Travelling is a lonely affair. You arrive to a new location, you check into a hotel room that is empty and you just have a telephone line to ask an unknown person for food, directions, laundry or anything else you might need.
With the right buck for the right bang, travelling does not have to feel so lonely, though.
The latest trend in luxury hotel business is the butler service. That is you will get a best friend while at the hotel, a man who will do everything for you — unpack your luggage, bring you fresh flowers at midnight, teach you how to serve champaign with strawberries to impress your bride and even buy you socks!
About 40 experienced butlers from around the world will be employed.
"Butlers will offer a very personal service. They will do as much or as little as you want. They may unpack the suitcase for you and arrange your clothes in the wardrobe and then again pack it when you leave the hotel, if you wish so," added Pelling.
It may all sound a little bit too posh, but, after all, when paying top rates, luxury service is expected, and nothing quite beats above standard personal service. Besides, being able to impress a guest who seems to have it all is the best satisfaction that a butler — and the hotel — could get. That is why the butler is for a hotel what a master chef is for a kitchen. He creates a good reputation for the establishment and brings back customers time and time again. According to 2010 statistics, a hotel has 35 per cent repeat guests who return because of the butler service experience and often even ask for the same butler.
Running such a service, though, is not an easy job, proven by the many hotels worldwide that tried and failed. Today there are only about 400 luxury hotels that offer such a service one of the oldest to employ butlers.
