You arrive at the hotel and discover the toothbrush missing. You call the front desk, and a toothbrush is yours -- downstairs.
But spend enough money on a casino floor, and you get the toothbrush delivered to your room by your own personal butler.
These days, butlers aren't named Jeeves, but Michael and Chris and Mel or even Lydia. They dress in tuxedos, but have no stiff-upper-lip air about them like the butlers in old black-and-white movies. And they play a crucial role in tending to the needs of the highest of high rollers.
"We try and do whatever the guests want to make them happy so they come back again," said Washington Township native Michael Steffiere, who spends much of his work week roaming the penthouse suites on the 51st floor of the Trump Taj Mahal. The suites are the lap of luxury, with marble chandeliers, large-screen plasma televisions and Jacuzzis in the tub.
The butler is the cherry on top. It's the kind of job you never want to leave, and few butlers do.
Chris Arch opened the Taj Mahal more than 17 years ago, and worked as a butler at the Sands for five years before that. Mel Thompson of Northfield, head butler at the Atlantic City Hilton, was working at the hotel when it was called the Golden Nugget, and Steve Wynn was the boss. As butlers go, Steffiere, now of Egg Harbor Township, is a relative baby. He joined the Taj six years ago.
The butlers at Borgata started when the hotel opened in 2003. They come with talents beyond butlering.
"One of our butlers is an aficionado of cigars. Another is a wine enthusiast," said Jay Rosenthal, vice president of hospitality at Borgata, which employs seven butlers.
Longevity brings a bond with guests.
"My first impression was that butlers bring food and beverage to the room," said Mike Rindenow, a regular to butler service at Borgata.
"But I've developed a close rapport with the butlers. They're almost like a small family. We exchange holiday cards. They know what I like and desire, and furnish the suite prior to my arrival."
Indeed, butlers keep a dossier on guests' likes and dislikes.
"We know whether they smoke, what temperature they prefer in the room, what kind of pillows, what they drink," said Thompson, one four butlers at the Hilton.
Suites are stocked with favorite sweets, nuts and drinks. If the guest wants a Kit Kat bar, it's there. If someone needs a bottle of Tylenol, it's there. Requested magazines and newspapers lie on the coffee table.
"We attend to the hospitality needs of preferred clients before, during and after their stay," said Arch, of Little Egg Harbor Township.
"My function is to make guests feel comfortable. I'm a problem solver."
The Taj, which has six butlers, carries Coca Cola products, but if a guest prefers Pepsi or a Lipton's ice tea, Arch will make it happen. If the hotel is out of a particular brand of wine, he'll ring up Trump Marina or Trump Plaza or a neighborhood liquor store.
"We've brought treadmills to the room" so a guest didn't have to go to the fitness center, Steffiere said.
Butlers personally go shopping for shirts, sweaters and socks, sometimes before the guest arrives.
"They can go to the Coach store and pick up a handbag," said Taj general manager, Rosalind Krause.
Want something not on the menu at the gourmet restaurant? Not to worry.
"If a customer wants a steak from Bobby Flay, or an appetizer or dessert from Old Homestead, the butler puts it together," Rosenthal said.
Steffiere, who is a cook, has whipped up dishes for his guests. He's gone to the White House sub shop to pick up an order, shopped for kosher food. He ensures breakfast is available at a certain time.
It's not unheard of for butlers to shoot hoops with a guest's son. Or go to Storybook Land with younger children.
Many high rollers come with superstitions.
"They might want the butler to stand behind them while gambling if they're on a lucky spurt," Rosenthal said.
The big question on everyone's lips: what does it take to earn a butler?
Be prepared to risk $25,000 on a single visit to the Taj, Krause said. Whether you win or lose is irrelevant.
"That's just to get butler service. Risking $100,000 a trip gets a penthouse suite as well," she said.
Butlers can attend to guests on any floor, not just the suites. Most of the guests have returned to the same hotel for years, and the butler is one of the reasons, Steffiere said.
"Butlers at Borgata do everything we ask them to," said Rindenow, a 53 year-old mortgage banker from Garden City, Long Island. "They have a relationship with me and my wife, Angela. That's why I come down to Borgata."
They bring Rindenow show tickets. Arrange for spa treatments and limo pickups.
"They explain and detail what restaurants are good outside Borgata and what shows are worth seeing," he said.
On one visit, Rindenow's 15 year-old daughter, Jordan, spilled something on her shirt and within 15 minutes, the butler produced a new shirt.
Guests come from all over, Steffiere said, rattling off California, Florida, South America, and Hong Kong, Ireland.
"I just had one from Saudi Arabia."
Sometimes a celebrity checks in.
"We do put a lot of entertainers in butler service," Krause said. Cast members of The Sopranos, for example. Celine Dion, Mark Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John, Regis Philbin and Ivanka Trump to name a few.
Other celebs will bring their own chefs and personal assistants.
"Some don't want to be pampered," Arch said.
Singer Tom Jones receives butler service, Thompson said. "During the Steve Wynn era, we serviced Frank Sinatra and Diana Ross. But a lot of entertainers now stay on buses and not in the hotel," he said. |
