Lake Michigan Shore Magazine
May 18, 2007

The New Concierge
By Cindy Bertram

Mention the word "concierge" and it conjures up a seasoned professional in an upscale, luxury hotel setting, able to perform last-minute miracles, from tickets for sold-out shows to arranging difficult-to-get confirmed reservations at top restaurants-success achieving almost impossible requests for guests. But today that is changing. Concierge services have moved out of the hotel and into the business world.

Although still a mainstay of the hospitality industry, concierges are taking on a "must need" business twist. Today, corporations, rental and condominium properties, as well as residential communities offer these services. Areas of health care are embracing the concierge concept, and private concierge services are also flourishing.

The concierge concept originated in France, and the term translates as "keeper of the keys" or "gatekeeper." It was common for wealthy households to employ a concierge to see to the special needs of VIP guests and visitors. This growing industry has a strong professional foundation, thanks to the National Concierge Association (NCA) founded in 1998 by Sara-Ann Kasner. She began working as a corporate concierge in the early 1990s, and saw a need beyond simply networking. A former president of NCA as well, Sara-Ann says that they currently have over 500 members throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and Japan. Members include professionals who work in the corporate, retail, residential, civic, academic, medical and hotel concierge areas. NCA offers a special three-year certification program in addition to providing an educational conference each year.

A corporate concierge in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for over fifteen years, Sara-Ann was hired in 2000 by Zeller Realty Group to create a corporate concierge division. She currently provides services for four office towers in the Twin Cities. Sara-Ann defines a concierge as "an individual whose principal occupational responsibility is to facilitate any request by the general public, a tenant, visitor or guest." A trend in concierge services has been a movement into the corporate sector. When Sheryl Novak launched Concierge and Event Services World Wide (CESWW) in 2001, she already had more than ten years of concierge experience, first in a more traditional concierge role for the Hyatt Regency Woodfield and then in the corporate concierge field.

Sheryl says, "As a corporate concierge, we are called to manage different things than a typical hotel concierge. Our clients are not tourists or visitors—they live and/or work here." Although she notes that corporate concierges like herself are asked to handle many of the normal concierge duties (such as tickets to a sold-out production or flower deliveries), they are also called to manage larger and more complex tasks, including meeting planning, corporate gift ideas, weekend getaways, and team building events.

Sheryl shares a story where one of their VIP customers gave her phone number to one of their clients. He was in-flight to Chicago for a very important business meeting, was traveling in jeans and sport coat on the flight, and planned to change into a business suit after arriving to make an important presentation that could result in his company landing a multimillion--dollar account. When he discovered his luggage did not make the connecting flight, he called and asked, "What can your concierge do?" Sheryl says, "I called the client onboard his flight and asked him a few key questions-the address of the company he was presenting to, a description of his best-fitting suit, favorite brand and cut, preferences on plain or pattern on the tie, white shirt or one complementary color to the suit, as well as the color of his eyes." Sheryl’s next call was to a preferred vendor of men’s suits. When the client walked into his prospective new account’s office, a complete outfit was ready to be changed into, all within plenty of time for the presentation. At the end of his presentation, the prospective new account representative had just one question: "How can we contact that concierge service? We want to sign up!"

THE HEALTH CARE SECTOR
The concierge industry is emerging in the health care sector. University of Chicago Medical Center, for instance, has concierge services for both employees and patients because they saw a need. Chandra Ross, a hospital employee who was already planning events and handling services, launched "A Gift of Time Concierge Services" in January 2006, and is also a member of NCA. As manager of concierge services, Chandra’s role involves networking with different suppliers for services that are provided to both employees and patients. For instance, Chandra networks with banks, because University of Chicago Medical Center encourages employees to set up checking and savings accounts for direct deposits. Chandra notes, "We don’t want to promote one bank over another and we like to give our employees choices."

In addition to still organizing employee events, including the annual picnic, holiday party, and service awards program, a special project Chandra put together for employees in summer of 2006 involved bus tours of different neighborhoods surrounding the University of Chicago Medical Center. This was to give employees a better idea of possible home areas near their workplace.

Handling concierge services for patients is another important part of Chandra’s role, and she says those requests can range anywhere from information on nearby hotels and area maps for relatives of patients, to special services. Chandra says she recently received a call from another concierge who had a friend entering University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment. This patient needed a simple, straight-back chair. Chandra went upstairs to meet her, realized a folding-back chair would not work, and immediately contacted Environmental Services, which was able to locate the right type of chair.

She comments, "If someone calls me, I can be in touch with the right department. If a patient’s family has some special needs, I can be of assistance, even down to simple things, like letting them use a computer in my office."

