00:00I think it all comes down to unusual surprising requests.
00:03I hired a pony.
00:05We had to remove any paintings or pictures that had eyes in it.
00:10I've been in the hotel business for 30 years.
00:12Three years.
00:13Nearly 20 years.
00:16Concierge is like your private butler.
00:18We can provide that insight that you can't find on the internet.
00:21AI can't do what I do.
00:23Those places that you are looking for on TikTok, that you are looking for on Instagram, you
00:27are looking at ChatGPT are actually not as good as they look.
00:35Everybody that ever walks into a hotel, no matter what kind of star ratings they have,
00:39is a VIP.
00:40Because there are so many people out there that we don't know, we like to assume that everyone
00:44is kind of a high profile guest in need of specific security and privacy.
00:48When it comes to unusual requests, sometimes it's just about who you're even dealing with.
00:52One time, we were lucky enough to have Prince, who was a huge fan.
00:57There were a couple things that were funny.
00:59Firstly, when I met him, he was about this tall.
01:01I knew he was short, but I wasn't fully ready for it when I saw him in person.
01:05And another thing was we had to remove any mirrors from the room and any paintings or
01:12pictures that had eyes in it.
01:14Any pictures of people, anything like that.
01:17Because eyes are a window to the soul.
01:18One of the moments that really tickled me the most was working with somebody that's
01:23part of the royal family.
01:24She just really wanted me to get her on Netflix so she could watch Game of Thrones.
01:28And it's just this reminder that all of these individuals, they're just people too and they
01:33also like Netflix.
01:34Frank Sinatra had an apartment at the Waldorf Towers for many years.
01:38A very down to earth, very friendly guy.
01:41He loved the bread from Vesuvio Bakery and he would ask me to arrange to have the bread delivered
01:47for him.
01:48He would often go down with a baseball cap and sporting sweats and have a scotch on the
01:55rocks at Peacock Alley.
01:56Nobody bothered him.
01:58Everyone was very friendly.
02:00It was very congenial.
02:01We got a call from a guest saying that someone above them was playing music or playing the
02:08piano or something like that.
02:09And this is like, you know, 11 p.m. at night.
02:12So it's probably getting to the point where it's a little too late to be playing loud music.
02:16You know, absolutely. I'm so sorry. We'll get on that right away.
02:19What I couldn't tell the guest is that the person that was above them playing the piano
02:24was Stevie Wonder. I'm not calling Stevie Wonder in the middle of the night to tell him to stop
02:28playing piano. I feel like these guests, if they knew, they'd be like, how lucky we are.
02:35When you go to a property and you go to the concierge and they've got two gold keys on their
02:39lapels,
02:39you know you are dealing with a consummate professional.
02:42The keys or le clé d'or in French.
02:45That is like a master sommelier. Very selected people get that honor. You go through an arduous
02:53process of testing, interviews.
02:55It has a little bit of an air of being a secret society.
02:59And we also have a very important and profound motto, in service through friendship.
03:05We might be talking to you two, three, four weeks before you've actually arrived to property
03:11property to create something fun for you. I had a guest checking in who said it was going
03:16to be his 25th anniversary and he wanted to recreate the way in which they met. I hired
03:24a pony with a corral to be arranged in a garden on the side of the hotel. In this corral
03:32where
03:32the pony was, a man dressed in a black tuxedo with a bottle of champagne on ice and two glasses.
03:39And he put her on the pony and simply pulled the pony around the corral. The man with the
03:47champagne went to the pony and this was all being filmed.
03:51I did have a guest who was from India and they wanted a particular South Indian breakfast and
03:57I'm from South India. So I remembered my mom's cooking growing up and I literally took that and
04:02I cooked for this guest three days in a row. We didn't tell him that I was the one cooking.
04:06He thought a
04:06chef is cooking. And then when he was checking out, he told our general manager, this is an amazing
04:13breakfast that I had. How did you know this recipe? Then she called me and said, well, he's from South
04:17of India and he cooked every day for you. If you have the ability to curate that experience that
04:24benefits a guest where they're able to trust you and able to build that loyalty, then you have to do
04:28it. And that guest became a loyal guest to us. You do what it takes.
04:34My advice, email the hotel concierge and just be like, what's been happening currently that you are
04:40excited about as the hotel concierge?
04:42Emailing often goes a long way.
04:44I always ask if there's a concierge, especially if it's a place that you're not familiar with,
04:49because they can really kind of show you things that you weren't expecting. If you're at a resort,
04:54maybe they're helping you go off campus to something cool and local. Or if you're in the
04:58city, you might be getting theater tickets or a dining reservation that's so coveted but hard to
05:04come by. I would say always ask for a late checkout. I think people are scared to ask for it,
05:08but
05:08usually we can accommodate. I can extend you to 2.30 to 4 p.m. if I know you. People
05:15have late
05:16flights that they need to go to. They have meetings that they have booked to go to after they check
05:20out.
05:20They don't want to store the luggage. They want to come back and take a shower. If you're like six
05:23days or
05:24more, I'll give you what you need because at this point you're literally like our family. I've seen
05:28you every day for every shift I've worked this week. Why wouldn't I want to see you a little bit
05:31more? Always ask. We're happy to do the best we can. If you have an allergy to feathers, if you
05:37need a
05:37room on a higher floor, if you booked a king and you would like a room with two beds, any
05:41type of thing
05:42that you can think of that you will need prior to your arrival, please call us. Any good hotel, we're
05:48trying
05:48to take the majority of the work off of the guest. Just communicating the purpose of the visit to the
05:54hotel helps us better mentally prep for what type of things you'll need during your stay.
05:59So for example, if you're coming in for a wedding, you know, a front desk agent, as opposed to just
06:04pointing out random things in the hotel, like here's the pool, here's your beach access. We can
06:09pivot that conversation to like, do you need any dry cleaning done before the big day? Can we help
06:14with shoe shines? A couple weeks ago, there was a guest who was 93 on our first ever solo trip
06:21to New York
06:21City. I gave that woman everything in the world. She got a free upgrade, she got drinks, special treats
06:29were ready in her room. And that's really just based because she gave us a call and told us
06:34about herself. If it's a very specific request and arrangement, yes, you have to pay for it.
06:40I remember this guest that was trying to impress his girlfriend. They were in that season of every
06:48relationship that they want to impress. He said, let's do a limo because I really love this woman
06:54and I want the best for her. When we see something like that, concierge, we try to offer any other
07:02assistance. So she likes a limo, maybe she also likes roses. What about roses in the room? And then
07:08he said, yes, let's do it. $2,000 in red roses. Then he also arranged a helicopter to have a
07:18date with her
07:19in the air. We can do everything. The only thing that we ask is time. If you're looking to experience
07:26the level of luxury that a five-star resort would offer, I highly recommend going in the shoulder
07:31season. It depends on the location, but the off-season or the shoulder season could be the fall season,
07:36or it could also be the winter into spring. In short, there's nothing called an impossible
07:42booking. We want to make a difference in someone's life. To be great at this job, I think you have
07:48to
07:48be very good at multitasking and making sure you take nothing personally. You know, it could be very
07:53self-rewarding, especially when a guest comes up to you afterwards and says, thank you so much. My
07:57family had the most amazing time and it was the best vacation of our lives. That's what makes it worth
08:02it.
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