Message from the Chairman

by Steven Ferry

We are pleased to announce the launch of The Butler Experience, based in Mauritius, which has its own academy for training service professionals in the needed soft skills to provide superior service, and then hospitality butler training, and then private service butler training. These three courses are done in sequence, and are followed by training in the multiple disciplines needed to service the expectations and needs of today’s high-end, international clients. The title of these graduates is LifeStyle Architects, as the (relatively) narrow focus of the traditional Butler and even House Manager or Estate(s) Manager does not quite meet all the requirements of today’s clients.

The first 13 students, each one already an experienced hospitality and/or private service Butler and on their way to becoming Lifestyle Architects, have graduated the first two courses and are currently engaged on the third course. They can be placed permanently with a client, but the idea is that they will service the temporary need of butlers by individual clients and corporations in Africa, the Indian Ocean, and Middle East (to start), and also assist resorts in times of peak occupancy. Being from Mauritius, they all speak English and French.

This project has taken a lot of curricula development and standardization that will benefit the training offered by the Institute to its other clients.

Feedback from the trainees will be featured in the June edition of the Journal, but their photos and comments can be found in the Recent Graduates and In Their Words columns of this issue.

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.