About The Guild

The International Guild of Butlers & Household Managers was created for Butlers, Household Managers and Household staff. We recruit, train & place our Butlers frequently for some of the finest properties, clients and families throughout the world.

Our primary Objective is to develop & raise Industry standards and raise the Profile of the Household Manager, Butler and household staff. Butlers have been stereotypically seen as English, however The International Guild of Butlers and Housemanagers was developed after years of working with professionals from all over the world, who were not necessarily English, but of many nationalities.

Through training, experience and professional hard work, our candidates possess the qualities worthy of International recognition. Membership is free, use of our crest on CV's and Hotels literature and PR and marketing initiatives once the Guild have assessed and endorsed your standards and experience.

Our History

The International Guild of Butlers & Housemanagers was set up by its Founding Director, Wayne Fitzharris , who has spent his career working & training in some of the World's most luxurious hotels.

Wayne began his career as a Chef at the Ritz Hotel in London and worked under Chef Anton Mossiman at the Dorchester Hotel in the eighties.

After 4 years, Wayne left the Dorchester Hotel reaching Assistant & Beverage Manager at the age of 22 and spent 3 years in Scotland. By the age of 26, Wayne was asked to take on the Household Managers for their Majesties King Hussein & Queen Noor of Jordan for 3 years offering leadership in service excellence at regular State Banquets, Parties, Entertaining to heads of State, diplomats, politicians, celebrities and protocol in exceptional times for an exceptional family. The importance of achieving, maintaining and exceeding expectations in Jordan was vital and Wayne regular trained basic and advanced Butler & Household Standards to a team of fifty.

After a short sharpe reality check at the Caledonian Hotel, in Edinburgh, Wayne moved to the Caribbean, to the Turks and Caicos Islands at the Grace Bay Club and again concentrated on developing standards where he then continued his training programs at Conran Restaurants which he joined in 1997, introducing new Restaurant Service Standards and Customer Care recognition courses whilst Assistant General Manager ``

In 1999. Wayne took his first step into consultancy, opening the unfortunate China House, on Piccadilly, a modern chinese Gastrodome, two restaurants, two bars and a retail therapy shop as well as online shopping.

Wayne's core skill was to open the concept and make the owners Directors dream a reality which was achieved, but the public never took to parts of China House concept and too much time, effort and money was wasted trying to brand the concept globally before, making the project a success.  The ideology of China house was not practical with costs and overheads far overweighing the revenue and success of the building. One million pound was spent on kitchen wages alone. In 2003, China House closed, to be acquired by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King who re-opened the building as the now famous Wolseley  Restaurant

Wayne continued to open new restaurant Concepts, including Wapping Food with art curator Jules Wright, at the Wapping Hydraulic Power station in East London, here, he helped achieve awards and recognition with Wapping Food, nominated RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR, in the 2000 Evening Standard awards.

In 2001, Wayne moved to Dublin, to work with the famous Louis Murray, here Wayne opened La Stampa Hotel, on Dawson Street, parallel to Grafton Street. Wayne reinvigorated a very tired and dilapidated La Stampa Brasserie to gather enough capital to pay for the opening of Tiger Becs, now one of Dublin's most successful restaurants. Along with Sam Sara, one of Europe's longest bars, the success of La Stampa project allowed Wayne to move into Recruitment, development and Training, a long term career goal

So in the fall of 2002, Wayne joined Grant International with Stephen Grant and Deyon Johnson, here, wayne concentrated on most culinary, Restaurant and Food & Beverage positions. After a year, Stephen Grant moved to Barbados and Wayne took over as Operations Director, overseeing the whole company

The Guild of International Butlers & Housemanagers offers training and consultancy for many private clients & resorts. One such course we trained the Butler department at the GRAND FORMOSA HOTEL in Taiwan, delivering BUTLERS who really understood the needs and expectations of their guests, customers and clients. 

Each training assignment has its own requirements, determined by a location, culture or image. Standard performance manuals can therefore be developed on site, tailored to local conditions and individual guest needs.

In 2005, Wayne finally took the plunge to open his own Recruitment company, GLOBAL SEARCH INTERNATIONAL, here Wayne has already started to develop many successful relationships which can only be good for the future