Concierge services are an indispensible part of life for many people. The tradition of the concierge goes back many centuries – in the Middle Ages, the concierge was an officer of the king, whose job it was to execute justice. The term originated from the French Comte des Cierges – the Keeper of the Candles. This functionary catered to the needs of visiting nobles to castles of the time.

In modern times, the term usually refers to an hotel employee who attends to the special needs of guests. These might include making travel arrangements, recommending restaurants and nightclubs, procuring tickets to events or arranging spa treatments. In luxury hotels, the concierge is expected to be able to deal with any request, no matter how bizarre.

The saying among concierges is, “The answer is yes. Now, what’s the question?”.

Among the more unusual requests brought to light in a survey were a copy of the New York Times dated September 17 1957, 300km of barbed wire and an ostrich incubator.

But concierge services are also available outside the confines of upmarket hotels. Personal and corporate concierge services are becoming more and more popular, as people find their time becoming more precious. These services can help their clients who need “just a few more hours in the day”.

With services like errand running, document collection and processing and grocery shopping, local concierge services can easily be more cost-effective than having highly paid executives queueing for their own laundry.

Share this post:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • laaik.it
  • muti
  • Technorati

Tagged with: concierge service • errand running • laundry

Filed under: General

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!