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I define a luxury travel experience, to a degree, as placing yourself in a situation where you can get what you want when you want it. In fact, well‐heeled people traveling to 5‐star hotels expect a certain level of service on a routine basis. This means traveling where staff are used to handling unusual requests at all hours of the day or night and can adapt their public spaces to create all sorts of situations, arrange off‐site experiences, or just create and anticipate a simple little thing that the guest may need. Hotels and resorts may handle service in a different manner due to the hotel size, culture of the guests staying there, geographic location, etc. but the guests may not really be aware of such things. They just want what they want. Some may go about their daily business and expect things to just fall into place for them, while others may have a whole list of requirements and expect to just hand this to someone, realizing some things may cost extra. This may be of little concern, as they just want the situation as they desire.
When seeking luxury, some guests seek an intimate smaller hotel. This may be for personalized service, the desire to have a more private experience, or the desire to become well known as a guest. The boutique hotel guest may be anyone you know or could be someone rich and famous. In fact, in my 20 stays at the resort over the last 9 years, I have stayed there at the same time as James Earl Jones, Alan Arka, Kimberlyn Brown, Robin Williams, and the entire cast of License to Wed. Something about Royal Plantation Ocho Rios draws in composers, artists, chefs and the like as both guests and staff. It is obvious when you talk to anyone that works at Royal Plantation that they consider it such an honor. The staff genuinely care about each other and guests like an extension of their family.
The tradition of providing an intimate, luxury experience started at Plantation Inn in the late 50s. The hotel evolved and grew over the years. When the 21st century turned, renowned hotelier Gordon “Butch” Stewart decided to buy the hotel in his native home area of Ocho Rios. He had the dream of not only restoring it to its heyday but to take it to another level. More renovations were made, and an all‐inclusive concept was adopted. While all‐inclusive can sometimes have a stigma amongst the affluent (thankfully, this is starting to change), the concept worked beautifully at Royal Plantation. Retaining knowledgeable Suzanne Millwood as the hotel manager, bringing on his daughter Jamie Stewart as managing director, and hiring just the right staff and general manager (the first of 3 wonderful ones) was the start of something wonderful. Gourmet seafood with an island flair, international favorites, the finest cuts of meats, salads and soups from fresh ingredients, and desserts made fresh from the pastry kitchen delighted guests from all over the world. Excellent service began from the time the guest arrived at the airport until the time the guest returned home.
A few years later, Mr. Stewart decided to offer guests the option to stay on a European “pay as you go” plan or to continue to stay on an all‐inclusive plan. This has worked well for the hotel, as some guests like to venture out, and this way people can stop by for a meal that are not staying there. The resort always had an adults‐only atmosphere, and it works well for romantic trips, spa getaways, and multi‐generational reunions. There are so many choices for pampering. Guests have been able to enjoy drink service at the pool or beach (including misting, cucumbers on the eyes, fruit and signature mangosas), experience a pillow menu, afternoon tea, golf, personal greeting on arrival by veteran Front Office Manager Marcia Wilmot or another manager or concierge, and in‐room bar concierge service. Staff will sometimes notice something that a guest likes and plan a surprise.
All of this sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Well, you might imagine as someone who had stayed 19 times and has sent many clients to the resort over the years, when I heard of them adding butler service, I wondered, “WHY?”. My guests have always been able to get what they wanted when they wanted by just having a conversation with the right person. Peter Fraser, General Manager for 6 years, told me it was the right thing to do, as did the Sandals “marketing machine”. Knowing my clientele and the hotel history, I knew good and well that a butler concept could not work as a marketing gimmick. The prestigious organization The English Guild of Butlers was engaged to make the program a success, and it was clear this was to be a serious program. Knowing Peter’s eye for detail is frightfully similar to mine, I had to listen and make my commitment to the hotel to become one of the first butler guests. I arrived 6 days after the program officially began this month. While training and butler selection began last fall, everything was in full swing on my visit.
Loyalty Manager Shawn Moses, beloved by many guests, was assigned as Head Butler and manages 11 butlers. He continues his duties as Loyalty Manager. The esteemed Director of Training, Raj Subramanian was brought in from The English Guild of Butlers for on‐site training and to oversee the implementation of the program. We spent about 16 hours together discussing many aspects of what a butler should do and what a guest may expect. Raj was recently involved in the implementation of the butler program on Silversea Silver Spirit, and we were on the inaugural voyage of that experience, as well. He was working very hard to make the program a success, but it is ultimately up to the management and butlers at Royal Plantation to adapt the butler concept to the resort’s unique and special atmosphere.
