you are here: home - Accommodation - Butler Service

Grand by name, friendly by nature

Ensuring your perfect stay at the Grand, with our outstanding Butler services

No five-star experience is complete without the services of an experienced and attentive Butler. The Cedar Court Grand Hotel is lucky to have secured the services of one of the world’s most knowledgeable and high profile Head Butlers to cater for all your needs.

Anthony Seddon-Holland, who lives near York, has over twenty years of experience as a hotel Head Butler and Hotel Butler trainer, and has set up Butler teams at more than fifty five-star hotels around the world, including Claridges and The Ritz Hotel in London.

About the Butler service

Our 24-hour butler service is provided for all guests who stay in one of our suites. We are the only hotel in York to have Butlers, and one of only a handful in the UK.

By definition, the Butler provides a bespoke service that is shaped by your specific needs and whims. You may wish for your morning bath to be drawn and your clothes to be laid out on the bed before a busy day, or you may have forgotten to bring a bedtime read, and ask your butler to collect something suitable from a local bookshop. Our team of experienced Butlers are there to answer your every need which is why it is such a delightful service for guests.

Butlering is a quintessentially English tradition and holds a huge appeal for overseas visitors. Guests who enjoy The Grand’s Butler service will talk about it in the same breath as describing their visit to The Minster, or the Shambles.

The Butler offers a signature service which provides you with everything you could ask for from your stay at the hotel.

How the service works

Following your booking of a suite, your personal Butler will get in touch with you before you arrive to ascertain what you may need from your stay. He or she will take some time to get to know you and establish any specific requirements you may have. He will welcome you to your room upon arrival, and be on hand throughout your stay for anything you may need.

Pampering, supporting and advising you throughout your stay at the Grand

With Butler pantries on each floor of our hotel, your food and drink will arrive piping hot, no matter what time you request it. Your Butler will be discreetly close by to answer your every request, from bringing you beverages right through to advising you on the best places to visit, and how to get there.

Our Butler service is a luxurious experience, provided for you by friendly and helpful people of the highest calibre of training. Whatever your request, your personal Butler will answer it to make sure your stay with us is memorable, enjoyable, and totally unique.

About Anthony and his team

In 2007, Anthony established the British Butlers Guild, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of the ideals, ethos and traditions of the traditional British Butler. He remains Managing Director of the Guild.

Anthony comes from three generations of professional Butlers. His father was a Regimental Sergeant Major and a butler for 28 years. He also has powerful ancestral ties to York: George Leeman, three-time Mayor of York and legendary railway figure, is his great-great grandfather!

Anthony’s extraordinary career has taken him to countless exotic locations, including India, Bali, and Jamaica, and his CV contains a staggering list of senior roles and prestigious appointments. He supervised the day-to-day running of the primary European residence of a senior member of the Omani Royal family, administered a London apartment for the CEO of Russia’s largest bank and introduced the hotel butler concept to the Las Vegas strip.

After serving in the British Army as a rifleman, Anthony started his career in a stately home in rural England as an under-footman. After spending eight years with his first employer, he achieved Head Butler status.

Since then, Anthony has worked in the United States, Middle East and Russia for many of the world's most high profile people. He has also trained management, HR, food and beverage, front office and housekeeping teams in another 30 properties around the globe, as well as concierges in nine different luxury developments in Asia.

Anthony’s expertise has also been in demand by TV companies. He starred in the US TV series ‘Mr. Manners’, appeared in and advised on the Channel 4 series ‘What the Butler Saw’, and acted as consultant for ‘Nanny 911’.