No beards allowed. The illustrious Ritz London overflows with opulence—and rules. If the hirsute want to work at the 108-year-old hotel, says Thomas Andrews (’15), a former Ritz human resources intern, they’ll have to shave first. The regulations aren’t just for the staff: guests must stick to a formal dress code for lunch and dinner (jeans are allowed at breakfast, though sneakers are most certainly not). On the plus side, if you spend $5,000 per night on a signature suite for your stay in the UK’s capital, you’ll get a butler and a ride to the airport in a Rolls-Royce.

“I wear a beard myself,” says Andrews, “My beard’s part of my identity. It was a little difficult grabbing that razor and having to do it, but it was the Ritz standard to be clean shaven. With that being said, I think tradition makes the Ritz stand out from a lot of other properties, so it was something I had to get used to.”

And, he adds, if you’re in HR and “you expect other people to do it, you have to do it yourself.”

Andrews spent three months at the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest hotel” as part of School of Hospitality Administration’s mandatory international experience, which offers students the choice of programs in 75 countries. Today, he’s working somewhere with the same commitment to luxury, but a markedly different history: a former prison. The Liberty Hotel—housed in Boston’s former Charles Street Jail—boasts luxurious rooms, river views, and a swanky bar with booths in preserved cells. Andrews, who transferred to BU in his sophomore year to bring a business focus to his degree, spent the past summer as a services ambassador at the hotel; since the fall, he’s been an HR intern.

He says working on both sides of the Atlantic has given him a valuable insight into how America and the UK differ in their approaches to upscale hospitality.

“American hospitality is about exceeding expectations and creating relationships with guests. In Britain, guests were just like, ‘I’m here for a service, I’m here to get my meal, and I just want it delivered correctly and politely.’

He thinks Brits could use “a little bit more personal service” and notes that European travelers at the Liberty might find American intimacy awkward at first—wondering why a stranger wants to know about their day, for instance—but by the end of a stay, “they like it, they really engage in it.”

Despite going to England because “it was a requirement,” Andrews says the experience changed his life. “It’s just eye-opening what a place can bring out of you, how that changes and shapes your personality for the rest of your life.” He’s already looking into visas that will allow him to spend another couple of years in London after graduation. Whether he stays for good or not, he speculates he’ll stick with HR and top-end hospitality.

“You’re always focusing on how you’re motivating, training, or empowering employees to deliver this luxury-level service, and I think that takes a lot of morale and motivation. Employees have to be chipper and smiles and rainbows—and that takes a lot of work.”

And, at the Ritz, a razor.