Tipping personal butlers

We had our first encounter with a personal butler at the Royal Livingstone Hotel in Livingstone, Zambia, where my husband and I stayed two nights, June 21-23, 2007.

We saw the butler only two times. The first was when she explained the amenities of the room to us (usually done by a bellboy, in our experience). The second was on the day we checked out; she spoke to us when we returned to our room after breakfast. We were going to phone for a porter to pick up our luggage and she said she would take care of it.

We tipped her $2 the first time and $3 the second time. (My husband put the folded-up bills in her hand when he shook her hand and thanked her.)

At that time, she acted very disappointed with our tip, so we wondered if we had made a faux pas. We followed the tipping guidelines that came with our African Travel, Inc. (Glendale, CA; 800/421-8905, www.africantravelinc.com), documents, but they did not list tips for personal butlers. The guidelines suggested $1 per person per day for the maid, and we figured the maid and not the butler turned down our beds and made up the room, so we did not feel we needed to tip as much.

I don’t know how much we paid for the hotel because it was included in a safari package. The 3-day/2-night Victoria Falls extension cost $675 per person and included airport transfers, daily breakfast, a sun-downer cruise and a walking tour of the falls.

I will be interested to learn how much to tip a personal butler. It seems personal butlers are now found on cruise ships and in some luxury hotels and resorts. I’m not clear about what services these people should be expected to perform.

JEAN MACKEY

Salina, OK