Placing the right person in a luxury hospitality or private household role takes more than matching a CV to a job description. The environments are exceptional, the standards are exacting, and the people who thrive in them are rarely found through conventional methods.
This is how we approach every search, from the first conversation to the moment your new hire settles in.
Step One: The Brief
Getting started with us is simpler than you might think. When you get in touch, we’ll arrange a short call. Our goal is to understand the role well enough that you don’t have to keep answering the same questions further down the line. We cover the areas that really matter:
- The context: why the role exists, and what success looks like in the first six months
- The environment: whether this is a private household, a luxury hotel, a Michelin-starred restaurant, a superyacht, or a seasonal residence, and what that setting demands of the person coming in
- The non-negotiables: salary expectations, location, live-in or live-out arrangements, travel requirements, and any experience that’s a non negotiable
- The culture fit: the dynamic of the household or team, and what discretion, loyalty, and service standards mean in this specific context
- The timeline: whether this is urgent or you’re planning ahead for a seasonal requirement or a longer-term hire
What this means for you: one focused conversation upfront saves you significant time later. The more we understand at the start, the fewer unsuitable CVs land in your inbox.
Step Two: Search and Market Mapping
Once we have the brief, we get to work straight away. You won’t be waiting on us to post an advert and hope the right person applies.
Our consultants specialise in luxury hospitality and private household recruitment across the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. That means we already have deep networks and active relationships with candidates who simply aren’t visible on job boards. Many of the strongest placements we make are with people who weren’t actively looking.
We draw on our existing network, targeted headhunting, and specialist advertising simultaneously. The nature of this sector also means that trust and reputation travel fast. Candidates who have worked in UHNW households, five-star properties, or on superyachts tend to move through close-knit professional circles. We know those circles well.
What this means for you: you gain access to a far wider pool than a job posting alone would reach, without any additional effort needed from you.
Step Three: Candidate Qualification
Before a CV is sent to you, we’ve already had a detailed conversation with the candidate.
We screen for the obvious things, of course. However, we go considerably further than that. We explore motivations, career trajectory, and whether this role does represent the right next step. We also assess the qualities that matter most in private service and luxury hospitality:
- Discretion: the ability to operate invisibly and maintain absolute confidentiality in private environments
- Professionalism under pressure: composure during peak seasons, high-profile events, or the unpredictable rhythms of a private household
- Adaptability: the flexibility to meet varying expectations across different principals, properties, and cultures
- Service instinct: a genuine understanding of anticipatory service, not simply following instructions
A candidate who is genuinely excited about the opportunity, and who understands what the role requires of them, will always perform better at interview and beyond.
What this means for you: you receive a shortlist of typically two to four candidates, each accompanied by a profile note from us, rather than a stack of CVs to work through.
We’ll also give you an honest steer. If the market is telling us something relevant to your brief, whether that’s around salary benchmarking, candidate availability across different geographies, or skills that are genuinely scarce right now, we’ll share that with you before you invest time in interviews.
Step Four: Interview Support and Offer Stage
Once you’ve selected candidates to meet, we handle the logistics so you don’t have to.
We brief candidates thoroughly before they meet you, gather feedback promptly afterwards, and keep the process moving. If something isn’t quite sitting right, we’d rather know quickly and recalibrate than leave you waiting on a search that isn’t working.
At the offer stage, we manage the salary conversation on your behalf. Having us in the middle of a sensitive discussion typically leads to a cleaner outcome for everyone. Candidates know what to expect, and there are no late-stage surprises.
What this means for you: less back-and-forth, fewer dropped offers, and a smoother close.
After the Placement
Our involvement doesn’t stop the moment a candidate accepts an offer. We stay in contact through the notice period and check in after the start date to make sure the transition is going well on both sides. In private household and luxury hospitality settings, the first few weeks matter enormously. A new hire stepping into a principal’s home or a high-profile property needs to find their footing quickly, and we’re here to help if anything needs navigating early.
We work on a permanent placement basis, which means our focus is always on finding the right long-term fit, not the fastest close.
Get In Touch
Whether you have a role to fill now or you’re thinking ahead about your household, property, or hospitality team’s staffing needs for the coming season, getting started couldn’t be simpler.
Drop us a line or give us a call, just one conversation is all it takes, and we’ll handle everything from there.
Frequently Asked Questions
We recruit across the full spectrum of private household and luxury hospitality positions, including estate managers, house managers, butlers, private chefs, housekeepers, nannies, personal assistants, chauffeurs, and superyacht crew, as well as hotel leadership and specialist hospitality appointments.
Most searches are completed within two to four weeks. Senior or specialist roles, such as estate managers or executive chefs for high-profile properties, can take longer where the candidate pool is smaller and the standards more exacting.
We recruit globally, with active networks across the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Many of our clients have multi-residence requirements, and we are experienced in placing candidates across different jurisdictions.
Yes. We recruit for both live-in and live-out roles and factor accommodation requirements, travel expectations, and household logistics into the brief from the outset.
Discretion is assessed throughout our qualification process, not just referenced on a CV. We explore how candidates have handled confidentiality in previous roles, verify references directly with past principals or employers, and look for a consistent track record in high-trust environments.
We stay involved after placement precisely to catch issues early. If a placement does not work out, we will discuss the situation with you and work to find a resolution, which may include reopening the search.
The strongest candidates in private service and luxury hospitality rarely advertise themselves. We maintain active relationships with passive candidates built over years of specialist work in this sector, and we use targeted headhunting alongside our existing network rather than relying on advertised roles.
Very little upfront. A short call is all it takes. We’ll guide you through the brief, covering the role context, environment, non-negotiables, and timeline, so you don’t need to prepare anything in advance.
