Message from the Chairman

by Steven Ferry

What? Another year gone? How the time has flown!

We have plenty of note to look back on this year, and I am sure you do, too.

Another article has been published that might be of interest: What Happens When Quality Assurance Morphs into PR & Marketing? It is a challenge to impress upon hospitality managements that all the PR and marketing and social media positioning they ever needed would occur naturally by word of mouth if they would just focus on improving the quality of their service. For us butlers, it is so obvious that the boss and guests will be happy when we perform our job well; butlers do not focus instead on making sure that everyone speaks well of us. Yet that is where hotels are these days—even their quality assurance actions are focused on improving their PR, marketing, and sales. Definite room for improvement!

We say goodbye to another loyal writer for the MBJ, Professor Richard Ratliff, who has been providing us with his Professional series. We wish him well on his new project and look forward to his return.

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people- skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.