Great concierges use their connections to work magic for hotel guests. How do they do it, and what can you learn from them?

Even in the era of do-it-yourself travel—automatic check-in at the airport, click-and-book on the Internet—hotel concierges are enjoying a veritable resurgence. Now more than ever, guests are turning to those enterprising souls stationed in the hotel lobby for everything from discerning restaurant recommendations to more challenging requests for services like (fasten your seat belt) last-minute chartered helicopter rides.

The best of the best in the profession bring contacts and expertise acquired over years on the job. Another essential ingredient is an impresario impulse to be—in the words of Les Clefs d’Or, the premier professional organization for concierges—“part Merlin, part Houdini.”

Les Clefs d’Or may not be a household name, but the organization (whose name means “the Gold Keys” in French) has been setting the standard for concierge service for decades. The international organization has more than 2,500 members in 40 countries. The U.S.

chapter is 535 members strong and notable for, among other reasons, the fact that 70 percent of its members are women. Members work at some of the country’s premier four- and five-star properties in 30 states. Together, U.S. members represent 100,000 beds a night.

Look for the Golden Key lapel pin


Les Clefs d’Or members sport a set of golden keys on their lapels. But besides that, how do guests find out if a hotel’s concierge has Les Clefs d’Or status, especially before their stay? Maurice Dancer, the current president of Les Clefs d’Or’s U.S. chapter and head concierge at the Pierre, a Taj Hotel, in New York City, explains that Mobil Travel Guides flags Les Clefs d’Or properties in its four- and five-star listings. At some hotels, there’s a sign at the desk.

Les Clefs d’Or is trying to raise its profile. The organization hopes that AAA will one day list Les Clefs d’Or hotels. “We’re working on that,” says Dancer. As for listing its members by name on its Web site (lcdusa.org), that’s not in the cards. Officers are concerned that concierges would be deluged with requests from people who’d never even stayed at their hotels.

You might also stumble on a press release on a hotel’s web site: When a concierge is accepted into the U.S. chapter, it’s enough of an honor in the industry to merit some PR. The Hyatt Orlando International Airport issued one when its concierge, Richard Esparza, was awarded his golden keys early last year. The hotel noted that he was only the fourth Les Clefs d’Or concierge in Orlando and, at least at the time, one of 38 in the state of Florida.

To qualify, prospective members must meet certain criteria, such as having worked as a lobby-level concierge for at least three years, as well as passing a written examination. The test covers wine, menus, airlines, florists and problem-solving. “It’s not a shoo-in,” notes Dancer. Applicants who fail the first time can wait a year and reapply. It’s common enough that the organization rotates its exams.

The requests that concierges receive run the gamut. Their responses are where concierges, in the words of Holly Stiel, a concierge turned consultant and author of Ultimate Service: The Complete Handbook to the World of the Concierge, practice what she calls “their craft.” Maurice Dancer once helped a guest track down a bag of antique golf clubs he inadvertently left in the trunk of a taxi. Over the years, in addition to restaurants, clubs and hair salons, he has developed contacts within the NYPD. Another time, he accompanied a repeat guest on a Christmas shopping excursion. A single mom, she wanted some company for her preteen son. Dancer has also handled requests for helicopter tours of Manhattan—sometimes with only two hours’ notice.

Les Clefs d’Or members have several value-added attributes. Jack Nargil, head concierge at the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C., and a longtime Les Clefs d’Or member, points to the instant network. Les Clefs concierges know other members in the U.S. and abroad, and they frequently put their guests in contact with each other.

Members also organize at the local level, which allows them to build relationships with vendors as a group. Unaffiliated concierges, as skillful as they might be, simply don’t have that same economy of scale working to their advantage.

And of course, concierges also cultivate personal relationships. Dancer recently managed to score a table for a guest at Per Se, one of the most popular restaurants in Manhattan, on a Friday night on short notice. In Washington, Nargil maintains a coterie of high-end tour guides who show visitors the nation’s capital. He is so discriminating that if his personal favorites are not available, he won’t work with anyone he doesn’t consider top-notch.

Using the concierge wisely


To get the most out of your concierge, contact the desk in advance of your trip. Many concierges prefer speaking to guests by telephone, to get a sense of what they want to do during their stay. Often desks will set up that call via email, then follow up on the conversation by email as well.

Regina Falling, head concierge at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, likes to know about guests’ priorities before their visit. She also encourages guests not to schedule every minute of their stay, since they won’t know weeks or even months in advance what they’ll feel like doing once they’re there. “If everything’s scheduled, [vacation] feels like work,” she observes. She says concierges try to help guests achieve the right balance between planned activities and free time.

You might also consider that the concierge’s job depends on his or her location. In Seattle, for instance, Falling says her desk does a lot of itineraries for guests who are traveling to Vancouver and Victoria. Nargil, at the Hay-Adams in D.C., says he also coordinates a fair number of itineraries and day trips to places like Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s estate in Virginia. However, back in the Big Apple, Dancer says he does not work on many itineraries. Don’t be shy about asking, though: Apparently concierges will entertain any and all guest requests, provided they’re legal.

In terms of professional training, there are no full-fledged concierge programs at hospitality schools. Les Clefs d’Or has been trying to get one off the ground at somewhere like Cornell’s School of Hospitality or the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. (The latter offers a bachelor’s degree in hotel management.) Pending that, the organization does hire speakers to teach its members new skills and strategies.
_____________________________________________________________

Is your hotel's concierge an expert on staff, or an outsourced consultant?
_____________________________________________________________

Tipping—or not

The organization has stringent rules prohibiting cash payments from restaurants, and it works on a commission basis with some vendors. (See sidebar.) As for gratuities from guests—they’re accepted, although Les Clefs d’Or has no official policy. Instead, a concierge’s personal preference rules. In interviews with three Clefs d’Or members, we found three different takes: One prefers no cash gratuity, and says that guests will show their appreciation with gifts or, especially in the case of repeat guests, invitations to stay at their homes around the world. Another says gratuities are always welcome, but expresses a preference for receiving them at the end of the hotel guest’s stay. Otherwise, this concierge notes, the pressure to deliver can feel too great. A third says he does not mind when guests offer a gratuity at the start of a stay. Clearly, although Les Clefs d’Or inspires loyalty, it also enables its members to retain the individuality that helped make them so successful in the first place.
____________________________________________________________

BARBARA BENHAM is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. who dreams of having a personal concierge.