representing you. Basically, it all comes back to the preparation and presentation from the “Better Candidate” article. This is assuming, of course, that you are equally qualified with the other applicants. Likewise, the specific requests of an employer might disqualify you right away, but there is nothing you can do about that. Your only mission is to beat out the other candidates on jobs you are a match for. So be the best applicant in the files and have a solid, ongoing relationship with the person representing you.

As a last note, you should remember that even though agencies can help you, you do not have to take any abuse. You are a human being and professional and should be treated that way. If someone is rude to you without cause, simply don’t ever speak to them again. They probably don’t have any positions for you anyway if they treat you poorly. No big deal, there are plenty of agencies out there. In turn, have patience when going through the interview process because clients are sometimes flaky and agencies have no control over the schedule. Hang in there and pursue all the opportunities you can. Your only goal is to find the right position for you.

David Gonzalez
President, DPN

Categories
Published Articles

Becoming A Better Domestic Candidate

There are many approaches to finding employment as a domestic professional. You can respond to classifieds, network through friends and former employers, or use a placement agency, to name just a few. No matter which path you follow to find a new job, there are some standard items that can help you rise above the other applicants in your field. Whether you are a chef, estate manager, chauffeur, nanny, or any other type of employee, being prepared is the name of the game!

Often in the domestic service industry, top candidates are not the ones with the most experience or the most skills, but those who understand basic business protocol in the job search process. For example, a chef may be extremely talented in his or her trade, but offer a very poorly written application package. He or she will stand less of a chance of getting an interview when competing against applicants with an up-to-date, well-constructed portfolio. Likewise, should an agency or employer request background information or documents from a candidate, any delays could result in the hire of another applicant. Lastly, if the information such as references, dates of employment, and contact information are hard to follow or incomplete, the application could seem “fishy” or the candidate could be thought of as incompetent.

For all of the above reasons, one should apply basic business “common sense” to the job hunt process. Spend some time educating yourself about conducting employment searches, interviewing, and writing a resume. Also, if you are planning to go through an agency for representation, read the article “Working with Domestic Employment Agencies.” It offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on the hiring procedure! Any inside knowledge and careful preparation will pay off tremendously as you go through the process of finding your next position.

APPLICATION PACKAGE CHECKLIST

  1. Current Resume
    I cannot stress the importance of the resume enough. In many cases, it is the only item an employer will see when deciding who to interview. Some agencies only send the resume to a client. Some employers only look at resumes. Make sure yours is up to date and has a professional look with no mistakes! You can hire a service if you are not good on the computer. Also, having a copy on disk is great for sending documents through email.
  2. Letters of recommendation
    Any time you leave a job you should get a letter of recommendation. Try to have them written on company letterhead or personal stationery of your employer. The more letters you have, the better. Be prepared to distribute copies that are as legible as possible. Even better, have color copies made of the most recent or most important letters.
  3. Reference List.
    You will have to supply this information on any job application so have it ready on a separate page, laid out as follows: Employer name; who to contact for the reference; the contact’s title; a current telephone number; and any notes about reaching the person. You may also request to be contacted directly for telephone numbers so you can tell your reference in advance who will be calling.
  4. Current Photograph. Have a recent photograph of yourself ready to give out (color photocopies are a good idea) with an application. It should show your overall physical appearance and a nice touch is to be in the uniform of your profession. The extra step you can take here is to have the photo scanned and put on a disk to email to agents or employers.
  5. ID Copies.
    Usually agencies will ask for your identifying documents upfront to verify you are who you say you are. This includes driver’s license, social security card, passport, green card, work visa, etc. Be prepared by having a high quality black and white copy made for faxing and color copies for distribution.
  6. List of Previous Addresses.
    To conduct background checks, employers or agencies will require a list of the county, city, state, and address of where you have lived over the past 10 years. Have this information available and typed out. Make copies.
  7. Background Explanation
    If there is anything derogatory at all that you know will show up on your driving record; credit history; criminal background; or any civil litigation cases, have a detailed explanation ready. When these checks are done on you, the reports come back with codes and sketchy details about the events that are difficult to interpret. Your willing discussion of the incident can make certain situations less incriminating as a candidate for employment.

