Guest Experience Specialist/Butler at Sofitel in Boston, MA

Company Description

Raffles Boston is a state of mind—an iconic legacy in motion, reimagined for a new era. Since the Raffles Brand founding in Singapore in 1887, Raffles has set the standard for gracious hospitality, cultural curiosity, and legendary service. In Boston, that legacy comes to life as the brand’s North American flagship, blending timeless elegance with contemporary hotel craft in the heart of one of the world’s most storied cities.

At Raffles Boston, our people are the soul of everything we do. We are custodians of culture, champions of community, and passionate stewards of meaningful guest experiences. Guided by respect, integrity, belonging, and excellence, we create an environment where every interaction is thoughtful and every moment leaves a lasting impression. Here, guests arrive as visitors, leave as friends, and return as family.

Job Description

The cornerstone of the Raffles experience, the Raffles Butler encompasses a spectrum of responsibilities from pre-arrival, arrival, in-stay, departure and post-stay arrangements for guests. Reporting to the Butler Manager/Head Butler/Director of Front Office, the role ensures that the highest level of hospitality and brand standards are delivered. As the primary curator of the guest journey, the Raffles Butler will act as the epicenter of the department, ensuring presence at all times, providing a seamless guest experience to all residents. Mainly responsible for meet and greet, arrival escort, hotel and room orientation and touching tables – integrating diverse operational functions into a cohesive experience. The role also involves porterage and delivery/pickup of guest luggage and the safekeeping and storage of guest belongings. A well-rounded and skillful individual, he or she possesses general understanding in front office, housekeeping and food & beverage, spa, concierge and other touch points in the hotel.

With a purpose to preserve the guest experience, the butler is responsible for personalizing interactions in person, by phones or chat with the aim to guide and assist clients throughout the guest journey, while also being intuitive to guest’s needs and wants. An ambassador of the hotel, he or she will take the lead in ensuring all guests are met on arrival with a constant follow up during the stay until after check-out. Far more than a service provider, the Butler is an intuitive diplomat who possesses the emotional intelligence to interpret unspoken needs and the confidence to own the guest experience entirely. As the custodian of guest resolution, they approach challenges with a spirit of recovery, in a quest for magic, and transforming moments of friction into lasting trust and a dedicated guardianship of the Raffles promise.

Duties and Functions:

• Consistently exemplifies professional, engaging and friendly service, ensuring the Raffles brand positioning, personality, service culture and values are always personalized.
• Adhere to global brand Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and implement Raffles Boston Local Standard Operating Policies and Procedure (LSOP) and Sequence of Service.
• Responsible for exemplifying the training and compliance to brand, local standards and other third-party audits.
• Instrumental in the overall guest journey from pre-arrival to post-departure.
• A strong presence and contribution in the arrival experience
• Be a driving force behind guest-centric projects aimed at elevating the guest recognition and experience and finding creative service innovations and solutions.
• Handling Pre-arrival Experience
  • Ability to clearly enter and execute Reservation Notes, Alerts, Traces in Opera.
  • Intuitively anticipate, through observation and interactions, residents’ and guests’ needs and wants and orchestrates unique Raffles experiences.
  • Assist in organizing celebrations of residents’ special occasions, ensuring all proper traces are set and departments know prior to arrival.
  • Monitor Butler Inbox and respond within four (04) hours upon receipt of email.
• • Handle ordering of amenities and personalized touches by entering requests in Alice 48 prior to arrival (2 days in advance)
    • Handle writing butler cards for welcome, butler surprises, apology and gifting
• Arrival and Hotel Orientation
  • Establish butler presence on arrival at check-in, knocking in the room or phone call
  • Delivery and pick up of guests’ luggage and belongings to and from the room, completed within ten (10) minutes
  • Manage guest luggage including wardrobe handling, unpacking and packing service
  • Escorting guest from Ground Lobby to Sky Lobby to guestrooms while introducing hotel facilities
  • Offering guestroom orientation on arrival, pointing out two to three main features of the room, followed by offering a minimum of two butler services
  • Follow through with Arrival SMS after physical/verbal interaction on arrival
  • Consistent daily follow up with Daily SMS
  • Anticipate guest needs to provide tailored and exclusive service
• In Stay Services
  • Maintains an updated log of guest requests and communication during the shift via Alice; ensures proper dispatch, handover and escalation within the Guest Experience Department and Front Office leaders.
  • Monitor tickets in Alice and ensure tickets are accepted and tasks are completed within eight (08) minutes.
  • Ensures escalated guest feedback and proper recording of complaints and preferences prior to arrival and creates plans for recovery once they come back on property.
  • Assist and promotes room upsells and cross-selling in-house restaurants and facilities.
  • Cooperates closely with the food and beverage and housekeeping management to ensure a seamless dining and personalized experience.
  • Handle lost and found inquiries via Chargerback.
  • Handle external butler services – personal shopper (special requests such as buying toiletries, garments, suitcases, etc.), purchase newspaper, flowers, mailing, courier among many others
  • Handle all special purchase (from Guest Preference Form e.g. gifts, special requests, flowers, etc.) as well as will liaise with sales/purchasing for entertainment riders
  • Assist in periodic inventory management of porter and butler supplies
  • Organize the daily Jogging Station at the ground lobby
• Other Duties
  • Drive and execute to achieve the goals of four (04) pillars including: Guest (RPS), Brand (Forbes, LQA, Raffles Brand Core and Accor), Owners (contribute to achieve GOP with room upselling and cross-selling), Colleagues (employee engagement)
  • Monitor Loyalty Guest – flagging and recognition of return guests; create milestone program for 5, 10, 20 and 30 times.
  • Attends daily line-up, trainings, role plays and developmental sessions.
  • Engage in mentor-led and conduct self-audits per shift
  • Perform other duties as requested by management.

Qualifications

Education & Experience:

• Previous experience in front office, concierge and housekeeping in an ultra-luxury/five-star hospitality environment is preferred, background in Forbes Travel Guide, LQA standards is an advantage

• Strong organizational skills and the ability to maintain performance under high pressure.

• Strong command and excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including record-keeping and handover

• Excellent grooming, etiquette, and interpersonal communication

• Possess strong interpersonal skill and deep understanding and acceptance of multi-cultural customs.

• Creative and service oriented with keen eye for detail.

• Results driven, with the ability to demonstrate initiative and work under minimal supervision.

• Working knowledge of relevant software (Property Manager System, MS Office Suite)

• Prior knowledge of specifically Opera, Alice (or other itinerary building software – ie SpaSoft etc.), and HotSoS is preferred.

Physical Requirements:

• Required to stand and assist guests for extended periods, enduring 8-hour shifts or more
• Working in rotating shifts, including overnight
• Long hours may be required, and working on weekends and public holidays
• Light to heavy work - exerting up to a 50-pound of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects.

Additional Information

• Hourly Wage: Introductory rate of $26.95 and, after successful completion of 90-day probationary period, rate will adjust to $29.84
• Employee benefit card offering discounted rates in Accor worldwide for you and your family.
• Excellent Company benefits including medical, dental, vision and life insurance.
• Personalized development opportunities across Accor's extensive brand portfolio.
• Ability to make a difference through our Corporate Social Responsibility activities