IF there is a hospitality prize for special guest service, Cambridge Beaches may be most deserving: the high-end luxury resort has responded to cries of the heart from impassioned guests by naming Nadia Talevi (pictured) as Proposal Concierge.

Georgina Duncan, personal assistant to manager Mike Winfield, told the Mid-Ocean News that the resort was merely going that extra step for their guests; gentlemen were calling the hotel before their scheduled arrival to say that they intended to propose marriage to their beloved, and asked for advice and suggestions on how it should best be done. Those who think it should involve nothing more than a gentleman dropping on one knee and uttering something along the lines of, "Mabel, will you be mine?" are not au courant, particularly since, in this new egalitarian world, the person doing the proposing may be Mabel.

"We are in a different age!" said Ms Duncan, here with her husband for only eight months, who believed that news of the Proposal Concierge had been reported across the US.

In an article headed "Newlyweds find romance all year", syndicated contributor Gloria Hayes Kremer recommended Bermuda as a high-season honeymoon destination, selected Cambridge Beaches and the Fairmont Southampton Princess for special mention, and wrote that the former "has a Proposal Concierge".

"It's absolutely true," Ms Duncan said. "We have had a Proposal Concierge for almost a year. What we identified here at Cambridge Beaches is that a number of people come here to propose, and they have no idea how to go about it, or they want some advice on how to make it really memorable. Some gentlemen know they intend to propose, but they just need our help. They want everything to go off perfectly.

"We had a very good example last summer of a gentleman who contacted us from the US. He said that his parents had got engaged here more than 30 years before, and he wanted to do the same, but he didn't really know what to do.

"We had heard that on a number of occasions over the years, and we suddenly realised there was a need for one of our concierges or guest relations manager to literally handle the proposal.

"The gentleman proposed on the second evening of their stay. We arranged a candlelit dinner on the beach, and we placed the phenomenally beautiful ring in a shell which we placed in a prearranged position on the beach."

Ms Duncan was ready for an obvious question from a romantically-challenged anal-retentive type who asked if tide tables had been consulted. "Of course! We had to assess all of that, absolutely right," she said. "That's exactly why we need a Proposal Concierge, because she has to think about every detail.

"They had their own waiter, and it had been arranged that they would have dinner, and the girl may have thought something was going to happen, but they simply had dinner at their candlelit table on the beach, and then the gentleman suggested they go for a stroll along the beach.

"He started picking up shells, and she followed suit. She found the ring in the especially large shell that had been 'planted', and then he got down on one knee.

"The surprise was complete, and she said 'yes', and they are coming back here to get married and bringing their entire family, which may book us out entirely on that weekend in May. We have had a few requests for assistance since we named our Proposal Concierge, and with the publicity we have had in the US, we are expecting more in future."

The decisive moment need not always take place on the beach, and sometimes not even on the property, although so far the men have all proposed on the beach.

"It can involve anything, anywhere," advised Ms Duncan. "It can be in their room, on a beach or a boat, just exactly whatever the guest wants. It can be anywhere on the island, even at the top of Gibbs Hill lighthouse."

The overwhelming responsibility of stage-managing the production of the ring at the critical moment fell on the shoulders of concierge and guest relations manager Ms Talevi from Switzerland, who has also been Proposal Concierge since her arrival last March.

"We have always helped guests with special events of all types, but there were a few more requests for help with proposals, so we thought it would be good marketing to let people know about this very special service," said Ms Talevi.

"The job itself had always been done here, but we really didn't have a name for it. It's quite new, so some of the guests were already planning to come here when they heard about the service, but some men called because they read that we could help make the proposal really special.

"So far, we have only had gentlemen calling wanting to surprise their girlfriends, not the other way around, but we are ready for anything! Of course, we often hear from women who want to arrange weddings or honeymoons here, after proposals have been made.

"The men who have asked for our assistance have all been Americans, the ones who wanted to surprise their girlfriends."

Readers of a romantic inclination will be delighted to hear that to date, none of the suitors has been spurned.

"Although the gentlemen have so far chosen the candlelight dinner on the beach, with roses, very romantic, we can also organise underwater proposals for divers, or parasailing, or a sunset sail," said Ms Talevi. "We arrange for roses on the table, and once we created a large heart shape with rose petals on the sand. The gentleman mentioned by Georgina asked us to arrange the shells as well, and he knew that we would scatter a lot of small shells, but the ring would be in one very large shell.

"The gentleman told us that he told her, when they walked along the beach after dinner, that they could collect the shells as souvenirs and take them home, and he pointed to the large shell and said, 'That looks like a very precious shell', and she bent and picked it up.

"That's when she saw the ring, and he got down on one knee. She told us she was so shocked; they both worked very hard, and didn't have time to escape, and she already thought it was wonderful that they had so many days alone here, and the candlelight dinner was beautiful, and she had no idea it was coming. She never expected it to happen here.

"In other cases, the men just had the box in a pocket, and took the ring out after dinner, although one gentleman asked that we place the box in the dozen red roses in the vase on the table. It's a wonderful thing to arrange for people, and it's such a happy occasion.

"We have only really started marketing the service specifically, and we haven't really marketed it in Bermuda, but we also hope to get more local guests who read about it.

"We also organise a private island dinner, where the couple is taken off property in a Boston whaler by our food and beverage director, who drives the boat, and they have dinner there, and the waiter organises drinks and dinner, and then he leaves the couple in complete privacy, and comes back to get them at an agreed time."

Ms Talevi's last position was in a very different kind of place, on a relatively deserted island off the coast of Tunisia, and she has worked away from home for some 12 years, in places as diverse as Corsica, Sardinia, Austria and the US, and she has sailed around the world three times on cruise ships.

In her contribution to the Cincinnati Enquirer last Sunday, Gloria Kremer picked a honeymoon destination or resort for every month of the year, and she picked Bermuda as the place to go in July. "There are gracious, full-service resorts, such as the Fairmont Southampton, who (offer packages which include) two championship golf courses, tennis, water sports, horse and buggy ride, and motor scooter for a day. Cambridge Beaches, a cottage colony on a private peninsula, has a Proposal Concierge. Bermuda is a picture-perfect island full of old world charm."

And some charmers, to whom Cambridge Beaches plans to cater for the entire month of February.

"Why should there be only one day in the year, Valentine's Day, dedicated to love and romance?" asked Ms Duncan, reasonably.

"We think there should be more, so we are officially declaring February to be Romance Month, because we have the spa here and everything else people could need to rekindle the spark of romance."