Northwestern Memorial Hospital offers concierge services for employees as a part of their employee benefits, but they do not offer concierge services for patients. Regina Puckett-Kent, employee programs manager for the hospital, oversees the concierge services and says, "We consider this a benefit that we offer to our employees and we pay the contracted concierge services. We know our employees stay with us because of the because of the benefits we offer." Regina has been in Human Resources with Northwestern Memorial Hospital for forty years, and notes that out of some 6,000 employees, 850 employees have been with them twenty-five years or more.

In June of 2004, Northwestern Memorial Hospital started offering concierge services, and, according to Regina, "About 2,800 of our 6,000 employees are registered to use these services. We pay the concierge provider, so our employees just have to pay for the actual cost of the services." Regina mentions Northwestern Memorial Hospital has a contract agreement with Errand Solutions, LLC, headquartered in Chicago and founded in 2000 by Marsha McVicker, CEO. Errand Solutions originally contacted Northwestern Memorial Hospital in 2003 because most of their concierge business is in the health care industry, and they are now nationwide. Regina says, "The timing was good as far as offering a more balanced life for our employees, but we had to wait until our budget allowed for something like this."

Centrally located in Galter Pavilion, the concierge desk offers varying hours, five days a week. Employees have the option of putting their credit card on file in case they want to avoid paying cash. Services range from postal services, dry cleaning, arranging car oil changes or car repairs, to jewelry and watch repair, restaurant reservations and Internet research, such as travel or gift searching. Holiday gift-wrapping is another service provided. Regina explains that the hospital has adopted a school in Cabrini Green, and employees buy gifts to donate which can then be wrapped by the concierge service. It has become so popular that she’s designated one day of gift-wrapping for this.

Regina shares that recently an employee called and said she had a flat tire. The employee didn’t have roadside service as part of her insurance and called Regina. Regina called the concierge service, which was able to find someone to fix the tire the same day.

Regina explains, "The reason for doing a concierge service? A part of our commitment to our employees is developing initiatives to allow a flexible balance between family life and careers. We have a twenty-four-hour operation, with day shift, p.m. shift, and night shifts, with employees who work five days a week. This gives our employees a chance to be with their families by offering services through the hospital that they normally might have to take a day off work to get accomplished otherwise."

SPECIALIZED SERVICES
Many privately owned concierge services have been developed by business professionals who have led other successful careers and are now seeking out ways to better utilize their talents in this growing industry.

Rita Reed, owner of Stage Presence Concierge Service in Chicago, began her career in the concierge industry after leading a successful career as an executive director of customer service at Ameritech. In 2003 she took a position as a hotel concierge in Chicago, and then moved over to the residential concierge area. Rita launched Stage Presence Concierge Service a year ago, and specializes in upscale mall concierge services. Among her clients are the 900 Shops at 900 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, as well as the Mall at Short Hills, in a posh area of New Jersey. Rita’s background includes extensive consulting and training expertise, and she describes part of her work for the Mall at Short Hills as "polishing the experience skills to their Guest Services Desk and their security officers."

Rita also provides seasonal roving concierge services. For example, during the holiday season, she hired a small team of concierges and provided them with training; this team was in addition to the "stationary" concierge who sits in front of the lobby area at the 900 Shops. Rita recommends this roving concierge service to mall management as a way to differentiate themselves from other malls.

Using her training expertise, Rita has developed training materials into topics such as "Setting the Stage" (polishing the experience) and "It’s Showtime!" (standards for greeting customers, body language, smiles and never saying "no" without an alternative). Rita purposely named her business Stage Presence because she’s also an actress who does television commercials and industrial training films. Rita adds, "I view the concierge service similarly as providing an improv experience for the customer and having somewhat of a theatrical presence when delivering service."

Tammie Galloway, president of Northwest Indiana-based Le’ Divine Concierge, launched her concierge business in 2006, drawing on an extensive background that includes work in retail business, entertainment and event planning. Le’ Divine Concierge offers services ranging from corporate and residential to senior needs. Tammie notes, "Servicing the needs of others is our focus." In 2005 Tammie began researching the concierge industry and says, "Service was something I loved, and with Le’ Divine Concierge, part of our work involves providing customer service. We have to adopt our clients." Le’ Divine Concierge offers different concierge programs—Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The Bronze Concierge Level, for instance, includes services such as restaurant reservations, coordinating moving and relocation services, and maid/cleaning. As the levels go up, the services expand and become more specialized. With the Platinum Concierge Level, an elite personal concierge is assigned to serve as a client’s only needed point of contact throughout the membership. Each package is tailored to the individual, and the costs will vary according to the duration of the service and level.

Noting the expansion of this unique industry, Sara-Ann Kasner says, "Men and women are equal numbers within today’s workforce, and they don’t have time to do everything that needs to be done. There is a myth out there that using a concierge service is akin to being wealthy. Today, a concierge is not an amenity—it is a necessity."

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