When Rory Baugh was first offered the opportunity to be professionally trained as a butler he turned up his nose at the assignment.
“I remember telling my GM back then, ‘This is not for me, I’m not shining anybody’s shoes. I want to be the manager with the big bunch of keys!’” he tells the Jamaica Observer’s LetsTravelCaribbean.com.
Looking back, he can chuckle at his youthful hubris and admit just how wrong he was.
Today, he’s a master trainer, having provided 15 years of exceptional service as a butler, manager and consultant across the Caribbean.
One of the region’s handful of local autonomous master trainers in butler service, he is certified by the Guild of Professional English Butlers. He is one of the principals in the company Mastering Excellent Service — an amalgamation of experts who share their knowledge with those looking to be among the very best at what they do.
Among their clients are properties such as Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Half Moon, The Cliff Hotel in Negril, and Baugh is a consultant for the staff at King’s House, the official residence of the governor general of Jamaica.
The view he once had of what a butler is and does is not unique. For many in the Caribbean, whose views have been shaped by the colonial era, being a butler does not top their list of career choices.
“Back in the history of butler service coming from London, they were very stiff upper lip, Jeffrey-looking in their tails, and what have you. They were the principal man servant or woman servant of a household,” says Baugh.
But times are changing.
“We’re taking away that name of ‘servant’ because the modern butlers that are emerging in the world now are the highest level of personal assistants that you can have on board. The dynamics of the travellers now are very young millionaires that have made a whole lot of money — particularly during the pandemic — and they want to travel, but they’re all about [making the best use of their] time,” he adds.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has also made travellers tighten the circle of those around them. Instead of interacting with staff from various departments within a hotel, they may opt for a personal butler who handles all the details.
“The pandemic was a huge shift for us. And so we’re moving away from this kind of service being only exclusive to certain echelons of society. Now travellers want to feel safe, they want to feel taken care of, they want to feel looked after,” Baugh’s co-principal and trained psychologist, Rochelle Amour explains. “Persons are becoming more and more reliant on that kind of intimate, direct contact, because you want to feel like when you go somewhere there’s one person that you can rely on, one person whom you can trust. It is an intimate kind of service.”
Then there are those who simply need another pair of hands, like large families or elderly guests.
“Many very well-known properties have older clients who are now over 60 [and have been] coming to them for over 30 years. They need someone to support them; they need someone to look after them when they’re on vacation, because that makes it even more enjoyable and special for them. It’s just one professional, who’s multi-skilled, able to take care of everything for them,” says Amour.
There is high demand for the services provided by the team of experts at Mastering Excellent Service, with queries coming in from as far away as Egypt and India. For now, they will expand their butler service training within the Caribbean, starting with St Lucia next month and then St Vincent and the Grenadines in October.
Properties know what the investment in this level of training can do for their bottom line.
“When we do training like this… you can double or triple the room rate of a villa if you include butler service,” says Amour.
A recent training session has left general manager of The Cliff Hotel in Negril’s West End Vernon Johnson convinced that their services are valuable.
“I’ve seen the maturation; I’ve seen the progress in a simple two-week period with what the team was able to do in such a short period. I see the confidence; people are walking a little taller, they’re walking with their heads held high,” he says.
The Cliff caters to the upper leisure market and Johnson has to ensure guests get value for money. Butler service is included with the two larger villas but attracts an add-on fee for the smaller ones. The goal is to eventually add butler service to the suites as well.
Baugh’s concept of the modern-day butler fits in perfectly with the ambiance they are trying to create at The Cliff.
“Our butler concept is not the English butler concept. We’re going for more relaxed, un-intrusive sort of service,” Johnson says. “It’s not a service that you’re going to be fawned over. We try to create a fun environment where individuals can be themselves; they could add their own creative flow to it.”
The two-week butler service training course is just the first step in a three-part programme. The second phase includes buy-in from all departments as policies and infrastructure are put in place. The final phase in year one involves quarterly training sessions that keep team members at a certain level of professionalism.
“We’ve partnered with Mastering Excellent Service because I don’t see this as the end, I see this as a continuation of what we’re trying to create. Not just at The Cliff, but throughout Negril, throughout Jamaica. Just to say that we are the best, we provide the best facilities, but more so the best service that one can find,” says Johnson.
