My name is Mariana van Ginkel,

I grew up listening to opera and spending hours and hours painting, I had a big imagination, got lost in books, movies and images that showed me the best traditional values of the English Victorian Era...in that moment I knew that some day I was going to lead a great residence someday.

I am a true believer in the best qualities of things, after working around my hospitality project for 5 years in my home country Costa Rica (a luxury beach residence to rent out as a vacation home)

I knew that my life's dream was about to become true.... my very own residence.... but where was I going to learn about how to run it? How to run it like those picture perfect stories I read in books when I was little? Who was going to teach me the ins and outs about running a palace?

That's when I found Mr. Fink, the only true English gentleman with an impeccable curriculum and true passion for service and tradition.

I am very fortunate to have met Mr. Fink and extremely honored about my acceptance in his school. From my arrival until graduation I was treated with kindness and I was very well looked after, lucky me I also gain a few friends like the owner of the inn in Witney I stayed at. The cost of my education will always be insignificant compare to what I got in return. Knowledge, values, and above all teachers and people I hold dear to my heart.

Not only did I learn from the best but I wanted to be the best!

Now I work in hospitality in my home country Costa Rica and there is not a day that goes by that I don't wow the people I look after... then I smile in my heart and listed to the kind words of wisdom in the back of my mind that Mr. Fink taught me....

Thank you Butler-Valet School for making me the best version of myself.

Mariana van Ginkel
Costa Rica