YOU won't need to lift a single finger during your stay at this hotel.

Butlers will take care of your every need.

No more fretting over how to operate that electric kettle when you need to boil water.

Just press a button and Mr Alvin Koh, 55, could be the one fixing you a cuppa.

He is one of 34 butlers at the StRegis Singapore. The 20-storey, five-star hotel along Tanglin Road officially opened its doors yesterday.

Mr Koh, who is the assistant chief butler, told The New Paper on Sunday: 'We provide a personalised service even for the most basic needs. Instead of a self-service coffee-tea counter in the rooms, the butlers will prepare the drinks and serve it to the guests in the rooms at St Regis.

'If they order room service, we will coordinate the courses, like in a restaurant, instead of just pushing in a trolley of food to the room.'

FOR ALL GUESTS

The butler service is available to all guests, even for those staying in the deluxe rooms. The St Regis Singapore is probably the first hotel here to offer this 24-hour personalised service to all its rooms.

There are a few of butlers stationed on each floor and they can be reached with the touch of a button on the bedside panel or the touch-screen phone.

Many speak at least two languages. They will undergo intensive training, including speech lessons to eradicate colloquialisms.

Mr Koh, who has been in the hotel industry for 15 years, can converse in English, Mandarin and Japanese.

In 1994, he carved out his 10-year-old career at Sheraton Towers Singapore as a sales coordinator and later, as a sales manager for events.

He was then asked to orientate a new butler team in Sheraton Shenyang, China, for eight months.

He returned to Singapore and joined the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in the sales team. Within four years, he was promoted to assistant director of catering.

PEOPLE PERSON

Mr Koh said: 'It's a big change from what I was doing then. But I like being in the frontline and meeting people. So I thought why not give it a go.'

The butlers at St Regis have three shifts, which start from 6.30am, 1.30pm and midnight. They get two days off a week, although they would have to put in extra days if there is a VIP guest.

Mr Koh said a butler is paid about $2,000 a month.

Since the online booking system was launched in September, the upscale 299-room hotel has been receiving enquiries and bookings.

On average, an executive deluxe room at St Regis starts from $600, while a suite is priced from $1,000.

Food-obsessed Singaporeans can also look forward to its restaurants, such as Les Saveurs, Yan Ting and LaBrezza. A St Regis spokesman said the hotel is seeing an overwhelming response in reservations.

Couples are making enquiries about its wedding packages, with the hotel planning the first wedding event next month.

Owned by Richmond Hotel - a joint venture between CDL, Hong Leong Holdings and Trade Industrial Development - St Regis Singapore is the third in Asia and the first high-end brand to open in Singapore after a seven-year hiatus.

The last hotel to do so was The Fullerton in 2000.

General manager Yngvar Stray said: 'The St Regis Singapore will follow the footsteps of the legendary flagship in New York. It serves as an important showcase for the chain.'

Like studio apartments, the executive deluxe rooms come with plush sofas and are equipped with four Bose surround speakers.

Every bathroom has a flat-screen TV moulded on a mirror glass, together with a waterproof remote control.

The hotel is also the first in Singapore to feature a musical fountain by its Les Saveurs restaurant, and two ballrooms with large skylights.

With more than 50 customised large crystal chandeliers and more than 40 original paintings and sculptures in the hotel, it is also an art gallery, of sorts.

For some, they can even call St Regis home in future.

The hotel is flanked by two 23-storey residential towers with a total of 173 units, to be launched next year.

The St Regis Residences will join the ranks of top-of-the-line apartments stamped with five-star hotel credentials in Singapore, like the Four Seasons Park and Residences at the Ritz-Carlton.

MOSTLY SOLD

A CDL spokesman said that 92 per cent of the St Regis apartments have been sold. About 75 per cent of homeowners are foreigners from the US, UK, UAE, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and China.

In recent months, transaction prices for the apartments have been at more than $4,000 psf.

This could work out to at least $6million for a three-bedroom apartment.

The residents can get to enjoy the hotel services, such as the spa, fitness, housekeeping, chef-on-demand and butler service, for a fee.

Without revealing the details, a St Regis spokesman said next year's celebrations for the hotel's opening would be a grand affair.

You can probably think along the lines of the Oscars' party, complete with gourmet meals and champagne.

And yes, maybe even expect the guests to arrive in a customised fleet of Bentleys.