A Day of the Overnight Stay

IHow am I welcomed at the door at 8pm?

At 8pm, the hour of your booking, a butler of Queen's Butler, the general incorporated association that runs the Salon, opens the double doors. We take your coat and belongings, still carrying the Odaiba evening air, and after a bow lead you into the gallery.

An evening welcome is not an extension of the day but the threshold at which you entrust the hours until morning to your butler. If you seem tired, the butler keeps the tour of the house short and draws out a chair first. If you have things to talk about, we listen over tea; if you prefer to begin quietly, we withdraw to the anteroom.

If you have brought a change of clothes, we show you to the wardrobe and the butler waits outside the door. On rainy days, umbrellas and wet coats are taken at the entrance and not carried inside. There is no dress code, so you may come straight from the day's outing or dressed for the evening.

"No key is handed over. In this house, guarding the door is also the butler's work." — Queen's Butler, A Detailed Guide to the Manor's Furnishings, Chapter 7

IIWhat may I bring to the table at around 8.30pm?

You are welcome to bring your own food and drink. If you would like to use the Manor's tableware or have the butler serve, please tell us at booking what you intend to bring. As we do not serve meals, please bring whatever you wish to eat in the evening and whatever you need until morning.

The late-evening table is not a place for choosing dishes but a scene in which to experience the butler's service and the handling of the silver. A white-gloved butler sets in place, one by one, the silver whose handles are covered entirely in rocaille. The porcelain, with its floral pattern and gilt rim, is likewise a furnishing that shapes the Manor's hours.

If there is anything you cannot eat, or you have wishes about how the tableware is used, please tell us at booking. The butler confirms the details and makes whatever preparations are possible. Allergies may also be shared in advance, though the Manor does not provide food. You bring what you have chosen yourself.

The night begins with the sound of silver being laid

Please discuss at booking the use of tableware and service to suit what you bring.

IIIWhat can I watch in the theatre at around 10pm?

In the fireplace room, we raise the 120-inch motorised screen and dim the chandelier so that you may watch a film. The butler checks the connection and arranges a lap blanket and tea at your side.

The late-night theatre is a way of leaving only the firelight and the picture, and giving the Manor's hours over to a single story. We never hurry you in choosing, and you may stop partway and move to the study. For volume and lighting, please ring the silver bell.

On a night without a film, you may open a book in the leather chair of the study and listen to the gramophone or the hall clock striking the hour. The butler asks whether you would like company in conversation or would rather we withdraw from view. Keeping the quiet you have chosen is also part of an evening's service.

IVWhere is the butler after midnight?

However late the hour, the butler remains within the Queen's Butler manor. Once you have retired to the bedroom, we withdraw to the anteroom and answer the silver bell or your call. We never leave the house unattended with a key in your keeping; anything at the door, inside or out, is handled by the butler.

Being in the house through the night is not a matter of watching over your time but of keeping within reach whenever you need us. To dim the lights, to have tea, to check the room temperature, to talk a little: please ask for any of these without regard to the hour.

Should butlers change over during the night, your wishes are passed on to the next. Our butlers include both men and women, so please tell us your preference at booking. If availability does not allow it, we will suggest an alternative.

VWhat preparations are made before I rest in the bed?

The bedroom holds a 19th-century French corbeille bed, so named because its high, curved head and foot enclose the body like a basket. The butler arranges the linen and the lighting, sets down tea if you wish, bows and withdraws to the anteroom.

Resting in the bed is the moment, within the late hours, of lying down. Surrounded by burgundy and gold damask linen, rococo lighting and cabriole-legged furniture, you see a face of the Manor unlike its daytime one. The silver bell is placed within reach.

Please bring toiletries and nightwear that suit you. The Manor has a washstand and a dressing table, and the butler withdraws outside the door while you prepare. The bed is also a training fixture in butler education, and arranging the linen is part of a butler's work.

After the goodnight bow, the butler remains in the house

Once the door is closed, we withdraw to the anteroom, keeping within reach of the silver bell.

VIMay I ring the bell if I wake in the night?

Yes. If you wake in the night, please ring the silver bell once. Water, tea, lighting, room temperature, the time: we attend to whatever you need. There is no need to leave the bedroom in search of the butler.

A bell in the night is not a test of your reserve but the signal that confirms why a butler is in the house. Once your need is met, we withdraw again to the anteroom; if you would like conversation, we remain at your side. If nothing arises, we keep the door and the quiet of the house until morning.

If you feel unwell, please tell the butler at once. We ask how you are and, if necessary, help with contacting others outside or with preparing to leave. We never encourage you to continue against your comfort.

VIIHow does the morning begin?

At the hour you wish, the butler calls through the bedroom door. We open the curtains and bring morning tea to your side. The lights, the movement of the curtains and the small sound of a cup being set down carry the scene from night into morning.

Morning tea at Queen's Butler is not meant to hurry your waking but to make a margin in which body and mind may rise. Whether you receive it beside the bed or dress and move to the dining room is as you wish.

While you prepare at the washstand and dressing table, the butler brings what you need and waits outside the door. The clothing and luggage we have kept are readied from the wardrobe in step with your departure. So that nothing is left behind, the butler checks the house with you.

A single cup of tea announces the morning

Please tell your butler the evening before at what hour, and how, you would like to receive it.

VIIIWhat is arranged before departure at 9am?

By 9am, the butler returns your coat and belongings. We check together the charger, the food and drink you brought, the book left half-read, even your toiletries, and see you beyond the double doors. The butler bows until the lift doors close, bringing thirteen hours of service to a close.

The morning farewell is the final gesture that keeps a long night from ending in haste. If you expect to need time to prepare, please give an earlier waking hour the night before. The butler works back from tea, dressing and luggage to call you in good time.

No key is handed over, to the very end. Whenever you step out or return, the butler opens the door. Though the late hours are reserved for a single guest, the Manor is not handed over exclusively; it is time spent in the company of a butler's care.

IXShould I decide what kind of night I want before booking?

There is no need to decide everything. To watch one film, to read quietly, to enjoy what you have brought at the table, to take morning tea at leisure: please tell us just one or two wishes. The butler arranges the preparations while leaving the hours open.

Choosing an Overnight Stay is not a matter of filling the schedule but of considering by whom, and how, you wish to be served until morning. A quiet night, a night of conversation, a night spent admiring the furnishings: each fits within the same thirteen hours. If your mood changes partway, we rearrange on the spot.

Bookings are for one guest only, in a fixed slot from 8pm to 9am. Part of the night cannot be booked separately. Please tell us on the booking form whatever is already decided: your preferred date, what you will bring, any wishes regarding the butler, and your waking hour.