Want to propose atop an iceberg or watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks from the dizzying heights of the Sydney Opera House? A few exclusive private concierge clubs can now make it happen
Sheela and Bharat Goenka, an affluent couple with interests in the software business, had their 25th wedding anniversary coming up. Celebrations were in order and the busy couple needed someone to get things done in little time. Goenka, an elite member of Quintessentially Lifestyle, a global private members’ club, phoned her ‘elite lifestyle manager’ Sourabh Singh for suggestions. Within a few days, Singh had booked the couple’s retreat to Bora Bora. Another time, on Goenka’s request, the club procured Chicago’s best cheesecake for her daughter’s surprise birthday party.
A few months ago, Ashish Walia, the global CEO of a German company, landed in a fix. Flying from Cairo to Mexico for work on Lufthansa, he was stranded at Frankfurt. Exhausted and annoyed, all Walia wanted was to be on the next flight to India. The new ticket cost around $7,800 and he did not have enough time to extend his credit card limit. He called up his lifestyle manager at the Bangalore-based Les Concierges Services. Within the next 20 minutes, the club put him on the next flight home.
For its Platinum card members, the 24/7 concierge desk at American Express provides medical and legal aid, arranges evacuation and repatriation in the event of a medical emergency. Entry to Playhouse — one of the most popular night clubs in Los Angeles — is difficult for most, but for Amex platinum members, it’s just a call away.
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High-end concierge services are now being bought and sold in India. Abstinence is a thing of the past. There is no shortage of wealthy people who are ready to pay for such services. A recent report by Kotak Wealth and CRISIL Research says there were an estimated 62,000 ultra high net worth homes in India as of 2010-11, with a minimum net worth of Rs 25 crore. India, according to Forbes, is home to 48 billionaires as well as nine of Indian-origin living in countries like Indonesia, Ireland, Thailand, UK and the US, taking the total number of billionaires hailing from India to 57.
UK-based Quintessentially arrived in India in 2010. With over a million members globally, the club has gathered a few thousand Indian members within two years. Les Concierges, too, boasts of several hundred members. These clubs claim to furnish passes to supposedly sold-out concerts, make reservations at the best hotels across the world. They even procure a new strap for a limited edition Authentic Louis Vuitton Runway Oskar Waltz handbag from Dubai.
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A day in the offices of Les Concierges Services, says the company’s vice-president (sales and marketing), Deepa MP, entails arranging for a member to play polo with a Maharaja, a helicopter tour to see an eclipse at close quarters in Japan as well as a private dinner with chef Patricia Wells in her home. All this, she adds, is accomplished through “relationships and alliances with local concierges, lifestyle managers, and luxury consultants, ticketing partners, event managers, travel agents and even celebrity publicists across the world.”
The market, she says, is no more a realm of the Indian elite and is taking deep roots. “Builders and developers are seriously looking at offering experiential services as a differentiator for their properties. Today, concierge services are offered to an individual buying a property from Rs 2 crore to Rs 30 crore.” At Club Concierge (a part of the same company), the annual membership costs between Rs 50,000 and Rs 500,000.
At New Delhi’s Aman hotel, Quintessen-tially Lifestyle Group CEO Mishti Bose has just wrapped up a meeting with an elite member. Such an exclusive membership is available only on invitation and is claimed through referrals. “The elite member has to be a combination of money and mindset,” adds Bose. It isn’t rare for these premium clubs to reject an applicant if he/she isn’t “keeping with their brand”. And for the club’s services, the elite members are willing to dole out up to £24,000 every year (over Rs 20 lakh). The requests they fulfill are also gasp-worthy — a fighter jet-ride at 43,000 ft or even a private dinner with the Dalai Lama (who didn’t charge any money for his presence, says the club).
With an international clientele including the likes of Madonna and J K Rowling, Indian partnerships with the Lodha Group, DLF and Mercedes, Quintessentially also offers the Bespoke Elite Level (with five account managers, one in India and four in other cities for Rs 750,000 a year), the Dual-Dedicated Level (two managers in any two cities for Rs 376,000) and the Dedicated Level (one manager based in Delhi for Rs 165,000). For young professionals, the club also offers a General Level membership (with only a help desk) for Rs 65,000.
A lifestyle manager or a personal account manager is hired after an intense evaluation of his knowledge and passion for luxury. “If a member requests a certain Hermès bag, the manager must know what the brand represents,” says Quintessentially India Head of Operations Hari Varier, who heads a team of 12 managers. Though it isn’t mandatory for a manager to be available at all hours, for an elite member he or she is always accessible. Trained and groomed by wine experts and luxury consultants, managers know that the ability to “make things happen” is the trick of their trade. Acting with urgency is another asset, especially while procuring a particular medicine from across the world or arranging animal control within hours to resolve a “monkey menace”.
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In order to track the level of consumer satisfaction, these clubs have several measurement tools. Quintessentially performs ‘mystery shopping’ — an internal practice of outsourcing a research agency to call up its members and inquire about the level of service. Amex does quarterly surveys to understand its customers’ needs. And the members, claim the clubs, couldn’t be happier.
The Indian members, admits Bose, are “practical, private and conservative” in comparison to those overseas. They wish for fresh macaroons from Paris delivered home every week, a Japanese face cream made from a nightingale’s faeces and cooks from Amritsar to come and cook an Amritsari meal. A famous media baron, adds Bose, wanted the best seats at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Bose welcomes such requests. After all, “the proposition is to make your life easier!”
While previously the membership to such clubs was limited to business families, it has now had a trickle-down effect to include entrepreneurs, young executives, actors, musicians and sports personalities, says Bose. Networking, she jokes, makes everything possible, even tea with Queen Elizabeth II. After all, one of Quintessentially’s co-founders Ben Elliot happens to be the nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall.