Concierges: Holding the Keys to a Hotel’s Success

Originally from Ankara, Turkey, A. Burak Ipekci was fortunate enough to realise that the hospitality industry was his calling in his late teens. Already doing seasonal work in the industry, Burak went ahead to study Hospitality Management at Bilkent University, the country’s first private university. A career that spans three countries and over 30 years, Burak has worked at Soho Grand Hotel, Hilton New York and Le Parker Meridien in New York before relocating to London. 

 After serving many years on the Board of Directors of the New York City Association of Hotel Concierges, at the time of his relocation to London Burak was serving as the youngest ever President of the association. In London, Burak worked as Head Concierge at South Place Hotel, Andaz Liverpool Street, The Westbury, and most recently at Hilton London Metropole before taking on the role in 2022 at The Royal Horseguards.

 In this podcast, Burak shares his professional insights, his motivations and why becoming a Les Clef d’Or Concierge continues to inspire young people working in hotels. Burak succinctly describes what a concierge does, the skills set necessary for successfully thriving in this profession and how technology has actually made his job easier.  

 With many awards under his belt, Burak also has been very active in the world of Concierge. He utilized the late 90s and early 00s serving on the Board of Directors of the New York City Association of Hotel Concierges in various roles from Membership Director to President. For the past decade, Burak has shifted his focus from the organisation's national to the international side. Other than serving as the General Secretary for the British section of Les Clefs d’Or for a couple of years, Burak also was elected to the role of International Assistant General Secretary in 2017 and continued on his journey as the General Secretary from 2019 for UICH Les Clefs d’Or.

 As an active Ambassador for Centrepoint, the charity that promotes career opportunities and accommodation for the young homeless, Burak also invests time working regularly with the US Charitable Trust encouraging underprivileged young people to choose the hospitality industry as a career path. 

 A lover of gastronomy, trivial knowledge and travel, Burak’s international destination knowledge and professional network are second to none. He loves expanding that knowledge and network both by virtue of sharing what he has to offer freely and happily with fellow Les Clefs d’Or members and young members of the community at every chance he gets.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

