• Welcome cocktails and culinary treats
• Escorts you to your suite for check-in in the privacy of your suite and coordinates your luggage handling
• Provides you with resort and room orientation
•  Reviews your personal preferences communicated through your travel professional
• Supplies a cell phone to reach him during your stay
• Offers to unpack your luggage
• Press your first night's clothes complimentary

During Your Stay

• Butler makes your dinner reservations, cabana rentals, spa treatments and any other activities you have added to your stay.
• Reserves your chair at the beach or pool and serves your favorite drinks while you relax
• Serves your lunch at the beach or pool
• Confirms your room is serviced while you are away and ensures it is kept in perfect order
• Ensures your table is arranged at the restaurants of your choice and escorts you to your table with preferential seating, skipping all lines
• Per your request, arranges a perfect romantic dinner for two in the privacy of your suite or patio.  They can order from any resort restaurant menu for dining in-suite.
• Shine/clean shoes for dinner
• Tend to your wardrobe
• Collect and return all laundry
• Leaves amenities in your room between meals (per the preferences provided by your travel professional or things he hears you mention during your stay)
• Ensures your bed is turned down and that you have anything you need for the night.

Before your Departure

• Provides you with check out details
• Offers to pack for your departure
• Ensures your bags are brought to the departure area
• Escorts you to the butler lounge to process check out
• Escorts you to your transportation and bids you farewell (i promise you will want to take them home with you, I know I did)

• For the same price as an entry level butler suite at one resort, you can stay in one of the top butler suite at another
• The higher the category of room, the bigger the room and better the view (usually)
• Some rooms have a private plunge pool or tranquility outdoor tub

Loosen Up:  

They will make it abundantly clear that they are at your beck and call, but who can wrap their head around that, right?  Remember, this is his job and you are depriving him of what he loves to do.  Making the most of your butler experience may include asking him for your favorite drink while you are on the beach,  or saving your chair at beach or pool or reserving your table at your favorite restaurant, etc.  The more you allow him to get to know you and learn about him and his life on the island, the more you will enjoy your stay.  Imagine your surprise when you return from dinner to find this?   He mentioned that he heard you mention your feet hurt.  
What to Expect?

Ask your travel professional what to expect.  Think about how much you hate to pack and unpack, take advantage of his offer.  I usually recommend that you unpack a few personal items and leave the rest for him to unpack while you are exploring the resort.  Or another idea would be to pack your personal items in a carry on which you unpack and ask the butler to unpack the other bags when they arrive.   Here's a little hint, my butler unpacked and packed WAY better than I did.

Remember, the only way they know what you want is if you speak up.  

Nothing makes you feel more special than a personal note on your pillow from your butlers reminding you "Love is All You Need".

True VIP Travel Experience is  . . . anything you want is at the press of a button.  

It's OK to so No.  Butler service is not for everyone and that is okay.  For those that are not comfortable with the idea, the concierge service at Club Sandals may be the right fit for you.  Club Sandals is a quiet lounge offering snacks and drinks and free wifi, tvs and even kindles to borrow.

As you know Sandals has a strict no tipping rule.  However, butlers and spa attendants are the only Sandals employees that are able to accept tips from guests.  If your butler does an outstanding job enhancing your stay, consider leaving them a tip to show your gratitude.  If you aren't sure how to tip them, ask your travel professional. 

So is butler service worth every penny?  For me it is, but you are the only one that can decide for yourself.  The one thing I tell my clients is if you aren't afraid to use your butler service, it is worth every single penny and much, much more!!  In my very humble opinion, once you try the butler service, its almost impossible to go back!

 Pack for a Purpose

It's vacation time and many of you are heading to the Caribbean.   There are many non-profit and service organizations working to improve the community education and wellness in the Caribbean.

Why not make a Big Impact in the communities you visit:

1)  Take advantage of the Pack for a Purpose program.  Don't worry, it won't require much space and not only will you be helping a worthy cause, (my favorite is schools) you will be saving some room for souvenirs on the return home.  Look up your tour provider and you can leave the donated items at their front desk. 

2) Sandals Foundation also supports education for those in need through its Adopted Schools Program.  Guests can also get involved by donating 2 hours of their time at one of their adopted schools and interact with children and help them with literacy skills.  There is a nominal fee which includes cost of round trip transportation.  

If you have the opportunity to donate supplies and/or time, share a pic of your donation with me at tammy@viptravelexperience.com.

• Underwater cycling on aqua bikes. Perched on a white seat, you descend slowly as the hydraulic platform of the pontoon boat you ride out to the spot lowers us into the waves – the warm, tropical waters gradually creeping up to your bikini tops. Once in the water, spot the coral gardens looming ahead – tree-like elk horn corals and cauliflower corals, dappled by shafts of sunlight piercing through the blue. Your guides, point out a starfish 30 centimeters (1 foot) in diameter, a parrot fish hovering over an undulating welcome mat of hot-pink anemone, and what looks suspiciously like a shark shooting out from under a craggy outcrop and disappearing into the murk.
• Aqua safari via helmet dive. This enterprise involves donning a cubed yellow-and-white helmet that keeps your head completely dry as you descend a ladder to the sandy ocean floor. Feet clad in rubbery boots, walk in slow motion through craggy outcrops of coral and lengths of seaweed fluttering in the currents, feeling like a puppet as you carefully lift one foot and then the other, hands buoyed and bobbing at waist level.
• Snorkeling in Bora Bora’s coral reefs. Bora Bora’s famed coral reef, which encircles the island and is accessible within 15 minutes by speedboat, has some of the best snorkeling in the world. Home to approximately 700 species of tropical fish, Coral Garden is our first stop, followed by a few other choice locations known to the crew. Slipping into the water, our guide coaxes curious moray eels from their hiding places and points out the distinctive diamond shapes of manta and eagle rays gliding through the blue.  You won't believe the feel of the manta rays and how exciting it is to swim with them.
  
