KosherKimchee

I've stayed at St Regis Singapore number of times and have found butler to be useless for anything other than cleaning baby bottles, which they return steam cleaned on a silver tray.

They have managed to botch up every simple request I've made of them (other than baby bottle cleaning) which seems to be a function of poor English comprehension skills. I still don't quite get what language to speak in Singapore. I honestly get more traction with my broken Korean in Seoul than with English in Singapore.

SgFred

Guess your broken Korean is better than English then.
Try speaking Mandarin perhaps. Singapore has a great number of Chinese people nowadays who can't speak English and caters to the growing China market.

dd1612

They speak SINGLISH, a variation of English!

travelswithmyself

That's great to hear, because as consumers we're always worried that it goes straight to the employer's profit

SgFred

I always love this short clip of Ruby Pan, on her views of English in Singapore.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71AqG1YFURk

MSPeconomist

This is more of a problem with somewhat less educated Singaporeans, although the StR has a lot of staff from the Phillippines (compared to Raffles, which is proud of their Maylasian staff). English is the/an official language, although Singaporeans of Chinese ethnicity are expected to learn Chinese in school too. I would expect the butlers to speak English very week and I've never had problems with this among the butlers, although I did once have an issue with the hostess at the casual restaurant by the pool and the supposed explanation was that she didn't understand (simple clear) English.

lcpteck

Doesn't matter what your educational background is when it comes to speaking Singlish.

Singaporeans are composed of difference races, Singlish can comprise of english/chinese (and dialects)/malay/tamil all in one sentence.

mrlonghorn

So I can tell that you get coffee and tea. Maybe clothes packed/unpacked and even pressed. But if you are going to a StR where there is pretty much nothing around (Bora Bora) what else can they do? Arrange for scuba/snorkeling? Bring the gear? Get you a golf cart or bike?

I'm not used to someone waiting on me and really don't think this is a huge benefit personally, but am I missing something? I'm not trying to be snarky or disrespectful, but can you ask them to hop over to the market and pick up some Hinano so you don't pay $15 each at the resort? That would be handy and I would certainly compensate them for their time.

I guess I'm just trying to determine if I will even use a butler or not.

m0hamed

Think of them as concierge and room service combined. They will do things you request, but clearly if you ask for beer they are going to get it from room service, not an external store.

Also, they may delegate duties outside the hotel to the concierge or other staff.

My assessment is they tend to look after a certain floor.

In Princeville our Butler was assigned to all of the top tier suites, i.e. only the top 3.

nologic

I would like a butler at home. I can't afford one. I don't really use the butlers in the hotels. Nice to know they are there, but very little I ever actually request of them.

worldtraveller73

At the St Regis Mauritius, I've had them approach me on the beach to ask about dinner reservations. They have pro-actively offered to chill on ice our bottles of wine in our suite (not even purchased from the resort!) which we were able to then enjoy at sunset from the comfort of our suites' deck.

I've also had our hosts do the same thing at the Park Hyatt Maldives - have a bottle of bubbles brought to the room in time for the sunset.

They are great to have if they are trained well and can be relied upon. In both cases, they saved me from having to return to the room to complete these tasks and added to our enjoyment of our stay.

bhrubin

I've rarely left a tip specifically for the butlers, largely because it's usually a team of butlers providing service rather than a single butler. We leave a tip for the staff overall, and assume they divide it according to whatever criteria they have for themselves. In rare instances when one person goes above and beyond, we have tipped a butler.

Let me say that I LOVE the SR butler service. It is one reason I opt for SR even when there are FS or other 5 star options available, assuming the rate/location are otherwise close. (Getting SPG points for my spend is the other reason, all other things being close/equal.) Even at a place like the Chatwal in NYC, which is Luxury Collection, I love the butler service.

For me, the unpacking and packing are sublime--I love it. They always do a great job, and I despise packing at the end of any stay.

The morning coffee service is also quite nice. We also take advantage of shoe shine and pressing more than most, I'd guess. We usually get extras thrown in over the course of our stays, too, which is a nice touch.

Usually, we get recommendations about dining options and activities from the butlers, who occasionally have the concierge confirm. But it's nice having that personal point of contact every morning with the coffee service. It also allows us to get to know the neighborhood/destination a bit better, too, as our conversations usually allow the butlers to recommend more appropriate choices for us, IMO. That depends on how much you converse with them, of course.

Dr. HFH

The reason I don't do that is that it depends on the knowledge/experience of the particular butler which, of course, varies; and neighborhood recommendations aren't their primary responsibility, anyway. I rely on the concierge for that type of stuff. It's part of the concierge's job; they're expected to have that information. They also maintain active contacts with restaurants, bars and other venues which guests may wish to visit. That ensures that their information is accurate and current. Look particularly for concierges who wear les clefs d'ors (a pair of gold colored crossed antique keys) on their lapels. Those concierges have been recognized for their excellence by Les Clefs D'Ors, the accrediting international organization of concierges.

m0hamed

+1 on all points. Generally we have had a dedicated butler for our StR stays so we have tipped him or her directly.

Cathay Boy

Is there a true FAQ page about Butler services that's clean and orderly except trying to read through 7 pages of comments trying to extrapolate any information?

For example, useful answers:

1) What may we expect them to do and don't do?
2) What can we reasonably ask them to do and don't do?
3) Tipping practices
4) Do they provide services with requests outside of hotel property (like help you reserve the best restaurant in town, etc.)
5) Are they basically someone you can throw everything at?