As with any endeavor worth pursuing, the job search can be tedious and frustrating. Approach the task with a positive attitude and commit yourself to being ready for any obstacles along the way. Also “put your money where your mouth is” when creating your application materials. You may have to spend a few dollars to have a great looking resume package with clean, legible copies of all your documents (both black & white and color), but the payoff is far greater than the costs you will incur.

Also remember, there is no such thing as “luck.” The word “luck” is just a description of what happens when preparation meets opportunity. So by preparing carefully and placing yourself in front of all the opportunities out there, you can be the “lucky” one who lands the perfect job.

David Gonzalez
President, DPN

Categories
Butler training Published Articles

Ask Not What The Butler Did But What He Could Do For You

The Hotel Butler – Recognizing the Value Butlers Bring to the Bottom Line!

We all know the cliche, but what was it the butler did? Sometimes in movies or board games, he was the one the police wanted to question further. In the hotel environment, the butler can be a failed experiment or a service facility that keeps high-rack occupancy rates at 100%.

Where he fails, it is because he is cast in (frankly) degrading-to-the-profession roles such as “bath butler,” “fireplace butler, “technology butler,” “baby butler” (who provides rocking chairs and watches children), “dog butler,” “ski butler,” and “beach butler.” The idea being that anything that offers superior service in some small area is called “a butler” in an effort to siphon some of the prestige of the profession.

At least when the term valet was extended to “dumb valet,” that furniture item upon which one lays out clothing for the following day, there was no pretence that this was the real item. Fortunately for the profession, the public were not fooled or taken in by these “dumb butlers” and the practice has faded relatively rapidly before it could sour the public mind on the concept of butlers. And fortunately so for the butlers working in top hotels around the world, who do justice to the profession, and the hotel managements who have recognized the value butlers bring to the bottom line and the repute of their establishments.

In an industry that is completely premised on the idea of service, and in which service is a key differentiator, it’s a no-brainer to institute butler service. Butlers have always represented the pinnacle in service quality. After the initial required training, the running of a butler service is not much more expensive to provide than regular service, yet it allows rack rates to be raised and creates a loyal following of repeat visitors, as well as enhancing word of mouth and thus new business that make the investment very sound.

Once management has decided to institute butler service, the next question is: how to bring it about.

The first step is to bring on board the most service-minded of your employees to undergo training. The second: Bring in one of the handful of butler trainers who can train hotel butlers (as distinct from butlers in private residence, as the hotel environment is very different and requires fewer and different skills than the traditional butler).

In putting together a training program, it is important to know the four main elements that hotel butler trainees and hotel butler programs need in order to succeed.

First of all, there are the mechanical actions, the skills that butlers need, such as how to clean shoes, how to greet guests, tour them around their suite, how to arrange events for their stay, etc.

Then there is knowing and adopting the psyche or mindset of the butler. It is a truism that in order to do something effectively and with conviction, one has to be able to be the role that one is playing fully. Unless a butler has this as a starting point, he or she will never be able to carry off the role convincingly or handle guests and even fellow staff with the aplomb that makes butlers such quintessential service professionals.

This is why the training has to include the history, rationale, characteristics and communication skills of the traditional butler, and enough drilling-in of these elements so that when the novice butler is faced with a tricky or embarrassing situation, he or she is not left tongue-tied, upsetting guests, or proving that he is not the smooth, low-key character that guests expect in their butlers.

Thirdly, having covered the theory and done copious drills on applying the skills in a classroom environment, the trainer needs to move out with the butlers and expose them gradiently to guests in the actual areas they will be providing butler service. By gradient is meant the trainees using each other and then senior staff as guest guinea pigs, and then servicing known-to-be-easy guests, and then VIPs and known-to-be-difficult guests. The trainer should correct them on an internship or apprenticeship basis until the trainees can confidently do their duties.

