Picture it: You’re scrolling social media and see a happy couple against a dreamy backdrop celebrating their engagement. You immediately make up a scenario in your head, predicting how surprised the other partner was based on their body language, outfit, and manicure status. On a scale from “absolutely no clue this was happening” to “they helped plan it themselves,” you decide it was somewhere in the “had a hunch but couldn’t confirm” range and wait (not so) patiently for them to share more.
Though your craving for all the juicy details may never be quelled (unless, of course, you know the couple intimately), one thing you can safely assume is that the proposer didn’t make it happen alone: One in five proposers recruit others to help, from family to friends to hotel concierge teams. That last one is the latest in a slew of ever-growing post-pandemic travel trends. And with one in three proposers popping the question on a planned trip, it makes perfect sense that hospitality experts are being called upon to help out.
Depending on the hotel or resort, these love doctors may be dubbed “Proposal Butlers,” “Romantic Personal Assistants,” or something similar. Their objective? Making romance happen at any destination. Tasked with important, occasionally wild, responsibilities, they’ll take on as little or as much as you need to bring a dream proposal to life.
For the Proposal Butler—a dedicated butler selected for you from the hotel's Proposal Concierge team—at Windjammer Landing Resort & Residences, the wildest request came from a guest who wanted a flower-filled proposal atop St. Lucia’s most iconic mountain, the more than 2,400-foot-tall Petit Piton. The challenging climb to the top takes approximately four hours and requires a guide who knows the trails—think fixed ropes and 100-foot drop-offs.
“We sourced a local guide to transport the flowers and non-alcoholic Champagne to the top of the mountain where they hid them,” Tamisha Eleibox, sales and events manager for Windjammer Landing Resort & Residences, says. “The groom had been documenting the hike with a GoPro camera on his forehead and then when the couple reached the summit, the groom passed it to the guide who took over capturing the special moment.”
No stranger to extravagant proposals, St. Lucia has seen it all. At sea level, one soon-to-be groom requested assistance from Royalton Saint Lucia’s concierge team to join the resort’s nightly entertainment at the outdoor theater. After working through much red tape to be granted permission for such a spectacle, the hotel team was able to make it happen. “He sang in front of guests who occupied over 500 rooms and proposed on one knee in front of everyone,” Aaxel Arellano, corporate head butler at Blue Diamond Resorts, says.
Meanwhile, across the ocean, the Amalfi Coast’s Casa Angelina employs a Romantic Personal Assistant who once orchestrated a request for a private helicopter tour above the Amalfi Coast, “complete with a mid-flight Champagne toast and a custom banner unfurled from the ground below,” Annarita Aprea, director of sales & marketing for the hotel says of the experience.
For couples who don’t have a Pinterest board of inspiration ready to pull from, some hotels are happy to take more of a lead in the planning process. You can start with something classic, like fireworks with a view or a private dinner on the beach, or request something more extravagant.
A dedicated butler like Royalton Bavaro’s Francisco was seasoned enough to put a twist on the private dinner date after listening to a Canadian groom tell his love story. Inspired by the sweet tale, Francisco brought a culinary experience to life that blended together the couple’s favorite flavors and memories, complete with the specific bottle of wine they had together on their first date—a vintage Francisco personally sourced by venturing into town and scouring every wine shop until it was secured.
As with soulmates, proposal butlers aren’t only there for the happy moments. They’re on hand when things go awry—like if your ring goes missing after traveling all the way from the United Kingdom to Royalton Riviera Cancun where you need to call in a search-party-of-one by the name of Omar, as was unfortunately the case for a couple recently visiting the Mexico resort.
Regardless of their exact duties, these proposal butlers are undoubtedly gaining increasing popularity. But why now? McKinsey & Company’s State of Tourism & Hospitality 2024 sheds some light on the trend. For starters, there’s the obvious post-COVID tourism spike—66 percent of those surveyed said they’re more interested in travel now than they were pre-pandemic. Couple that with the fact that people spent years proposing, and getting married, less elaborately in quarantine, and it’s no wonder lovers are itching for something new. Mix in a growing demand for luxury tourism as younger travelers prioritize experiences over possessions and you have the recipe for a destination proposal spike. There’s also the steadfast importance of social networks in driving travel trends, with 92 percent of those surveyed revealing that their last trip was motivated in some way by social media.
“With the social media boom and the increase in ‘shareable’ moments, people are looking for ways to impress not only their loved ones but also their followers, raising the bar for this special moment,” Eileene Warren, catering sales manager at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara, says. What’s more? It’s not just any shareable moment they’re after. Alejandro Rodriguez, director of marketing & PR at Blue Diamond Resorts, underscores the “shift toward a more immersive, tailored experience,” that feels private and personalized, albeit public.
No matter the motivation, creating a memory that lasts forever is really what it’s all about—regardless of where in the world you are—and proposal butlers are here to up the ante.
