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Robert Wennekes
Robert Wennekes (born in 1958) grew up in a hardworking
hospitality family. In the past his grandparents and great grandparents, and in more
recent history, his parents and his 3 brothers, all owned their own
businesses in the Hotel, Restaurant and Catering industry.
Mr. Wennekes managed to finish junior College education, even with much
pressure from his family not too study. It was the standard in his
family to move into the family business immediately after high
school. Then, after one year of training in
the family hotel, Mr. Wennekes started his own restaurant and soon
thereafter his second restaurant.
However, Mr. Wennekes found the hospitality industry not satisfying. He
sold his businesses and then, truly by sheer chance and without much
experience, he started working
for an American billionaire in the USA as Butler, Personal Assistant and
Executive Manager. Mr. Wennekes stayed with this employer for 6 years
and moved back to Europe in order to start a family.
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Head Butler at the
American Embassy in Germany
After the position in
the USA Mr. Wennekes moved to Austria where he became
Head Butler & Estate Manager for one of Austria's most prominent families.
Mr. Wennekes' last position in Private Service was that of Head
Butler at the American Embassy in Bonn, Germany. (The US Embassy
later moved to Berlin). While in Germany, Mr. Wennekes received an
official Framed Certificate from the US White House for "Outstanding
Service" because of the high quality services he provided in regards to
the visits of dignitaries to the Embassy, particularly the visit of US president, Bill Clinton. Mr. Wennekes then moved on.
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The International
Guild of Professional Butlers
In 1995 Mr. Wennekes
was elected as Chairman of the board of The International Guild of
Professional Butlers, a position he holds to this day.
The Guild is dedicated to promoting & protecting the
interests and reputation of its Members and the Private Service and
Butler profession. The Guild was founded as a governing body and is needed due to the vast number of
charlatans and copycats in this profession. The Guild also informs the
general public about the private service profession. The Guild has approximately
8.000 members around the world. Membership to the Guild is upon
invitation only.
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The start of his
very own company
Mr. Wennekes left the US Embassy in Germany because he was
recruited by Egon Zehnder in Germany to head up a
division for the recruitment and training of domestic staff. He headed this division for three years and then
bought it. This was the start of his own company; Wennekes
International Ltd. Today the combination of the 3 companies (The International
Butler Academy, The International Guild of Professional Butlers and
Wennekes International Ltd.), are internationally recognized as the
number one consulting organization in the world for the recruitment and training
of top (butler) service staff.
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The International
Butler Academy
In the year 1999 Mr.
Wennekes recognized the great difficulty of finding high quality and
professional butlers. As his clients were depending on him for the
recruitment of such staff, Mr. Wennekes decided to use his experience
and knowledge to start a school for the training of professional Butlers.
Graduates of The Academy could then be placed with his International clients. The school has been an overwhelming success ever since. The
International Butler Academy has positioned itself as the most
outstanding training Academy and consulting company of its kind in the world.
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Superb training
The many reference
letters on this web site speak for itself. But, located at a classical
Castle and estate, our Academy truly does offer outstanding butler
training. The outstanding and devoted trainers see to this. Our
Graduates are our Ambassadors and these devoted individuals are
passionately dedicated to service. The training is rigorous and tough
but the end-result is a student who understands the meaning of being on
another person's agenda. The International Butler Academy stands for
something. It is the real thing and not a copy. Uncompromised integrity
is our way of life. It is hard to beat.
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The True Art of
Service
Because of Mr.
Wennekes' astounding experience in the (butler) Service profession, he has undertaken
a leading role in the Service industry. He has given
seminars on "The True Art of Service" around the world, he has introduced
Service as a profession to China, has traveled around the globe to protect
the integrity of the Butling and Service profession, and has consulted with
many international families
and businesses.
Needless to say that Mr. Wennekes is one the world's most sought after
consultants in the private service, hospitality and property management field.