When Agidio and I created this podcast, as teachers we wanted to explore different ways to share knowledge and inspire lifelong learning and hospitality. And this is exactly Schulering's mission. Schullering is an employee experience platform helping hotels to digitize their onboarding process, building the culture they want from day one. They also create personalized learning and development paths, leveraging the hotel standards and offer a learning marketplace from up-to-date courses co-created with industry experts from their podcast series. Besides all that, they let you tap into their strong network of global consultants without any extra fees. Fifty Shades of Hospitality has already joined the Shulering movement, and I believe that you should too. Find out more on www.shulering.com and use the promo code Fifty Shades for free auditing of your hotel's employee experience and 50% off the onboarding fee. Shulering Hub, because great hotel teams are built, not found. Today, we are welcoming Barak Ipechi. Welcome, Barak. It's a pleasure to have you on our podcast today. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I don't think it will be a little bit. After all, I've been around for a little over 50 years, so uh I have a long story. The basics are, as you mentioned, name Barak Ipecci. Uh, from the name, as some of our viewers, uh, some of our listeners can guess, I am a Turkish, uh, biologically speaking. But as I affectionately refer to myself as a mutt, I've been fortunate enough to have lived in many countries. I hold uh multiple passports, citizen of the world in many respects. Me as an individual, I am a combination of many things. My understanding of friendships and uh relationships is very Turkish. I'm very sort of a have that paternal energy and uh I like that. But equally, my work ethic is very American and very direct, very straight to the point. But my lifestyle is rather European. And as a combination of that, again, uh reading between the lines, uh, yes, although I'm Turkish, I lived in the US many, many years, and for the past 20 years or so, I've been fortunate enough to live in London. I am a hotelier in simple terms because I've done uh uh multiple ends of the business. Uh, but since uh 1999, so about that's a little over a quarter century. But we don't talk about that because again, that makes me sound old. Um, I've been fortunate enough to serve as a concierge. Again, I uh became a concierge in New York, but uh for the past 20 years I've been in London, as I mentioned. I have been working in London for many years. Over the years, of course, my career progressed, which I believe we'll talk about later on anyway. So I worked in different kinds of hotels, different kinds of guest profiles. I went through the ranks myself, and I'm currently working as a head concierge at the Royal Horse Guards in London. And as if that is not enough, my day-to-day tempo is not enough. I'm I guess I'm glossing for punishment. I do some extra work, uh, for lack of a better term. And I'm also serving as the general secretary for Le Clays Or, the International Concierge Association on a global scale for sort of past almost a decade. So that is me in a nutshell how that has done.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Sounds great. Sounds very impressive. So, yes, as you mentioned, you have built an exemplary and impressive career spanning more than 25 years as a concierge. You are, as you mentioned, the current general secretary of the prestigious Cle d'Or Association. You're a hospitality speaker and you're a brand ambassador. Can we retrace your journey step by step, starting with how and why you chose to become a concierge or how and why you started in the hospitality field in the beginning as well?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Oh, um, well, that they are separate stories, but they're interrelated stories. I am sure the latter part of it, when I talk about how I became a concierge, uh would not be a surprise for a lot of my colleagues. Uh because uh, as I always say, uh when you're a concierge, most of the time you don't find a job, the job finds you. But uh going back to the beginnings, believe it or not, I I come from a cool name background. I got into the uh business when I was 17. Uh university was a natural choice for me uh because uh I just realized that uh I get to talk to people, I have a lot of fun, I learn a lot, and at the end of the month, somebody says, Oh, by the way, fantastic, great for doing that. Here's some money. I'm like, oh, winning. Um, and um those of you who might know, and in Turkey um you have to do uh mandatory military service. And when you're in your younger years, in your teenage years, the only way to avoid that is by studying. So there's like, okay, um, soldier? Um, or study. I'm like, oh, naturally study. What do you want to study? I'm like, oh, I'm in um hospitality trade. Yeah, I study hospitality management, which is what I did. And uh throughout my university years, I continued to work where I worked for travel agencies and so on and so forth, just to have more stable hours. And as soon as um uni was over, I found myself in New York, as one does, but that's a different conversation. Uh worked in um supermarkets and it continued on the FMB side of things. And uh wanted to come back to and have a more exposure in the front of house and went to Hilton, New York. Um, and uh again, uh I say this story so many times. It's uh uh it it is a funny one, but equally it encapsulates um how how we operate. Um I went through a whole interview process. And those of you who ever work for Hilton or have an idea of how structured Hilton is, how well structured Hilton is, it's literally a very process-driven company. So you interview after interview, meeting different people, HI here, does that, blah, blah, blah. My last interview was with the director of roots. And she kindly invited me up to her office behind the executive lounge, and she said, let's just clear one thing out. You have a job. And I said, fantastic, because I went there to apply as a front office supervisor in my early 20s. It's like, but it's not the job you want. I'm like, okay. And her sort of a view of things, based on my personality, my enthusiasm, my experience, blah, blah, blah. She goes, I can give you the job that you applied for, but I know that within six, eight months, you're gonna learn everything that you need to learn. And if I cannot promote you fast enough, I'm gonna lose you. And I said, Okay. And she's like, um, and then that's that's a waste of time. That's a waste of money because then I have to go through the recruitment process again. And I see the spark in your eye. And I'm like, okay, that's why I have a counter offer for you. And I said, okay. It's like, how about you come and work for us as a concierge? And I said, I've only been in New York at that stage for a few years. I'm like, I don't know the city well enough. I'm not connected well enough. I never worked as a concierge before. It's like, I'm not worried about that. You have the right attitude, which takes me back to my uni days, and that's why I didn't argue against it. Is um my first ever day in uni, my first ever professor walked into a room, us being 17, 18, 19-year-old semi-delinquent teenagers. He introduced himself, like, hello, professor so-and-so. And he goes, Rule number one. Okay, he starts with the rules, the first class. He goes, uh, rule number one, CYA, cover your rear end. In our line of work, the guest has the power. They have the money. They it is them. It's all about them. So if you drop the ball, the guests have no loyalty. They can just put the money in their pocket and move on to the next hotel. It's as simple as that. So you don't have a plan B. You have to always make sure that you do your best. End of story. Is that rule number two? Okay? Because if you ever come to a position where you're hiring people, where you're putting together a team, where you're managing a crew, always, always, always hire people based on personality. In hospitality business, that's the key thing. You can teach any trick to any monkey, for lack of a better term. You can teach computer software, you can teach serve from left and pick up from the right, whatever it is. Those are simple data-based information. That's it. But that eagerness to serve, eagerness to care for people, eagerness to look after people, that genuine desire to care, you can't teach it to people. Either they have it or they don't. It's as simple as that. So when I was offered that, based on just how I presented myself, how she perceived me, and I said, Oh, okay, flashback. That's what he meant. And voila, I became a concierge. For those of uh the listeners who do not know, Hilton, New York actually at the time was the largest hotel property in New York, 2086 rooms. It is uh for most people, it's an unfathomably uh uh sort of a daunting operation. And uh it was incredible. It was an incredible learning ground because you literally have a matter of seconds to make a snap judgment on figuring out whom you're talking to, what sort of a person this is, and based on few clues you get, almost pigeonhole them to a category so you can treat them accordingly, show them accordingly. So I have learned more in those two and a half years I spent at Hilton, New York than pretty much anywhere else in my entire career.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Yeah. Steep learning curve.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Incredible curve. Because you have the families, you have the outer towners, you have the phoneers, you have the businessman, you have this, you have that. Yeah, mixed bag, and it's non-stop. I mean, it's like you're literally functioning almost like a supermarket uh checkout boy. Next, next, next, next, and then you have three seconds to look at the way they dress, the way they walk, the way they say hello to you, their mannerisms, their body language, or even sometimes the brands that they're wearing, and trying to figure out in that three, four-second time slot you have on what sort of a person this is likely to be.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

