The St. Regis Shanghai Sets New Hospitality Standards Through Legendary Butler Service

Scheduled to open in July 2001, The St. Regis Shanghai will be the pinnacle of customized service and personalized attention. The hallmark of The St. Regis Shanghai is that each guest experience is anticipated and personalized through the legendary 24-hour Butler Service. The St. Regis Shanghai will be the only hotel in Shanghai that provides round-the-clock Butler Service/ Maitre D’Etage for all guests.

The St. Regis Shanghai is committed to seeking individuals who are caring and detail-oriented with an extraordinary sense of flexibility to ensure flawless attention to the demands of its international clientele. In fact, The St. Regis experience combines the tactile, classic luxury of the Old World with all the modern amenities of the New World, from the latest technology to the most comprehensive business services. The trademark 24-hour Butler Service is an example of how the hotel has adapted the old to the new.

Butlers are no longer stuffy, formal gentlemen standing at attention outside guests’ doors. This traditional position has been adapted to modern times to serve more as a personal assistant, from helping to pack or unpack luggage to troubleshooting computer problems, essentially providing total business solutions for guests. Traditionally, the terms butler and “Gentlemen’s Gentlemen” are interchangeable. However the later term is outdated since the composition of St. Regis Butlers is a good mix of both male and female associates.

Schooled in protocol and dedicated to the ideals of hospitality, all Butlers are personally empowered to do whatever it takes to ensure a guest’s comfort in the most discreet manner. The highly personalized intimate nature of service and the lengths to which all associates go to satisfy guests’ needs and desires will set the hotel apart from its competitors.

All guests at The St. Regis Shanghai will be welcomed on arrival by their own personal Butler who will help coordinate all aspects of their stay. The French term, maitre d’etage, meaning “master of the floor” is taken literally at The St. Regis because each Maitre D’Etage/ Butler runs their own Guest Floor and is responsible for all needs of guests on the Floor. Throughout the guest’s stay, the personal Butler will be the primary contact attending to all guests’ needs. All a guest has to do is to inform the Butler on their floor of their needs and he or she will attend to them promptly.

St. Regis Butlers are considered entry-level managers and go through an intense 3 months training, followed by at least 10 hours per week ongoing on-the-job training. Besides English, all Butlers at St. Regis are fluent in at least one other language. Their duties include :

- Creating, maintaining and building on detailed guest histories that track every visit ( from their favorite room or preferred view, pillow preference right down even to the side of the bed they sleep on ), on an advanced guest information system. Our guest histories are handled with the utmost privacy and discretion

- Conducting guests arrival meetings 24 hours in advance to anticipate and prepare for all guests’ needs

- Preparing rooms for arrival according to guest history profiles

- Providing in-room check-in

- Reserving a guest’s favorite table at his or her preferred dining venue

- Inspecting guestrooms to standards

- Familiarizing guests with room amenities upon arrival

- Providing complimentary tea or coffee at any time during the guest’s stay

- Providing complimentary fresh fruits, with daily replenishment

- Offering light pressing of garments upon arrival

- Packing and unpacking services

- Arranging valet services 24 hours a day. This includes laundry, pressing, dry cleaning, shoe shine services and apparel repair

The Butler may coordinate with other departments on guests’ behalf for restaurant bookings, cultural, sporting or touring events, transportation arrangements, room bookings, in-room entertainment as well as private dining arrangements. St. Regis Butlers are also trained to solve dilemmas small and large, from finding the correct adaptor, accessing internet and personal e-mail, fixing in-room facsimile glitches, setting up conference call from the room to troubleshooting computer problems. Essentially, the Butler offers total business solutions for all guests, to ensure their stay is the most gratifying one.

The St. Regis Shanghai is managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. The St. Regis consists of an exclusive collection of nine hotels around the world, all named for the 1904 Beaux Arts landmark hotel in New York City, which was built by Colonel John Jacob Astor. The legendary flagship, The St. Regis New York, is consistently ranked as one of the world’s finest. Other St. Regis hotels are located in Aspen, Beijing, Monarch Beach, Los Angeles, Houston, Rome and Washington D.C.

Starwood is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 725 properties in 80 countries and 120,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W brands, as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts.