HOW FAR CAN YOU PUSH A CONCIERGE?

How far can you push a concierge? - Luxury Travel Magazine

By Vanessa Zhang

Date: 5 August 2011

The concierge desk in the lobby of luxury hotels throughout the world is there to fulfil, on a complimentary basis, guest requests that can range from booking restaurants or theatre tickets to sending parcels overseas or even finding a late night gelato vendor to satisfy a midnight craving. Some hotels are famous for going above and beyond to meet even the most demanding, and sometimes outrageous, requests from their guests.

But how far can you really push the concierge desk of a luxury hotel?

Les Clefs d’Or (The Golden Keys) is the international Society for Hotel Concierges and has more than 40 member countries worldwide with more than 3500 concierge members.

According to Colin Toomey, the 2nd Vice President of Les Clefs d’Or International, the Society has a code of ethics. He said: “If it is morally, legally and ethically okay, then we can provide the service.”

In fact, all the 5-star hotel concierges in Sydney contacted by Luxury Travel Magazine for this story said they are willing to meet almost any request by a guest – as long as it is on professional level.

“There are no limits. We’re limitless!” says Allan Alvarez, the Chief Concierge at the Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay.

“Anything is possible. If it’s the right request, we will service the guest,” Sunny Togiavalu said, the Assistant Concierge at Sheraton on the Park Sydney.

Concierge services in 5-star hotels are essential for guests who need travel arrangements made in the local language, sightseeing advice, postage and courier services, entertainment arranged including tickets to shows and more. A good concierge desk is well connected to tourism offices, airlines, ticket sellers, local restaurants, attractions and other local service providers in order to obtain the best deals for their guests.

And they should even offer their help when the service provided competes with one offered by the hotel. For example, if the laundry service in the hotel is too expensive for a particular guest, the concierge desk should be able to arrange for the guest’s clothes to be collected by a local laundromat, washed, dried, folded and ironed and returned to the guest’s room. The only cost to the guest should be the laundromat cost…. And a tip for the concierge of course.

Among the more extraordinary requests local concierges report are arranging for a meal to be sent from Sydney to Thailand and filling in as the best man at a guests’ wedding ceremony as a result of a no show in the wedding party.

“I’ve lent the shoes off my own feet to a guest who didn’t have black shoes for the evening and I had to wear slippers for the night!” says Nathan Brown, the Assistant Chief Concierge at the Hilton Sydney.

Most of the services offered by concierges are included in the guests’ room rate, meaning they don’t charge guests for arranging some of the most demanding requests and don’t ask for extra payment either. It’s a complimentary service for those staying in a 5-star hotel…that is unless the request is for a Grand Piano in a hotel room.

“We had a gentleman asking for a Grand Piano in our Presidential Suite. He wasn’t willing to pay the cost to have it moved up there, but we were willing to arrange it,” said Concierge Allan Alvarez.