Finally, for training to be practical and workable, it needs to tie the general actions of butling into the specific hotel environment in which they are being instituted. This means the trainer has to work with hotel management and butler trainees to adapt existing SOPs (standard operating procedures) and propose new ones that align with existing SOPs. These SOPs would be developed during the training and then drilled and corrected and used during the apprenticeship period and then fine-tuned. The result would be a butler manual that would be referred to regularly, and used to train new staff to be butlers‹as the program will probably expand and there will always be some attrition.

The end result of the whole program as outlined above is generally employees with high morale who competently carry out their duties, wowing guests and resulting, as stated before, in 100% occupancy, a very high rate of return visits, and the opportunity to increase rack rates while enjoying stellar word of mouth.

Perhaps it would be better to ask then, not what the butler did, but what he (or she) could do for you.

The above article was published in the May/June 2005 of Spa Magazine, as well as in Hotel On Line, 4Hoteliers.com, Airline News Resource and in Polish in the publication ehotelarz.com.

Categories
Published Articles

The Job Interview Game

It has been my good fortune to work with various employers and employees of late, and I have some observations to make which may prove salutary to both groups.

When an employer graded a prospective couple as a B-, he was being overly generous, I thought, given that they had talked non-stop, the gentleman in a loud voice, and had complained vociferously about their current employer. This behavior was particularly egregious, as this couple had both been briefed by me to avoid these exact points in their interview, following my observation during two phone conversations that they tended in this unacceptable direction.

These two individuals were by no means the only applicants suffering from this lack of awareness concerning employers’ needs. A good household and even hospitality employee would do well to bear in mind Sir Winston Churchill’s remonstration: “A diplomat is a man who thinks twice before saying nothing.” The following is NOT meant to be insulting, and certainly does not apply to all Americans, but there is a subset of the populace that is sufficiently full of their own world and concerns that they feel compelled to talk incessantly about them.

The first lesson to learn for them is that there are other people in front of them, and then to observe whether these people are willing and eager to hear everything one is thinking of telling them. Factually, employees are there to listen, not talk, and that is the simplicity of the matter. Listen and respond, or better still preempt. Otherwise, as some clients have complained to me, “I begin to wonder who is working for whom.”

The issue of over-talkative employees brings to mind an observation that a number of people are attempting to enter the household profession without having worked in it before (nothing wrong with this at all), but without realizing that there is a mind-set that goes with working in a household situation, where one is in a private household, but not of it. It is not the same as working in a cleaning service or an office or the military. These all have their own codes of conduct, and they are not the same as those of the household, even if the mechanical actions (of cleaning or managing others) are the same.

Many Americans in private service and guest services in the hospitality industry have the proper approach, but to those new to (or even experienced in) the field who do not have it down, I would recommend reading Butlers & Household Managers, 21st Century Professionals. And then muzzle your desire to talk up a storm in the presence of, or concerning, your employer. You and they will be the better for it, I assure you.

Lastly, employers, as much as you know that looking after pennies means the pounds (or dollars) will look after themselves, please be aware that you do not increase loyalty or respect in employees by penny pinching on salaries. Here, I am not saying that you should feel bad that you are only paying your Household Manager $90,000. No, I am saying that beating him down from $50,000 p.a. to $47,500 may satisfy your bargaining instincts, but it only tells the employee that Scrooge is alive and well, and that his own services are not valued that much. He or she may well reciprocate by giving you the value of the service as you perceive it.

My question to you is: “What are you going to do with that extra $100,000 you saved over the years when you reach the pearly gates?” Share the wealth a bit more and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing another person (your employee) happy in servicing you. Whether you agree to the notion or not, the fact is that we are each responsible for each other. As the poem goes, “Send not for whom the bell tolls…” Another way of expressing the idea is: “What goes around, comes around.”

Your move.

Sincerely,
Steven Ferry
June 2002