DALLAS— Management at luxury properties is always looking for ways to better serve their guests. As such, one trend that seems to be catching on at a number of luxury properties is that of special butlers designed to serve the specific needs of the hotel’s upscale clientele. Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, for example, has a number of hotels in its portfolio that utilize special butlers. “Feedback from guests has been phenomenal, which is why we strive to offer these services at select new properties joining the Rosewood collection,” Robert Boulogne, COO of the company, based here, which currently has 15 properties around the globe. Guests at the new Mansion on Peachtree, A Rosewood Hotel opening in the Buckhead section of Atlanta in 2008, will be pampered by a personal butler. Each of the 127 rooms at the hotel will be assigned a butler to assist with customized requests including unpacking and packing luggage, spa and dinner reservations, and courier services. The newly opened Acqualina, A Rosewood Resort in Sunny Isles, FL, has a bath butler to prepare opulent soaks for guests complete with bubbles, candles, champagne, roses, warm towels and sponges. The resort also has a pool butler to provide guests with fruit, water, towels and suntan application and a baby butler to entertain toddlers with indoor and outdoor games. Rosewood hotels outside the U.S. also offer butler services to guests. A team of personal butlers is available around the clock at Hotel Seiyo Ginza, A Rosewood Hotel in Tokyo. The butlers offer everything a guest might need from check-in to check-out, assisting with unpacking and packing, in-room dining, turndown and other services. Las Ventanas al Paraiso, A Rosewood Resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, has a spa butler for guests renting one of the property’s spa suites. The specially trained butler works with the guest, starting in advance of arrival to create a personalized activity program and then arranges all activities and sees to any of the guest’s needs during their stay. Pool butlers are also available at Las Ventanas al Paraiso. The uniformed butlers are dressed in khaki shorts and traditional Mexican shirts. They greet guests upon their arrival at the pool area, ask if they would like anything and explain the available amenities. The butlers offer reading materials and music from an extensive selection of CDs as well as a personal CD player or an iPod pre-loaded with nearly one thousand songs in various categories. The pool butlers cool guests regularly with mists of frosted Evian spray and cold towels, and also serve complimentary refreshments including frozen chocolate sorbet and lemon grass popsicles. They see to special requests as well, for example, a guest may want sunblock. Additionally, the pool butlers will obtain drinks from the Swim-Up Bar and food from the adjacent Sea Grill. On the sand below the pool area, the pool butlers serve as “personal alarm clocks” to help sunbathers using the resort’s hammocks get just the amount of sun they want. Each hammock is equipped with two flags, a blue and white flag with roman numerals to indicate hours and a yellow flag showing half-hour intervals. Sunbathers can run up the flags to tell the butlers when they want to be awakened. Butlers use a teponaztle, an ancient Mexican percussion instrument, to awaken the guest. Female guests at the new Corniche, A Rosewood Hotel opening in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia later this year, will be offered the services of female butlers. Each Corniche butler will undergo a seven-week training course to prepare for their position and will wear custom fitted uniforms by Yahya Al Bishri, a Saudi designer. Fees for butler services depend upon the property. For example, there is no charge for the pool butlers at Las Ventanas al Paraiso and Acqualina, but there is a fee for Acqualina’s bath butler.
