Well the Month of May is proving to be a very busy month for us here at Charles MacPherson Associates.  This month we have a new Academy class starting on Monday May 25th. We also have a Mother's Day promotion under way with the Toronto radio station 103.5 FM and, on May 29th, City TV, Breakfast Television is coming to spend the morning with us at the Academy to learn all about what Butlers and Household Managers do.

Although many readers of our newsletter will not be able to hear or see these fun segments, we know that you will be with us in spirit.  All of our fellow Canadians, however, will be able to watch us with Breakfast TV on May 29th!

As always thank you for your support and good luck to our new students starting in a few weeks!

The next program of Butlers and Household Managers starts on May 25th for an eight week period at our Toronto Academy.  However for interested parties who do not wish to enroll in the full program we are offering individual courses at a cost of $250.00 USD per day.  We are also offering a special payment plan for those interested in taking the full program.
 
Whether your interest lies in Clothing & Valet Care, Table Settings & Service, Etiquette and Protocol, Mixology or Housekeeping there is a session for you.  Please visit our web site for course schedule and details. Link to Academy

For full details and application form please visit the Academy link on our web site.

An Interesting article in HotelNewsNow.com

 "(Hotel) General Managers place greater importance on employee morale and the lack of employee skills than executives, who worry more about retention. Unmotivated staff and the lack of experience are common hurdles to providing quality service. Balancing skilled and inexperienced employees are viewed as operational challenges that often created morale problems. Many noted the stress of the work and linked too few rewards as an explanation for why employee morale is low. Aligning employees and company objectives to get staff to go the extra mile is viewed as a challenge, and morale issues often are linked to ongoing turnover problems that affect the ability of staff to deliver service standards effectively. With falling occupancies and staff layoffs, the concern for labor shortages might have receded during recent months, but new HR challenges are likely to emerge."

As CMA has been saying for a while now

If you want to attract high net worth customers and increase revenue then you need to provide superior service. The road to superior service is through training.

For a copy of the full report use this link Full Report

Following up on the successful placement of 3 teams of butlers at a luxury NYC hotel CMA is now offering this service to our clients.

If you want to attract prominent guests to your hotel or resort why not offer them 24/7 butler service as an incentive?

This service can be a market differentiator for you.  CMA has a supply of professional, multilingual, experienced butlers for short term assignments across North America.

We also have a supply of butlers who are able to provide service for residential clients for a day, a week or a few months.  Private individuals may want a butler to help with serving at an event, providing vacation or sick leave relief for existing staff, or just helping out at a secondary, seasonal property.

 Case Study

At the Academy we believe that less is more when it comes to cleaning products. Most of the brands we use in homes are unnecessary and can easily be eliminated from our cleaning regimes. I often think that if one were to use the multitude of products that are on the market for cleaning a single room, a wheelbarrow would be required to move the cleaning caddy from one part of the house to another.

By limiting our use of commercial brands and making better use of a few, common household products, a cleaning caddy becomes more efficient, more effective and much more environmentally responsible. I like to call it the Green Caddy Initiative.

1.    Baking Soda is a simple ingredient with so many uses. Do you know that baking soda was used to clean the Statue of Liberty for its centennial? If it's good enough for Lady Liberty, it's certainly good enough for me! I use baking soda for everything from removing soap residue on sinks or tubs, to removing crayon marks from walls, to combining it with vinegar to unclog drains.

2.    White vinegar is an acidic wonder that inhibits the growth of mould, mildew and bacteria like e-coli and salmonella. Equal parts vinegar and water makes a versatile multi-purpose cleaner. Just don't use it on surfaces that will react with an acid like floors that are made of marble or wood.

3.    A few drops of pH neutral dish detergent with warm water makes the safest of all-purpose cleaners. It cuts through grease and can be used on almost any surface imaginable.

4.    Make sure that your Green Caddy has some Ziploc bags to hold any cloths that were used to clean contaminated areas such as a toilet. Ziploc bags help prevent cross contamination within your caddy.

By adding spray bottles to hold your homemade cleaning solutions, some lint-free cloths and some well-fitting gloves, you're good to go. It takes surprisingly few items to keep our homes and our environment pristinely clean.

 

Today we would like to highlight our Placement practice that offers premium search and recruiting services within the luxury residential and hospitality markets.  We specialize in the placement of key personnel positions like Estate & House Managers, Butlers, Private Chefs, Executive Housekeepers, Chauffeurs and more.

Contact Information


Toronto:
507 King Street East
Suite 100
Toronto, Ontario, M5A 1M3
CANADA

(416) 369-1146 office
(416) 369-1743 facsimile

New York:
134 West 82 Street
Suite 3B
New York, New York 10024
United States

(212) 877-6962 office
(917) 441-0064 facsimile