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What is a Valet?
The valet or butler is a specialist when it comes to providing personalized service to guests. For Valet Service, there are two (2) services: Valet Parking and Valet Housekeeping. However, some high – end establishments who handle frequent and regular Very Important Persons (VIPs) do provide full butler service. Valet housekeeping is expected to do everything that would make a guest’s stay very pleasant and comfortable, It is like having a personal assistant, a helper, messenger, and secretary in one position and a service that is delivered to a VIP. That is why the characteristics and skills of the valet are superior to that of the typical room attendant. Valet Housekeeping Staff do research the personality/background of guests and observes their actual behavior to deliver the appropriate service based on the facts and actual observation.
Other Performed Tasks
A Valet Staff carries out a variety of personalized services, such as:
Pack and unpack guest’s luggage.
Collect guest’s items for laundry and pressing.
Shine and clean guest’s shoes.
Assist with guest’s request for repairs by suggesting accredited companies or agencies.
Facilitate the guest's special requests like travel and ticket reservations or other personal concerns.
Identify the role of a valet
The job of the valet
A valet, sometimes also known as a 'butler', is employed by a hotel to provide a personalized and specialist service to guests for the duration of their stay.
They add a degree of service, class and style many people associate with indulgence and opulence.
Valet services are not common. Certainly not all establishments provide valet service and the position may not exist in some countries. Many hotels will only supply a „valet parking‟ service.
However international guests may have very high levels of expectation in relation to the service provided by valets, especially American and Japanese guests. Many expect the same level of service provided by other up-market hotels around the world.
The many roles of a valet
Many regard the valet as providing a combination of roles each with its own demanding level of personalized and individualized services. The various roles include:
Housekeeper – performing a range of services normally provided by room attendants in other rooms
Confidant – being a trusted person whom the guest can confide in when they need to talk or share an idea, experience or opinion
Guide – informing the guest of what is available both within and outside the venue, when it is available, how to get there and how to obtain entry, tickets, preferential treatment
Concierge – while all valets work together with the concierge in a venue, many valets often take the role of concierge for the guests they are looking after
Organizer – organizing activities including reservations, tickets to shows, entry to events, meetings with people, daily schedules, on behalf of and under the direction of the guest
Supervisor – overseeing the work of other people (venue employees and outside workers) who provide products and service to the guest
Guest relations – ensuring the guest has a pleasant stay in the venue, ensuring their expectations are met and dealing with any problems that arise during the stay.
It is true that a valet may be all these and more. Exactly what a valet is or the services they provide, depends greatly on the needs of the individual guest.
There is a special relationship between the valet and the concierge, especially the nature of the working relationship between them that demands instant responses to guest needs, quick supply of information, and general professional support.
The valet must be able to respond immediately and appropriately to the needs of individual guests who may all have widely diverse demands. It is definitely a challenging position but, without doubt, an extremely rewarding one.
The role of valet would generally be undertaken by experienced staff members or other people with sound organisational and interpersonal skills.
Depending on the organisational structure of the venue, „valet‟ may be located in Housekeeping, Front Office or another appropriate department such as Finance or Sales and Marketing.
The valet is always:
A front-of-house member of staff – they are not „back of house‟ staff who work „behind the scenes‟
A guest contact staff member – as opposed to a manager or administration officer
A service provider – while they perform some liaison and supervision duties their primary role is one of service provision.
Valet Runner.3gpVideo # 1: Valet/ Butler Duties and Responsibilities
The main duties of a valet
The main duties of a valet refer to the services they provide to their guests.
The Position Description for „valet‟ at your venue will provide a good starting point regarding what they are expected to do.
The nature and extent of these services will vary between guests with some guests demanding constant attention and others requiring little in the way of valet service.
Services can include, but are not limited to:
Professionally and confidentially communicating – with the guest and on behalf of the guest
Unpacking and storing guest luggage
Preparing guest clothes and footwear – ready for use
Light pressing of garments – as required or requested
Packing guest luggage – for their departure
Cleaning and polishing shoes – as required or requested
Repairing, or organizing the repair of, clothes and other guest belongings
Providing assistance in relation to organisation of guest needs and requests including wake up calls, newspaper, coffee and tea
Monitoring the provision of establishment services to the guest – both in-room and throughout the venue. This may include:
Arranging and supervising the provision of room service for meals, snacks, parties and drinks
Organisation and implementation of functions for the guest in their room or in a function room at the venue
Recording services that have been delivered – for quality control and accounting procedures
Preparing room before guest arrives – by providing various items such as fruit bowls, complimentary gifts, bathrobes, chocolates or flowers
Looking after guest laundry and dry cleaning needs – on an ongoing basis for the duration of their stay
Organizing and processing secretarial duties upon request – such as messages, faxes, packages, translation, postage, and use of the business facilities at the property
Arranging restaurant bookings, car hire, tours, specified purchases of gifts or other items
Organizing activities to meet guest needs – such as arranging special functions in the venue, booking local excursions and tours, and making reservations for the theater, shows, dining and special events
Provision of local advice (the „concierge‟ function) including:
Recommendations for dining and shopping
Suggestions for transport and sight-seeing
Options for tourism and leisure activities
Acquisition of personal services
Making, altering or confirming travel arrangements.