• Island cruises and fresh seafood. Learn that Bora Bora’s outer ring of reef and motu (small reef islets) makes its calm lagoon waters ideal for exploration by kayak or paddle board, and private boat tours abound. You can book a 23-foot Jeanneau Cap Camarat motorboat, a trimaran, a catamaran, a pontoon boat or an aluminum Quintrex boat perfect for a small group, and most excursions include a picnic on a private beach.  This was definitely my favorite!!!  We chartered a small yacht and were treated to the most relaxing day I could ever imagine, ate barbequed fish fresh from the side of the boat, and our hosts sang the sweetest tunes while dancing to show their gratitude to us for visiting. 
  
• Swimming with sharks. Saving the biggest thrill for last. Adventurous streak notwithstanding, you get the willies at the idea of being a few meters away from sharks in a feeding frenzy, then you can opt for a purely observational excursion. Even so, there’s something about dipping into cooler, deeper water and being surrounded by dozens of these sleek, mysterious animals that makes your breath catch in your throat. When you immediately spot a large lemon shark below striped continuously by the black and gray bodies of reef sharks cruising above it. As I take a deep breath and dive down, I see another, and another. You are enmeshed within a sliding grid of curving, muscular bodies. Exhilarating right?   This absolutely FREAKED me out, but I did it-conquer your fears right?  I was definitely making sure I saw the black tipped tail.

Click here for more inspiration and ideas for a travel inspired life. 

• ITALY is ALWAYS a DELICOUS Idea
  
  Who's ready for a visit to ITALY? It's always a great time to go to Italy!!   
   
  WARNING:  You will have an urgent desire to visit ITALY  soon . . . and when you do, we would LOVE to plan every detail for you (including free time, of course).  Keep reading if bespoke ITALY speaks to you, making an ITALY trip even more MAGICAL.
   
  Earlier this month, I was delighted to travel through Italy's #Veneto region.  The Veneto is the region that houses Venice--brimming with delizioso dishes. Renaissance villas, undiscovered lakes and Alpine views . . . 
  
   
  If you mention FOOD to Italians, they'll wax poetically about grandma's Sunday suppers.  Sooner or later, they'll also tell you "Visit Veneto".  They're right.  From pumpkin risotto to hand-carved cheese wheels.  I was treated to a bounty of flavors here.
   
  The Veneto is a land of slow food, famous for dishes that took centuries to perfect:
•  
   
  Cheese, aged up to 20 months!
• Prosciutto cured for up to 2 years
• Bubbly prosecco grown on green hills
• Red wine, made like the Romans did
• Risotto with local cheese and slow broth
  
  
    
  During my tour, I went behind-the-scenes (and you can too) where they make these foods the old-fashioned way. I tasted time-tested recipes, listening as locals explained the artistry behind their products.  Outside of Venice --often overlooked by tourists - lies the Valpolicella wine region (my fav).  Green hills, ancient vineyards and millennia of wine know-how fuse in this one place.
   
   
   
   
  In Valpolicella, you can taste amarone wine -- a varietal first perfected by the Ancient Romans.  That's right, this wine has been in production for century after century . . . not just a generation or two.  The grapes are left on the vine long after others have been plucked.  In fact, the wine is only made once the grapes are well on their way to becoming raisins.  The result?  A wine that is rich and robust.
   
   
   

Once you've toured the Veneto's wine region, you can head to the nearby Lake Garda for an unforgettable lunch.  The water here -- let me tell you --lies somewhere between blue and green, a shimmering gem crowned in Renaissance villas.  From the shores of Garda,you can board a private boat.  With your local captain, you'll explore local towns and hidden coves -- experiencing Italy, not as a tourist, but as an Italian might.

This was one stunning area.  Why be a tourist when you can explore the ITALY you didn't even know existed?

Since it is the mission of  VIP Travel Experience to take you BEYOND the highlights for bespoke or unique EXPERIENCES, stay tuned for more little secrets of Italy.  

I can't wait to share more of Veneto with you, it was an honor to explore this gorgeous region of Italy and find more little secrets to share with you!

• Sneak into to see a private art collection (not open to the public)

• A private, personalized excursion with a local tour guide to take you to the most interesting sites of Veneto to discover the mom and pop restaurants and Renaissance areas you've always to see, or some you may not have heard of.
  

• An unforgettable, simply magical night in a Castle.

• A Michelin dinner that reminded me of the waltz
• Private driver through gorgeous Veneto countryside.  You will absolutely LOVE it and feel like you stepped back in time  

So depending on how much time you have and how far you want to stray from Venice, Rome, Florence . . .  don't miss out on the many little hidden gems of Italy.

• Click here for more inspiration and ideas for a travel inspired life.