And did you have a good mentor? Did you have people that you were working in the concierge uh position who had more experience who were able to share their knowledge with you?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

My biggest mentor was New York. At the time, late 90s, early noughties, the concierge community in New York was incredible. So much talent. And some old timers, some hungry young upstarts, but a really well-knit, well-bonded community. We socialized a lot, we talked a lot, taught each other a lot. I mean, um among that community, I have best men at my wedding, I have uh godfather for my children, one of my kids. Uh, and and and those business connections became lifelong friends. The city itself, I mean, New York is a beast. Frank Sinatra goes, uh, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. It might sound like a really cliche line, but New York is as such. It is literally country within a country, it has its own energy, it has its own culture, it has its own it. So, no, I cannot give you one or two people. I can give you an entire community, I can give you an entire city because going through New York, learning the craft, so to say, in a city like New York, especially in late 90s and early noughties, where life was really different, it was incredible. I cannot think of a better learning sort of a environment, a better growth environment than that.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Brad, can you tell our listeners what exactly the role of a concierge is? What is it supposed to be in a luxury hotel? Um, how much time do we have? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

So the simple term that I always use to describe what we do is concierge is like a bottleneck. Whatever happens outside a hotel that requires inside access, one way or another touches us, one way or another goes through us. And equally on our same scenario for the opposite. Whatever happens inside the hotel that requires outside access, one way or another goes through us. Um you can look at it for your guests or but your internal teams as well. It is not uncommon for us uh where a department head or GM reaches out and says, like, oh, I need to organize this for the hotel, or I need to source that for the guests. Uh do you have a contact? My phone is, other than my better half, is my mistress. I have over 5,000 contacts just on my phone alone. We're expected to be resourceful, we're expected to somehow be jack of all trades, for lack of a better term. And that is just the the team member, the hotel employee side of things. And for guests, it is even more. We are a bit of a confidant, we are a bit of a brainstorming buddy, a bit of a booker, a bit of a PA. And to the outside world as well. If a vendor is trying to come into the hotel, we're usually the first people they meet. An individual coming for an interview, we're usually the first people they meet because we're borderline what a matriz is for a restaurant. We are the matriad of the hotel, we are we are the host, we are the face. So, and as you can see, industry-wide, majority of my colleagues, especially those are who are high up in the food chain, who are established and department heads right now running their own uh desks and their own operations, tend to be quite worldly characters, travel a fair bit, uh, I would say minimum bilingual. Uh a lot of us are polyglots, speak three, four languages. The core denominator, though, is we are as concierge, doesn't matter if you're a department head or line staff, we are full of empathy because that's what drives us. That human connection is what tickles us. Concierge is a, in short, non-revenue generating um essential department in a hotel. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Absolutely. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Well, for a hotelier, it would make sense, but for a non-hotelier or somebody who's just getting into business, it might sound a little confusing because at the end of the day, they're gonna say, okay, if you're a non-revenue generating department, how do you justify your payroll? Well, we do far more things uh with our knowledge, with our ability, with our interpersonal skills than uh than uh than quantifiable.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Well, and you're the soft power.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Oh yeah, without a doubt. Our our entire business model is on soft skills anyway.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, Barack, what are your first memories, good or bad, that come to mind from your first years as a concierge?

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Happiness. Happiness. I got into hospitality and I remain in hospitality for one reason and one reason alone. I've always been interested in people. That's what fuels me. My friends, um, my even my better half makes fun of me all the time. It is very common for me to walk down the street, doesn't matter which city, which country I might be in, going through an airport, sitting in a restaurant, and bumping into somebody that I know, that I worked with before, that I stirred before. I like connecting with people, I like nurturing those connections. I take uh incredible amount of pride in turning connections into friendships. Among my guests, I have lifelong friends, I have got parents to my children, I have people whom I actually walk down the aisle. I have holidayed with my guests because uh our relationship over the years evolved. They're no longer my guests, but uh we see each other socially. I have guests who followed me from hotel to hotel. Um but it all comes down uh to that moment of happiness because and it that that's what drives you, that's what connects you to what you do, and at least that's the case with me. It's always been the case with me. That's the driving force behind uh what I do on an international scale on top of my responsibilities at work, because what I have been given, what I was fortunate enough to receive, I feel obliged to give it back to the community and do my part to lift them up, bond them together, give them the same gift I was given.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

I love that you use that word, which is so important. There's um part in the book Howard's End by Forster, where the main character talks about a connection. And in the world today, in this world that we're living in, the connections are becoming rarer. And I think this idea of connecting with people is so important. What what are the particularities of your profession that still make you passionate about what you do?

SPEAKER_01 17:01

People, people, people is all about people, Crystal. It is all about people because I'm old enough to be around when internet was making a break. And right now we're in the middle of this AI uh sort of a storm, for lack of a better term, globally. And uh when internet first kicked in, everybody's like, oh, concierge, we're done, we're doomed, internet is kicking and everybody's gonna do it. No, we did not die. On the contrary, we evolved. Uh similar thing is happening right now with AI. Everybody's like, oh, they're automating this and AI is gonna do that. I'm like, yes, you still need a fool to put that prompt in to get the result. So without having the right tools, how are you gonna put the prompt in? It is there's people because that's a that's our business. No disrespect, but a hotel is a hotel is a hotel.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Okay. You put a TV, you put a bed, and and it's it's a hotel, it's an accommodation business. That's the differentiator uh between an accommodation business and a hotel, the experience itself, and the only way you can provide that experience is by people. So it doesn't matter if it's on the team side or on the guest side, it's all about people.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Absolutely. So, as you mentioned, you are now the current uh general secretary of the prestigious association of the clay d'or. What is the role of this association and why is it so important for concierge to be part of it? And what are your responsibilities as the general secretary?

SPEAKER_01 18:23

That's a loaded one. Okay, right. The the the you can uh put it in certain brackets. One, it's that sense of belonging. You create a community and the community supports one another. As I was telling you about my journey in my earlier years, it is imperative in one's growth. Having said that, we uh make individuals wait minimum two to five years, depending on the uh region they live in, before they can actually apply for uh membership, because we want to see the commitment in them to the business, to the craft, and see that they're gonna be here for the uh mid to long run. And then we'll bring them in. When we bring them into the fold, we train them, we support them, we energize them, we connect them. In those first few years, they get it uh directly from their uh respective uh head concierge on a sort of a come under my wing, let me support you, let me train you perspective. Because there's no, although there are schools or courses that one can take to get certain basics out of it, most of the things that we do are on-the-job training because um that's the nature of the beast, isn't it? And that's why I would say that don't pick a job, pick a boss, uh, because whom you work for and the generosity they have with their knowledge will define what your career trajectory is going to be. So it is in simple terms, it's a professional organization that brings professional hotel concierges under one roof on a global scale. In terms of our structure, we are grouped in sections, and most of these sections are based in countries. So there are currently 44 uh sections, 44 countries that are registered non-for-profit organizations in their respective region. And all these 44 report to an international executive that governs them all. I am a part of that international executive along with the president, the treasurer, and three VPs and assistant secretary who supports me with the tasks. We have a global constitution that provides the basics to all member organizations. So UICH Lake Claidor functions essentially as an association of associations, if the term fits right. And under these individual sections, they have their own leadership, they have their own president, they have their own leadership line, and then the members underneath that. So it's almost like an umbrella setup, a pyramid set setup.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

And the presidents of these 44 sections sit on our board of directors and they make the decision. So as international executive, we're functioning as the governing body, so to say, for a global organization. And whatever we want to achieve for our members, whatever we want to push forward, we make a case for it, and the board approves it or declines it. So it is very well structured, very hierarchical, uh, very democratic, very open, very transparent. And it is more so now than it has ever been because over the years, uh, like every organization went through our growing pains because we did not become an international organization overnight. It started small in Western Europe because that's where the wealthy families of travelers traveled. We expanded, now it became 44. So that democratic, that transparent, uh well structured uh environment was uh needed to be able to um uh exercise what is expected of us uh legally speaking, operationally speaking. We meet once a year um in different parts. Of the world, our international congress. Our current membership number uh count is roughly about 3,400 uh globally.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

So we are, I personally think we're a big enough group of people. Uh, because at the end of the day, our it's not our desire to expand or increase our numbers. We're uh far better quality than quantity as far as I'm concerned, because I want to see uh the incoming members in a way to be like me, to have that commitment to the craft, to have a commitment to the community, have a commitment to the service, than somebody coming in for one or two years and then fizzle out for whatever reason. And I'm not judging their uh career path or their decisions, but for the strength of the organization and uh for the continuation of the craft, that's precisely what we need. So for us, uh qualities uh far more valuable than quantity, and they're grouped under, as I mentioned, and 44 individual sections. As general secretary, I do for the organization what you would expect from any secretary role, in a secretariat role in any organization. It doesn't matter if it's a non-for-profit or a uh another entity. Correspondence goes through me, incoming as well as outgoing, organizing meetings and structure. Other than that, I do whatever I can to um support our membership. I tend to travel a fair bit, um, attend regional gatherings, national gatherings, attend their educational day uh and be present for them. Uh and I think that is the biggest gift anybody can give to another person their time. So because of also my role, because of uh my years in the business, I would like to think that I have a rather large network and I uh do my best to be generous with it. I do my best to connect people with people. I don't believe in taking my knowledge, my experience, my little black book, so to say, to my grave. That has no benefit to anybody, let alone uh my colleagues in four corners of the world. Uh so I do whatever I can to connect people with people, to help them grow, to help them achieve whatever they need to achieve. Just yesterday afternoon, while I was actually having dinner, I got a an early dinner, I got a message from a colleague of mine from here in London asking if I have any connections in Rome. And I said, I'm assuming that's a joke. What are you after? He said, I have this, this, this scenario. I said, sure. Within 15 minutes it was resolved. Yes, it partially comes from the role I'm in. I have a global net that I can harness, uh, but equally, uh, it is my personality. I'd like to think that I'm a prolific uh networker. But as I said, I'm not selfish with it. I uh use it for my guests, and I equally freely, happily share it with my colleagues.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

My husband and I recently stayed at the beautiful Domain de Lysiek in Vannes, France, and uh two of their wonderful receptionists admitted that their dreams were to become one day cle d'or concierge.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

So it's So they are the receptionists. They shouldn't be receptionists, they should come to concierge.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Well, yeah. It's well, they're young, they're very young. It's quite obvious that this profession continues to inspire young people. So what does it take to become a concierge in a luxury hotel and to eventually be part of the Clay d'Or family?

SPEAKER_01 25:22

I think the first step is realizing that being a concierge is not a job. It's a lifestyle. You're always on, uh one way or another. I don't remember the last time um I wanted to go and have dinner and deliberately went to a restaurant that I haven't been before, uh, so I can actually check it out. Or walking into that restaurant, and the first thing I look at is what the layouts of the bar, the dining room, and where the bathrooms are. So on one hand, I'm enjoying it. Of course, I'm having a meal, a sustenance, whatever it is, but also I am doing in my little tiny head uh a side inspection, uh trying to see if it's suitable for my guests, and if it is, why? Look at the menu, look at where the bathrooms are, because it is not enough anymore to say, yes, the restaurant is located at the corner of X and Y. No, the guest wants to know why they should go there, why it is suitable to them, what the the northward dishes are, what sort of a crowd is in there? And if they were to go, should they take their Chanel bag or should I just go with nothing and be a little more casual? And without experiencing it yourself, without knowing it yourself, you can't do it. This is not a job, it's a lifestyle. That's the first thing they need to know. If they have any ambitions to go and work Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, move on to go and do something else. No, no, seriously. You can uh do be just because you enjoy engaging with people, you don't necessarily have to be a concierge.

SPEAKER_04 26:48

No.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Um, you can work at a call center, you can work as a PA, you can work uh many things. You still interact with people, have that stimulation, but in a more sort of a controlled environment. You can work stable hours, you can work set hours and have your weekends off and say, okay, fantastic, I got my salary as well. Great. Concierge is not that job. Right. Especially when you're going through the ranks in your early years of your career, you do early days, you do nights, you leave work at 11 p.m. but expect to go back to work nine, ten o'clock the next day because that's what the tempo requires. A VIP comes in, four rooms, but they got 120 pieces of luggage, and you're expected to manage that uh logistics of it. So it it is um it is a constant learning curve. Right. Um, they need to be okay with the lifestyle element of it and enjoy it. Two, they have to be interested in people because we don't have a back office that we can go and shut the door and hide and cool off. Expect it to deliver the same level of intensity, same level of attention to each individual whom we encounter, team members and guests alike. For guests, we are one concierge, we are the concierge. But for us, there are one 120 people that I will interact during that shift. But I cannot, I don't have the luxury of letting them feel that they're 119 of that day, and I'm sick and tired of talking to people. The moment you have that pinch within you, you're already in the wrong business. You must know that. Yeah, you need to find another outlet, you need to move on to something else. And there are people who have done that. I mean, they start off as concierge because as we are jack of all trades, we get exposed to every single element of the hotel. And there are those who came and with that uh enthusiasm of the uh these uh youngsters that you mentioned earlier on uh from Van, concierge, fantastic, great, fun, glamorous, you're always quick on your feet, phenomenal. They go in and they realize how intense it can be. They're like, I'm not so sure if this is for me. Maybe I should move on to back to reception or should move to sales because I will still interact with people because it's a much more controlled environment. And there's nothing wrong with that, because this role truly is not for everyone.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

And Barak, do you think that having concierge in a five-star luxury hotel today is a must?

SPEAKER_01 29:13

I don't think that's a question.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

It's a must.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

I honestly don't think that's a question. As I alluded to uh to earlier on, um accommodation-wise, you got two choices. Either you're going to be in the accommodation business or you're in a real estate business with beds, and there's nothing wrong with that because there's time and place for that. There's gonna be stream groups, there's businessmen who just crashing for one night and going to an early meeting. Accommodation business is good.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Um and there's a place for that in the uh hospitality business. But if you are claiming to be a hotel, your main differentiator is the human element. Because, as I jokingly said in the previous question, every hotel has a TV, every hotel has a bed, some have uh 300-count uh linen, and some don't, some go for linen, whatever. But a hotel is a hotel. What defines that hotel is the experience, and the only way you can provide that experience is the human element. And that goes to the server that is investing their time and attention to the guests, that involves the concierge who greets them every single time they walk in, that involves a doorman who welcomes them at the door, becomes the first face that they see that relates to the hotel. But that is what it is. Luxury is only defined by the experience, and the only way you can provide that experience is the people.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Absolutely. Thrak, if you were recruiting and interviewing candidates for an open concierge position, what kind of skills would you be looking for? I mean, you've already touched upon a lot of this, but what are some of the other you mentioned, for instance, being able to speak at least uh two languages. What are some other characteristics that you're looking for or skills?

SPEAKER_01 30:56

The recruitment I personally think is based on where you're working in terms of city, country, your guest profile, and the profile of your hotel. For example, I am a middle-aged man with a white beard. I have a certain look and energy. Again, uh, I'm gonna name a brand, but not to uh sort of uh put them on the spot, but just as an example. It is virtually impossible for me to go and work at a W. Not because I'm not a good concierge, not because I'm not able to do the job, not because I don't have the experience. No, I am off-brand. Their guest profile, their energy is much younger, much more energetic, quick on their feet, and blah, blah, blah. I have a more sort of a stately presence. So just because I am a good concierge, it doesn't necessarily mean that I am the right fit for that brand, right fit fit for that property. So when you're doing your recruitment, that equally plays a role. You look at your guest profile, you look at your hotel's mission statement, you look at your hotel's decorative order, you look at your guest profile in terms of country uh or age brackets, and then you do your uh recruitment accordingly. That's one part of it. But the essence of it, as I mentioned multiple times uh during our exchange, it all comes down to that eagerness to care for people. That's the first thing I'm looking for. So if you were to come to my hotel and meet my team, I can almost guarantee you that even though you talk to 11 different people, you will feel like you've been talking to the same person. They're of similar energy, they're of that similar demeanor, they're that similar disposition. Uh they're all approachable, gentle souls with a little spark in their eye, showing a bit of personality, but focused on the task at hand, their craft that they're working on. And then that's how I did it, because that's what my property required. That was the mission statement given to me by my senior leadership, saying that this is what we're trying to put together. What say you? And then we discuss and fine-tune it. And as a result, of course, does my recruitment take a long time? Of course it does. You put an ad out, you get a couple hundred CVs, and the majority of them would not be suitable on paper to begin with. And those who are suitable on paper, you have a call, you have a pre-call, and you weed through it, and finally you'll find one or two gems, and then you make the best decision. It's a lengthy process because I don't believe in rushing things. I'd rather that I do a the job of two people for three months than bring the wrong person into the mix and dilute the operation, harm the operation, just to let them go before the end of their probation. So for me, the the prerequisite for recruitment is not their skills, because I can teach them skills. The team can rally up around these uh this individual and bring them up, lift them up to bring them to their level. What I'm looking for is more their their energy. I don't think there's a better way of putting it. Their energy, the way they handle themselves, the way they talk, the way they engage, that spark in the eye, that uh gentle, caring heart, that genuine interest in people. That's what I'm looking for. And and I know for sure that I'm not alone in that.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yeah. Well, and you know, one thing that we've been talking about is obviously most of these hotels are welcoming guests from around the world. I'm wondering, too, we've talked about this in a few of the podcasts, the importance of cultural intelligence, being able to work with different kinds of people from different cultures. How we I I would assume that this is a very important point when you're interviewing someone.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

