Want to smell like Chanel No. 5, get rid of a hangover or score hand-shaved artisanal chocolate soap – all without leaving your hotel room? (Me, too.) If you're a guest at some luxury hotels, a "specialty concierge" can take care of that.
High-end hotels are hiring highly specialized butlers and staffers who attend to very select needs of guests, be it their love lives (romance concierge), hangovers (recovery concierge) or cleanliness (bath butlers). Just this year, Westin Hotels & Resorts hired a running concierge to cater to the needs of marathon-running guests, and last year Rosewood Hotels began offering guests the services of fragrance butlers, who bring perfume and cologne to guest rooms, in its New York; Dallas; Menlo Park, Calif.; Vancouver; and Saudi Arabia locations.
Hotels say these specialists enhance the guest experience. Brian Povinelli, the global brand leader for Westin Hotels & Resorts, says the hotel hired the running concierge because they thought he would "seamlessly connect with our guests and ultimately help them achieve their goals." Pedro Lara, general manager at Viceroy Riviera Maya, says that "the soap concierge is one more way to surprise and delight guests." And Laura Benge, Exhale Spa's national spa director (the spa has partnered with the Gansevoort Hotel Group to offer bath butler service) says that "the bath butler service is one way we make traveling easier for our guests."
Needless to say, you aren't likely to find these specialty concierges at a Holiday Inn. Rates at the Ritz Carlton, the Viceroy and the Rosewood – among other high-end hotels offering specialty concierges – can easily run several hundred dollars per night. Plus, you should tip these concierges and butlers about $10 to $20 depending on your request, says advice columnist April Masini. And sometimes you pay a la carte for hotels' butlers and concierges: For example, to enlist the services of the Ritz Carlton's barbecue butler – who provides grilling lessons and serves you a private feast – you'll pay $245.
There's more… continue reading with the first of seven unique services offered by hotels to their guests.
