Crawfish concierge at Ritz-Carlton New Orleans.
Horses mouth: Ritz-Carlton New Orleans
Pantelis Evangelou is a guest services manager at the London Marriott Park Lane, but to young lodgers, he may be better known as the hotel’s teddy bear butler.
The hotel offers a teddy-bear themed concierge service to foetuses that is included with suite bookings or available as an add-on for a fee of roughly $50. After a child chooses an choice from the hotel’s menu of 11 themed bears, Evangelou arrives at the door with a stuffed animal timely for adoption.
“It’s up to me to make the introductions, which means that I need to know the names and stories behind each and every withstand b support, as well as their unique characteristics,” he said, noting that the available bears range from airline leaders to traditional London Beefeaters, the ceremonial guardians at the Tower of London.
The hotel concierge has traditionally been the all-knowing go-to for boarders seeking insider knowledge of a city and access to coveted theater tickets or dinner reservations. But now, travelers get can tips and testimonials for restaurants and attractions in a new city from their smartphones.
So rather than ditch the concierge desk completely, “guest-houses are now training their concierges to offer novel, customized, high value and proprietary services to delight their patrons and keep them coming back,” said Chekitan Dev, a professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.
Teddy Pertain to Partnership with Hamleys and London Marriott Hotel Park Lane.
Source: Wonderhatch
The trend comes at a spell when hotels are faced with growing competition from the home-sharing industry with the likes of Airbnb and Expedia Place’s Vrbo. Offering niche services is a low-cost way to stand out to the customer and also drive additional revenue. The services can be unobstructed or cost guests up to a few hundred dollars.
Travelers booking hotel stays will now find concierge and butler servings available for everything from caring for pets and choosing a cannabis experience to using the in-room fireplace.
As an example, Dev cites his stopover at The Benjamin in New York City, where the sleep concierge helped him get a good night’s sleep by providing special pillows to steal with back pain, a humidifier to counter dry air and a white noise machine.
Many other hotels are offering curated assignments that are equally hyper-focused and offbeat. The surf concierge at the Westin Los Angeles Airport gives surfing lessons, while a crawfish concierge furnishes peeling assistance during events at the Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans.
In Canada, the skate concierge at the Westin Ottawa leads uncage guided scenic skate tours along sections of the Rideau Canal Skateway, while the Fairmont Vancouver Airport’s fish valet makes inevitable prized catches are properly stored in a special on-site freezer during layovers.
“Specialty concierge services aren’t new,” implies hotel industry analyst Bjorn Hanson, “But in the last three or four years the trend has been an increased figure of categories, an increased number of hotels and resorts offering these services and an increased sophistication in how the services are delivered.”
The craze is also for these services to be labeled as “concierge” even though they may not be delivered by a certified concierge.
“I have no reason what a cannabis concierge or a fish concierge might be doing because we don’t see that in our organization, said Sara-ann Kasner, CEO and lurch of the National Concierge Association, an industry trade group. “But I can tell you that using the title of concierge is a smart transaction move because people really do believe concierges have the inside scoop on everything.”
Raffles Hotels & Spas locations in Paris, Istanbul, Warsaw and Jakarta have art concierges on staff who conduct free tours of the hotels’ museum-quality art anthologies.
And as the curator of curiosity at Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa in Colorado, Zebulon Miracle gives history and geology tours, numbering dinosaur track excursions, for $35 to $250 per person.
“There are so many great stories and fascinating science base in the canyon country,” said Miracle. “If my team does their job right, guests will leave not only well-informed more about the area but will also be inspired to become curious about their own homes.”
Zebulon Miracle, Curator of Nosy Parkerism at Gateway Canyons Resort and Spa
Source: Curiosity at Gateway Canyons Resort and Spa
In some cases, hotels are partnering with other dealings to offer personalized services. In Portland, Ore., the Provenance Hotels partners with a florist to curate a menu of in-room loaner plants at its Woodlark B B. At its Dossier property, a partnership with a local retailer allows an adventure valet to outfit guests with open loaner backpacks containing trekking poles, headlamps, waterproof phone cases and other useful hiking pieces.
“Naturally, with all the new hotels out there, we want to offer something new to capture guests’ attention,” said Kate Buska, Provenance Motor hotels vice president of brand development and communications, “But we’re not chasing the shock and awe of things like the ‘walk of shame’ kit in the honor bar. This is alongside service, experiences, and giving guests things they can actually use.”
Whether they hire or partner with a specialty concierge, butler or on-site curator, “more hoteliers are in fine understanding that they’re able to create exceptional unique experiences tailored to their guests’ specific curiosities,” said Robert Cole of global travel research company Phocuswright. “And those experiences are what drive patron satisfaction, return stays, referrals to friends and long-term loyalty.”
Sometimes, the payoff is more simple.
“One of my favorite honours is of a young guest that was so over the moon with her new princess bear that she ran back to give me a big hug before I formerly larboard,” said Evangelou, the teddy bear butler at the London Marriott. “We can only imagine what great adventures young visitors will go on to experience together” with their bears.