Concierge

Overview

Who is Concierge?

A Concierge serves as front-of-house or reception staff for a hotel, office, or apartment building and is usually the first point of contact guests have. However, the modern-day concierge has also extended their services to being a personal butler, taking care of travel arrangements, dinner reservations, and, in rare cases, grocery shopping. A concierge's daily activities include greeting customers as they enter and depart a property, offering information to visitors, scheduling resident transportation, and making practical suggestions for adjacent properties. Aside from that, they handle customer complaints, answer phone calls, assist with your possessions, and help organise events.

Typical day at work

What does Concierge do?

Concierge provides personal services to the hotel, apartment, or business building guests. For example, they may take messages, arrange or provide advice on transportation, business services, or entertainment, or keep track of visitors' requests for cleanliness and maintenance. Making meals and other bookings for customers, as well as obtaining event tickets, are among the responsibilities. In addition, give information on nearby attractions such as shopping, restaurants, nightlife, and recreational opportunities.

• Deal with the arrival and comfort of VIPs and groups
• Deal with guests reservations for dinner, spa treatments, etc.
• Arrange for tickets for the guests to special events
• Assist guests with information about local sights like shopping, nightlife, recreational activities, etc.
• Arrange sightseeing travel arrangements
• Receive, store, or deliver luggage
• Carry out unusual requests like finding hard-to-find items or setting up for striking services
• Collect and deliver items or shop for guests
• Make arrangements for the services of interpreters or translators as requested by guests
• Deliver business services like sending or receiving faxes or shipping packages for guests
• Plan special events, parties, or meetings that can include musicians or celebrity bookings
• Provide services of childcare for guests
• Temporarily perform office duties or cover reception when necessary
• Make arrangements to replace lost items for travelers
• Attending the entrances, and greeting guests
• Search internet information and provide visitors with guide books, flyers, brochures and maps with facilities and entertainment in the area
• Help deliver personal messages, answer phones, arrange wake-up calls and make bookings as required
• React to inquiries from guests
• Help in making and checking reservations, payments, refunds, etc.
• Coordinate with the housekeeping and maintenance departments to ensure the efficiency and cleanliness of hotel facilities
• Provision of room details and hotel facilities to guests.

Abilities & aptitude needed

What are the skills, abilities & aptitude needed to become Concierge?

To become a Concierge, an outgoing, enthusiastic personality is necessary. In addition, they need to be polite and approachable and should have the ability to build good rapport and relationships with guests.

They must be courteous, attentive and need good listening skills when dealing with the critical needs of guests to ensure customer loyalty. They also need to have good communication and interpersonal skills to give clear orders to staff and be able to explain information to employees and guests. Finally, the concierge must have good leadership and problem-solving skills to establish healthy work relationships for a productive work environment by motivating workers and resolving conflicts.

Great organisational, multi-tasking, time management, negotiation, critical thinking and decision-making and judgement skills are essential for those looking to become a Concierge. In addition, they need to be calm, polite, tactful, discreet, detail-oriented, adaptable, and reliable in identifying guests' concerns and resolving problems promptly.

A concierge must be self-motivated, can think independently, be accountable, and be tremendously dedicated to delivering the most effective services to customers. Lastly, physical stamina is expected as they often work long hours, mostly on their feet, standing or walking around or even lifting and carrying luggage.

Courses

Which course I can pursue?