Naturally, the butler concept started out as a servant type situation in upscale homes. A head butler would oversee the kitchen and household staff, run finances, schedules, etc. Many of these duties for a head butler do not come over when considering the butler concept at a luxury hotel. However, the head butler surely will have scheduling duties, problem solving, and a number of other duties to manage and will likely be one of the busiest people on property. It could easily turn into a “back‐office” type position, but I am sure the hotel realizes what an asset they have in Shawn’s dynamic relationship with guests. One of Shawn’s roles needs to be to find the specific assets of each of the 11 butlers and build on those traits by allowing each butler to delve deep within their hearts to get at just why they are in service.
So, from a broad perspective, what IS a butler?
A butler is a distingushed gentleman or lady trained in many areas. I think of a butler as a facilitator. He or she is one that should know a little bit about all departments of the resort, a lot about the country and what is available for guests to do, know about current trends in travel, fashion, music, politics, sports, and many other topics. The butler may not be an expert in all areas of the hotel but will build relationships with other departments and have a genuine understanding of what they do and can deliver to guests. The butler will oversee the guest experience from a point in time before the guest arrives until the guest departs. A butler will seek out guest preferences in advance, but a good butler will notice a lot of details and change the guest experience without the guest even knowing it. A good butler can create incredible moments.
However, this cannot be delivered in a "cookie-cutter stamped out fashion. It makes no sense to deliver nightly canapés to someone who doesn’t want to be disturbed before dinner or has no appetite. If the canapés are rejected a couple of days, this might be something a butler could notice had a surprise been attempted. If a guest is allergic to seafood, it makes no sense to arrange seafood surprises. If they only like to be among other guests, it makes no sense to bring a surprise dinner to the room. A challenge will be that the butlers have a number of rooms and cannot spend all of their time with the guests in each room. Guests at Royal Plantation are given a modern phone, and they can call their butler with requests, but there is plenty of time in the day for each butler to pay attention to what is happening on a daily basis.
This is a gift all the Royal Plantation staff has always had - a waitress that knows from one visit to the next that you like grapefruit juice, a bartender that remembers your drink, a general manager that remembers your favorite dish, a sommolier that finds a rare wine for a connoisseur are examples. Certainly, a butler program is designed to elevate already exceptional service. Butlers must pay attention to detail. They need to call guests on the provided phone to check on their needs and to find out if it is OK to enter the room if they do not know where the guest is located.
Many guests do not know what services they can expect from a butler. Sandals implemented the program a few years ago, so some of their guests that also stay at Royal Plantation have some expectations. Guests that have stayed at other butler hotels or experienced them on a cruise ship will have other expectations. I feel that Royal Plantation needs to put their own flair into the program. The English Guild of Butlers trains in a formal level of service where each butler learns how to artfully organize guest clothing both in the room and the suitcase. Dinner reservations should be taken, and offers to organize daily activities such as tours or spa treatments should be offered. The butler also should be someone that understands formal manners and style. However, Royal Plantation is an intimate hotel on an island, and not all guests will want formal service or understand it. Some just want a little help from a nice staff member that cares about them. This is where the butler can use some intuition and draw on life experiences. A problem I have seen at other luxury resorts or cruises is that since many guests do not research what a butler is, they do not ask for anything and then say they did not do anything. The butler should give an overview of duties and offerings at the time of introducing the resort and the suite to the guest. There are other guests like me that are used to butler service that will just come in and set the expectations. The butler should find this comforting and not be intimidated, especially if the guest is not asking for much. Above all, I feel that if a butler promises something, it needs to be delivered if at all possible, or an explanation and counter situation should be offered. A butler should never avoid a guest if something goes wrong. Anyone in the hospitality business knows that if 20 incredible experiences are created and there is one failure that a guest may just
remember only that one bad thing. In a short time, I am counting on Royal Plantation to take everything
they know about both formal and casual class and elegance and use it to not only exceed guest expectations but to have an idea of what wishes are on a guest's mind.
Learn More About What Royal Plantation Butlers Can Do
Debbie Hoffren, CTIE, CLS, DS - February 25, 2010
Certified Sandals Specialist Platinum Agent
Information and Travel Resources
Preferred Sandals Agency
Top Travel Agency Nationwide Royal Plantation STAR Awards December, 2009
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