On-Site Training for New & Experienced Staff in Private Estates, Households, Yachts, and Jets
New staff sometimes have no formal training in butling and/or household management.
With existing staff, there may be areas of performance that could benefit from some direction.
While all on-site training is customized to your estate and staff, basic training programs include workshops and lengthier training periods that focus on:
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- Understanding their role, improving behaviour, and social skills (including etiquette and protocol) and being able to carry them out;
- A wide variety of butler and valet skills;
- Providing an apprenticeship to bring it all together in practice;
- Executive Training as a household manager/butler administrator, including creating a team and a smooth running machine.
Staff Manual
Among the services provided are establishing or fine-tuning the daily routines and schedules, including customizing (or reviewing) the Staff Manual, formerly known as the Butler’s Pantry Book. This record of all the specifics of running your household provides the template for all staff duties and continuity between generations of employees.
Please e-mail the Training Director for a complimentary consultation. We are happy to help clarify your training needs and suggest options for a winning training program.
Testimonials
“We all want to thank you for the training we received from you on Luxury Service Basics. We would have loved to have you train us in person, but because of Covid circumstances, we were unable to do that. However, with the help of technology, you were able to conduct a wonderful training which was well received by all of us. We particularly appreciated the drills and corrections during the service portion of the program: It takes a trained eye like yours to catch the little nuances of our movements, especially over Zoom—for example, the angles of our bodies and the sounds we were making while walking! You made the training fun with your quick wit and amusing stories that you shared from your many years of experience. We looked forward to the training each week and the hours flew by rapidly. The information you shared could only be known by someone who was in the field, and that is very valuable to us, particularly regarding International Etiquette. All in all, we feel that the training has prepared us to do our jobs more gracefully and confidently now and into the future. Thanks for offering to be available if we have any questions as we go forward. Also, should we find that we need additional training, you are the first person we will contact.”
JO’H
“I wanted to say how important your work is in private service. What you have accomplished by giving butlers standardized training is so fantastic and I wish you continued success.”
“Mr. Amer, our trainer, was very knowledgeable about the butler concept. In my 9 years of service, I have learned many things, but after attending Mr. Amer’s training, I fine-tuned those things.”
“Mr. Ferry worked with an untrained staff for two weeks and taught them to serve guests with varied levels of formality. In this short time, the pupils effectively absorbed his encyclopedic knowledge of running a house and discerning eye for detail. A proper breakfast tray, dressy seated dinner, or raucous cocktail party—Steven Ferry is the Modern (and versatile) Butler authority.”
RSG.
“I remember my testimonial when I finished the Correspondence Course, in which I said that the Institute would be the best and preferred butler education/training institution. Now it seems to me that this is becoming a reality. Having experienced training on site with Mr. Ferry, my belief is firm that the Institute will continue to grow: what it is doing is not just teaching, but also touching the hearts of the students and bringing them to a different level of understanding—improving the quality of their work as well as their lives. This is really WOW! I am so proud to be a member of the Institute.”
“Thank you for making our classes a pleasurable experience. We appreciate the professional and personal teaching skills. The art of butling is a great challenge, thank you for making it possible.”
“Thank you for the time spent with us at 2880. I appreciate and respect your perspectives; the lessons reinforced and added to my knowledge. I look forward to having you back to help my staff and I be the best we can be.”
“You have a special talent for teaching and it has been a great honor and pleasure to have studied under you. What a learning experience. You have opened my eyes to a different kind of private service. Your book was a refreshing revelation with many inspiring notes and examples. Now, having met the man behind the book, the meaning and enlightenment have only increased. This book will be on my reference shelf for many years to come. The expert, the professional, the experienced man with whom we enjoyed many remarkable days. I would like to send a personal thank you for your excellent tuition last week and for bringing alive so eloquently your book Butlers & House Managers, 21st Century Professionals.”
“My guests keep saying ‘Thank you’ over and over again for every ‘little’ thing that I do. From my end, it looks sometimes to be such a miniscule thing that it doesn’t require thanks, but you can see how appreciative they are. For the first time now, I feel the same way they do—whereas words will not really communicate the appreciation and thanks I feel, I assume that ‘Thank you’ is what’s left.”