But but the core of it is that genuine care from the heart. You might not be, I mean, at age 19, 20, when you first get into business, nobody can expect you to be a worldly individual. No. You haven't lived enough to travel enough, to feel enough, to experience enough, to know these little nuances, the cultural nuances. No way on this God-given earth, unless you are a military brat or uh offspring of a diplomat who moved from country to country every two years, there is no way you will have that awareness. Or even if you did, at that young age, you have no way of processing it and articulating it anyway. Um that's why if you if you have that the right intention, the right energy at heart, going back to what I was saying earlier on, don't pick a job, pick a boss. That will make or break your career because you learn all these little things by observing. Well, when to make a little humorous line, feeding a humorous line to lighten up the mood, when to answer certain questions or certain concerns in a certain way, when and how to ask about an individual's medications that they're taking. Some people are discreet about that. Some people don't don't they need your help, but they don't know how to communicate to you. Do you read immediately to your life? You learn all these little nuances over years. That's why I sometimes laugh because they the current generation and the way they're raised, and I think it's partially our fault because we always tell them they can be whatever they want to be in their life, but I think some of us also fail to tell them that uh to be whatever they want to be in their life. They also have to work for it. You hire these uh youngsters and they're overly ambitious, and uh, six months after you hire them, they want to raise another six months, they want a promotion. I'm like, sunshine, relax. Do you know how long it took me to get to where I am, to gain the knowledge that I have that I'm sharing with you? I don't I don't sleep at night and wake up in the next morning and say, like, ha, look at me. I know it all. It doesn't work that way because it's layer by layer. So you you build on it, and without having a solid foundation, whatever you put on top sooner or later will collapse. So it takes time to fine-tune your craft. That's why I keep on using the term craft because it literally is what it is. Yeah, you learn by experience. That's why, even though there are schools, hospitality schools, and so on and so forth, of course, you have a rounded information about hospitality business, what happens, what does not happen, what is related to what, and how that impacts the bottom line, and so on. So you get the basics, yes. But as a concierge, your growth comes from working for the right person at the right place that suits your personality, and you retain that information because you're gonna get bombarded with information on an hourly, on a minute basis.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Yeah. Younger, more tech savvy travelers pushing the hotel industry to rethink the role of concierge. See if it how do you see the role of the concierge evolving in the next, I don't know, five, ten years?

SPEAKER_01 37:49

As I mentioned earlier on, I come from a generation where internet was first becoming mainstream. Yeah, and everyone was freaking out. Oh, this is the end of concierge. Well, no. It it became a tool. But uh what you're afraid of will become your nemesis. Okay. So we got uh we got a choice to make over here as we did uh 20 odd years ago. Either we welcome this as a friend, as a tool, and learn it better than anybody else to speed up our processes to begin with. So I can actually sit down in the lobby and have a cup of coffee with my guests rather than typing up an email from scratch with an itinerary that I most probably sent 22,000 times before and taking up my half an hour. I'd rather sit down in the lobby for that half an hour and have a cup of coffee with my guests and catch up with them, see how they're doing. That's one side of it. Again, it goes back to the accommodation versus experience uh perspective on things. I think accommodation business, there is a place for AI. I think it will speed up that process. And I said this too in an article before when I first got into the business, you walked into a hotel, there'll be 15 receptionists and five concierges. Quarter century later, there's still five concierges in the lobby, but 15 receptionists only became five. Why? Because the guest checks themselves in on an app, check themselves out on an app, they have their bill automatically uh emailed to them once they check out. Well, they don't even stop at the reception desk most of the time because they have their room key on their app, they just touch their phone and then have access to their room directly. But the five concierges are still there. And it is likely that in the past 25 years, that five concierge, clear majority has not even changed. It's still the same five people, or at least three or four of them are still the same people. Because our purpose in an environment like that is very different. So when I first got into the business, we were the itinerary creators.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

