Is Our Profession Going to the Dogs?

Hi Holly

I don’t know if you remember me, but we met in Dubai about 3 years ago when I was Chief Concierge at Sofitel The Palace – The Old Town. At the time, we had dinner at Mosaico, an Italian restaurant at Jumeira Towers Hotel, along with a few other Concierges.

As for the Concierge going to the dogs, I’m sorry to say here in São Paulo things are moving towards the undesirable, to say the least.

It started with the end of the Concierge desk in some hotels, after September 11th, then the subject reappeared bombastically a few years ago, but only to divert attention from the hotel Concierge, to all types of services which are now called “Concierge” and that includes shopping malls (whatever happened to the simple, plain and much more to the point, INFORMATION desk?); hospitals, luxury, residential buildings – NOT flat services or partial hotels / inns, but a building where families live – and whatever else I’m even afraid to remember. Everybody “sees” a Concierge everywhere these days, at least in São Paulo. In Rio, it’s a totally different story and Concierges there enjoy a prestige and recognition sadly lacking in São Paulo, ironically one of the biggest cities in the world. From what it looks like, very soon we will have a “Concierge desk” on the banks of the Amazon rivers or in the shabbiest bus stations in the middle of nowhere in Brazil.

As if we didn’t have enough problems getting ourselves recognized and I mean no disrespect to great professionals acting as Concierges outside hotels, the truth is a great majority of people employed as Concierges outside hotels, don’t even have the slightest idea what a Concierge is, let alone proper trainning in reading people’s profiles, minds even; wishes, needs, empathy, ethics, attitude, the concept of taylor made service or the concept of luxury, many times dismissing clients as just arrogant, snobs. I even SAW a “Concierge” falling asleep in a shopping mall once, behind the counter. So, unless people change and get themselves informed, I am truly concerned for the future of the hotel Concierge and the emerging banality that seems to threaten the profession.

The funny thing is that the press did a lot of coverage on the theme of the hotel Concierge in the past 10 months, but again, sadly, most of them just want juicy scandals on celebrities satying at the hotel or a list of the most bizarre requests made by guests, which obviously I NEVER even once think of telling them.

There are people who are truly born Concierges, like the one at our Cidade Jardim Mall, a top shopping mall in São Paulo and there may be others, misplaced as Receptionists or something else, who should be working as a Concierge, because they are really great Concierges, some of whom are even unaware of that, while others are not suited for the job, but are right there, being passed off as a Concierge. Expert recruiting should take care of that.

The fact that some hotels in São Paulo also pass Receptionists off as Concierges doesn’t help either. Again, no disrespect to Receptionists, but hotel owners, Managers, Front Desk Managers and even their HR Department, should at least understand that the focus of the Reception is another; it’s in dominating the basics; in covering tasks the Front Office demands, like cashiering, room assigning and other stuff, while the Concierge is there or should be there, to enhance guest fidelity and satisfaction by increasing the level of quality of service. Fine tunning, attention to details, being always one step ahead not only to WOW the guest, but to be more efficient and quicker in getting things done, to guests who need to feel they are completely taken care of; that they can really relax and have a great time in such hotels.

As for pets, I love them myself, especially dogs and I’m proud to say we at Sofitel São Paulo Ibirapuera are pioneers in the city with our pet program. We wer even interviewed by a Canadian TV station smoe years ago, when we launched the program.

All the best to you, Holly,

Sergio