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From Beijing to
Amman and from New
York to Jeddah
Mr. Wennekes and his
team of ultra professional staff of consultants and trainers are able to
service a wide variety of clients. Clients include five star hotels &
resorts, cruise ships & private yachts, foreign Embassies & large
corporations, and of course many private families and family offices,
including the Royal family of Jordan. Private clients include movie stars, rock stars, Royal
families, Heads of State and others. It would be most improper to list
names of private families, but the Royal family of Jordan kindly
allows us to mention their name as a client. A number of corporate
clients are listed on our web site also.
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PR & Marketing
Over the years Mr. Wennekes
has given countless interviews and has appeared on television countless
times also. Subsequently Mr. Wennekes is an
expert in Public Relations and Marketing. He is asked
his professional opinion every time the service profession is in the
news. Over the past 12 years hundreds of journalists and some 70 TV
crews visited The International Butler Academy for articles and
documentaries. As a spokesperson and professional consultant Mr. Wennekes has represented many
corporate clients to the media, particularly in China.
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Mr. Wennekes in his
own words
"What an exciting time we live in!
Never before have there been so many
professionals employed in (private) service. Never before have people come to appreciate
The True Art of Service as they do now. I am proud to
serve as Chairman on the board of the two
most prominent (butler) service organizations in the
world and that we are able to contribute to
the success of the many outstanding families
and companies we work
with. The future looks bright indeed. Even with the current economic crisis our profession
is growing rapidly. Education is my passion
and I am pleased to say that our
contribution is relatively great."
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The Mission
Mr. Wennekes' greatest wish is for the
organization he heads to be the governing body to promote the
(butler) service profession as well as ensuring that
the profession is protected to differentiate between those who are professional and those who
are not.
"We are also working with several governments in the
Middle East, in Asia and in other places to educate local people so
these
can be employed rather
than bringing in workers from overseas. We introduced
The True Art of Service to Asia as their ever
expanding markets forces them to train their
people and to assure that natives receive the quality of service they desire."
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"It is my pleasure
to be of service to you."
"I get so much enjoyment of working with
so many different Nationalities.
Our clients truly are the leading
families and leading companies in the world. Our expertise
and our sensitivity to local customs and
culture allows us to work in
any country in the world.
Please call me in case you are
interested in working with us or if require further information.
You can reach me at my office in The
Netherlands at: + 31344 673939. My personal e-mail address is:
robert@butlerschool.com. It truly is my pleasure to be of
service to you and I look forward to hearing from you."
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"True
service comes from the Heart."
This is
just
one of many quotes from Mr. Wennekes who himself worked as Butler & Personal
Assistant for more than sixteen years before he, in 1995, became trainer
and consultant to some
of the wealthiest families and companies in the world. All in all Mr. Wennekes has
been in the (private) service profession for more than 30 years. He is
known around the world as the: "Most Famous Butler" and as
the "Ambassador of Service".
Mr. Wennekes has incredible knowledge and insight into the hospitality
industry and is often sought to undertake evaluation assignments whereby he visits
clients as a
mystery guest to provide owners and management with a full and unparalleled report
about the workings of the establishment. For this purpose he developed a
specialized evaluation program.
Sometimes assignments go above and beyond what would be considered
standard. As an example in the case of a (pre) opening of a new property due to the logistical
setting up of the departments. In one such case Mr. Wennekes spent 6 full weeks at the
Qasr Al Sharq hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where some 300 staff
members were trained and management was assisted with the opening phase.
The owners and management of the property found the return on the
investment to be great.
Property Management
China
Mr. Robert Wennekes:
"The
assignments we do in China are probably my most favorite assignments. I
absolutely love China and the Chinese people. The people are so friendly
and hospitable. Their desire to advance, to improve and their desire to
learn is so heartwarming. I feel we have a very special bond with the
Chinese people and we are able to bring so much to our Chinese clients."
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The overall experience
in Private Service, combined with the experience of consulting
international families and businesses has made Mr. Wennekes the foremost
expert on virtually any topic in the (butler) Service profession. |
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