The kids used to come to us like, what am I going to do? Help. So we had to do everything from scratch. Now we're far more refined. Now we became information creators because every single guest comes with the same list of 1015 restaurants that they pulled off from a website or an AI fed them and say, uh, I have this 10 restaurants that I've been told I should go. Which one can you get me in?

unknown 40:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Tomorrow night, 8 p.m., Friday or 4. So the last part is still the same. Last part hasn't changed in Yonks. We're still expected to have all those internal contacts of those restaurant friendships and those vendor relationships to be able to provide it to the guest. But what happened now is that we had to we're expected to look at that list of 10 restaurants and look at our guests and figure out out of those restaurants, which is the most suitable to them, what they need actually need, read in between the lines, and then provide it. So instead of providing that that list of 10 restaurants to them, now we're taking their list of 10 restaurants and curating it around their needs, their wants, their desires to be the right thing. So when they come back from the restaurant, they give me a hug and a kiss and say, Oh my God, that was awesome. Yeah.

unknown 40:53

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

That's my little medal on my chest. Yeah. But we're still doing the same thing, but with a different angle. So if you're afraid of the technology, technology will become your nemesis. If you're welcoming it as a tool, as a useful, time-saving, functional tool, King Kong.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Garak, do you have any parting words of encouragement or advice for young people who are considering a career one day, perhaps as a clé d'or concierge?

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Don't, I would say, don't become a concierge being lured by what you see from outside. When I when I say that, um, there's not a secret that restaurateurs invite us over for dinners. It's it's it's a marketing write-off for them. It is a product knowledge for us. It is not a secret that we go on fan trips and take the new tours that the tour companies are offering. Again, same principle. We learn things, we learn their products, so we can actually sell their products on their behalf. You see all these flashy cars outside our hotels and so on, so our life looks very glamorous from outside. Don't get into the business lured by that, because that is a footnote and a much bigger picture. Only get into the business if you truly are interested in people. Because first and foremost, although I jokingly say this all the time, we're the used car salesman. What we do is sell ourselves to the guests first. We will rapport, we have a relationship with our guests first. Because from that point forward, it is no longer a transaction and no longer a basic interaction, that is a conversation. And I understand my guests, their needs, and in a more sort of an organic level. And that's what we all aspire to do. So if you're uh if an individual is trying to get into our business and become a concierge, just being but just because they're lured by the fanciness of the hotel or the flashy cars outside and so on and so forth, that's the wrong path. Only get into the business if you're truly interested in people. I cannot begin to tell you a number of stories, or in a way, secrets at times that I hold in this head of mine. And I don't share them not because um I have uh multiple lifetime NDAs hanging over my head. I'm not sharing it because my hotel policy says I couldn't talk. I cannot share them because they've been trusting and sharing that information with me. And I see that as a badge of honor, I see that as a part of my identity, not just as a concierge, not just as a general secretary for Clay d'Or, as Brock. It defines me as a human being. I grew with that, I became a man with that, I became an individual, a professional with that. And I see that both as a privilege and as a reward, because that's what I'm in this business for. I I am interested in people. Everything that surrounds it is a unintended, although welcome, unintended byproduct of what I do. My reward is people. And if they're planning on uh getting into this business, come with that mindset. And if you don't think that is your that's what tickles you, there's nothing wrong with that. As we as I mentioned earlier on, we have had individuals who became a concierge, and a few years later they said, I'm not so sure if I can do that for another 10, 15, 20 years, but it was a great experience. I think I'm gonna take my leave and move on to X, Y, and Z. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's perfectly fine. But if you're getting in, don't get into it being lured by that byproduct. Get into it for the right reason, because you're interested in being women, because that that gives you a certain sense of satisfaction, certain sense of fulfillment. Because that's what it comes down to at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much, Barack, for joining us today, for sharing your experiences, your insights, and for inspiring a younger generation to join the hospitality field. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to talk. And as you can see, I can talk to a paint drying on the wall. That's what I get paint to do every day.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

It's all about connection.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Always will be and always was.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Thank you. Thank you.