Prior to guest arrival the valet must:
Investigate background information and knowledge about guest preferences and previous history with the establishment
Take action to ensure promises made to the guest are met when the guest arrives.
On guest departure the valet must: Record and process guest charges and accounts – for billing and payment
Assist in the maintenance of guest history file – to provide relevant and up-to-date information about the guest/VIP
De-brief with management – to identify lessons learned, determine changes needing to be made to SOPs and whether or not management needs to contact the guest to make an apology.
Video # 1: Attributes of a Butler
Prepare to deliver valet services
Why is it important to obtain this information?
It is important to obtain VIP guest information so you can:
Learn about the guest – knowledge is power when used to satisfy the guest. The more knowledge you have about the guest to be served, the better you can meet their needs
Identify their individual needs, wants and preferences – so service delivery can be tailored to meet their personal needs
Meet expectations – where valet service is provided, VIP guests have high expectations about the standard of service received, and how they will be welcomed and treated. Meeting or exceeding guest expectations is important in relation to:
Attracting repeat business
Obtaining positive word-of-mouth advertising and endorsements.
Video # 2: Butler Services
Record valet services
Facts about billable charges
Billable charges are any charges incurred by the guest while at the venue that can be legally, legitimately and ethically recovered from them. See below for examples of what these might be.
Billable charges may be recovered:
Periodically:
Where the guest has an extended stay at the venue, management may require the guest to settle their account every, say, seven days in full
The venue may have a policy requiring the guest to settle their account whenever it reaches a nominated total
When the guest departs as part of the check-out process, or by obtaining payment within a prescribed number of days after the guest has departed.
Processing billable charges
Processing billable charges will often need to reflect the protocols for individual venues and the Front Office billing systems they use. It is for this reason it is essential all venue policies regarding processing charges must be adhered to.
Failure to comply with these requirements can mean the venue misses out on revenue it is entitled to.
Your on-the-job training will make you aware of what is required in this regard, but the following are key points generally applicable to processing billable charges:
All legitimate charges must be processed by the valet.
If the guest is to be granted an exemption for a charge (a product or service is to be provided free-of-charge), then management should make this decision
All billable charges must be supported by appropriate documentation. This paperwork explains and describes the charge and may contain a signature as evidence of the legitimacy of the charge.
Documentation may be a receipt or a docket
All charges must be processed promptly. The standard requirement is to process charges as they occur. Some internal systems enable automatic posting of charges to accounts as they occur from linked point-of-sale terminals or registers.
From the valet‟s point of view, processing a billable charge means:
Notifying Front office of the charge
Advising of the room number and guest name
Forwarding supporting documentation.
When Front Office has been notified they will update the guest account by posting the charge to the guest account.
Examples of billable charges
There is potentially no limit to the nature of billable charges for a guest but the following indicate what may be charged by presenting the commonly involved charges:
Room service charges – for in-room meals, snacks, and drinks
Disbursements – any monies paid out by the venue on behalf of the guest will need to be recovered
Meals and drinks – from venue bars, cafes, dining rooms, restaurants or similar
Functions and parties – these can include smaller in-room events as well as larger functions conducted in function rooms
Mini bar use – guests may be required to pay for items used from the mini bar but some VIP guests may have free access to all mini bar items. Check with management to see what applies in your venue. The fact is the requirement in this regard can vary with the individual guest.
For example, a high-roller in a „comp‟ suite (complimentary, free-of-charge room) will not be required to pay for their use of the mini bar or some other charges normally applied to other guests.
In many venues a dedicated staff member may be responsible for re-stocking the mini bar and processing any charges arising
Retail items – where the venue has retail outlets, purchases such as merchandise and souvenirs may also need to be charged
Extra services – these can include:
Personal services – baby-sitting, massage
Business services – photocopying, interpreter and secretarial services
Transport, travel and tours
Laundry and dry cleaning
Repairs, maintenance and cleaning. Where the guest has caused deliberate damage to venue property the property will usually seek to recover costs required to effect necessary repairs or cleaning.
Depending on the guest and the circumstances, management may seek to recover such costs even where the damage was accidentally caused.
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