Eight Secrets of Fancy Hotels I Learned After Becoming a Butler
Whether it’s memorizing how you sleep or sourcing toilet paper in your favorite color, the butlers at Raffles Singapore have mastered the personal touch.
Illustration: Tomi Um
True story: In 2003, I applied to work at the Raffles Hotel Singapore as a recent high school graduate with no credentials beyond a love of luxury hotels. Somehow enthusiasm was enough to qualify me for a summer internship in the butler department at one of the world’s most venerated properties. I got the job and booked my flights. But before I could take off, SARS began to rage in Southeast Asia, putting an end to my plans. To this day, I wonder: If it hadn’t been for Covid’s cousin, would I have pursued a career on the other side of the table, working at hotels rather than writing about them?
Raffles is not only the grande dame of Asian hospitality and the international gold standard of luxury service, but it’s also a Singaporean national monument. It was founded in the 1880s by four Armenian-Iranian brothers—the Sarkies family—who made their money trading luxury goods and leveraged their connections to introduce fine wine and caviar to East Asia. Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book here. Joseph Conrad, Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner were regulars; ditto Michael Jackson. Queen Elizabeth II stayed in 2006, one in a lengthy list of monarchs who’ve temporarily called Raffles home.