Summer’s almost here, which means endless rosé, outdoor meals and vacations to the beach. And while getting a bit of a bronze and hearing the waves crash against the shore while reading a good beach book is the absolute dream, the setup isn’t always easy (finicky umbrellas and sand in our lunch and not enough water...oh my!). One Rhode Island hotel, however, wants to take the work out of a day of leisure.
Hotel Viking in Newport just announced a beach butler program (beginning Memorial Day weekend), which is basically a Seamless, Uber and TaskRabbit all rolled into one. The butler’s duties include packing your towels, sunscreen and water in a beach tote, bringing you coffee and snacks, driving you to and from one of the nearby beaches, setting up an umbrella and chairs, and packing a picnic cooler with a lunch of lobster rolls, salads, a charcuterie board, desserts and your choice of beverages, so you literally don’t have to lift a suntanned finger. The best part? The beach butler is on call all day to cater to your every whim (should you need someone to fan you with a frond or spritz you with cooling mist, your royal highness).
At a cost of $275 for two people or $350 for a family of four, a personal beach butler is more for the likes of actual royalty (Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, we’re lookin’ at you and your upcoming honeymoon).
But can you really put a price on doing absolutely nothing? We didn’t think so.
