Bali Tourism News

St. Regis Bali Resort to offer Guests Impressive Butler Service

July 11th, 2008

The first St. Regis resort in Asia is looking forward to introducing its professionally trained English-style butlers to guests when it opens in September. The St. Regis Bali Resort will have an international Chief Butler, Tony Sharp and Assistant Chief Butler, Robert Johnson, winner of ‘Butler of the Year’ award, an international award conferred by the International Guild of professional Butlers.

Tony Sharp has been butler to the US ambassador to Australia and tycoon Kerry Packer. His last assignment was Chief Concierge and Head Butler, training butlers at the exclusive The Nam Hai Hoi An resort in Vietnam. His assistant Robert Johnson, a graduate of Britain’s oldest butler school, Ivor Spencer International School for Butlers, was personal butler for 10 years to Asia’s prominent Ong family, including four years as Head Butler and Assistant Estate Manager at Parrot Cay Resort in Turks & Caicos.

The St. Regis Butlers are a hallmark of the brand, their trademark is providing ever-present, unobtrusive service while anticipating the every need of guests.

The St. Regis Bali Resort will offer not only an on-call service but also a 12-hour and 24-hour personalized butler service for its guests. Each villa in the resort features a butler quarter with a separate entrance to cater for this additional service.

“Beyond preparing coffee and tea, or packing and unpacking suitcases, the butlers are more like an experienced personal assistant anticipating and catering to the needs of guests,” said Tony Sharp.

His dedicated team was strategically recruited four-months before the opening to go through an intensive training to be butlers that are distinctly different, in preparation for the resort’s opening, and this training started with Australian consultants Magnums Butlers. Founder and trainer Josephine Ive was herself a butler to High Court judges in Australia. The training schedule with the consultants extended to modules on having positive mind-set and behaviour and effective thought processing methods.

Beyond the regular on-call service, butlers are trained in both food and beverage skills as they prepare a whole variety of breakfast egg dishes, skills which will be used when they cook fresh eggs in the morning in guests’ villas.

They are also trained in wine by the resort’s German sommelier, from the history of wines to international wine regions, different types of grapes and tasting, along with education on famous wines and their history, with education extending to teas, cigars and caviar.

As The St. Regis Bali Resort is one of the first resorts in Bali to feature Internet Protocol (IP) phones in all suites and villas, the butlers were also put through advanced technology training.

With 125 luxurious suites and villas the luxury resort occupies a breathtaking beachfront location in the exclusive enclave of Nusa Dua, overlooking the ocean and one of Bali’s premier golf courses.

Source: http://www.asiatraveltips.com/

Entry Filed under: Bali Tourism News